Latest West Virginia Headlines
All the headlines from our West Virginia Topic Page, ordered by recency.
11 West Virginia Workers Injured at Chemical Manufacturer Plant
Dec 17 2015 // Eleven contract workers were injured Tuesday in a boiler accident at chemical manufacturer Axiall Corp.’s Natrium plant in West Virginia’s Northern Panhandle, the company said. The company said in a statement...
Blankenship Sentencing Set For Next Year in West Virginia Mine Case
Dec 14 2015 // Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship will be sentenced next year on a conviction of conspiring to violate safety rules at the mine where a deadly explosion occurred. U.S. District Judge Irene Berger on Dec. 10...
OSHA Cites West Virginia Logging Company for 22 Safety Violations
Dec 14 2015 // Federal regulators have cited a logging company for 22 serious worker safety violations. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration says Ray Clearing Inc. of Bickmore also was issued one other-than-serious...
Blankenship Verdict Too Late for Struggling West Virginia Coal Industry
Dec 7 2015 // A 48-foot black granite monument with life-size silhouettes of 29 fallen miners defines this small Appalachian town, just downhill from the site of one of the deadliest U.S. mine disasters. Survivors and friends of those...
How a King of Coal Conspired Against Mine Safety
Dec 4 2015 // To hear Donald L. Blankenship tell it, the U.S. coal industry has been undone by inept regulators, evil unions, the media and “global warming hoaxers.” But for jurors at his criminal trial in Charleston, West...
Disaster Loans Offered to West Virginia Businesses Impacted by Weather
Dec 3 2015 // Small businesses in West Virginia that have been impacted by bad weather may be able to get financial assistance from the federal government. The U.S. Small Business Association says economic injury disaster loans are...
Blankenship Jury Still Deadlocked in West Virginia Mine Blast Case
Dec 2 2015 // Jurors at former Massey Energy Co. Chief Donald Blankenship’s criminal trial ended their eighth day of deliberations after telling the judge they remain deadlocked on charges the coal executive plotted to ignore...
Blankenship Case in Limbo in West Virginia as Jurors Struggle to Reach Verdict
Nov 22 2015 // After a third full day of deliberations, a jury recessed Friday without reaching a verdict in the criminal trial of ex-Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship. Jurors had been trying since Tuesday, Nov. 17, to reach a decision....
Florida Man Gets 10 Years for West Virginia Pill Trafficking
Nov 20 2015 // A Florida man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for prescription pill trafficking and money laundering. Forty-six-year-old Lester W. Taylor of Daytona Beach, Fla., also was ordered in federal court in Charleston to...
Northern West Virginia Forms Group to ID Health Care Fraud
Nov 19 2015 // State and federal authorities have created a multi-jurisdictional working group to identify and deal with health care fraud in northern West Virginia. U.S. Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld II and representatives of the FBI,...
Defense Rests in West Virginia Mine Blast Trial, Blankenship Stays Mum
Nov 17 2015 // Former Massey Energy Chief Donald Blankenship won’t take the witness stand to explain what happened when a company mine exploded in 2010 killing 29 workers, choosing instead to leave his fate in the hands of jurors...
West Virginia Supreme Court Dismisses Lawsuit by Fired Superintendent
Nov 12 2015 // A former West Virginia schools superintendent cannot sue the state Board of Education over its decision to fire her, the state’s Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. The court ruled in favor of the board, which appealed a...
West Virginia Dog Wins Award for Most Unusual Pet Insurance Claim
Nov 9 2015 // A dog that ate a barbecue skewer has won a national competition for most unusual pet insurance claim. The Bluefield Daily Telegraph reports that the 5-year-old Boxer named Curtis beat out 11 other pets in online voting for...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
