In Around West Virginia: a West Virginia native develops his own TV channel, today is the sixth anniversary of Upper Big Branch, friends of opioid addicts learn to use naloxone, and more.
n An Elkview native founded a TV channel exclusively dedicated to dogs. The State Journal spoke to Tad Walden, who founded FidoTV in October of 2015. FidoTV is channel 245 on DISH network.
n A candidate for McDowell County sheriff was arrested Friday, according to the Bluefield Daily Telegraph. Quinton L. Dawson, 61, of Jolo, was charged with fraudulent use of an access device, obtaining money under false pretenses and felony conspiracy. He allegedly took $700 from another person's Social Security debit card and EBT card. He also allegedly had nine other SSI cards and four other EBT cards that belonged to other people.
n Today is the sixth anniversary of the Upper Big Branch mine disaster. The Register-Herald reports that wreaths will be laid in Whitesville and a memorial service will be held in Beckley. The service will be held at 3 p.m. outside of the Raleigh County Courthouse. The anniversary falls on the day before the sentencing of Don Blankenship, the former CEO of Massey Energy. He was found guilty in December of conspiring to willfully violate mine safety standards at the mine.
n The Register-Herald reports on a way that coal company supervisors could manipulate continuous personal dust monitors, meant to let miners know how much dust they are exposed to, so that readings aren't accurate. Coal miners exposed to more dust particles are at higher risk of developing black lung disease. Samuel Petsonk, an attorney for Mountain State Justice, said that many miners work unscheduled overtime. He said a supervisor may set the monitor to work for eight hours, but a miner may work for 12 hours instead. The last hours of the shift are often the dustiest.
n At a town hall Monday night, Huntington city officials and healthcare professionals listed several ways the city has successfully tackled the opioid epidemic, The Herald-Dispatch reports. Michelle Perdue, director of the Cabell County Substance Abuse Prevention Partnership, said that 33 percent of high school seniors say prescription medications are easy to get, down 7 percent from past surveys. However, overdose is still the No. 3 cause of death in the county.
n New River Community and Technical College is cutting jobs and eliminating non-essential travel and cellphone stipends, according to the Mountain Messenger. The college blamed declining enrollment and budget cuts from the West Virginia Legislature. The newspaper reports that enrollment is also declining at community colleges throughout the state.
n Nearly 4,000 of West Virginia forest land was damaged by fire since the beginning of the year, MetroNews reports. Many people didn't heed an advisory over the weekend warning them not to burn during windy weather.
n More people have been attending the Cabell-Huntington Health Department's naloxone administration classes, now that the health department received a donation of naloxone auto-injectors to distribute. Naloxone is a life-saving drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. West Virginia Public Broadcasting spoke to one man who took the class, who said he was a former heroin user who has been clean for a year.
"I wouldn't want the idea of knowing I could have helped someone and didn't have the tools to do it with," he said.
Reach Erin Beck at erin.beck@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5163, Facebook.com/erinbeckwv, or follow @erinbeckwv on Twitter.