radioNOVO News WV News Roundup for June 22, 2026

Good morning. I’m Codi Gaboff with your West Virginia State morning roundup.We begin in Mingo County, where a Varney woman faces severe felony charges following the tragic death of a child. The Mingo County Sheriff's Office arrested thirty-five-year-old Jonda Whitt over the weekend. She is officially charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and child neglect causing death. Whitt is currently held at the Southwestern Regional Jail.In education news, a high-stakes battle over the future of West Virginia’s public education system is officially heading to the state Supreme Court. Justices are set to review a lower court injunction that halted the creation of new public charter schools. The landmark case will decide whether a state-appointed board has the constitutional right to authorize new charter schools without a direct vote of county residents.On the state budget front, the Department of Transportation is launching an aggressive restructuring plan to capture over fifty-million-dollars in annual savings. Following an outside efficiency audit, Transportation Secretary Stephen Todd Rumbaugh announced the agency will enforce strict new permitting rules on contractors to curb bidding waste. The state is also developing mobile D-M-V offices to reduce long branch wait times.In political news, the Harrison County Commission has finalized a series of public hearings to resolve the contested Republican primary for House District 71. Incumbent Laura Kimball is challenging the official recount results, alleging that non-registered Republicans were improperly allowed to vote in the closed primary election.Turning to collegiate sports, West Virginia University athletics is celebrating a historic financial windfall. President Michael Benson announced that the baseball team’s first-ever appearance in the College World Series, paired with a deep women's basketball tournament run, generated a staggering sixty-two-million-dollars in positive national media exposure for the university.And finally, a intense municipal showdown continues in Parkersburg as the A-C-L-U of West Virginia files an emergency lawsuit against city officials. Activists are demanding a judge step in to force a public referendum on a controversial fifteen-million-dollar private trash collection contract, even as Waste Management prepares to take over residential pickups on July first due to a complete staffing vacancy in the city's sanitation department.For more news, download the radioNOVO app. radioNOVO News is a service of Seven Mountains Media.