DUNBAR, WV (WOWK)– Two people are in custody after authorities responded to a possible child abduction in Dunbar, West Virginia on Monday.

According to West Virginia State Police, the 11-year-old female was last seen leaving a home with a male and female at approximately 11:30 p.m. on March 20. Troopers say the child and suspects were located a short time later in the area of 17th Street in Dunbar.

WVSP says the suspects, David McCallister, 20 of Charleston, and Jada McCallister, 18 of Dunbar have been charged with Conspiracy to Commit a Felony Against the State, Child Neglect with Risk of Bodily Injury, and Abducting a Child Near a School under 16 years old.

Authorities confirm that McCallister is registered as a sex offender for a previous conviction of sexual abuse of a 7-year-old. 

The victim did not sustain any injuries during this incident. This is an active and ongoing investigation. Both suspects are being held at the South Central Regional Jail with no bond.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina is inching ever closer to a presidential bid in 2024, scheduling his latest swing through early-voting states before returning home afterward to give donors a “political update.”

According to an invitation obtained by The Associated Press, Scott will meet with donors to hold what’s being advertised as a “Faith in America Summit” next month in Charleston. The schedule notes a reception and dinner on April 14, as well as “breakfast, policy discussions, and political update” the following day.

The event, characterized by a person familiar with Scott’s plans as a gathering of “high-level fundraisers and supporters,” directly follows Scott’s stops in Iowa and New Hampshire. The schedule was first reported by Politico.

The senator is expected to soon make a decision on whether to launch a 2024 campaign, according to the person familiar with his plans who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Scott, the Senate’s sole Black Republican, would join others already in the race, including former President Donald Trump, tech investor Vivek Ramaswamy and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who appointed Scott to the Senate in 2012.

With “faith in America” — the title of his most recent book, published last year — emerging as a theme for his anticipated presidential bid, Scott has been aiming to articulate a vision that sets him apart from some possible GOP rivals who have focused more on railing against cultural divides.

“I see 330 million Americans getting back to celebrating our shared blessings again, tolerating our differences again, and having each other’s backs again,” he said in a speech to about 100 students and Republicans last month in Iowa. “We need new leaders who will lift us up, not tear us down.”

Last weekend, he joined other Republicans, including Haley and Ramaswamy, on stage at a conservative forum in North Charleston, where there was much focus on arguing against a “woke ideology” against which many in the party have railed.

“The radical left is trying to get people hooked on victimhood,” Scott said that even, adding that, according to Democrats, “if you’re white you must be an oppressor. If you’re Black or brown, you are the victim.”

Chad Walldorf, a longtime Scott supporter and donor, said Wednesday that he would attend the Charleston gathering next month and plans to support him in 2024, if he does run.

“I look forward to hearing Tim’s thoughts on the political landscape and learn more about what he’s thinking in terms of a potential presidential run,” Walldorf said.

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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP

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© 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

Police arrested two people Monday in connection with a fatal shooting over the weekend in Portsmouth.

Brandon M. Riddick, 20, was arrested on four charges, including second-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission on a felony and discharging a firearm from a vehicle. Janet M. Hatcher, 36, was charged with second-degree murder.

On Sunday, police said Tyler Hardill, 20, walked into a hospital with a gunshot wound. He died of his injuries. Police responded to a crime scene on the 1200 block of Frederick Boulevard, near a Walmart Supercenter in Midtown.

Cianna Morales, 757-957-1304, cianna.morales@virginiamedia.com

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched exploding drones that killed at least four people at a student dormitory near Kyiv before dawn Wednesday, just hours after Japan’s prime minister left the Ukrainian capital following a show of support for the country, and as Chinese leader Xi Jinping left Moscow after discussing his proposal for ending the war, was rejected by the West as a non-starter.

A high school and two dormitories were partially destroyed in an overnight drone attack in the city of Rzhyshchiv, south of the Ukrainian capital, local officials said. It wasn’t clear how many people were in the dormitories at the time.

The body of a 40-year-old man was pulled from the rubble on a dormitory’s fifth floor, according to regional police chief Andrii Nebytov.

More than 20 people were hospitalized, Nebytov said, and a few others were unaccounted for.

Ukrainian air defenses downed 16 of the 21 drones launched by Russia, the Ukraine General Staff said. Eight of them were shot down near the capital, according to the city’s military administration. Other drone attacks struck central-western Khmelnytskyi province.

The drone barrage and other Russian overnight attacks that struck civilian infrastructure drew a scathing response from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a day after Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed China’s proposals for negotiating an end to the war.

“Over 20 Iranian murderous drones, plus missiles, numerous shelling occasions, and that’s just in one last night of Russian terror,” Zelenskyy wrote in English on Twitter.

“Every time someone tries to hear the word ‘peace’ in Moscow, another order is given there for such criminal strikes,” he wrote.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is the current chair of the Group of Seven countries, made a surprise visit to Kyiv on Tuesday, throwing his support behind Zelenskyy’s government as his Asian rival Xi sided with Putin.

After returning to Poland Wednesday morning, Kishida said he had expressed the “unwavering determination of solidarity” of Japan and G-7 to Ukraine during his talks with Zelenskyy.

Kishida’s visit to Ukraine was “very meaningful” for Japan’s future support for that country, Japan’s top government spokesman said Wednesday.

“Through Prime Minister Kishida’s visit to Ukraine, Japan was able to show not only to other members of the G-7 but also the international society including the Global South (nations) its determination to defend the rules-based international society,” Hirokazu Matsuno said.

Kishida’s visit snatched away some of the attention from Xi’s trip to Moscow where he promoted Beijing’s peace proposal for Ukraine, which Western nations had already dismissed as a way to consolidate Moscow’s gains. Xi left Moscow early Wednesday.

The visits by Xi and Kishida, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) apart, highlighted how countries are lining up behind Moscow or Kyiv during the nearly 13-month-old war.

In a joint statement, Russia and China emphasized the need to “respect legitimate security concerns of all countries” to settle the conflict, echoing Moscow’s argument that it sent in troops to prevent the U.S. and its NATO allies from turning the country into an anti-Russian bulwark.

Kishida, by contrast, called Russia’s invasion a “disgrace that undermines the foundations of the international legal order” and pledged to “continue to support Ukraine until peace is back on the beautiful Ukrainian lands.”

Ukraine’s finance ministry said Wednesday said it has agreed with the International Monetary Fund on a $15.6 billion loan package aimed at shoring up Kyiv’s finances. Russia’s invasion has crippled the economy, and Ukrainian officials hope the IMF deal will encourage their allies to provide financial support, too.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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© 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.