Latest West Virginia Headlines

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

West Virginia Governor Expects Insurance Home Rule Agreement

Aug 24 2009 // West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin believes the parties in a dispute over the state’s home rule experiment are close to resolving their differences.Manchin spokesman Matt Turner says meetings recently convened by the...

Insurance Golfers: Birthplace of U.S. Golf in West Virginia For Sale

Aug 19 2009 // Attention all you insurance industry golfers filling out your gift lists: the birthplace of American golf is up for sale.Lewis Keller, the owner of West Virginia’s Oakhurst Links, says that after 50 years, it’s...

West Virginia Fire Destroys 4 Coal Trucks

Aug 11 2009 // The West Virginia Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating a blaze that destroyed four coal trucks and damaged a fifth truck in McDowell County.State Homeland Security and Emergency Management Director Jimmy Gianato...

Alternative Offered to Settle West Virginia Home Rule Spat

Aug 10 2009 // Out of concern that a dispute over a local West Virginia insurance ordinance in the city of Huntington could jeopardize home rule pilot programs across the state, Gov. Joe Manchin met with city, state and insurance...

West Virginia Approves Workers’ Compensation Rate Cut of 6%

Aug 6 2009 // West Virginia Insurance Commissioner Jane L. Cline has approved a loss cost filing by the state’s workers’ compensation insurance companies that will result in an overall six percent decrease.She said more than...

West Virginia Insurers Fight City Over Debris Removal Account

Aug 3 2009 // Property insurance companies in West Virginia are caught between a rock and a hard place over an ordinance in the city of Huntington that forces them to pay funds on some total fire losses to the city rather than directly...

Claims Firm Says West Virginia Owes It $1 Million That Was Lost in African Scam

Aug 3 2009 // A Memphis insurance claims firm wants the more than $1 million that it was supposed to receive from West Virginia, but that was instead diverted in an apparent Africa-based fraud scheme, state lawmakers learned...

Private Role

Aug 3 2009 // The property/casualty insurance industry, whose employees do their share of volunteer work and whose financial contributions support many charities, occasionally finds itself involved involuntarily in efforts to improve...

‘Green Goo’ Revealed Toxic Leak at West Virginia Zinc Plant

Jul 31 2009 // For at least five years before Rebecca Morlock noticed what she calls “a green goo” seeping out of the ground below a former zinc-smelting plant in the town of Spelter, water loaded with potentially toxic heavy...

West Virginia Worker Identified in Fatal Accident at Mine

Jul 30 2009 // A truck operator killed at a West Virginia surface mine on Tuesday has been identified.State mine agency spokeswoman Jama Jarrett said Wednesday that 28-year-old Mark Gray of Belle died Tuesday when his truck backed into a...

West Virginia Lawmaker Asks Huntington to Scrap Insurance Rule

Jul 28 2009 // A state lawmaker is urging Huntington to scrap an ordinance that has prompted a court challenge to West Virginia’s experiment with home rule.Delegate Jim Morgan, a Cabell County Democrat, wants the city to withdraw a...

West Virginia Insurers Fight City Over Forced Debris Removal Escrow Account

Jul 21 2009 // Property insurance companies in West Virginia are finding themselves caught between a rock and a hard place over an ordinance in the city of Huntington that forces them to pay funds on some total fire losses to the city...

Insurance Claims Firm Says West Virginia Owes It $1 Million Lost in Scam

Jul 21 2009 // A Memphis insurance claims firm wants the more than $1 million that it was supposed to receive from West Virginia, but that was instead diverted in an apparent Africa-based fraud scheme, state lawmakers learned...

It Figures

Jul 20 2009 // $750,000The proposed reduced limit on coastal insurance available from the North Carolina Beach Plan under legislation designed to address the over-exposure and under-funding of this state-backed plan. The limit is now $1...

Business Moves

Jul 20 2009 // Focus Holdings, Capacity InsuranceFocus Holdings, LLC in Sunrise, Florida, closed on its acquisition of Capacity Insurance Co. (CIC), a Florida domestic commercial lines insurer, effective July 1, 2009. Focus, better known...

West Virginia Public Insurance Agency Faces Suit Over Subsidy Cut

Jul 14 2009 // Recent hearings may not keep West Virginia’s Public Employees Insurance Agency out of court over a proposal to stop subsidizing retiree health care, one advocate for state workers says.The American Federation of...

West Virginia Touts Switch to Private Workers’ Compensation System

Jul 7 2009 // West Virginia Insurance Commissioner Jane L. Cline says her state’s one-year old privatized workers’ compensation system is offering better claims administration, lower costs for employers and better treatment...

West Virginia Doctor Convicted of Insurance Fraud Denied New Trial

Jul 6 2009 // A federal judge has denied a convicted West Virginia physician’s request for a new trial. Dr. John C. Sharp of Marlinton was convicted last year on 29 counts of health care fraud for billing insurers for services he...

Former State-Backed Insurer, Brickstreet, Repays West Virginia Loan

Jul 2 2009 // Workers’ compensation insurer BrickStreet Mutual Insurance Co. says it has completed an early payoff on a $200 million startup loan from West Virginia. President and Chief Executive Officer Greg Burton says the...

290 Landowners in West Virginia Flood Plain Offered Buyouts

Jun 30 2009 // After years of Dunloup Creek in West Virginia’s Fayette County constantly flooding, officials think they’ve found a solution: abandon the region.The federal Natural Resources Conservation Service and the...