Wednesday, January 26, 2011
East Kentucky Broadcasting Capsule News...West Virginia
- In West Virginia, the Nicholas and Clay County Commissions declared countywide state of emergencies Wednesday as heavy wet snow fell faster than Department of Highways crews could clear roadways across the state and several accidents were reported.
- The FBI announced Wednesday it will offer an undisclosed, financial reward for information leading to the identity, arrest and/or conviction of the man who robbed the Pea Ridge branch of the City National Bank last Thursday. Anyone with information should call the FBI’s Huntington Violent Crime Drug Task Force at 304-525-4741 or the Cabell County Sheriff’s Office at 304-743-1594.
- Bonnie Jean Bain of Belle, a former BB&T teller supervisor, has been indicted on 26 counts of embezzlement which occurred between May 2004 and October 2007. If convicted, she could be sentenced to 30 years in prison and $1 million fine on each count, along with restitution.
- U.S. Senators Jay Rockefeller and Joe Manchin, both D-W.Va., have signed on to the Robert C. Byrd Mine and Workplace Safety and Health Act aimed at improving safety in coal mines and other workplaces by providing measures, including protections for whistle blowers and allowing miners to speak freely during investigations.
- Massey Energy has presented a $1.5 million check to the Raleigh County Board of Education which will be used in the construction of the new Marsh Fork Elementary which is expected to be ready for students and faculty by fall 2012.
- Anthony Kosela, 30, of Charleston, has been arrested after Kanawha County Deputies found materials and equipment consistent with operating a meth lab at his residence on Falcon Drive.
- Nitro Police have arrested Kimbar-Lee D. Hughes,27, and Edward L. Moore, 23, and charged each with gross child neglect creating a substantial risk of bodily injury. The couple had previously been arrested and charged with operating a meth lab.
- State regulators have fined Go Mart Inc. $12,000 for wastewater violations at a truck stop and fueling station in Putnam County. They say the truck stop violated its water pollution control permit four times between January 2008 and March 2010.
- Thomas Manns Jr. of Peytona, in Boone County, has been sentenced to home confinement and a two-month stint in rehab after he left his 8-month-old son in a bathtub with a 2-year-old on October 25, 2006 and returned to find him drowned.
- The Cabell County School system has implemented a School Messenger Service in each district which can reach 20,000 parents in five to 10 minutes, alerting them about inclement weather and other emergency situations.
- John Strader, 36, of Canvas, in Nicholas County, has been arrested after witnesses and sheriff's deputies say they saw him digging up a grave at the Garrett Family Cemetery on Fenwick Mountain.
- Attorney General Darrell McGraw has filed a lawsuit against DirectBuy Inc., alleging it engages in unlawful, coercive, deceptive, and high-pressure sales practices. The lawsuit says DirectBuy coerced consumers by offering free trial offers, guaranteeing free gifts and offering a variety of other promotions it failed to honor, but, instead, DirectBuy focused on selling expensive club memberships.
- U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller says President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech sent the right message to West Virginians, saying emphasis on investment in infrastructure investment is the right way to reduce unemployment.
- In response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union Address, Representative Shelley Moore Capito says she'll be interested to hear more about Obama's plan calling for 80 percent of all electricity to come from clean energy sources by 2035. Capito praised the plan when Obama said, "If a bill comes to my desk with earmarks inside, I will veto it."
- Houston, Texas-based McJunkin Red Man Corp. branch offices in Nitro and Hurricane are being consolidated as about 14 employees in Nitro will be transferred to the office in Hurricane. The consolidation doesn't affect the company's 13-acre pipe yard in Nitro. McJunkin distributes oil and natural gas pipe and valves.
- The House of Delegates has voted to pass a law defining a public record under West Virginia's Freedom of Information Act as any writing prepared or received by a public body, if its content or context relates to the public's business. The other measure passed would exempt certain Division of Juvenile Services records from FOIA.
- The one percent occupational tax for the City of Huntington has been declared constitutional by Bob Bastress, a WVU constitutional law professor.The city's tax reform plan has been on hold since last September, but city leaders plan to take the new findings before the Home Rule Board before the next scheduled meeting on March 17th.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 11:26 PM 
