Latest Virginia Headlines

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

East Coast Cities, Resorts Prepare for Irene

Aug 26 2011 // North Carolina braced Friday for a direct hit from Hurricane Irene, cities along the U.S. east coast were on alert and millions of beach goers cut short vacations to escape the powerful storm. With more than 50 million...

East Coast Earthquake: Fear, Damage Mixed with Relief, Teasing

Aug 26 2011 // For a few minutes from Georgia to Maine, the question rang out: What was that? The answer — a rare East Coast earthquake, magnitude 5.8 — was far down on the list for most not used to the earth shaking beneath them. In...

Colorado Jostled with Earthquake Aftershocks

Aug 25 2011 // Colorado has been jostled with 13 aftershocks after Monday night’s magnitude-5.3 earthquake struck just hours before a magnitude-5.8 temblor hit Virginia, earthquake monitors said Wednesday. Geophysicist Amy Vaughan...

The Hanover Adds D.C. Area Branch Office

Aug 24 2011 // The Hanover Insurance Group added a new District of Columbia Metro branch office in Reston, Va. Located in the Reston Executive Center at 12100 Sunset Hills Road, the new branch office will address commercial insurance...

Earthquake Tested Safety of East Coast’s Nuclear Plants

Aug 24 2011 // The largest earthquake to hit the East Coast of the United States in 67 years raised concerns on Tuesday about the safety of the country’s nuclear power plants. The 5.8 magnitude quake’s epicenter was just a...

East Coast’s Once-a-Century Earthquake Causes Minor Damage

Aug 24 2011 // A strong earthquake rattled the U.S. East Coast Tuesday, sending tremors as far as Canada, damaging well-known buildings in the nation’s capital and sending scared office workers into the streets. There were no...

Earthquake Rattles East Coast; No Deaths or Major Damage Reported

Aug 23 2011 // A strong earthquake struck the U.S. East Coast and was felt as far away as Canada on Tuesday, shaking buildings in many cities, delaying flights and trains and sending thousands of frightened workers into the...

Virginia Moving Firm to Pay for Hair Discrimination

Aug 22 2011 // A Roanoke, Va.-based moving company will pay $30,000 as part of a settlement with a Waynesboro-area man who says he was denied a job because he wouldn’t cut his long, dreadlocked hair. The U.S. Equal Employment...

DuPont Plantiffs in West Virginia Allowed to Seek Medical Monitoring

Aug 22 2011 // A judge says 14 plaintiffs can enroll in a court-administered medical monitoring program even as they sue DuPont over a West Virginia zinc-smelting plant they say made them sick. Plaintiffs got copies of Harrison County...

Massey Wants to Know How $35M West Virginia Settlement Became Public

Aug 17 2011 // Lawyers for Massey Energy Co. want to know who violated the confidentiality of a $35 million settlement agreement reached with hundreds of West Virginia residents who say the mining company poisoned their wells with coal...

Virginia ‘Guns in Bars’ Study Finds Little Effect on Crime

Aug 16 2011 // The number of gun crimes at Virginia bars and restaurants declined slightly during the first year of a new state law that allows people with permits to carry concealed firearms into establishments that serve alcohol, a...

3 Insurers Bid for West Virginia’s Workers’ Compensation Business

Aug 15 2011 // Three companies are vying to provide workers’ compensation coverage for state agencies. Acting Insurance Commissioner Michael Riley said that that BrickStreet Mutual Insurance Co., Chartis, and Zurich Insurance Co....

First Responder Fees: Insurers Should Expect to Pay More

Aug 12 2011 // While fee recovery by fire departments is nothing new, an increasing number of local municipalities have begun to charge for first responder, primarily fire department, services. Though the types of fees and rates vary...

Massey Offers $35 Million to Settle Coal Slurry Claim in West Virginia

Aug 11 2011 // Massey Energy Co. has offered $35 million to settle a 7-year-old lawsuit with hundreds of southern West Virginia residents who say the mining company poisoned their drinking supplies with wastewater called coal slurry. The...

West Virginia Jury Awards $91.5 Million in Nursing Home Death

Aug 9 2011 // A jury in Kanawha County, West Virginia has awarded $91.5 million in damages to the family of an 87-year-old woman who died after her stay at a Charleston nursing home. The jury ruled that Heartland of Charleston failed to...

21 West Virginia Flood-Prone Properties Eligible for Buyouts

Aug 9 2011 // Owners of 21 flood-prone properties in a rural Berkeley County, West Virginia community are being offered buyouts. The parcels in Sportsman’s Paradise include nine vacant lots and 12 with dwellings. Donna Seiler...

Virginia University Settles Student Lawsuit Over Rape

Aug 5 2011 // A lawsuit filed against the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia by a former student who was raped on campus has been settled. Assistant Attorney General John Gilbody told the state Division of Risk...

Workers’ Compensation Costs Continue to Drop in West Virginia

Aug 3 2011 // West Virginia employers would continue to benefit from lower workers’ compensation rates if the state agrees with an industry filing that loss costs be cut by 8.1 percent. Since the state privatized its...

October Hearing Set on Va. Workers’ Comp Premiums

Aug 3 2011 // Virginia regulators are planning to hold a hearing in October on proposed adjustments in premiums charged for workers’ compensation insurance. The State Corporation Commission said it set an Oct. 27 hearing in...

Massey Settles Massive West Virginia Coal Slurry Case

Jul 29 2011 // After a marathon mediation session that ended just before dawn Wednesday, mining company Massey Energy settled a 7-year-old lawsuit with hundreds of southern West Virginia residents who claim the company poisoned their...