Tag: AP

W.Va. among most improved in energy efficiency

An organization that promotes energy efficiency puts West Virginia among the top five most improved states in this year’s annual scorecard.
 
     The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy released its rankings Wednesday.

Executive Director Steve Nadel says many states are doing more and more each year, and they must constantly improve to retain their rankings.
 
     Joining West Virginia among the most improved are Mississippi, Maine, Kansas and Ohio.
 
     The report says that after years of virtually no activity, West Virginia utilities have begun to roll out some small-scale efficiency programs for its customers.
 
     With residential consumers facing dramatic price increases, the report says energy efficiency is starting to gain traction as a way to lower energy bills.
 
     Lawmakers showed interest in 2011, but proposed legislation failed.

Agriculture Dept. still deciding site of hog farm to feed inmates

A West Virginia Department of Agriculture spokesman says the agency hasn’t yet selected a site for a hog farm that would help feed state inmates.

     Last week, Mingo County Revelopment Authority director Steve Kominar told the authority’s board that the county had been chosen as a site for the hog farm.
 
     Department of Agriculture spokesman Butch Antolini said Tuesday that Mingo County is one of several locations being looked at in the southern coalfields.
 
     Agriculture Commissioner Walk Helmick says the state buys more than 100,000 pounds of pork annually from outside the state to feed inmates in state prisons. That doesn’t include regional jails and juvenile facilities.
 
     Helmick says taxpayer dollars used to feed and house inmates should be spent in West Virginia.

Kanawha Co. clerk seeks delay in gay marriage lawsuit

The clerk of West Virginia’s biggest county says she needs more time to answer a lawsuit over the state’s ban on same-sex marriages.
 
     Kanawha County Clerk Vera McCormick filed a motion in U.S. District Court in Charleston, asking the deadline for her response be extended past Wednesday.
 
     The New York-based gay rights group Lambda Legal sued earlier this month, declaring West Virginia’s Defense of Marriage Act a violation of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
 
     It filed a similar lawsuit challenging Virginia’s gay marriage ban in September.
 
     McCormick says the case involves constitutional questions of widespread importance, and 21 days is not long enough for her to prepare.
 
     She also says it’s unfair to require a response before she knows whether the state Attorney General is going to intervene.
 

One dead, three injured in house explosion in Brooke Co.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

Brooke County Sheriff Chuck Jackson said one person is dead after an early morning house explosion in West Virginia’s Northern Panhandle.

Update: Friday, October 11, 2013 at 1:50 p.m.

Brooke County Emergency Management Director Bob Folwer said 911 dispatch received a call about the smell of natural gas from a neighboring home and the fire department responded to a house that wasn’t the one that exploded. He said the fire truck was leaving the scene when the explosion happened.

“It was a pretty extensive explosion. I live in West Liberty, which is probably–in air miles–10 or 12 miles away. Actually, the explosion was loud enough I could hear it in  West Liberty,” said Folwer.  “All of the homes in the area have extensive damage. Some of them have structural damage and, in a lot of homes, the windows were blown out. One of the fire stations is only a short distance from there and there was some damage to that fire station.”

Deputy Emergency Management Director Marlene Whitco said at least 20 homes in the area were impacted by the blast.

The West Virginia State Fire Marshal and the Brooke County Sheriff’s Department are conducting a joint investigation of the incident.

Update: Friday, October 11, 2013 at 11:50 a.m.

Jackson told WTOV that three others have been injured.
 
No names were immediately released.

Original story posted Friday, October 11, 2013 at 9:40 a.m.

It happened Friday morning in Follansbee’s Hooverson Heights neighborhood.

Whitco said she’s unsure about the nature of the explosion, but she says residents are not being evacuated.

Authorities had no further details.

W.Va. school board to discuss concussion rule

Updated October 9, 2013 1:39 p.m.

   The West Virginia Board of Education has postponed consideration of the concussion rule until its meeting next month. 

The West Virginia Board of Education is set to vote on a proposal that would require high schools to inform parents, coaches and student-athletes of the risk of sports-related head injuries.

The rule that is up for a possible final vote today also would require schools to report those injuries within 30 days.
 
     The board took up the issue in August, sending the proposal to a 30-day public comment period. No comments were received.
 
     Earlier this year, legislators passed a bill requiring the rules aimed at preventing youth concussions.
 
     The legislation also requires schools to create a written procedure for recognizing injuries and then clearing athletes to return to play, including the written permission of a licensed health care professional.

W.Va. agriculture chief: Shutdown won't affect operations

West Virginia Agriculture Commissioner Walt Helmick said Tuesday the partial federal government shutdown won’t affect his agency’s operations.
 
     Helmick said  in a news release that the Department of Agriculture is continuing daily inspections at livestock slaughter and processing facilities.
 
     The department also is continuing surveillance of egg and dairy products, testing poultry flocks for disease and conducting other routine activities.
 
     Helmick said the department has broad powers under the state code to conduct inspections, enact embargoes and quarantines, and to deal with any livestock disease outbreaks.
 

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