radioNOVO News WV News Roundup for July 7, 2026

Good morning. Turning to news from across the Mountain State.The West Virginia National Guard is deploying specialized units into Boone, Raleigh, and Logan counties this week to spearhead massive disaster recovery and flood cleanup operations. Governor Patrick Morrisey declared a state of emergency following a series of intense summer storms that dropped historically heavy rainfall, completely flooding more than one hundred twenty residential homes in Boone County alone. National Guard officials confirm that fifteen active personnel will operate heavy front-loaders and multi-ton dump trucks to clear and haul waterlogged debris to regional collection sites. Military crews are restricted from entering private property, so local families are instructed to move all personal flood debris directly to the curb for pickup.Meanwhile, the West Virginia Division of Highways has formally awarded a massive seventy-five-million-dollar infrastructure contract to completely rehabilitate the Eugene A. Carter Memorial Bridge in Charleston. Also known locally as the Fort Hill Bridge, the span carries Interstate sixty-four directly over the Kanawha River and serves an estimated one hundred thousand vehicles every single day. Work crews are scheduled to begin constructing median crossovers in August, with the vast majority of heavy construction restricted to overnight hours and weekends to minimize regional traffic disruptions. The comprehensive bridge upgrade is slated for completion by December of twenty-twenty-seven.In academic news, the West Liberty University community is mourning the loss of a longtime university leader and dedicated educator. Officials confirmed the passing of former university President Doctor Clyde Campbell. Campbell, who originally graduated from the institution in nineteen-fifty-three, served a prominent eleven-year tenure as the university's chief executive officer between nineteen-eighty-four and nineteen-ninety-five.And United States soccer fans have adopted a West Virginia musical favorite as their official anthem during the ongoing World Cup tournament. Following a dramatic victory over Australia at Lumen Field in Seattle, nearly sixty-six thousand stadium fans joined in a massive stadium sing-along of John Denver's Take Me Home, Country Roads. For more news from across the state, download the radioNOVO app. I’m Codi Gaboff, radioNOVO News.