Latest Virginia Headlines

All the headlines from our Virginia Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Virginia, New Jersey Get High Marks in Building Code Report

Jan 23 2012 // The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety, an industry group, issued a new report this month that analyzes residential building codes in the 18 hurricane-prone coastal states along the Gulf of Mexico and the...

Virginia Mom of Boy Left on Bus Sues School Officials for $500K

Jan 20 2012 // Richmond school officials are being sued by the mother of a 4-year-old autistic boy who was left on a bus. Nyheim Butler’s lawsuit accuses Richmond Public Schools, the district’s transportation director, a...

Virginia Man Accused of Faking Death to Get Insurance

Jan 18 2012 // A Virginia man has been charged with faking his death to collect on a $750,000 life insurance policy. A federal grand jury indicted 38-year-old Jamie Dwayne Long of Lunenberg on three mail fraud counts last week. U.S ....

More Than $25.2M in Virginia Quake Aid OK’d

Jan 18 2012 // More than $25.2 million in federal disaster aid has been approved to help residents, businesses and local governments in Virginia recover from last summer’s earthquake. The Federal Emergency Management Agency says...

West Virginia Lawmakers’ Personal Tragedies Spur Mine Safety Bill

Jan 18 2012 // For two West Virginia lawmakers who lost fathers in coal mining accidents, preventing disasters like the 2010 Upper Big Branch explosion has taken a personal turn with Monday’s introduction of a bipartisan safety...

Virginia Gets $19M in Federal Funding to Fix Storm-Damaged Roads

Jan 13 2012 // Virginia is getting more than $19 million in federal funding to repair roads and bridges damaged by Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the funding from the Federal...

Report Calls for More Fire Safety Education in West Virginia

Jan 12 2012 // West Virginia suffers from one of the nation’s worst fire-related death rates. That has officials calling for greater public education efforts. But the state Fire Commission has become too short-staffed to provide...

Drunk Driving Arrests Increased in West Virginia in 2011

Jan 12 2012 // The director of the West Virginia Governor’s Highway Safety Program says arrests for driving under the influence increased in the past year, contradicting earlier reports. The Charleston Gazette reported that Highway...

Digital Insurance Buys Va.-based Strategic Employee Benefits Services

Jan 11 2012 // Digital Insurance, an employee benefits agency in Atlanta, acquired Strategic Employee Benefits Services (SEBS) of Virginia. SEBS, which has offices in Richmond, Charlottesville and Roanoke, will now operate under the...

Settlements Reported in West Virginia Mine Blast That Killed 29

Jan 11 2012 // Coal company Alpha Natural Resources has reached settlements with all the families of the miners killed in the worst U.S. mining disaster in four decades, a lawyer for two of the families said on Wednesday. Mark Moreland...

Officials Announce Two Disaster Aid Centers Opening in Virginia

Jan 6 2012 // Federal and state agencies are opening a new disaster recovery center in Spotsylvania County and reopening one in Louisa County in Virginia to assist victims of last year’s earthquake. The Spotsylvania center at 3960...

West Virginia to Study Ways to Reduce $50M in Deer Collisions

Jan 6 2012 // Every year in West Virginia, motorists and insurance companies pay more than $50 million to fix damage caused when vehicles collide with deer. State wildlife and highway officials hope to reduce that total by finding out...

Attempt to Mediate West Virginia Monsanto Suit Fails

Dec 30 2011 // Another attempt to resolve a West Virginia class-action pollution lawsuit against Monsanto Co. has failed. Media outlets report that several hundred plaintiffs attended a court-ordered mediation Tuesday at a Charleston...

Report Says Virginia Drivers Wrongly Charged Under Insurance Law

Dec 27 2011 // Virginia motorists are being ticketed and convicted of a violation that is not a crime under state law: driving without proof of insurance. According to Virginia Lawyers Weekly, court records show that drivers in several...

West Virginia AG Sues Insurer, Auto Repair Shop

Dec 20 2011 // West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw said last week that his office has sued Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and an auto repair shop. The attorney general says the defendants allegedly repaired vehicles with what...

Louisa, Virginia, Quake Victims Advised to Appeal Aid Denials

Dec 19 2011 // Local and federal officials are telling Louisa County earthquake victims to not give up if they’ve been denied federal disaster assistance. Residents who registered for assistance due to the Aug. 23 earthquake can...

City of Brotherly Love Keeps Its Title of Worst ‘Judicial Hellhole’

Dec 15 2011 // The City of Brotherly Love isn’t so lovely when it comes to the civil justice system, at least according to a national tort reform advocacy group. The Washington, D.C.-based American Tort Reform Association is out...

Va.-based IT Firm CSC Launches Insurance Cybersecurity Council

Dec 14 2011 // Virginia-based IT services provider CSC is forming an advisory board to help tackle cyber security issues in the insurance industry. It’s called the Insurance Cybersecurity Advisory Council. The company says the...

Groups Voice Concern Over Virginia Nuke Plant

Dec 14 2011 // Groups concerned about the safety of Dominion’s North Anna Nuclear Power Station are asking federal regulators to reevaluate their decision to allow the plant to restart. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on...

Questions Raised About Federal Probe of West Virginia Mine Blast

Dec 13 2011 // Newly disclosed records show U.S. Labor Department officials stopped independent investigators from questioning how federal regulators handled methane leaks from the floor of the Upper Big Branch mine several times before...