Matt Lackritz
Reporter
Charleston, West Virginia
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Matt Lackritz is a reporter for WSAZ. After growing up just outside of Cleveland, OH, he went to Ohio University. Matt’s first taste of the news business was as an intern with WKYC in Cleveland where he worked as an assignment editor and with the investigative team. In 2019, Matt made his way to Tyler, Texas where he spent two and a half years as a reporter. While there he covered a wide variety of stories impacting the East Texas community.
Outside of work, Matt enjoys playing tennis and is a big Cleveland sports fan!
You can reach Matt by sending him an email at matt.lackritz@wsaz.tv. You can also find him on Twitter @MattLackritz or on Facebook @mattlackritznews
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Four cars got stuck on Doc Bailey Road in Cross Lanes after they tried to drive through high water. No one was injured.
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The county EMS director reported active flooding in part of the county, including at an EMS station, but no reported injuries or water rescues.
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The event brought back nostalgic memories for some who attended.
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Hurricane Mayor Scott Edwards said the woman’s car ended up on the side of the road near railroad tracks after flipping many times.
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In a 6-3 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court has made a decision in the West Virginia v. EPA case, voting in favor of West Virginia and dealing a major blow to the EPA.
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Charleston Police say there will be roaming officers at the Charleston Sternwheel Regatta and two stationed at every intersection.
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The crash was reported around 5 p.m. in the Kelly Mountain area of Logan County.
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Looking at Richard Johnson's yard, it doesn't look like there's any issues outside of a bit of water near the road. However, walking through it, every step is soggy.
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Appalachian Power spokesperson Phil Moye said Mingo is the only county that started the day with more than 1,000 people without power.
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The town of Sutton did not have a city police department for three years before March 2022. Last week, Sutton Police Chief Shane Boggs resigned.
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When temperatures are this hot, leaving your pet outside for too long can lead to them dealing with serious heat-related illnesses.
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"It's a lot of work ahead of us, about 1,200 locations where we've got to go out and make some sort of repair to get everyone back on," an Appalachian Power spokesman said.
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Joshua Phillips, 38, of Charleston, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Officer Cassie Johnson.
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To begin the third day of the trial on Wednesday, dozens of pictures were shown to the jury from the crime scene along Garrison Avenue in Charleston.
As the trial against the man accused of shooting and killing a Charleston police officer entered its second day, law enforcement who responded to the deadly scene approached the witness stand.
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The judge sided with the state Monday morning, ruling the trial for a man accused of killing a Charleston police officer will stay in Kanawha County.
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A road slip we first told you about on May 19 has noticeably worsened to the point that those who live close by worry soon they won't be able to drive through.
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A portion of Crab Creek Road in Mason County is down to one lane after a slip made part of it impassable. Those who live nearby, including Randy Searls, said the area has been a problem for months and has only gotten worse.
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Five years ago, Rebecca Coburn said she started her journey braiding hair in a 100-square-foot space. In March, she opened her new location in downtown Charleston which she said is nine times larger than her last place.
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Archie Ray Adkins went missing from Bulger, West Virginia and was found nearly four hours away from his home in Greenville, Virginia.
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The charter school set to open in Nitro has been delayed for at least a year, and educators are looking for a new location.
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After posting a photo of the Jeep on the Putnam County Sheriff's Facebook page, they got a call from the person driving the car asking to talk with the sheriff.
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According to a criminal complaint, Sydney McCracken overdosed in her apartment with two small children present, ages 5 and 6, one who was her child.
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At Riders Creek Road in Hurricane, a slip in the road is so bad that school buses have stopped taking the road -- leading to some parents having to walk miles to pick up their kids.
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AAA said the average price for a gallon of gas in West Virginia is $4.38. That's below the national average of $4.56.
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“I think it’s not only changed us, but it’s actually even changed the public the view on what volunteer firefighters, EMS providers and cops actually do,” Chief Deputy for the Gassaway Fire Department Shane Dillenger said.
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Division of Highway crews are working on repairing a section of Route 34 in Putnam County near Liberty after last week’s heavy rain.
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As it stands, Kanawha is the only county in West Virginia that prohibits ATVs from driving on paved roads.
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The driver said he’s not planning on driving through anything like that again.
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A Sissonville man said he has spent years trying to get the Division of Highways to work on Derricks Creek Road.
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As the TEAM Vaccinate program comes to a close, more than $1 million has gone to 23 schools.
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Frontier said American Electric Power cut two of their large cables, resulting in an outage for two customers we asked them about.
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“We lost enrollment this year again, we were down, I want to say close to 400 students, and the state only funds us for the amount of students we have,” Kanawha County School District Superintendent Dr. Tom Williams said.
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Suddenlink shared a statement with WSAZ that said in part: "Our goal is to always provide exceptional service and support, and we apologize to the Mounts family for this experience and are providing a credit for the time they were offline.”
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Kanawha County Commissioner Ben Salango said they’ve been planning an early voting location on the West Side since October but didn’t finalize a location until much later.
“She’s a terminal heart patient sent home to pass away four and a half years ago,” David Mounts said. "She’s had four strokes, ten heart attacks, and it’s vital that we have that for communication.”
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The department has never had body cameras, and it’s been at least 10 years since they’ve had dash cameras.
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After nearly two years of renovating the Kanawha-Charleston Public Library, it’s set to open to the public on May 9.
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The Lincoln County School District shared in an April 6 Facebook post that 14-year-old Braydn Pinson, an eighth-grader at Duval Middle School, had died.
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Kanawha County students will soon have the chance to join a program unlike any other in West Virginia.
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There were some scary moments for students Wednesday after a gun and a knife were found at Lincoln County High School, and a gun and a magazine were found on a bus on the way to Ripley Middle School.
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Lincoln County High School administration received a report of an unidentified student in possession of a weapon around 10:22 a.m.
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For around a year and a half, the Lincoln County school district has been under a school state of emergency due to a whole host of problems.
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“When you got a road that’s literally fallen off into the river everywhere just about in Logan County, I mean, that should take priority," the lawmaker told us.
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Launched more than 50 years ago in West Virginia’s capital city, the Charleston Sternwheel Regatta is set to make a big return this summer.
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West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice signed two bills that will change how and when cameras can be looked at in special education classes.
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The issue is to the point that some departments say 40-50% of fires they’re sent to are at vacant homes.
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With no driveway, sidewalks, trash everywhere, and up a steep hill, the fire created all sorts of challenges for Charleston firefighters.
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Around 3 a.m. Monday, two tractor-trailers crashed into one another on U.S. 35 in Mason County, leading to a long cleanup.
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More human remains were discovered Thursday near Clendenin, according to detectives with the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department.