Category: Government

Government stories

GOP Asks State Supreme Court to Fill Ballot Spot

  Kanawha County Republicans have filed a challenge with the West Virginia Supreme Court to fill an empty House of Delegates ballot slot.

Marie Sprouse-McDavid and the Kanawha County Republican Executive Committee filed the challenge Monday. It targets Secretary of State Natalie Tennant and state Election Commission members.

Last month, the Election Commission denied Republicans’ request to fill a 35th District ballot vacancy left by GOP Del. Suzette Raines’ withdrawal last month. Sprouse-McDavid would run instead.

Raines said she needed time to heal after her mother’s death in March and the end of her engagement. She’s completing her term.

A legal complaint by state Democrats alleged Raines doesn’t live where she claims. It said she didn’t file or sign certain paperwork.

Commissioners said Raines’ extenuating circumstances didn’t suffice under election law.

Chemical Safety Board to Discuss West Virginia Explosion, Spill

  The federal Chemical Safety Board is coming to Charleston next week to release findings about a New Cumberland metal recycling plant explosion that killed three workers in December 2010.

The board said Thursday that it also will update the public on its investigation of a January chemical spill at the July 16 meeting. The Freedom Industries tank leak contaminated drinking in the Kanawha Valley for days.

In March, metal recycler AL Solutions in New Cumberland settled to pay a $100,000 civil penalty to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a $97,000 penalty to the U.S. Department of Labor.

The settlement requires AL Solutions to process or dispose of almost two and a half million pounds of titanium and zirconium stored at two facilities. It also must implement safety procedures for the New Cumberland plant.

W.Va. Inmate Convicted of Killing Fellow Prisoner

A federal inmate has been convicted on charges of killing another prisoner.

The Exponent Telegram reports that a federal jury in Clarksburg found Kevin Marquette Bellinger guilty of second-degree murder and murder by an inmate serving a life sentence on Monday.

The 33-year-old Bellinger faces life in prison without the possibility of parole. A sentencing date hasn’t been set.

Bellinger and 33-year-old co-defendant Patrick Andrews were charged with killing 28-year-old fellow inmate Jesse Harris at the U.S. Penitentiary at Hazelton on Oct. 7, 2007.

Prosecutors say Harris was stabbed 22 times.

Andrews’ trial is scheduled for May 2015. If he is convicted, prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty.

Event to Honor Upper Big Branch Victims

Friends and families of victims of a West Virginia mine explosion four years ago are meeting to remember their lost loved ones.
 
A gathering for those affected by the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster will take place Wednesday afternoon in front of the federal courthouse in Charleston. Saturday is the four-year anniversary of the explosion that killed 29 miners.

According to the Upper Big Branch Miners Memorial website, the event will run from noon to 3 p.m.
 
Massey Energy owned the mine. Former Massey CEO Don Blankenship released a documentary this week disputing that his company was at fault.
 
U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin says he was deceived into appearing in the film. He has demanded his interview be removed and the film be taken off the Internet.
 

Japan Honors Sen. Rockefeller

W.Va. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) was the guest of honor at a luncheon Wednesday in Washington, D.C.

W.Va. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) was the guest of honor at a luncheon Wednesday in Washington, D.C.

During a ceremony later in the day, Rockefeller will receive the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun from the Japanese government recognizing him for decades of work strengthening and promoting the relationship between Japan and the United States. The award was established in 1875 and is the country’s highest honor for foreigners.

Credit: Cecelia Mason/West Virginia Public Broadcasting

West Virginia PBS is videotaping the event as part of a documentary commemorating Rockefeller’s 50 years of public service.

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