Latest West Virginia Headlines
All the headlines from our West Virginia Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Former Massey CEO Requests Dismissal of Charges from West Virginia Mine Explosion
Feb 10 2015 // A former coal company executive is seeking the dismissal of charges stemming from a 2010 mine explosion that killed 29 workers in West Virginia. Don Blankenship, former chief executive officer of Massey Energy, also has...
Ex-Owner of West Virginia Chemical Co. Responsible for Spill Requests Trial Delay
Feb 6 2015 // The former owner of a chemical company that fouled drinking water used by hundreds of thousands of West Virginia residents wants his trial delayed. Attorneys for Charles Herzing cite the heft of documents they must review...
West Virginia Regulators Propose Fees for High-Risk Storage Tanks
Feb 2 2015 // State environmental regulators in West Virginia say the highest-risk above ground storage tanks could face a $375 annual fee in a law to protect water supplies. Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Randy...
Water Being Restored in West Virginia Town Affected by Diesel Spill
Jan 29 2015 // Officials in southeastern West Virginia began turning the water back on Monday evening for about 12,000 Lewisburg area residents who lost service after a diesel fuel spill. The Bureau of Public Health notified the city it...
Diesel Fuel Spill in West Virginia Leaves 12,000 Residents, Businesses without Water
Jan 28 2015 // Schools, restaurants and businesses in the Lewisburg, West Virginia area were closed Monday and about 12,000 people were without water following a diesel fuel spill that prompted a shutdown of the city’s treatment...
New Charge Filed for Ex-President of Company Behind West Virginia Chemical Spill
Jan 26 2015 // A former Freedom Industries executive charged in a West Virginia chemical spill is facing a new federal fraud charge stemming from the company’s bankruptcy. A federal grand jury in Beckley handed up a superseding...
Report: Storage Tanks Pose Risks to West Virginia Water
Jan 21 2015 // Drinking water sources in West Virginia are at risk of contamination from more than 20,000 aboveground storage tanks that are located beyond an area where extra safeguards are required, according to a report released last...
West Virginia Judge Dismisses Parts Suit Against Body Shop, Liberty Mutual
Jan 16 2015 // A Kanawha County, W. Va., judge has dismissed a lawsuit that accused a St. Albans body shop owner of illegally installing junkyard parts on new vehicles. Former Attorney General Darrell McGraw filed the lawsuit in 2011...
West Virginia’s City National Bank Sells Insurance Operations
Jan 15 2015 // City National Bank, headquartered in Charleston, W. Va., has sold its insurance operations, CityInsurance, to Richmond, Va.-based The Hilb Group. City National’s parent, City Holding Co., said the sale was effective...
3 Executives Charged in West Virginia Chemical Spill Plead Not Guilty
Jan 14 2015 // Three executives charged in last January’s West Virginia chemical spill have pleaded not guilty in federal court. The pleas came a day after an FBI affidavit was unsealed, saying Freedom Industries knew about...
Report: West Virginia Chemical Spill Company Aware of Defects
Jan 12 2015 // A West Virginia attorney general report says the company behind last January’s chemical spill knew of its facility’s defects for years. The report by Attorney General Patrick Morrisey office says that a 2010...
West Virginia Chemical Spill Posed Inhalation Risk: Study
Jan 9 2015 // Federal health officials overlooked risks of inhaling the licorice-scented fumes of a chemical that spilled into West Virginia’s biggest water supply last January, according to a study. The research by a Purdue...
Massey CEO Wins Delay of Criminal Trial Until April
Jan 6 2015 // Ex-Massey Energy chief Donald Blankenship won an almost three-month delay of his trial, scheduled to begin later this month, on federal charges tied to a fatal 2010 mine explosion that was the worst U.S. coal industry...
West Virginia Schedules Storage Tank Regulation Hearing
Jan 5 2015 // West Virginia regulators are taking public comment and holding a hearing on a proposed rule that regulates aboveground storage tanks. The Department of Environmental Protection has opened comment on the proposed rule...
West Virginia Resident Sues DuPont Over Drinking Water
Jan 1 2015 // A West Virginia man has filed suit against chemical company DuPont for contaminating his home’s drinking water. Fifty-two-year-old Scott Chapman of Letart sued DuPont in West Virginia federal court last...
West Virginia Insurance Board Director Jones Retires
Dec 30 2014 // The executive director of the West Virginia Board of Risk and Insurance Management is stepping down this week. Chuck Jones will retire on Wednesday, which will be his 68th birthday. Jones has served as executive director...
More Inspections, Fewer Mines Result in Lowest Number of Miner Deaths
Dec 30 2014 // Less than five years after an explosion fueled by excess coal dust killed 29 men deep inside a West Virginia underground mine, the nation’s coal mines are on pace for an all-time low in work-related deaths. Federal...
West Virginia Fire Commission Appoints New State Fire Marshal
Dec 23 2014 // The West Virginia Fire Commission has appointed a Charleston firefighter as state fire marshal. Charleston Fire Department Capt. Ken Tyree will replace Tony Carrico, who is leaving the position at the end of the...
West Virginia Jury Awards $325K in Elder Abuse Case
Dec 21 2014 // A Monroe County, West Virginia jury has ordered a woman to pay $325,000 in damages in an elder abuse case. The circuit court jury found Betty B. Brown liable for fraud, conversion, unjust enrichment and breach of fiduciary...
Executives in West Virginia Chemical Spill Facing Criminal Charges
Dec 19 2014 // When state inspectors arrived at Freedom Industries asking about a licorice smell enveloping West Virginia’s capital city, the point person at the tank farm, Dennis P. Farrell, told them he knew nothing about a...
