radioNOVO News for WV for July 24, 2026

Good morning.All fifty-five counties in West Virginia remain under a statewide State of Emergency following severe storms and catastrophic flash flooding earlier this week. Governor Patrick Morrisey declared the emergency after storms dumped up to six inches of rain, triggering landslides and dangerous high water. While search and rescue teams report no confirmed fatalities, the National Weather Service confirms two tornadoes touched down in Pleasants County, damaging homes and taking down power lines and radio transmission towers.In state political news, top lawmakers from both parties are calling for the immediate resignation of Fayette County Delegate Elliott Pritt following his arrest on federal charges. The thirty-six-year-old Republican, who also works as a public school teacher, is accused of enticing a fifteen-year-old female student to produce explicit images. House Speaker Roger Hanshaw has stripped Pritt of all legislative duties, calling the allegations "shocking and disgusting."Turning to state legal news, lawyers for the family of Governor Jim Justice are asking a judge for an extension until August 7th as they work through a fight over control of the historic Greenbrier Resort. The West Virginia Lottery Commission is currently reviewing the resort's casino license tied to a proposed five-hundred-million-dollar financing deal between the Justice family business and a New York investment firm. In Logan County, family, friends, and fellow state troopers gathered this week to dedicate a new highway sign along Route 119 in honor of Sergeant Cory Maynard. The sign near Crawley Dip marks a stretch of road Maynard loved and stands as a permanent tribute to the trooper who was killed in the line of duty in 2023.And in sports, eight teams are taking the field in Beckley at Access Health Field as the American Legion State Baseball Tournament gets underway. Teams from Parkersburg, Wheeling, Morgantown, and South Charleston are among those competing in the double-elimination tournament, with the state champion heading to the Mid-Atlantic Regional in North Carolina next month.For more news from across the Mountain State, download the radioNOVO app. I’m Codi Gaboff, radioNOVO News, a service of Seven Mountains Media.