DETROIT — Severe storms barreled through the Midwest early Wednesday, a day after two tornadoes struck one Michigan city and destroyed homes and commercial buildings, including a FedEx facility. The tornadoes were first spotted after dark Tuesday in parts of Michigan, Indiana and Ohio, while portions of Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri were also under a tornado watch, according to the National Weather Service. The storms came a day after a deadly twister ripped through an Oklahoma town. As the storms raged on in the pre-dawn hours Wednesday, the National Weather...

Utah teachers receive roughly 72 cents for every dollar earned by comparably educated professionals working in different careers, according to a recent study by the National Education Association. It’s called the “teacher pay penalty,” or the phenomenon where teachers earn significantly less than similarly educated individuals in other professions. “The compensation packages for those other professions have largely kept pace with [inflation,]” said Renée Pinkney, president of the Utah Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union.

BLUEFIELD — Housing authorities in southern West Virginia and Southwest Virginia are among the many entities across the nation sharing more than $3 billion of federal funding that will be spent on improving the public housing that many people call home. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, also known as HUD, awarded $3.17 billion Tuesday in Public Housing Repair funding to 2,756 public housing authorities in all 50 state including cities and entities in southern West Virginia and Southwest Virginia. One of these recipients, the Housing Authority of...

Screenshots of redacted documents from the West Virginia Department of Human Services. Every month, dozens of West Virginia foster children sleep in hotels and motels — sometimes even offices or cabins. The state doesn’t have enough foster families to take children into their homes. The West Virginia Department of Human Services spends $2.1 million annually on temporary housing for foster children, like hotels, according to a department spokesperson. The price tag includes meals and staff overtime. However, the department has failed over the last five months to produce any financial...

Tyler Childers and Sierra Ferrell are the leading nominees at the 2024 Americana Honors & Awards. The Appalachia-reared musicians each scored three nominations — including Album, Song, and Artist of the Year — when the categories were announced on Tuesday at the National Museum of African American Music in Nashville. Childers, a Kentucky native, is nominated for his album Rustin’ in the Rain and the song “In Your Love,” while the West Virginia native Ferrell is recognized for the album Trail of Flowers and the song “American Dreaming.” Other Artist...

A large sinkhole in front of a New Mexico home has swallowed up two vehicles that were parked in the driveway and forced evacuations in an Las Cruces neighborhood where the incident occurred, the city of Las Cruces confirmed in a press release Tuesday. The collapse was reported around 9:30 p.m. on Monday evening. Las Cruces firefighters arrived on scene and found a sinkhole 30-feet wide and 30-feet deep that had not yet settled. No one was reported injured. Watch:Video shows Target store sliding down hillside in West Virginia as...

CHARLESTON, W.V. -- A Detroit man was sentenced to 80 years in prison Monday in connection with the 2021 murders of two women in West Virginia, according to the Associated Press. In February, Marquis Goodman, 24, pleaded guilty to count of second-degree murder for the fatal shootings of Bria White, 26, and Kytiana Belcher, 22, in Charleston, West Virginia. Despite pleas from Goodman’s attorney asking for a lighter sentence, Judge Ken Ballard issued the maximum of 40 years per charge, citing Goodman’s lengthy criminal record. Goodman’s attorney argued that his...

Just three months after finishing his first season at Davidson Day, and leading the Patriots to a state title, James Long is leaving to become head coach at the University of Charleston, a Division II school in West Virginia. Long played in college at West Virginia under Bob Huggins and was an Academic All-Big 12 selection, and was a member of the Dean’s List. He earned an undergraduate degree in finance and a master’s degree in sports management from WVU. “I am thrilled to express my immense happiness in returning...

The State Department is failing to recruit a Foreign Service that fully represents the American people, as required by the Foreign Service Act of 1980. One of State’s most glaring recruitment shortcomings is its inability to hire new Foreign Service officers (FSOs) who come from all geographic regions of America. This ongoing failure helps to perpetuate the mindset of the current Foreign Service and shape its policy attitudes. Fielding a U.S. diplomatic and consular corps that truly reflects the geographic diversity and values of the American people, and not just...