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A 29-year-old Fairview woman has been convicted on a federal charge of stealing from the U.S. Postal Service.The government says Ceressa B. Patterson…
A 29-year-old Fairview woman has been convicted on a federal charge of stealing from the U.S. Postal Service.
The government says Ceressa B. Patterson pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of embezzling nearly $2,000 from the Postal Service. She had worked at the Pentress Post Office.
The theft involved proceeds from the sale of money orders and stamps.
Federal prosecutors say Patterson entered her plea in Clarksburg. She faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced Thursday, Dec. 17, that it is charging Camden Park in Huntington with 45 violations resulting…
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced Thursday, Dec. 17, that it is charging Camden Park in Huntington with 45 violations resulting in more than $65,000 in penalties.
OSHA says in a news release that an inspection in June in response to a complaint revealed the violations. Camden Park was charged with 40 serious violations and five other-than-serious violations.
The serious violations include employees being exposed to fall, electrical, chemical and amputation hazards. Some exit routes were obstructed and not visibly marked. There was a lack of machine guarding and no written hazard communication plan for workers that use or could be exposed to chemicals.
Other violations were due to the company’s failure to record occupational illness and injuries on the OSHA 300A form. Also not requiring employees to use personal protective equipment and not conducting a monthly inspection and annual maintenance check on a portable fire extinguisher and preventing water from entering an electric panel box.
The West Virginia Board of Education voted unanimously Thursday to repeal the state’s Common Core-based education standards for English and math and replace them with a newly developed set called the West Virginia College and Career Ready Standards.
The new standards are the result of a months-long review process headed by West Virginia’s Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michael Martirano called the Academic Spotlight.
After the review, which included multiple meetings across the state that allowed parents and teachers to ask questions and make comments about the Common Core-based Next Generation Content Standards, the West Virginia Department of Education worked with education experts at West Virginia University as well as West Virginia teachers, principals and superintendents to write the new standards.
The College and Career Ready Standards were on public comment for 30 days and with a total 87 combined comments on both the English Language Arts and math standards, few changes were made before the board gave its approval Thursday.
“This went through a very, very intense vetting period, it was open to the public to make comments and we’re very confident in the fact that we have a very good set of standards to move forward with,” Board President Mike Green said after the vote.
The Next Generation Content Standards came under fire during the 2015 Legislative Session as members of both chambers debated a bill to repeal them.
In the end, the bill failed and Martirano moved forward with his own plan of replacement, but lawmakers are still discussing offering changes to the new standards. Martirano said Thursday he only hopes those suggestions will come quickly.
“This process has been going on for close to a year, please provide me with some specific feedback,” Martirano said.
“If there are still changes to come, please bring those forward soon so that I can review those and see what adjustments need to occur because I don’t want to interrupt the educational process with some draconian change that has been thrust upon us from another body.”
Martirano added he is open to any suggestion lawmakers may have to strengthen the new standards.
The West Virginia College and Career Ready Standards take effect July 1, 2016.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has signed a lease agreement for a clinic site in Fairlea.
The Register-Herald reports the clinic will serve about 1,700 veterans in the region.
Beckley VA Medical Center spokeswoman Debbie Voloski says the VA’s lease for the 4,800-square-foot building was awarded for five years, with five additional one-year options.
The VA previously leased the 8,500-square-foot Community Based Outpatient Clinic at the Rahall Building in Maxwelton. That clinic was closed in April after employees complained for over a year about headaches and dizziness blamed on air quality issues in the building, where other businesses also operate.
Voloski says the Fairlea building was originally designed as a restaurant, noting that the structure has since been used for a variety of businesses.
A three-judge panel is set to decide whether Marmet Mayor Bill Pauley should be removed from office.
The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports the West Virginia Supreme Court ordered the hearing Wednesday. It will be held in February in Kanawha County.
Pauley faces removal after 99 residents signed a petition saying they wanted him removed.
The complaint says Pauley encouraged ineligible voters who weren’t Marmet residents to cast votes during early voting in 2013.
Pauley entered a conciliation agreement, similar to a plea bargain, with the state Ethics Commission Sept. 29 over two counts of violating the state Ethics Act for personal gain.
Pauley has been mayor of Marmet for 37 years. In November, he denied any wrongdoing to the newspaper.
He will have a chance to appeal pending the judges’ ruling.
A Bluefield construction and excavation company has agreed to pay more than $98,000 in back wages and damages to 19 workers denied overtime pay.The U.S.…
A Bluefield construction and excavation company has agreed to pay more than $98,000 in back wages and damages to 19 workers denied overtime pay.
The U.S. Department of Labor says DCI/Shires Inc. and its officers also agreed to pay $7,106 in civil penalties under a consent judgment filed in U.S. District Court in Charleston.
The agency said Thursday in a news release that the employees were not paid the required overtime rate when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek.
An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that employees received straight-time pay for overtime hours in separate checks. The department says records initially provided by the company falsely showed fewer hours than the employees had worked.