Latest news with #WestVirginia
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Terra Alta council appoints mayor, recorder at emergency meeting
TERRA ALTA, (WBOY) — Following the recent resignations of its mayor and town recorder, Terra Alta's Town Council held an emergency meeting Thursday evening to appoint people to serve as interims in those positions. During the emergency session, the council appointed James 'Monk' Tasker as interim mayor and Jason Verbonitz as interim town recorder, both will serve in these roles until July 1. The town's municipal election will be held on June 10. 'So, filling that vacancy of mayor and recorder, we had to fill that so that we can continue to move forward to pay our bills, our utilities, things like that so we aren't falling behind with late fees and things being shut off,' Terra Alta Town Clerk Kambra Sisler said. 'So, now that we do have an active mayor and a recorder, we can proceed with paying our monthly bills as usual and try to take steps forward to get moving in the right direction.' Earlier this month, former Terra Alta Mayor Dan Hauger took responsibility for the town's failure to meet its 2025-2026 budget deadline, which could jeopardize the town's ability to collect taxes for the next fiscal year. The West Virginia State Auditor's office previously told 12 News that the town was seven weeks behind on submitting an extension to submit its budget. Levy funds in jeopardy for Terra Alta Public Library 'We did submit the budget last Friday, [May 23], we sent that by email to the state,' Sisler said. 'We got an email back that said that 'it was their standard acknowledgement that we submitted the budget, and that they had received it, that the acknowledgement does not imply it is being processed at this time. I must speak with our legal department before I consider processing this budget document that you have submitted.' So, I do have phone calls into the state today.' During the meeting, concerned community members questioned the four council members about the town charter and the recent appointments of the mayor and recorder. Town officials admitted they could not locate the current charter and only found an outdated version from before the town was officially established. They also explained that they were following guidance from the state code in making the appointments. Despite Hauger's resignation, he is the sole candidate listed on the ballot for mayor in the upcoming election, making his re-election highly likely. Should Hauger be re-elected, he will be required to resign once more, prompting the council to appoint a new mayor for the term beginning July 1. A comparable situation applies to former town recorder Mikaela Bernard, who is running as a write-in candidate against two others. If elected, she would also need to resign, and the council would once again appoint someone to fill the position. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Dominion Post
13 hours ago
- Sport
- Dominion Post
Steve Sabins' path to WVU baseball coach took patience, leap of faith
MORGANTOWN — It wasn't exactly a journey of 1,000 decisions that guided Steve Sabins to West Virginia. Rest assured, there were plenty of steps the WVU baseball coach took that ultimately brought him to Morgantown. Others were made for him. There was one instance where he was given the opportunity to back out. In a sort of leap of faith, Sabins also passed up his first opportunity to become a head coach in 2023 in order to stay with the Mountaineers as a head coach in waiting. Such is the way of life for any college assistant coach who is looking to become a head coach. It is a nomad's journey, one where families are uprooted and moved from one side of the country to the other for the next climb up the ladder. Or maybe it's more like the old TV show 'Quantum Leap,' where Sam Beckett continually traveled through time with the hope the next leap would be the leap home. Sabins' journey has now taken him to his first NCAA tournament as a head coach in what was his first season since taking over the program for longtime coach Randy Mazey. The 24th-ranked Mountaineers (41-14) will play Kentucky (29-24) at noon Friday in the opening round of the Clemson, S.C. Regional with either Clemson or USC Upstate waiting on Saturday. 'If you get in the tournament, you've got a shot,' Sabins said. 'That's all you could ever ask for in this world.' As an example of just how interesting life's twists and turns can be, Sabins' shot nearly came at a number of different schools. If you reach Sabins' coaching history, it is rather short compared to so many others. He worked his way up the assistant ranks at Oklahoma State for four years. 'I was a volunteer coach at Oklahoma State, so I was on camp money,' Sabins recalled. 'I was working in the batting cage with seven-year olds trying to pay bills. My wife floated us with a real job.' He then came to WVU as an assistant under Mazey in 2016. 'Mazey tried to scare me away from not taking the job,' Sabins said. 'He was like, 'It snows here. You and your wife are going to have babies and you're going to be pushing a stroller in the snow.' He tried to scare the hell out of me.' Turns out pushing a stroller in the snow still beats working with young campers in the batting cage. 'I told him I would take a Big 12 job if it was in Iraq,' Sabins said. 'This was a dream come true for me.' It could have been so much different. West Virginia was not the first job Sabins applied for. He admits now that he wasn't even Mazey's first choice as an assistant coach back in 2016. 'I interviewed for a job at Loyola Marymount. I interviewed for a job at Appalachian State,' Sabins said. 'Randy saw something in me, but there was another assistant at the time who turned the job down first. A million things had to happen for the job to fall to me basically.' It would be easy to say the rest is history, except Sabins could very well have been the head coach at Cincinnati this season rather than at WVU. The Bearcats gave him his first offer to be a head coach in 2023. 'That was insane,' Sabins said. 'It was the most tight, tense, high-pressured and high-leveraged situation I had ever been in,' Sabins said. 'Ultimately I was extremely thankful for Cincinnati and extremely thankful for West Virginia. Cincinnati was gracious enough to think I could lead their program. 'When you're an assistant coach and you have to provide for your family, the difference between a five-year contract and a one-year contract is very different.' Mazey had previously expressed an interest in retiring, but there were no guarantees. 'It was a mentally taxing time,' Sabins said. Mazey and WVU athletic director Wren Baker — 'Within a 24-hour period after the offer from Cincinnati,' Sabins recalled. — put together a plan that Mazey would coach the 2024 season and Sabins would take over the Mountaineers in 2025. 'For me it was great,' Sabins said. 'I tell recruits all the time and talk about delayed gratification. I wanted to be a head coach and make a good salary, but I essentially turned down a head-coaching salary to wait a year to take this one. 'That's a lot of money and a lot of risk and things can change and stuff can happen.' He felt confident in his decision, Sabins said, because of the nine years he had already spent in Morgantown building and recruiting. 'I loved this place,' Sabins said. 'I recruited the players, and I thought we could win at a high level.' WVU vs. KENTUCKY WHEN: Noon, Friday WHERE: Doug Kingsmore Stadium, Clemson, S.C. TV: ESPNU (Comcast 266, HD 853; DirecTV 208; DISH 141) RADIO: 100.9 FM WEB:
Dominion Post
15 hours ago
- Sport
- Dominion Post
Four WVU kickoff times announced for 2025 season
MORGANTOWN — Four of West Virginia's game times were announced Thursday afternoon by the Big 12 and ESPN. The Mountaineers' season opener is slated to start at 2 p.m. on Aug. 30 against Robert Morris, but it'll be behind a paywall on ESPN+ to watch the start of Rich Rodriguez's second tenure. The following week, the Mountaineers play at another interesting time. The Mountaineers travel to Ohio University with a start time of 4 p.m. on Sept. 6, broadcasting on ESPNU. WVU makes its national broadcasting debut in the Backyard Brawl against rival Pitt on Sept. 13 at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN. This is the fourth meeting between the two schools since the rivalry was renewed in 2022. The final released time is a Big 12 conference game for the Mountaineers. West Virginia heads out to Provo, Utah, on Oct. 3 to face BYU at 10:30 p.m. for the late ESPN kick. The other kick times will be released starting on Sept. 20 on either a 12-day or six-day window prior to the date start of each game, which includes West Virginia's Big 12 opener against Kansas.
Washington Post
18 hours ago
- Business
- Washington Post
Trump administration reverses planned closures of 3 dozen US mine safety offices
CHARLESTON, — The Trump administration is dropping plans to terminate leases for 34 offices in the Mine Safety and Health Administration, the agency responsible for enforcing mine safety laws , the Department of Labor said Thursday. Earlier this year, the Department of Government Efficiency, created by President Donald Trump and run by Elon Musk, had targeted federal agencies for spending cuts, including terminating leases for three dozen MSHA offices. Seven of those offices were in Kentucky alone. Ending the MSHA leases had been projected to save $18 million.
Associated Press
18 hours ago
- Business
- Associated Press
Trump administration reverses planned closures of 3 dozen US mine safety offices
CHARLESTON, (AP) — The Trump administration is dropping plans to terminate leases for 34 offices in the Mine Safety and Health Administration, the agency responsible for enforcing mine safety laws, the Department of Labor said Thursday. Earlier this year, the Department of Government Efficiency, created by President Donald Trump and run by Elon Musk, had targeted federal agencies for spending cuts, including terminating leases for three dozen MSHA offices. Seven of those offices were in Kentucky alone. Ending the MSHA leases had been projected to save $18 million. Musk said this week that he's leaving his job as a senior adviser. A statement released by a Labor Department spokesperson Thursday said it has been working closely with the General Services Administration 'to ensure our MSHA inspectors have the resources they need to carry out their core mission to prevent death, illness, and injury from mining and promote safe and healthy workplaces for American miners.' Some MSHA offices are still listed on the chopping block on the DOGE website, but the statement did not indicate whether those closings will move forward. MSHA was created by Congress within the Labor Department in 1978, in part because state inspectors were seen as too close to the industry to force coal companies to take the sometimes costly steps necessary to protect miners. MSHA is required to inspect each underground mine quarterly and each surface mine twice a year. Mining fatalities over the past four decades have dropped significantly, in large part because of the dramatic decline in coal production. But the proposed DOGE cuts would have required MSHA inspectors to travel farther to get to a mine. A review in March of publicly available data by the Appalachian Citizens' Law Center indicates that nearly 17,000 health and safety inspections were conducted from the beginning of 2024 through February 2025 by staff at MSHA offices in the facilities on the chopping block. MSHA, which also oversees metal and nonmetal mines, already was understaffed. Over the past decade, it has seen a 27% reduction in total staff, including 30% of enforcement staff in general and 50% of enforcement staff for coal mines, the law center said. ___
