Gov. Jim Justice traveled the state Wednesday to surprise the winners of the three biggest prizes given away in the 5th round of the “Do it or Babydog: Save a life, Change your life” Vaccination Sweepstakes.
Fairmont resident and WVU nurse Denise Morrison’s life was changed forever when she received a surprise visit at work from the Governor and Babydog, who announced that her name had been drawn as the latest million-dollar prize winner of the sweepstakes.
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The Governor and Babydog also surprised Hope To from Charleston and surprised Shannon Cook from the community of Glen Dale in Marshall County, presenting them each with the keys to brand-new, custom-outfitted trucks.
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A total of 50 West Virginians were announced as prize winners Wednesday. Additional prizes included two full four-year scholarships to any public institution in the state, five lifetime hunting licenses, five lifetime fishing licenses, five custom hunting rifles, five custom hunting shotguns, and 25 weekend getaways to West Virginia State Parks.
All West Virginians who have had at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine can register at DoitforBabydog.wv.gov for an opportunity to join the list of winners. Over 362,000 West Virginians have registered for the sweepstakes to date.
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On Tuesday, Gov. Justice announced that zero new COVID-19-related deaths have been reported in West Virginia since his previous briefing on Friday last week.
“We’re still not out of the woods, we know that,” Gov. Justice added. “We’ve lost 2,919 folks in West Virginia, we still have a little over 1,000 active cases, and we’ve still got a bunch of folks in our hospitals and ICUs. But we have come a long, long way, West Virginia."
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On Thursday, Gov. Justice reported that there were 35 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 Delta variant in West Virginia, up from 22 such cases as of his previous briefing on Tuesday. With Delta variant cases increasing quickly across the entire nation, the Governor and West Virginia Coronavirus Czar Dr. Clay Marsh once again pleaded with all West Virginians who have not yet been vaccinated against COVID-19 to do so as soon as possible.
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Gov. Justice joined U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, Congresswoman Carol Miller, and several other officials for an event Friday celebrating the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve in southern West Virginia. The park officially became America’s newest national park in December 2020. As part of the event, Gov. Justice unveiled all-new highway signage to reflect its new status as a national park.
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On Tuesday, Gov. Justice attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a project to restore the Buffalo Creek Gauley Rail Corridor. The Buffalo Creek Gauley Rail Corridor had been an instrumental economic asset to Clay County since 1904. At its peak, coal was removed from the mountains around Widen, WV, and brought to Dundon, WV, where it was loaded onto the Baltimore Ohio Railroad for use across America.
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On Wednesday, Gov. Justice visited Paden City to recognize a special young West Virginian. Logan Fluharty, who attends Paden City High School, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in April 2020. The Ohio Valley Avengers, a charity organization made up of high school students that partner with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, held a special ceremony for Logan, giving him a shirt and a cape and naming him “Laser” Logan Fluharty.
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On Tuesday, Gov. Justice took time to spotlight the world-class basketball action underway in Charleston this week. The event, named simply “The Basketball Tournament,” features teams from across the country competing for a $1 million+, winner-take-all grand prize.
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Gov. Justice asked all West Virginians to cheer on former WVU Mountaineer Patrick Sunderman during the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo. Sunderman, a former member of the WVU Rifle Team and former member of the West Virginia National Guard, will be competing in the Men’s Smallbore Rifle 50-meter event on Sunday, July 25, at 10:30 p.m. eastern.
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Contractors set off the first of many explosive blasts Tuesday to get ready for major upgrades to the Nitro-St. Albans Bridge on Interstate 64. West Virginia Division of Highways plans to build a new bridge beside the existing Nitro-St. Albans Bridge to carry westbound traffic, then build a new bridge on the site of the existing structure using a portion of the existing bridge piers to carry eastbound traffic. The bridge upgrade is part of a $244 million project under Gov. Justice’s Roads to Prosperity construction program to widen Interstate 64 to six lanes from Nitro to the US 35 interchange at Scott Depot.
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Efforts to restore native brook trout in the Mountain State continue and fisheries biologists for the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources recently surveyed a trout stream in Tucker County to see if the project is showing signs of success. The data collected helps the WVDNR manage native brook trout, protect habitat and mitigate conservation threats caused by increasing water temperature and loss of habitat.
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On Tuesday, the West Virginia Department of Education announced 10 finalists for the 2021-2022 West Virginia School Service Personnel of the Year. This honor recognizes the commitment and dedication of staff members in the public school system who work beyond expectations to serve students and families in their communities. This year’s finalists are bus operators, cafeteria managers, secretaries, and custodians from around the state.
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