Latest Virginia Headlines
All the headlines from our Virginia Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Blankenship Jury Still Deadlocked in West Virginia Mine Blast Case
Dec 2 2015 // Jurors at former Massey Energy Co. Chief Donald Blankenship’s criminal trial ended their eighth day of deliberations after telling the judge they remain deadlocked on charges the coal executive plotted to ignore...
Best, Worst States for Insurance Regulation
Dec 1 2015 // Vermont, Utah, Iowa, Virginia and Kentucky get an “A” and North Carolina an “F” in one think tank’s annual grading of states on how they regulate the property/casualty insurance industry. The...
Virginia Approves 3.4% Overall Increase in Workers’ Comp Loss Costs
Nov 25 2015 // The Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) announced Tuesday the approval of revisions to the premium levels charged for workers’ compensation insurance in Virginia. The revisions will result in an overall...
Seniors Fitted for Safe Driving Through Virginia’s Car Fit Program
Nov 23 2015 // William Cohen beeped his car horn, making those nearest jump and then laugh. Getting the all-clear from a nearby Albemarle County, Virginia, police officer, the senior driver took off for the parking lot exit in his black...
Blankenship Case in Limbo in West Virginia as Jurors Struggle to Reach Verdict
Nov 22 2015 // After a third full day of deliberations, a jury recessed Friday without reaching a verdict in the criminal trial of ex-Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship. Jurors had been trying since Tuesday, Nov. 17, to reach a decision....
Florida Man Gets 10 Years for West Virginia Pill Trafficking
Nov 20 2015 // A Florida man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for prescription pill trafficking and money laundering. Forty-six-year-old Lester W. Taylor of Daytona Beach, Fla., also was ordered in federal court in Charleston to...
Northern West Virginia Forms Group to ID Health Care Fraud
Nov 19 2015 // State and federal authorities have created a multi-jurisdictional working group to identify and deal with health care fraud in northern West Virginia. U.S. Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld II and representatives of the FBI,...
Defense Rests in West Virginia Mine Blast Trial, Blankenship Stays Mum
Nov 17 2015 // Former Massey Energy Chief Donald Blankenship won’t take the witness stand to explain what happened when a company mine exploded in 2010 killing 29 workers, choosing instead to leave his fate in the hands of jurors...
Ironshore Hires Merola as Branch Executive of Western Penn., W.Va. Region
Nov 12 2015 // Ironshore Inc. has named Emily C. Merola as branch executive of the Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia region to lead development efforts in the newly established Pittsburgh office. Merola will be responsible for...
West Virginia Supreme Court Dismisses Lawsuit by Fired Superintendent
Nov 12 2015 // A former West Virginia schools superintendent cannot sue the state Board of Education over its decision to fire her, the state’s Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. The court ruled in favor of the board, which appealed a...
SBA Loans Available to Southwest Virginia Storm Victims
Nov 9 2015 // Low-interest disaster loans are available to Virginia businesses and residents in southwest Virginia that were drenched by rains in late September and early October. The Small Business Administration loans are in response...
West Virginia Dog Wins Award for Most Unusual Pet Insurance Claim
Nov 9 2015 // A dog that ate a barbecue skewer has won a national competition for most unusual pet insurance claim. The Bluefield Daily Telegraph reports that the 5-year-old Boxer named Curtis beat out 11 other pets in online voting for...
Virginia’s Hilb Group Hires Hobbs as President, COO
Nov 6 2015 // David Hobbs The Hilb Group, a middle market insurance agency based in Richmond, Virginia, has hired David Hobbs as president and chief operating officer. The title of president was previously held by Chief Executive...
Virginia Med Payments Per Workers’ Comp Claim Among Highest of Study States
Nov 4 2015 // Driven primarily by prices, medical payments per workers’ compensation claim with more than seven days of lost time in Virginia were among the highest of the study states, according to a recent study issued by the...
West Virginia Official Says Miner Drug Abuse Rising
Nov 3 2015 // The director of West Virginia’s mine safety office says there is a growing substance abuse problem among miners. Director Eugene White of the Office of Mine Health, Safety and Training told legislators last month...
Business Moves
Nov 2 2015 // Kelso, Risk Strategies Risk Strategies Co., a Boston-Based insurance and benefits brokerage, and Kelso & Co., a New York-based private equity firm, have signed a definitive agreement whereby Kelso will acquire a...
West Virginia Train Derailment Lawsuit Moved to Federal Court
Oct 30 2015 // A lawsuit filed stemming from a fiery February derailment of a CSX oil train in Mount Carbon has been moved to federal court. The Register-Herald reports that the lawsuit by more than 200 residents was moved to U.S....
Former West Virginia Mine Worker Talks Safety Shortcuts in Blankenship Trial
Oct 26 2015 // A key government witness testified in West Virginia that prosecutors had threatened to charge him alongside his old coal boss, and he was under an immunity agreement Friday when he took the stand. In the criminal trial of...
Virginia Bureau of Insurance Announces 2 New Deputy Commissioners
Oct 20 2015 // Rebecca Nichols The Virginia State Corporation Commission’s Bureau of Insurance has appointed Rebecca Nichols as deputy commissioner of the Property and Casualty Division. Nichols joined the Bureau of Insurance in...
Report: West Virginia Leads U.S. in Prescription Drug Overdoses
Oct 19 2015 // Nearly 2,900 West Virginians have overdosed on prescription painkillers or heroin over the past five years, according to the state Health Statistics Center. The center also said overdose deaths last year were the highest...
