The forecast, prepared with assistance from the West Virginia Division of Forestry, is the third in a series of fall foliage updates the Tourism Office will release over the next few weeks. Reports will include the percentage of color change across the state and suggested travel routes through peak areas.

“Fall color is popping up all over the state,” said West Virginia Tourism Commissioner Chelsea Ruby. “While some of our higher elevations have peaked, there are still several weeks’ worth of leaf peeping ahead in southern West Virginia and the panhandles.”

Travelers are encouraged to share their favorite fall photos using #AlmostHeaven to help populate the Tourism Office’s live leaf map—available at WVtourism.com/fall.

“There are several areas of our state that still need those iconic fall photos added to the map,” said Ruby. “The live leaf map is to help travelers plan their future fall getaway or bring those along for a virtual journey through fall color, so I encourage all West Virginia fans to post your favorite fall photos of Almost Heaven.”

Travelers visiting West Virginia to see fall color are encouraged to check the status of individual businesses before taking a trip. A statewide indoor face covering requirement is in effect and visitors are encouraged to maintain a safe social distance when traveling the state.

To access the foliage forecast and fall travel inspiration, visit WVtourism.com/fall.

Fall Foliage Update

For the best views this weekend, seek out areas in north-central and eastern West Virginia, where color is between 75% and 100%, with some of the highest elevations just past peak. Warm hues are saturating the hills of Randolph County along Cheat Mountain west toward Kumbrabow State Forest and the Swiss mountain village of Helvetia, and in Webster County from Williams River in the south to Holly River State Park in the north.

Featured Country Road: W.Va. 310 in Marion County

Pops of yellow and red are beginning to show along W.Va. Route 310 from Grafton to Fairmont, making this a great weekend to get out and enjoy a scenic drive. Points of interest along this country road include Tygart Lake State Park, where you can see fall colors surrounding the 10-mile-long lake.

Head north on 310, stopping at Valley Falls State Park for a hike by the rippling waters of the Tygart Valley River. Then wrap up your leaf-peeping excursion in the city of Fairmont with a hearty Italian meal, a decadent dessert, or some history hunting.

As you travel down these fall-lined country roads, post and share photos using #AlmostHeaven. To read more about this featured road trip click here.

For fall photos along this road trip, click here.

In connection with the amendment, the lead equity investors in the Company, including Metalmark Capital, Wells Fargo and Prudential, have agreed to make an incremental equity contribution to the Company of $65 million to help fund capital expenditures for drilling and well completion as well as the acquisition of land leases.

Northeast Natural Energy’s President and CEO Mike John acknowledged that “our team is very grateful for the confidence shown by our investors and lenders in expanding and extending their financial support of the Company.”

Greg Myers, Partner at Metalmark Capital, stated “Mike John and the management team at NNE have done an amazing job at navigating the challenges of the commodity price decline with a relentless focus on costs and well level economics. The Company has grown substantially in recent years to having over 100 wells online with nearly 400mcfd of gross production and is well capitalized by its lenders and equity investors to continue its growth trajectory from this point forward.”

“I am pleased to announce that Dr. W. Franklin Evans has accepted our offer and agreed to become West Liberty University’s 37th President. He will be a strong leader and we welcome him to the Hilltop and look forward to introducing him to our alumni, donors, friends and the wider community,” said Rich Lucas, chairman of the search committee and the Board of Governors.

Evans will be the first black president in the 183-year history of the university and will assume the presidency on Jan. 1, 2021.

“It is a great honor being selected as the next president of West Liberty University, the oldest and most historic public institution in the state. I am grateful to the West Liberty University Board of Governors for its confidence and support in my selection to lead this amazing institution,” said Evans.

President Evans will succeed Dr. Stephen Greiner who has served as president since January 2016.

“This is an exciting day for West Liberty University and our students as we look toward the future. Our Presidential Search Committee is to be commended for their dedicated and diligent work during a most unusual time. I also want to thank President Greiner for his dedication and leadership during the pandemic and his willingness to see the job through and remain in his role until our new president could be found,” Lucas said.

Evans is the current president of Voorhees College and has 25 years of experience in education. Prior to being named president, Evans served as interim president of South Carolina State University (SCSU), in Orangeburg, S.C., where he also served as the provost and chief academic officer.

Under his leadership at SCSU, enrollment exceeded its goal and fundraising increased by 687%, alumni support improved, and the university achieved a balanced budget. He is an experienced fundraiser and grant writer.

Previously he served as vice president of academic affairs at Virginia Union University in Richmond, Va., where he was instrumental in leading the institution through a successful reaffirmation of accreditation and establishing an Honors College, along with both a bachelor’s of fine arts and master’s in education degrees.

He also has worked at Elizabeth City State, J. F. Drake State Technical College, Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University, and Tennessee State University.

In 1994, Evans earned a doctoral degree in higher education administration from Georgia State University. He earned a degree in journalism, middle childhood education, curriculum and instruction, as well as administration and supervision from Georgia State University. He earned a bachelor’s degree in entomology from the University of Georgia in 1984.

He was born in Augusta, Ga. and is active in the NAACP, Black Family Preservation Group, the National Association of Black School Educators, and Toastmasters International and has served on the boards of the Sickle Cell Association, Boys and Girls Club, Kiwanis Club International and the AIDS Action Coalition. He is an ordained elder with the Church of God in Christ.

He is the father of two young children and will reside on campus in the President’s home, Colonial Heights.

WLU’s Presidential Search Committee was composed of all members of the Board of Governors plus two additional faculty representatives, two additional staff members, one additional student member, one alumnus and one WLU Foundation member.

Also serving as a non-voting, ex-officio member was Dr. Sarah Tucker, chancellor of the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission. The WVHEPC is expected to vote and approve Evans’ contract on Friday, Nov. 20.

West Liberty University’s search for its next president began last spring after President Stephen Greiner announced his intended June 30, 2020 retirement last November. The search was delayed due to the pandemic and Greiner agreed to stay on at the request of the Board of Governors.

West Liberty University is West Virginia’s oldest public university and today it offers more than 70 undergraduate majors, plus a growing number of graduate programs, both online and on campus. For more information, please call 1.866.937.8542 (WESTLIB), visit westliberty.edu or follow WLU on social media. To view more about WLU, please visit westliberty.edu/youtube.

“Kroger is pleased our associates have ratified the contract and recognized our continued investment in their success,” said Paula Ginnett, president of the Kroger Mid-Atlantic division. “This contract provides wage increases for every associate while keeping associate weekly contributions for health care benefits the same through 2021. This is affirmation of our commitment to providing a competitive total benefits package for our associates. I appreciate our associates for supporting this agreement and for the excellent service they provide our customers every day.”

The Mid-Atlantic division agreement with The United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) Local 400 includes a more than $20 million wage investment and nearly $100 million investment that maintains exceptional health care benefits.

This agreement covers more than 4,200 associates in West Virginia and surrounding areas.

Applications for the up to $4,750-per-year college scholarship are still being accepted until March 1 for those who want to start receiving the money for next fall.

As long as you apply and fill out the required Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) by then, you can still submit the required SAT or ACT score until Aug. 31.

But Chancellor Sarah Tucker noted Friday that a little more than 2,300 students had applied so far, compared to more than 6,700 last school year.

“These numbers worry me,” she told members of a higher education policy board. “And they should worry all of you.”

She cited multiple reasons for the drop — all related to the pandemic and the connected school closures.

“High school students are dealing with immediate concerns right now: Are they going to be in school in-person, are their sports going to be playing, how do they keep their grades up and, most importantly, how do they stay safe, how do they keep their families safe?” Tucker said.

Also, “we have so many [high school] students who have chosen to go to virtual school and so many students who have chosen to do homeschooling this year.”

Online-only public and private school students, as well as homeschoolers, are eligible for the scholarship, just like in-person public schoolers. Many students are enrolled in-person currently but are only attending online because COVID-19 related issues have shuttered their classrooms.

Tucker said many high schools used to put all their seniors together in a computer lab and have them fill out applications, but they can’t do that currently.

“We also have [high school] counselors who are spread really, really thin,” she said. “They’re trying to deal with food insecurity, they’re trying to deal with mom and dad calling because of fears about COVID, they’re trying to deal with making sure classes are safe for their students — and filling out the Promise Scholarship is, understandably, not on the forefront of their minds right now.”

Tucker said her agencies are planning to run a digital marketing campaign this December to attract applicants.

She said to increase applications, “the best way I know how to do that is just to keep talking about it and talking about it and talking about it and talking about it, until people are sick and tired of hearing me talk about it — because then maybe they’ll fill out their applications.”

You can use the scholarship to attend in-state public and private nonprofit two-year or four-year schools, like West Virginia University and West Virginia Wesleyan College. You can go to cfwv.com/promise to learn more about the requirements and apply.

Also Friday, the state Higher Education Policy Commission board, to whom Tucker spoke, put off voting on approving incoming West Liberty University president W. Franklin Evans’ compensation.

A spokeswoman for the commission said the commission doesn’t yet have a signed contract. A spokeswoman for West Liberty said the university failed to send a letter to the commission saying the university’s Board of Governors had approved the contract, so the approval had to be deferred to a later date.

West Liberty has offered Evans a two-year contract with a base salary of $225,000 per year. Atop that, the contract would give him a $1,000 monthly vehicle stipend for a vehicle for both professional and personal use and require him and his family to stay in the university president’s house, for free.

“We had a lot of uncertainties going into this fall semester. Working closely together, our college and university presidents made the decision to bring students back to campus, but in the safest possible way,” said Sarah Armstrong Tucker, West Virginia’s Chancellor for Higher Education. “While we saw some enrollment declines, I am encouraged by the fact that so many in-state students are continuing their education. Now, we have to start looking further ahead to help more West Virginians do the same in the coming years.”  

First-time freshmen headcount enrollment at West Virginia’s baccalaureate institutions dropped for the fifth year in a row, down 5.4 percent from fall 2019 to fall 2020. Chancellor Tucker noted that the state’s four-year enrollment numbers mirror national trends and are influenced by the state’s declining population. She also encouraged high school students to stay on track for college, especially in today’s environment.

“We know high school students are grappling every day with uncertainties around attending school in person, keeping up good grades in a virtual environment, and staying healthy and safe,” Chancellor Tucker said. “This is a lot to deal with, but in spite of it all we have to encourage our young people to not lose sight of their futures. Now is the time to complete the FAFSA, fill out the Promise Scholarship application, and plan for what’s next. We need our students to succeed. Our future, in so many ways, depends on them.” 

West Virginia ranks in the top 10 states in providing financial aid, with the state higher education system administering more than $104 million in student aid each year. To help students learn about the financial aid opportunities available to them, the Commission is offering a series of financial aid webinars, as well as extended office hours for students and families with questions about filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) – which is the first critical step to accessing financial aid for college.

The FAFSA form is free and available through the U.S. Department of Education at fafsa.gov.

The Promise Scholarship application is available at cfwv.com/promise. 

For assistance, students and families are encouraged to call the Commission’s financial aid hotline at 877-987-7664.

Fanti Group is an Italian industrial group, founded in 1948, specializing in packaging, owned by the Fanti family. The group has an aggregate revenue of 120 million euro, operates several plants in Italy along with several production and commercial entities in Europe, Russia, and Africa that manufacture more than 100 million metal cans every year.

“My father Giorgio Fanti, founder of Fanti Group, visited this area in the United States for the first time in the 70’s to see how U.S. manufacturers worked and to see if it was possible to buy some steel,” said Stefano Fanti, Chairman of Fanti Packaging. “I was a kid at that time, but I still remember when he left home ‘per l’America’ and when he returned to Italy after a long business trip bringing lots of ‘strange’ presents and toys. Now, after 50 years, I am glad to achieve my father’s American dream by starting a production plant in the United States. Our U.S. entity will be established in Weirton, West Virginia, and it will be legally owned by our main company located in Bologna, Italy, that has the name of my father.”

West Virginia was one of three states in consideration for the company’s expansion into the United States.

“Fanti USA will be the largest expansion in the history of the Fanti Group,” said Nicola De Santis – CFO, M&A, Business Development, Board Member of Fanti Group. “In West Virginia, we found the right place to expand. We studied the market, the supply chain, and the potential locations intensively. We traveled extensively before the COVID limitations and met a lot of people across the United States. Here in West Virginia we plan to initially create 20 jobs and to grow to 40-50 jobs after 3-4 years. One of the main reasons we have chosen West Virginia is because of the great support from the Governor’s Office and the West Virginia Development Office. Their great assistance to develop our project made our decision easy.”

Gruppo Fanti’s leadership team visited West Virginia in early 2019 as part of their due diligence in finding their U.S. expansion site.

“While we competed with Pennsylvania and Ohio for this new plant, our state’s pro-business climate, made possible by the business experience and incredible leadership of Governor Justice, along with our manufacturing base and an incredible workforce helped us prevail in the end,” said West Virginia Secretary of Commerce Ed Gaunch.

“Weirton has a long history with manufacturing,” said West Virginia State Senator Ryan Weld. “The loss of Weirton Steel was obviously a huge blow to the area. But since then, Weirton has been adding bricks to the wall of Weirton’s comeback and Weirton’s future: Pietro Fiorentini, Bidell, and now Fanti Group.

“I’d like to think everybody’s leadership for coming together and putting this new brick in place.”

The company is modifying an existing site in Weirton and plans to start production in Q2 of 2022.

“West Virginia, and particularly the Northern Panhandle, is noted for its industrial background, cooperative spirit, and dedication to get things done. Gruppo Fanti’s decision to locate their new plant in Weirton is the result of those traits,” said Marvin Six, executive director of the Business Development Corporation of the Northern Panhandle. “We worked closely with the West Virginia Development Office, State Auditor’s office, and the Brooke County Commission over the last eight months to demonstrate our strengths. Gruppo Fanti’s investment in our area illustrates the confidence international companies have locating their plants here.”

“This is nothing but a giant team effort,” Gov. Justice said. “You’ll find that West Virginia is really, really on the move and West Virginia has now become the diamond in the rough that everybody missed.

“The biggest thing that I need to do is in someway convey to you our level of appreciation and our level of support,” Gov. Justice continued. “We will always be there for you, and I believe we’re going to have an incredible relationship.”

“No way, shape or form,” Manchin said.

Republicans, fearing losing control of the upper chamber, are using the prospect of Democrats packing the Supreme Court and eliminating the filibuster to influence the runoff election for the U.S. Senate in Georgia, Manchin said.

Since no one received a majority in the election for Senate in Georgia on Nov. 3, a runoff election will be held Jan. 5 between the top two finishers for the full term and for an unexpired term.

Democratic victories for the Senate in Georgia would result in 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans and the Democrats taking control as Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would cast the deciding vote when there is a tie.

The threat that Democrats will expand the number of justices to stack the Supreme Court or eliminate the filibuster is a “scare tactic” by the Republicans, Manchin said.

If the Democrats should win the seats in Georgia, which is possible because of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory there, There won’t be a tie vote for Harris to break on the Supreme Court or filibuster issues because Manchin said he will vote against it.

“I’ve laid that fear to rest,” he said.

The Founding Fathers intended there to be a body, the Senate, where the minority can be a check and balance on power and everyone works in a bipartisan way, Manchin said. The filibuster is the check and balance, he said.

Otherwise, the minority would have no input, Manchin said.

“Without it (the filibuster), then you break the Senate,” he said.

The House of Representatives has no filibuster rule, so former congressmen who are elected to the Senate see things from a different perspective, Manchin said. Senators who were governors, for example, like Manchin, see it from a point of view including the minority, he said.

“Their mindset is different from ours,” Manchin said.

Manchin’s stand had little influence on Melody Potter, chairwoman of the West Virginia Republican Party.

“West Virginians can’t trust a word Joe Manchin says these days; his opinions shift with the winds coming off the Potomac swamp,” Potter said. “He voted against Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation, voted to impeach President Donald Trump, has voted against COVID relief funding and voted against tax cuts. We look forward to beating him if he runs for re-election.”

Manchin said he voted against Barrett because the Senate has never confirmed a Supreme Court justice for a vacancy that arose after July in an election year.

Divisive issues further split a nation that is already divided, Manchin said.

An issue with a definite impact in Georgia and other states including West Virginia would be healthcare and the Affordable Care Act, Manchin said. Georgia, like West Virginia, has experienced the closure of rural hospitals, he said. Also, funds to states through the act, besides helping people, create jobs, including 16,000 jobs in West Virginia, he said.

In the Georgia races, Democrat Raphael Warnock, who received about 33 percent of the vote, will face Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who received about 26 percent.

In the other race, Republican Sen. David Perdue received 49.7 percent of the vote to Democrat Jon Ossoff’s 48 percent.

Because of COVID-19, a planned Charleston Ballet performance in HMA’s Grace Rardin Doherty Auditorium had to be canceled.  

“We began preparing our part of the Bauhaus project about 18 months before the exhibit opening date. First asking Matt Jackfert to create an original score, then beginning the discussion and experimentation part of the costume design,” said Artistic Director Kim Pauley. “Part of the choreography was created over Zoom while we faced about 7 weeks away from the studio late spring. Everyone involved agreed this project was unlike any other project they had participated in. It was gratifying to see every part of the project come together.” 

Costumes created and executed by Patti Boley, Tammy Madden, Kim Pauley, Elaine Baldwin, Mary Anna Ball, Melinda Miesner and Brigette Madden for the performance are on display in The Wide Reach of the Bauhaus exhibition. Assembly of the costumes took place over a couple of months in two locations. The costumes and The Charleston Ballet performance on DVD have been well received. “One of the goals for this project was to show the effect of the Bauhaus on art forms such as modern dance and music in addition to visual art,” said HMA Senior Curator Chris Hatten. “The result of this partnership with The Charleston Ballet has been incredibly successful and The Charleston Ballet deserves a great deal of credit for all their hard work and dedication.”  

The Wide Reach of the Bauhaus exhibit at HMA celebrates the influence of the Bauhaus School founded by Walter Gropius, who along with his partners at The Architects Collaborative, designed the addition to the Huntington Museum of Art that opened 50 years ago.  

This exhibition is supported, in part, by a gift from the Saint John’s Trust, in Memory of Anna Virginia Morgan.  

This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.  

This program is presented with financial assistance from the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History, and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts.  

For more information on The Charleston Ballet, visit thecharlestonballet.com or call (304) 342-6541.  

For more information on the Huntington Museum of Art, visit hmoa.org or call (304) 529-2701. HMA is fully accessible.  

The settlement was finalized Oct. 27. The 29 students alleged in the suit that they had suffered physical, mental and sexual abuse during their time at the school by individuals who ran the boarding school in Salem.

The former students alleged that those who ran the Christian boarding school forced them to perform manual labor, beat them, starved them, kept them in isolation rooms for long periods of time and would chain and shackle them to beds.

“The abuse suffered by these children would shock the conscious of any West Virginian,” Jesse Forbes, the attorney for the plaintiffs, said. “They were stripped naked, handcuffed, sexually abused and kept in a 5-by-8-foot room with a coffee can for a toilet. This is the stuff straight from a horror movie.”

Authorities had investigated the boarding school several times since it opened in 1987. The school pledged to be a school for wayward children aged 6 to 17. It was shut down in 2014. It was founded by Gayle Clark and her husband. Clark was eventually sentenced to jail time and probation in 2016.

“I have spent years as a guardian ad litem for abused children in this state and I have never seen anything like this,” Forbes said. “These children were tortured in ways that people couldn’t even dream about in their worst nightmares, and the fact that it continued over so many decades is truly shocking.”

Charleston attorney Scott Long also represented the plaintiffs. He said the case was complex when working to settle for an appropriate amount for the students.

“This settlement will finally bring justice to these innocent children, now adults, and hopefully allow them to begin to heal,” Long said. “The horrific abuse has come to an end but without setting aside money to provide these former children the healing services they desperately need their abuse would continue.”

The plaintiffs were also represented by Brian Kent and Guy D’Andrea of Laffey, Bucci & Kent LLP in Philadelphia.

Many of the plaintiffs alleged the children suffered significant abuse at the hands of the defendants, as well as other children who were enrolled there. They alleged the defendants owed a legal duty to the plaintiffs to care for them and to not be negligent, but they repeatedly breached that duty of care.

The plaintiffs alleged the defendants failed to inform parents of the incidents of child abuse and neglect, as well as failing to inform the appropriate authorities.

The defendants also negligently failed to ensure that its employees had proper and adequate training and experience to protect the students from harm, according to the suit.

The plaintiffs suffered serious emotional distress because of the defendants’ actions. The plaintiffs also say the defendants were aware of the child abuse and mistreatment as far back as December 2000.

Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 17-C-146