Latest Virginia Headlines
All the headlines from our Virginia Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Security Officer at Massey West Virginia Mine Charged in Probe
Mar 1 2011 // The head of security at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine was arrested Monday on charges he impeded investigators and lied to them as they probed an explosion at the West Virginia mine that killed 29...
Most Beaches from Maine to Virginia Found to Be Eroding
Feb 25 2011 // A survey of hundreds of miles of New England and mid-Atlantic coastline found that 68 percent of the beaches studied have eroded during the past 150 years, according to a report released this week. The average rate of...
Massey Agrees to Medical Monitoring in West Virginia Slurry Case
Feb 25 2011 // Massey Energy will set up a medical monitoring fund for southern West Virginia residents who claim the company poisoned their wells with coal slurry. General Counsel Shane Harvey said a second mediation attempt failed to...
Virginia Insurer Buys Amphitheater Naming Rights
Feb 24 2011 // The Virginia Beach, Va. amphitheater has a new name. Multiple media outlets reported the music venue has been renamed Farm Bureau Live at Virginia Beach. The concert venue’s naming rights were sold to Virginia Farm...
West Virginia Volunteer Fire Departments Seek Funding
Feb 24 2011 // West Virginia’s volunteer fire departments are turning to state lawmakers for help with insurance and recruitment. A bipartisan House bill introduced this week would tap liquor revenues to provide $5 million a year...
Virginia Bill Extends Sex Abuse Statute of Limitations to 20 Years
Feb 23 2011 // A bill to extend the amount of time victims of sexual abuse have to file lawsuits against their attackers and others who may have covered up the abuse cleared a major hurdle in Virginia this week. The House Courts...
Judges Still Trying to Settle West Virginia Coal Slurry Lawsuit
Feb 23 2011 // Two judges will try again this week to settle a long-running medical monitoring lawsuit over claims that Massey Energy Co. poisoned hundreds of southern West Virginia wells with coal slurry. The first mediation attempt by...
Study Warns Rising Seas Could Threaten 180 U.S. Cities by 2100
Feb 17 2011 // Rising seas spurred by climate change could threaten 180 U.S. coastal cities by 2100, a new study says, with Miami, New Orleans and Virginia Beach among those most severely affected. Previous studies have looked at where...
Unpaid Workers’ Compensation Shuts West Virginia Fire Department
Feb 17 2011 // A volunteer fire department must stop answering calls because it failed to pay workers’ compensation premiums for its members. Marshall County emergency management director Tom Hart said the state fire...
Virginia Enters Spring Fire Season
Feb 16 2011 // A ban on outdoor burning of brush went into effect Tuesday in Virginia, as the state marked the beginning of spring fire season, which runs through April. Virginia law also prohibits burns within 300 feet of woodlands,...
West Virginia Changes Agent Licensing System
Feb 14 2011 // West Virginia is moving to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners state based system for issuing agent licenses in order to bring it in line with other states and streamline the licensing process. Starting in...
Virginia Officials Plan Statewide Tornado Drill
Feb 8 2011 // Virginia emergency management officials are planning to hold a statewide tornado drill. The drill is a joint effort between the state Department of Emergency Management and the National Weather Service. It will take place...
Chinese Drywall: Cracks in Coverage Claims?
Feb 7 2011 // Although not in the national news as much lately, Chinese drywall continues to disrupt the lives and finances of thousands of homeowners and other users of the product. In the courts, homeowners are fighting to obtain...
Virginia Move Could Speed Up Supreme Court Review of Healthcare Law
Feb 4 2011 // Virginia said Thursday it will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its challenge to President Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul, bypassing the appeals process in a rarely used move to try to speed up a definitive...
Ratings Roundup: Assurant, Brickstreet
Feb 2 2011 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services announced that its ratings on Assurant Inc. (BBB/Stable/A-2) and its related companies were unaffected by the announcement that Assurant will take a noncash goodwill impairment...
Cause of Deadly West Virginia Factory Blast Still Uncertain
Jan 27 2011 // The U.S. Chemical Safety Board believes either metal shavings or dust were the source of an explosion that killed three men in a West Virginia factory, but the investigator in charge said his team has yet to determine...
Business Moves
Jan 24 2011 // Encharter Massachusetts-based Encharter Insurance agency will open a fifth branch office, the latest in Simsbury, Connecticut. Encharter will sell personal lines coverage throughout the Farmington Valley, the agency said....
Equipment, Coal Dust Caused West Virginia Mine Blast: Probe
Jan 20 2011 // Federal investigators said Wednesday a small fire caused by a methane or natural gas leak likely set off a massive blast of coal dust that killed 29 miners at Massey Energy’s coal mine in West Virginia last...
Obama Administration Appeals Virginia Healthcare Mandate Ruling
Jan 18 2011 // The Obama administration Tuesday appealed a ruling by a federal judge in Virginia that declared a key part of President Barack Obama’s landmark healthcare law unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson last...
Justice Department Settles Virginia Malpractice Suit for $2.3M
Jan 14 2011 // The Justice Department has agreed to pay $2.3 million to a couple who claimed inadequate care at Portsmouth Naval Medical Center caused their child to be born with neurological damage. The Virginian-Pilot reports that a...
