Latest Virginia Headlines
All the headlines from our Virginia Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Drug Deaths Outnumbered Highway Fatalities in Virginia for 1st Time Last Year
Oct 16 2015 // Deaths from heroin and opioid use outnumbered highway fatalities in Virginia for the first time last year, officials said. Records show that 728 Virginians died from drug overdoses in 2014, while 700 people died on the...
Patriot Coal Reaches Mine Site Clean-Up Deal with West Virginia
Oct 15 2015 // Patriot Coal and West Virginia environmental regulators have reached an agreement in which the company will set aside more than $50 million to cover cleanup costs at its former mine sites in the state. The Department of...
Virginia’s TowneBank Expands Insurance Unit With 3 Agency Acquisitions
Oct 14 2015 // TowneBank, a Portsmouth, Virginia-based community banking and financial services company, announced that it has acquired three insurance agencies in Virginia: Invincia Insurance Solutions in Chesterfield; Total Insurance...
West Virginia Widow Settles Wrongful Death Suit with Energy Companies for $18M
Oct 12 2015 // Energy companies will pay $18 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the widow of a man who died in a flash fire at a natural gas station in Tyler County, West Virginia. The settlement involves the April 2013...
DuPont Found Liable in West Virginia Toxic Water Lawsuit
Oct 8 2015 // DuPont Co. was found liable for a woman’s kidney cancer in the first of 3,500 lawsuits over a toxic Teflon ingredient found in Ohio and West Virginia water, but spinoff Chemours Co. will have to bear any costs from...
West Virginia Files Suit Against Volkswagen Over Clean Diesel Claims
Oct 7 2015 // West Virginia may be the first U.S. state to sue Volkswagen AG for deceiving car buyers after the Environmental Protection Agency said last month that the company had installed software to hide that its diesel engines...
Deadly West Virginia Mine Explosion Trial Puts Spotlight on Massey’s King Coal
Oct 6 2015 // Before death came to Upper Big Branch Mine, Donald L. Blankenship managed his patch of Appalachia like King Coal incarnate. Outside homes in rural West Virginia flew the banner of his company, Massey Energy Co.: a flame...
Maryland Welcomes 7 New Insurers
Oct 5 2015 // The Maryland Insurance Administration (MIA) announced on Sept. 14 that seven new insurance companies have been approved to offer workers’ compensation and life insurance products in Maryland. “Our goal is to...
Trial Set to Start for Former Energy CEO in Deadly West Virginia Mine Blast
Sep 29 2015 // Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship hits the courtroom for a criminal trial Thursday, facing charges that he conspired to break safety laws and lied to financial regulators about safety practices at the site of the...
U.S. Investors Sue Volkswagen Over Diesel Emissions Scandal
Sep 28 2015 // Volkswagen AG was accused in a lawsuit of scheming to defraud U.S. investors who paid artificially inflated prices for the company’s foreign shares while it cheated on vehicle emissions tests. In what may be the...
Deadline Looms for Va. Businesses Seeking SBA Loans for July Storm Damage
Sep 23 2015 // A deadline is looming for Virginia businesses, private nonprofits, homeowners and renters to seek disaster loans for physical damage caused by severe weather and flooding on July 5. The U.S. Small Business Administration...
Drought-Related Disaster Loans Available to 2 West Virginia Counties
Sep 23 2015 // Small businesses and private nonprofit organizations in two counties in West Virginia can apply for federal disaster loans for economic injury resulting from drought. The U.S. Small Business Administration’s economic...
Bayer CropScience Settles West Virginia Explosion Suit for $5.6M
Sep 23 2015 // Bayer CropScience LP has reached a $5.6 million settlement over an explosion at its Institute, West Virginia, facility that killed two people in 2008, U.S. authorities said on Monday. The company will spend $4.23 million...
West Virginia Livestock Producers Offered Pilot Insurance Program
Sep 21 2015 // A pilot insurance program is being offered to West Virginia livestock producers to help manage financial risk. The Rainfall Index Pasture, Rangeland, Forage program’s payments aren’t based on single weather...
West Virginia Funeral Home Sued for Filing False Death Claims to Insurers
Sep 21 2015 // The operators of a Putnam County, West Virginia funeral home are being accused of filing false death claims to insurance companies on behalf of pre-need contract customers who were still alive. Attorney General Patrick...
West Virginia Golf Event Organizers Respond to Holes-in-One Insurance Lawsuit
Sep 17 2015 // The nonprofit behind the PGA Tour’s Greenbrier Classic says it wasn’t informed until after the tournament its insurance wouldn’t cover cash prizes for holes-in-one on holes deemed too short. In a...
First Trial Begins Against DuPont Over West Virginia C-8 Exposure
Sep 15 2015 // Chemical giant DuPont faced its first trial Monday in litigation from residents near one of its plants in West Virginia who have accused the company of sickening them by emitting a toxic chemical that leaked into their...
Maryland Insurance Administration Welcomes 7 New Insurers to Marketplace
Sep 14 2015 // The Maryland Insurance Administration (MIA) today announced seven new insurance companies are approved to offer workers’ compensation and life insurance products in Maryland. “Our goal is to increase options...
Odds of Drivers Having Collision with Animal: 1 Out of 169
Sep 14 2015 // The odds drivers will have a claim from hitting a deer, elk or moose is 1 out of 169, the same as in 2014. That likelihood more than doubles during October, November and December, when deer collisions are most prevalent,...
University in West Virginia to Require Risk Management Training of Greek System
Sep 14 2015 // Marshall University is requiring its fraternity and sorority chapters to undergo training for risk management and party hosting after hundreds of students had to be dispersed by police last month. Marshall says in a news...
