radioNOVO News WV News Roundup for 06-24-26

Good morning. We begin with an emergency weather update. Clean-up operations are officially underway across the southern coalfields this morning following severe, localized flash flooding. A narrow band of slow-moving storms dumped up to five inches of torrential rain overnight, forcing emergency teams to deploy swift-water rescue squads in Boone and Logan counties. First responders successfully evacuated fourteen residents from water-logged homes in the hard-hit towns of Van, Bob White, and Wharton, with floodwaters slowly receding back into riverbanks just before dawn.In legal news, a prominent Kanawha County homicide case has reached a definitive resolution. Defendant Gavin Smith has entered a surprise guilty plea to one count of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder, successfully averting what would have been a highly publicized second quadruple-homicide trial. Smith admitted to the late twenty-twenty shooting deaths of his mother, stepfather, and two younger brothers in Elkview. He will face a life sentence with the possibility of parole after fifteen years during his formal sentencing on July sixth.Turning to education, State Treasurer Larry Pack announced that application numbers have skyrocketed for the state's controversial Hope Scholarship program. Over twenty-six thousand West Virginia students submitted applications during the initial funding window, totaling an estimated state cost of one-hundred-and-fifty-five million dollars for the upcoming academic year.In Marshall County, public safety officials are investigating a dramatic accident after a pickup truck driver went veering through multiple residential yards before crashing directly through the rear wall of a home on Lindsay Lane Road. The driver was transported to an area hospital with injuries, though no residents inside the home were hurt.And finally, Huntington is welcoming over two-hundred faith-based volunteers this week as the national "World Changers" group launches nineteen separate home repair and community construction projects for lower-income city residents.For more news, download the radioNOVO app. radioNOVO News is a service of Seven Mountains Media.