Latest Virginia Headlines
All the headlines from our Virginia Topic Page, ordered by recency.
OSHA Cites West Virginia Logging Company for 22 Safety Violations
Dec 14 2015 // Federal regulators have cited a logging company for 22 serious worker safety violations. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration says Ray Clearing Inc. of Bickmore also was issued one other-than-serious...
Report: Southeast States Unprepared for Future Risks from Climate Change
Dec 11 2015 // Source: States at Risk Many states across the country, particularly in the Southeast, are unprepared to face the risks posed from extreme heat, drought, wildfires, inland flooding, coastal flooding and other extreme...
Blankenship Verdict Too Late for Struggling West Virginia Coal Industry
Dec 7 2015 // A 48-foot black granite monument with life-size silhouettes of 29 fallen miners defines this small Appalachian town, just downhill from the site of one of the deadliest U.S. mine disasters. Survivors and friends of those...
How a King of Coal Conspired Against Mine Safety
Dec 4 2015 // To hear Donald L. Blankenship tell it, the U.S. coal industry has been undone by inept regulators, evil unions, the media and “global warming hoaxers.” But for jurors at his criminal trial in Charleston, West...
Blankenship Found Guilty of Conspiracy in W. Virginia Mine Blast
Dec 3 2015 // Former Massey Energy Chief Executive Don Blankenship was found guilty in federal court on Thursday of conspiring to violate safety standards at the Upper Big Branch mine, the site of a 2010 blast that killed 29...
Disaster Loans Offered to West Virginia Businesses Impacted by Weather
Dec 3 2015 // Small businesses in West Virginia that have been impacted by bad weather may be able to get financial assistance from the federal government. The U.S. Small Business Association says economic injury disaster loans are...
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...
