The CuddleCot is known around the world for assisting families when they suffer the loss of a baby. The system cools the baby's body and keeps skin hydrated allowing grieving parents time to spend with their child.

When the couple learned that PCH didn't have a CuddleCot, they decided to donate one to the Women's Center as a tribute to their son.

"I think it is very beneficial, because unfortunately the sad reality is that we do have babies that pass. Everyone thinks labor and delivery is all sunshine and rainbows and every baby lives. But unfortunately, some don't make it. So, this gives parents time to come to term with what happened and still get that bonding time," said Jackie Mency, the Director of the PCH Women's Center.

This fall, the parents presented a CuddleCot to the Women's Center after it made its way from the United Kingdom to West Virginia. A special plaque inscribed with the name of Gettys' and Norman's child was included with the donation.

GHENT, WV (WVNS) -- *Updated Friday, January 5th, 2024* A winter storm is shaping up to bring a messy weekend disrupting travel plans with rain, ice, and measurable snow for some. Your StormTracker 59 Team broke down the weekend forecast, what to watch for, and the impacts expected.

Current Weather Alerts:

McDowell, Wyoming, Northwest Raleigh, Giles, Tazewell, Bland & Northwest Fayette
Winter Weather Advisory - 1 AM to 1 PM Saturday. 
Southeast Nicholas & Pocahontas
Winter Weather Advisory - 7 AM Saturday to 1 AM Sunday. 
Southeast Raleigh & Southeast Fayette
Winter Weather Advisory - 1 AM Saturday to 1 AM Sunday. 
Mercer, Summers, Monroe, & Greenbrier
Winter Weather Advisory - 4 AM Saturday to 1 AM Sunday.

Forecast Overview

A complex and large system is expected to move toward the region Friday night and head in early Saturday morning before dawn. This multi-level impact storm will make for a messy weekend. With such a complex forecast, it's best to think of our weekend in slices, like a pizza. Each slice will feature different aspects, like rain and freezing rain turning to snow and back again depending on location, time of day, and elevation. Below, we've broken down your weekend forecast into sections of time with slide shows and what to expect during each time period:

Friday Night (8pm - 2am)

Friday night, clouds will increase as our storm gets closer to our region. By midnight, we'll see freezing rain push in from the southwest. Icy roads late into the night can be expected through Tazewell, McDowell, and Wyoming counties. Road temperatures at this point are just at the freezing mark. Elevated roads, power lines, and trees will begin to glaze over with ice while surface roads will likely be wet. As rain showers clash with colder air in the mountains, east of I-77, sleet & wet snow will begin to stick late into the night. Overnight temps will continue to cool, meaning even roads through our southwestern counties will begin to ice over.

IMPACTS: Rain to Freezing Rain making untreated roads slick. Use caution

Saturday Morning (2am - 8am)

As the center of the low pressure system moves into the region, the leading edge of precipitation hits colder air in the mountains for periods of wet heavy snow showers. Along I-77, freezing rain and sleet will make travel difficult for untreated roads. For those farther south and west through Tazewell, McDowell, and Tazewell counties, the air warms up enough with southwest winds for a straight rain event. Disruptions to daily life and travel will be evident in the mountains more so than our lower elevation counties.

IMPACTS: Driving conditions deteriorate quickly with heavy snow in the mountains, sheets of ice along I-77, and wet roads with standing water south and west of Beckley.

Saturday (8am-4pm)

With the center of the low working through the Ohio River Valley, strong southeast winds ramp up with wind gusts 25-30mph at times, higher on the ridgelines. With ice covered trees and power lines, localized power outages are likely. Large vehicles like SUVs and semis will find driving east to west roads difficult. As freezing rain continues to fall through the I-77 corridor and heavy snow and ice through the mountains along I-64, driving conditions continue to worsen. This will be the height of the storm with conditions changing quickly. Sleet to snow to rain transitions will happen often and quickly.

IMPACTS: Rapidly changing conditions from one county to the next / strong winds leading to power outages / wind-driven heavy snow, sleet, ice, and rain / long duration event

Saturday Night (4pm- 4am)

By Saturday night, the main event of the storm is pushing out towards our north and east. Winds subside, some 10-15mph gusts at times out of the west. This change keeps temps from falling too far. South and west of Beckley, temps remain above freezing for a soggy overnight. Along the I-77 corridor ground temps hover around the freezing mark for patchy icy spots on roads overnight. For higher elevations through Fayette, Nicholas, Greenbrier, and Pocahontas counties, refreezing and snow showers continue. As our storm continues to push off towards New England, winds will shift out of the northwest by pre-dawn Sunday.

IMPACTS: Wet roads southwest / refreezing along and east of I-77 / scattered snow showers and sleet continue

Sunday Morning (4am - 11am)

Winds change out of the west-northwest becoming more northwest by the late morning 25-30 mph at times. These winds will carry wraparound moisture from our low moving through Canada while picking up moisture from the Great Lakes. As this hits our western facing mountains, upslope snow and scattered snow showers for the lowlands are expected. While most of us will have all the snow we're going to get by Sunday morning, the exception here is the higher elevations through Nicholas, Greenbrier, and Pocahontas County, who will continue to see snow accumulations. By noon, counties across the region will have snow totals similar to our snowfall forecast map. With strong northwest winds, wind chill values will plummet for the mountains into the teens while those off the ridgelines will be in the twenties.

IMPACTS: Snow squalls can quickly cover roadways with snow / Accumulating snows in the mountains continue / Frostbite threat is real and can occur in under 30 minutes of exposure

Sunday Afternoon (11am - 6pm)

Strong winds will continue to blow snow over open roads and wind chills will be stuck in the teens for the mountains. Snow showers fade for most with the exception being the higher elevations towards the northwestern West Virginia mountains like Pocahontas, Webster, and Randolph counties. As we being to dial back snows, roads will be slick in spots with road crews working hard to clear them. While there won't be much sunshine, solar radiation will help keep roads clear through the daylight hours for places south of I-64 through Greenbrier County.

Sunday Night to Monday Morning (6pm - 6am)

With our storm moving out, high pressure from the south and west will edge its way into our region bringing a more stable air mass with it. Snow showers come to an end for our mountain counties and clouds slow fade away. Roads will refreeze in the overnight hours as temps drop into the 20s for all. Winds begin to subside and change out of the southwest. This change will set us up for a thawing day Monday afternoon with highs expected to reach into the 40s.

By Friday, very little changes are expected to this forecast as we get closer to our weekend. Pinpointing where the colder air sets up will only change the forecast slightly based on where that rain / ice / snow line sets up. However, in past storms that have set up like this, we've seen messy conditions that change rapidly. This will be less about how many inches of snow we get but the impacts from one county to the next. Some will see only rain and wonder why we made such a fuss while others will see an ice glaze on roads that make driving during certain times Saturday near impossible. Those in the mountains will look at the 4-6 inches of snow Sunday morning making minor changes to their plans heading into the new week.

While our job is to provide as much information as possible, conditions can sometimes change faster than we can type. The bottom line all of us should take away from this is to expect minor disruptions to your daily life with rapidly changing road conditions. Take it easy on roads and if possible, hold off travel for better conditions. We won't be snowed in for days at a time but could find roads hard to drive on for 12-16 hours during Saturday, especially in the mountains.

We'll of course keep our regular daily forecast updated with changing conditions and post current and finer detailed forecast on our social media pages. This includes future advisories, winter storm watches & warning from the National Weather Service as they come in.

Held from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Bank of Glen Jean at 23 County Route 25/9 directly across the road from Park Headquarters in the Glen Jean area of Fayette County, the meeting will discuss the project to remove excess structures. It will address deferred maintenance needs, as well as allowing community members to give comments during the event on provided cards.

Information about the project will be displayed at the meeting, and park staff will be available to answer questions and listen to comments from the public. At this time the project is in the early proposal stage, and suggestions and comments are appreciated as the planning process moves forward.

A chance to give comments and learn more can be found on the NPS planning website until January 15, 2024 for anyone who cannot go to the public meeting.

The West Virginia Division of Highways (WVDOH) has more than 1,000 trucks with plows across the state that can also spread salt. In order for the trucks to be on the roads 24 hours a day, the trucks have drivers for both a 12-hour day shift, and a 12-hour night shift.

As always, we are prepared for any snowfall event. We attack each storm with the same level of importance of having every available truck on the road.

Joe Pack | P.E. WVDOH Chief Engineer of District Operations

To keep the roadways as clear and safe as possible, snowplow drivers with the WVDOH will be on the roads, and will be clearing the roads as long as snow is falling. According to Pack, for wintry mix weather events the WVDOH uses salt mixed with a higher amount of stone.

As the abrasives are applied at a higher rate on the roadway, it does not allow the ice sheet to form a solid. It forms around that small rock and as the traffic drives over it, it cracks. The cracking allows the salt solution to penetrate the ice, melting it from underneath.

Joe Pack | P.E. WVDOH Chief Engineer of District Operations

The WVDOH has a supply of over 231,000 tons of salt across the state, and typically, a snowplow can hold 12 tons of salt. This amount of salt can treat approximately 100 lane miles of road, which equals around 25 miles of four-lane or 50 miles of two-lane roads.

During winter weather events, drivers are reminded to be careful, slow down around snowplows, not to pass the truck, and to give the snowplow drivers space on the roads.

Winners will be chosen by grade school level, with an award of $500, plus an additional $1,000 to be used towards the STEAM programs at their school.

In order for a teacher or educator to be eligible, they must be involved in the classroom setting in a West Virginia school for at least 1 year. Teachers and educators can nominate their selves, or be nominated by colleagues, students, or anyone familiar with the environmental program that is running the event.

Awards will be given based on the outstanding environmental work that teacher or educators expressed through their lesson plans and other work that is taught to the students.

Last year's winners were:

• Tiffany Pace, Cross Lanes Elementary, Kanawha County
• Amelia Mullens, Barrackville Middle School, Marion County
• Renee Haines, Martinsburg High School, Berkeley County

To nominate yourself or a fellow educator, applications are available at: https://dep.wv.gov. Type in “Make It Shine” in the search bar. For more information, contact Annette Hoskins at: Annette.L.Hoskins@wv.gov or call 304-926-0499 ext. 49759.

The deadline for application submission is February 14, 2024.

According to the Kanawha County Sheriff's Office, the signs — valued at more than $29,000 — were stolen from a "nostalgic service station" in Preston County called Westbrook's Esso in June 2023.

The signs are something you would see right out of "American Pickers," with logos like Texaco, AMLICO, Gulf Oil and Esso being on some of the stolen signs.

The Kanawha County Sheriff's Office says the rest of the signs are believed to be in Kanawha County, so if you have any information on where they might be, call 304-357-0556 or send a tip by clicking here.

63-year-old Frederick Sayre Anderson pleaded guilty to concealing, harboring, and shielding an alien from detection.

According to court statements, Anderson signed and submitted Form I-129F, Petition for Alien Fiancée, to the United States Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on June 10, 2010. He revealed that he filed the form to get a 90-day fiancée K-1 nonimmigrant visa, in order for a foreign national to come back into the United States.

The foreign national received the visa, that stated she and Anderson would need to marry within 90 days. On January 8, 2011, the woman arrived in the United States, where Anderson proceeded to pick her up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Anderson took her to Parkersburg, West Virginia the next day, and until May 7, 2021, the woman lived and worked at Anderson's business.

It was revealed by Anderson that the foreign national was not paid for the work she did at his business. He also admitted that they never got married, and that her K-1 visa expired on April 8, 2011, which meant that her presence in the United States was against the law.

Federal immigration agents went to Anderson's business approximately three times in May 2021. During the visits, Anderson revealed that he ensured that the woman would not be found by the government officials by telling her to hide behind the business. Anderson continued to lie to the federal agents by claiming the woman had left months before, did not live there, and he did not know her location.

Anderson's sentencing is scheduled for April 18, 2024, and he faces up to five years in prison, three years of probation, and a $250,000 fine.

Mr. Anderson’s criminal conduct facilitated the exploitation of an individual for more than a decade. While human trafficking is not charged in this case, it underscores the importance of learning how to identify, prevent and respond to coerced labor and other forms of human trafficking.

Will Thompson | United States Attorney

The announcement was made by Thompson, who complimented the West Virginia State Police, the Parkersburg Police Department, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security-Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) for their work on the investigation.

Ciliberti, Jr. said that he is a good fit for this position since he has served the citizens of Fayette County for over three years as Prosecuting Attorney and wants to continue to extend his services and accomplishments to the community.

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Concord University's Esports Maroon Team recently secured a national championship with the team captain, Will Jackson, at the helm. The team competed against Brewton-Parker College on December 13, 2023, at the Eastern College Athletic Conference Elite Division.

The team consisted of Ethan Tucker, Chase Koger, and team captain Will Jackson. The team competed in a video game known as Rocket League, a competitive game that operates like soccer but has the use of tricked-out cars to maneuver the ball.

“Going into the season, the staff and I were pretty confident that this young and new roster of mostly unheard-of or overlooked players was going to come out and show they mean business. When we went 7-1 in ECAC regular season only losing to Brewton Parker College, we knew who we had to prepare for in the playoffs. It was clear in the Grand Finals who was better prepared for that match, which allowed us to take home the victory. I am proud of the guys and can’t wait for them to run it back during the spring season.”

Austin Clay, Concord University's Esports Director

Students are given the opportunity to work with experienced, professionals in the Esports field thanks to Concord offering a Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies-Esports. Several positions exists in the world of Esports beyond being a skilled gamer and Concord University's new program helps to guide students into the world of Esports.

For more information on Concord's Esports team, visit their website.

It Is important, to not only keep up with your physical health, but also your mental health.

For those that are struggling with their mental health, there are many resources available.

Cindy Christian, Health Literacy Director at Southern Highlands CMHC, gave a few tips to help with mental wellness.

“Things that they can do to help themselves is be kind to themselves and others, try some journaling or reading a book. They can take time and connect with others. We want them to sleep well and exercise and also just take care of their overall health. Being mindful of those things can help with mental wellness" said Christian.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, it is estimated that more than one in five U.S. adults live with a mental illness.

Christian said physical and mental health co-exist.

“We would just like to say at Southern Highlands, we want everybody to look at their overall mental health and physical health. They both play a part in staying healthy. It’s not just the physical side or the mental side. They both affect each other" said Christian to 59News.

Mental Wellness Awareness Month is a time to not only look out for yourself, but those around you as well. For those that are struggling with their mental health, don’t hesitate to reach out for help. Physical health is important, but mental health is as well.