In Around West Virginia: Hank Williams is honored, the flu season hits later than usual, the energy lobbyist appointed to the state Board of Education talks climate change, and more.
n The Register-Herald reports that more than 100 people gathered Thursday for the dedication of a highway marker in front of the Lively Family Ampitheater in Oak Hill, near where Hank Williams was found dead in 1953. Williams' taxi driver, 18-year-old Charles Carr, pulled over to find the singer deceased in the backseat of a Cadillac. A reporter spoke to several people with connections to the incident, such as Tyree Funeral Home Director Joe Tyree, who drove the body to Alabama, and Jett Williams, Hank Williams' daughter.
"We are tied together in his book," Jett Williams said. "He passed on in Oak Hill, but because of your elected officials and citizens carrying on the memories of the man and the legend, he lives on."
n The flu season struck late in Cabell County, The Herald-Dispatch reports. Cabell-Huntington Health Department Medical Director Dr. Michael Kilkenny said the health department has seen about three times the average amount of flu cases for this time of year.
n The newest member of the state Board of Education, Scott Rotruck, suggested to West Virginia Public Broadcasting that school board members and members of the Legislature should consider meeting privately, without giving public notice. Rotruck, an energy lobbyist, also said kids should be able to "make their own decisions" on climate change. He said the evidence on climate change appears to "warrant inspection."
n WVVA reports that a lawyer for a former patient of the Raleigh Heart Clinic said his client saw single needles with a single vial used on multiple patients in September of 2015. Health officials announced on Thursday that they were asking 2,300 patients of the clinic to be tested for Hepatitis C, Hepatitis B, and HIV. According to the TV news station, the client is a veteran who was wounded in Iraq and underwent routine testing of his heart at the clinic when he returned.
Reach Erin Beck at erin.beck@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5163, Facebook.com/erinbeckwv, or follow @erinbeckwv on Twitter.