Latest Virginia Headlines
All the headlines from our Virginia Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Business Moves
Feb 8 2009 // Liberty Mutual, Wausau Liberty Mutual Group, which sells insurance both direct and through independent agents, is discontinuing direct distribution to mid-sized businesses and now plans to distribute its commercial...
Kentucky Reeling from Ice Storm; Slow FEMA Response Hit
Feb 2 2009 // In some parts of rural Kentucky, they’re getting water the old-fashioned way — with pails from a creek. There’s not room for one more sleeping bag on the shelter floor. The creative are flushing their...
2 More West Virginia Families Reach Sago Mine Settlements
Jan 28 2009 // Court records show that families of two more workers who died in the Sago Mine disaster have settled their lawsuits with the mine’s operator. Details of the settlement with International Coal Group were not made...
BrickStreet Writes Outside West Virginia; Drops Worst In-State Accounts
Jan 25 2009 // BrickStreet Mutual Insurance has written its first out-of-state policy. The policy, which went into effect Jan. 1, covers the employees of a West Virginia-based pipeline company working in the Commonwealth of...
West Virginia Mutual Insurance Pays Off $24 Million State Loan
Jan 21 2009 // West Virginia Mutual Insurance Co. (WVMIC), formerly known as the West Virginia Physician’s Mutual Insurance Co., has paid off the $24 million surplus loan it received in 2004 from the State of West Virginia. WVMIC...
West Virginia Insurer BrickStreet Mutual Elects Flaherty Chairman
Jan 20 2009 // BrickStreet Mutual Insurance Co.’s board of directors has elected Charleston attorney Thomas V. Flaherty to serve as its new chairman. In addition, BrickStreet Senior Vice President and General Counsel Thomas J....
Brickstreet Writes First Workers Comp Policy Outside West Virginia
Jan 12 2009 // BrickStreet Mutual Insurance has written its first out-of-state policy. The policy, which went into effect Jan. 1, covers the employees of a West Virginia-based pipeline company working in the Commonwealth of...
West Va. Court Absolves Insurer in Underage Drinking Case
Jan 11 2009 // The West Virginia Supreme Court says a homeowner’s insurance company should not be held liable for paying damages stemming from a fatal alcohol-related accident involving underaged drinkers. In its unanimous ruling,...
Greenbrier Owner Weighs Options for Money-Losing West Virginia Resort
Jan 5 2009 // Railroad operator CSX Corp. has hired New York investment banker Goldman, Sachs & Co. to help determine what to do with the money-losing luxury resort. The aim is to make the White Sulphur Springs landmark a viable...
West Virginia Workers’ Compensation Writer BrickStreet Drops Policies
Jan 4 2009 // West Virginia’s BrickStreet Insurance is looking to trim costs in 2009 by dropping nearly 1,000 workers’ compensation policies its chief calls the worst of the worst. Greg Burton says the policies have brought...
Inspector Shortage Hampers West Virginia Coal Mine Safety Effort
Dec 30 2008 // An inability to retain inspectors is hurting West Virginia’s efforts to make the inherently dangerous business of coal mining safer. Faced with a turnover rate topping 20 percent, the state is scrambling — for...
Massey Energy to Pay $4.2 Million in 2006 Fatal West Virginia Fire
Dec 29 2008 // A Massey Energy subsidiary has agreed to pay $4.2 million in civil and criminal penalties and plead guilty to federal charges stemming from a fire that killed two miners at a southern West Virginia coal mine in January...
West Virginia High Court: Insurer Not Liable in Underage Drinking Case
Dec 19 2008 // The West Virginia Supreme Court says a homeowner’s insurance company should not be held liable for paying damages stemming from a fatal alcohol-related accident involving underaged drinkers. In its unanimous ruling,...
3,000 Tickets Issued During Virginia Road Safety Crackdown
Dec 11 2008 // A law enforcement safety operation on Interstates 64 and 66 in Virginia yielded more than two dozen arrests and more than 3,000 tickets. State police say Operation Air, Lane and Speed was conducted last Friday and Saturday...
Pole-Climbing Robots Could Save Lives of Construction Workers
Dec 11 2008 // Researchers have developed a trio of pole-climbing serpentine robots designed to take the place of construction workers tasked with dangerous jobs such as inspecting high-rises or underwater bridge piers. The Robotics and...
Truck Drivers Teach West Virginia Teens About Road Safety
Dec 9 2008 // Professional truck drivers will be in West Virginia this week demonstrating to teens how to avoid accidents with tractor-trailers. Share the Road is an outreach program of the American Trucking Association that educates...
West Virginia Judiciary Nixes Switching to Nonpartisan Elections
Dec 5 2008 // A group representing West Virginia’s judiciary has decided not to endorse a proposal to end the election of state judges along partisan lines. The West Virginia Judiciary Association adopted a resolution this week...
U.S. Supreme Court Stays Out of West Virginia Damages Case
Dec 3 2008 // The U.S. Supreme Court is refusing to enter a politically charged case from West Virginia, a major coal producing state, that involves a large punitive damages award and allegations of bias by a state judge. In an order...
Virginia’s Fall Fire Season Ends with 304 Acres Burned
Dec 3 2008 // Virginia’s fall fire season has ended, with far fewer scorched acres than the spring edition. Over the 47-day season that ended Sunday, the Virginia Department of Forestry responded to 67 fires that burned 304 acres....
West Virginia Mulls Switch to ‘Nonpartisan’ Judge Elections
Dec 2 2008 // West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin may ask the Legislature next year to end West Virginia’s practice of electing its judiciary along partisan political lines, at least for the state’s circuit court judges. Manchin...
