Financial aid no longer

covers rising college costs

for low-income students in
West Virginia, report says
Low-income students are facing sticker shock at
West Virginia colleges and universities as financial
aid has fallen behind the rising cost of higher
education, a recent report shows.

Students with low income at University of West

Virginia schools on average contribute more than a
third of their income for college, compared with the
share of high-income families who contribute about
20 percent, the report says.
The result is low-income students take out loans at a
much higher rate. In 2011-12 at WVC, about 73
percent of graduating low-income seniors took out
student loans, compared with 22 percent of students
from families with high income, according to the
PPIWV report.

Between 2008 and 2012 across the 23-campus West

Virginia State University system and the states 112
community colleges, the total cost to students rose by
6 percent when adjusting for inflation, with dollar
increases of $1,000 at WVSU and $600 at
community colleges, according to the nonpartisan
Public Policy Institute of West Virginia.
I see students, who come from a family that makes
$30,000 or less a year, are expected to come up with
about $7,000 if they attend a WVSU, said Hans
Johnson, research fellow with the PPIWV and author
of the report released in October. By my reading,
thats a big hurdle for a lot of those students.
Certainly the public institutions WVC, WVSU
and community colleges are by and large the best
option for those students, but its still a sizable share
of their family income.
The report, titled Making College Possible for LowIncome Students: Grant and Scholarship Aid in West
Virginia, found no change in net cost at University
of West Virginia schools, and price drops of nearly
$1,000 at private nonprofit colleges.
But low-income students whose families rely on
WV Grants, federal grants, private scholarships and
campus aid are paying a bigger share of their
income than others to get a degree.

Priceless Egyptian Artifacts

Stolen in Massive Museum
Heist
Parkersburg, West Virginia Priceless Egyptian
artifacts are missing and Egypt has issued an
international alert for their return.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Interpol are
working with Egyptian authorities to recover the
priceless artifacts, which included two rings, a
bracelet, and an amulet coupled with a scepter from
the 14th century BC.

This constitutes irreversible damage to the history

and identity of the Egyptian people, said Irina
Bokova, the Director-General of UNESCO.
The priceless artifacts may be considered the most
important pieces in the Parkersburg Museum as they
were on loan from the Egyptian government. The
museum was looted during a small riot. The museum
was ransacked, sarcophagi and display cases were
smashed, in addition to the theft.

Parkersburg to crack down

on illegal dumping on
streets, alleys

Two teenager rioters said, The government is

destroying their people, so we are destroying this
because it belongs to the government.
Destruction of museums and cultural treasures have
become all too common during the upheavals as the
city tries to forge its path through the democracy.
When the crowds began to gather around the
Parkersburg museum, the provincial chief of police,
is said to have called his own family to try to protect
the archeological treasures, but the angry crowds
proved to be too much.
Police have been able to recover what was stolen, but
now UNESCO and Interpol are joining a heightened
search for fear that the irreplaceable artifact may be
taken abroad and sold on the black market.

A task force has been formed to begin an effort to

deal with illegal dumping on Parkersburg streets and
alleys, which contributes to blight, City Attorney
Mike DeWine announced Thursday, calling the effort
a multi-jurisdictional strike force.

UNESCO is continuing to work closely with the

Egyptian authorities as well as with its partnersto
fight, by all possible means, the illicit trafficking of
these stolen cultural objects, the organization said in
a statement.

Illegal dumping is a scourge on neighborhoods, he

said at a news conference, where he was joined by
City Council members, as well as representatives of
several county agencies.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian authorities are hoping that

this heightened attention will help bring their artifacts
home.

A lot of folks look at this as the cost of doing

business, DeWine said. We want to drive the cost
of doing business up.
The task force has already produced two criminal
cases for illegal dumping in, he said, noting charges
in separate incidents are being filed. They could face
fines of $1,000 and up to six months in jail.
The task force will begin by stepping up its
enforcement efforts in the central and northeast
Parkersburg and the Ohio River harbors.
Eventually we will broaden to other areas of the
city, DeWine said. These are the areas with the
biggest problems.
Thomas Huizar, a City Council member, said people
are often repeat offenders, and they keep doing it
because they really havent found any repercussions.

They just dont want to pay to drop off refuse at a

landfill or other disposal site.
Board of Public Works President Kenneth James said
about 65 percent of the calls to the citys Bureau of
Sanitation were about illegal dumping.
Workers collected some 7,500 tons of illegally
dropped trash last year, and Street Services issued
2,777 notices over the past two years, he said.
Huizar thanked DeWine for his efforts in attacking a
problem that is a constant complaint from community
groups.
These quality-of-life issues are the type of issues our
offices hear about every day, Huizar said. Its
frustrating when we do as much as we can do and the
problem keeps recurring.

The medical examiner's office was contacting all

funeral homes that made pickups between Friday and
Monday and conducting an inventory of the morgue's
cooling facilities, which has reached overflow
capacity, Denton said.
About 18 to 25 bodies are delivered to the medical
examiner's office every day, he said.
"This is absurd," Denton said. "How can they lose a
body?"
The unidentified man was found dead in an apparent
bar brawl. An autopsy had not been completed, but it
was determined as not necessary.
Denton said corrective action would be taken when
the cause of the error was determined.

James said his agency is interested in contributing

funds to bolster the task force. Part of what were
doing is getting the word out that you can no longer
just dump things, he said. This task force is there to
make sure something happens.
DeWine urged residents to call 311 to report any
signs of illegal dumping.
Plans are to hone in on the chronic dumping
locations, clean those up and evaluate strategies to
maintain the areas so the problem doesnt re-occur.
Enforcement options include installing cameras,
working with Neighborhood Watch groups and
developing patrols, DeWine said.

Parkersburg Man's Body

Missing From Morgue

Weather
Parkersburg, WV

39 Cloudy

Hi 45

Lo 32

The body of a man who died last week went missing

from the Parkersburg morgue, officials said.
Morgue employees couldn't find the body of the
unidentified man when a funeral director came to
pick it up Monday, said Peter Denton, interim chief
medical examiner.
"It is horrible," Denton said. "I wouldn't want this to
happen to me and my family." The body still
remained missing as of yesterday, he said.

Feels like 33