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