3WZ Radio | radioNOVO News WV News Roundup for July 09, 2026

Good morning. Turning to news from across the Mountain State.A Mingo County judge has sentenced thirty-two-year-old Timothy Kennedy to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the brutal ambush-style murder of State Police Sergeant Cory Maynard. Following a lengthy emotional hearing in Williamson, Judge Joshua Butcher ordered Kennedy to serve his life term without mercy, adding an additional fifty years for armed robbery plus consecutive multi-decade sentences for disarming an officer and attempted murder. The severe consecutive penalties stem from a June two-thousand-twenty-three tragedy in the Beech Creek area where Kennedy shot a local resident before ambushing responding state troopers. Five grieving members of the Maynard family delivered passionate victim impact statements to the court before the final sentence was read.Meanwhile, emergency responders have reported significant technical progress on the massive industrial fire that has ravaged the Peoples Cartage warehouse facility off Camden Avenue in Wood County. Incident commanders state that while there is no longer any visible open fire or heavy black smoke originating from the complex, on-site personnel are continuing to utilize specialized thermal imaging equipment to uncover and douse deep structural hot spots. County officials officially lifted a widespread public shelter-in-place order yesterday afternoon after regional air monitoring data confirmed that atmospheric particulate levels have dropped safely below maximum health thresholds.In state political news, Governor Patrick Morrisey has officially appointed Shane Thomas Stack of Triadelphia to represent District Four within the West Virginia House of Delegates. Stack directly replaces former Delegate Bill Flanigan, who recently stepped down from his legislative seat to join the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia following a successful judicial election. Morrisey states that Stack's robust professional background in small business ownership, higher education administration, and municipal finance makes him an excellent fit to advocate for working families in Charleston.And public safety infrastructure is expanding significantly in southern West Virginia as the Logan County Emergency Management Department unveils its brand-new mobile communications command vehicle. Regional Director Ted Sparks states the custom trailer is fully equipped with five integrated dispatch workstations utilize the exact same routing technology found within the county's primary emergency center. The mobile asset was funded entirely through federal Homeland Security grants and will serve as a fully functional field operations site during large-scale regional disasters.For more news from across the state, download the radioNOVO app. I’m Codi Gaboff, radioNOVO News.