Latest Virginia Headlines
All the headlines from our Virginia Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Brickstreet Writes First Workers Comp Policy Outside West Virginia
Jan 12 2009 // BrickStreet Mutual Insurance has written its first out-of-state policy. The policy, which went into effect Jan. 1, covers the employees of a West Virginia-based pipeline company working in the Commonwealth of...
West Va. Court Absolves Insurer in Underage Drinking Case
Jan 11 2009 // The West Virginia Supreme Court says a homeowner’s insurance company should not be held liable for paying damages stemming from a fatal alcohol-related accident involving underaged drinkers. In its unanimous ruling,...
Greenbrier Owner Weighs Options for Money-Losing West Virginia Resort
Jan 5 2009 // Railroad operator CSX Corp. has hired New York investment banker Goldman, Sachs & Co. to help determine what to do with the money-losing luxury resort. The aim is to make the White Sulphur Springs landmark a viable...
West Virginia Workers’ Compensation Writer BrickStreet Drops Policies
Jan 4 2009 // West Virginia’s BrickStreet Insurance is looking to trim costs in 2009 by dropping nearly 1,000 workers’ compensation policies its chief calls the worst of the worst. Greg Burton says the policies have brought...
Inspector Shortage Hampers West Virginia Coal Mine Safety Effort
Dec 30 2008 // An inability to retain inspectors is hurting West Virginia’s efforts to make the inherently dangerous business of coal mining safer. Faced with a turnover rate topping 20 percent, the state is scrambling — for...
Massey Energy to Pay $4.2 Million in 2006 Fatal West Virginia Fire
Dec 29 2008 // A Massey Energy subsidiary has agreed to pay $4.2 million in civil and criminal penalties and plead guilty to federal charges stemming from a fire that killed two miners at a southern West Virginia coal mine in January...
West Virginia High Court: Insurer Not Liable in Underage Drinking Case
Dec 19 2008 // The West Virginia Supreme Court says a homeowner’s insurance company should not be held liable for paying damages stemming from a fatal alcohol-related accident involving underaged drinkers. In its unanimous ruling,...
3,000 Tickets Issued During Virginia Road Safety Crackdown
Dec 11 2008 // A law enforcement safety operation on Interstates 64 and 66 in Virginia yielded more than two dozen arrests and more than 3,000 tickets. State police say Operation Air, Lane and Speed was conducted last Friday and Saturday...
Pole-Climbing Robots Could Save Lives of Construction Workers
Dec 11 2008 // Researchers have developed a trio of pole-climbing serpentine robots designed to take the place of construction workers tasked with dangerous jobs such as inspecting high-rises or underwater bridge piers. The Robotics and...
Truck Drivers Teach West Virginia Teens About Road Safety
Dec 9 2008 // Professional truck drivers will be in West Virginia this week demonstrating to teens how to avoid accidents with tractor-trailers. Share the Road is an outreach program of the American Trucking Association that educates...
West Virginia Judiciary Nixes Switching to Nonpartisan Elections
Dec 5 2008 // A group representing West Virginia’s judiciary has decided not to endorse a proposal to end the election of state judges along partisan lines. The West Virginia Judiciary Association adopted a resolution this week...
U.S. Supreme Court Stays Out of West Virginia Damages Case
Dec 3 2008 // The U.S. Supreme Court is refusing to enter a politically charged case from West Virginia, a major coal producing state, that involves a large punitive damages award and allegations of bias by a state judge. In an order...
Virginia’s Fall Fire Season Ends with 304 Acres Burned
Dec 3 2008 // Virginia’s fall fire season has ended, with far fewer scorched acres than the spring edition. Over the 47-day season that ended Sunday, the Virginia Department of Forestry responded to 67 fires that burned 304 acres....
West Virginia Mulls Switch to ‘Nonpartisan’ Judge Elections
Dec 2 2008 // West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin may ask the Legislature next year to end West Virginia’s practice of electing its judiciary along partisan political lines, at least for the state’s circuit court judges. Manchin...
Virginia Sees Decline of On-The-Job Deaths
Dec 1 2008 // Fewer workers in Virginia are being killed while on the job. Federal figures released Monday show workplace fatalties declined by 15 percent, from 165 in 2006 to 141 in 2007. Highway accidents were the top cause of...
Safeco, Ohio Casualty Name New Mid-Atlantic Regional Operation Heads
Nov 21 2008 // Safeco Insurance and Ohio Casualty, both Liberty Mutual Agency Markets companies, recently announced key management appointments to lead their respective personal and commercial lines operations in their Mid-Atlantic...
West Virginia Woman Sentenced to Jail for Insurance Fraud Over Jewelry
Nov 18 2008 // A West Virginian woman has been sentenced to up to 10 years for submitting false insurance claims for jewelry. According to state officials, Sherry Kay Peyton, of Williamstown, who plead guilty in May 2008 was sentenced on...
West Virginia Voters Approve Gambling for The Greenbrier
Nov 16 2008 // West Virgina voters have approved a measure that will allow the Greenbrier Resort to add casino gambling to its list of four-star amenities. Voters rejected a similar proposal in 2000, but this year’s measure was...
West Virginia Miners’ Widows Press Claims Against Massey Energy
Nov 12 2008 // Lawyers in a suit stemming from a fatal fire at a Massey Energy coal mine 2006 clashed this week over whether the deaths of two men could have been averted. Bruce Stanley, representing the widows of both men, told a Logan...
West Virginia Workers’ Comp Insurer Plans 50 Staff Cuts
Nov 12 2008 // BrickStreet Insurance said it is looking to shed 50 employees in a move to cut costs following the loss of its monopoly in writing workers’ compensation insurance policies to West Virginia businesses. The action is...
