State Police increasing patrols for July 4 holiday
State Police are increasing highway patrols for the holiday weekend in an effort to help keep travelers safe.
State Police will focus on enforcement of laws involving drunken and reckless driving, speeding, and child-restraint and seat-belt laws.
The enforcement period runs from today through Sunday as part of a national campaign.
WVU to break ground on $8 million child-care center
MORGANTOWN - An $8 million child-care facility that West Virginia University employees have wanted for years should open by fall 2009.
The Board of Governors last month approved a budget for the Early Childhood Center. Groundbreaking is later this summer, with construction to begin in September.
WVU President Mike Garrison, who will step down Sept. 1, made the center a top priority when he was trying to land his job last year.
Administrators say the child-care center will help attract and retain good employees and will also benefit students.
The center will accommodate 180 preschoolers, plus 30 older children for after-school programs. WVU says talks with a possible operator are underway. An existing nursery school also will be rebuilt.
Nonuniformed workers in Huntington OK contract
HUNTINGTON - Nonuniformed workers in Huntington have approved a five-year contract that calls for them to forgo pay raises in the agreement's first year.
Members of American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 598 voted 56-21 Monday to ratify the agreement, which includes raises totaling $3 an hour over the remaining four years.
The contract also includes a new health insurance plan proposed by Mayor David Felinton.
Local 598 represents 109 of the city's 360 employees. The union isn't affiliated with police and firefighters, who are suing the city over contract negotiations.
In a complaint filed June 16 in Cabell Circuit Court, unions representing police and firefighters accused the city of bad-faith bargaining.
W.Va. Public Radio news director leaving for job in N.C.
News director Greg Collard is leaving West Virginia Public Radio after eight years, the last four as news director.
Collard has accepted a job at the all-news public radio station WSAE in Charlotte, N.C.
Collard's last day here is Aug. 1, and the station will seek a replacement, posting the job as state law requires, said spokeswoman Shawn Patterson.
State Police increasing patrols for July 4 holiday State Police are increasing highway patrols for the holiday weekend in an effort to help keep travelers safe.
State Police will focus on enforcement of laws involving drunken and reckless driving, speeding, and child-restraint and seat-belt laws.
The enforcement period runs from today through Sunday as part of a national campaign.
WVU to break ground on $8 million child-care center
MORGANTOWN - An $8 million child-care facility that West Virginia University employees have wanted for years should open by fall 2009.
The Board of Governors last month approved a budget for the Early Childhood Center. Groundbreaking is later this summer, with construction to begin in September.
WVU President Mike Garrison, who will step down Sept. 1, made the center a top priority when he was trying to land his job last year.
Administrators say the child-care center will help attract and retain good employees and will also benefit students.
The center will accommodate 180 preschoolers, plus 30 older children for after-school programs. WVU says talks with a possible operator are underway. An existing nursery school also will be rebuilt.
Nonuniformed workers in Huntington OK contract
HUNTINGTON - Nonuniformed workers in Huntington have approved a five-year contract that calls for them to forgo pay raises in the agreement's first year.
Members of American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 598 voted 56-21 Monday to ratify the agreement, which includes raises totaling $3 an hour over the remaining four years.
The contract also includes a new health insurance plan proposed by Mayor David Felinton.
Local 598 represents 109 of the city's 360 employees. The union isn't affiliated with police and firefighters, who are suing the city over contract negotiations.
In a complaint filed June 16 in Cabell Circuit Court, unions representing police and firefighters accused the city of bad-faith bargaining.
W.Va. Public Radio news director leaving for job in N.C.
News director Greg Collard is leaving West Virginia Public Radio after eight years, the last four as news director.
Collard has accepted a job at the all-news public radio station WSAE in Charlotte, N.C.
Collard's last day here is Aug. 1, and the station will seek a replacement, posting the job as state law requires, said spokeswoman Shawn Patterson.
Suspect in child rape denied change of venue
WHEELING - A Kentucky man accused of abducting and raping an 11-year-old Wheeling girl has lost his bid to have his federal trial moved to another city.
Joshua Ridings of Owensboro, Ky., had argued that media coverage would prevent him from receiving a fair trial in Wheeling.
Last week's ruling by U.S. Magistrate Judge James Seibert also denied motions to dismiss the indictment and suppress DNA evidence.
Ridings is accused of grabbing the girl from her North Wheeling neighborhood in February 2007 and taking her into Belmont County, Ohio, where she was sexually assaulted.
Trial is set to begin Aug. 12. Ridings, who is also charged with raping a woman in Kentucky, faces up to life in prison if convicted.
Felony animal cruelty charges dropped against woman
MARTINSBURG - Prosecutors have dropped five felony animal cruelty charges against a Hedgesville woman, but she still faces four misdemeanor counts.
Berkeley County assistant prosecutor Stephanie Saunders announced the decision Tuesday following a brief hearing in magistrate court. Saunders declined to comment on the decision.
Police charged 55-year-old Deborah Honey Snider last month after five dead goats and several horses that appeared to have been neglected were found on property she owns in Martinsburg.
If convicted of the misdemeanor counts, Snider would face up to six months in jail and/or a fine of $300 to $2,000 on each count.
Dominion Resources to sell units for $910 million
RICHMOND, Va. - Energy company Dominion Resources Inc. has found another buyer for its West Virginia and Pennsylvania natural gas distribution companies.
Private investor Babcock & Brown Infrastructure Fund North America has agreed to buy Dominion Peoples and Dominion Hope for $910 million, Richmond-based Dominion said Wednesday. The deal is expected to close in 2009, pending approval by regulators.
Clarksburg, W.Va.-based Dominion Hope is West Virginia's second-largest gas provider and has about 115,000 residential and business customers in the state. Dominion Peoples has approximately 359,000 business and residential customers in Pennsylvania. Together, the companies account for approximately 12 percent of Dominion's 4 million electric and natural gas utility customer accounts in the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest.
The agreement with Babcock & Brown is Dominion's second deal to sell the two gas utilities. In 2006, Dominion struck a deal to sell the pair to Pittsburgh-based Equitable Resources for $970 million. That agreement was terminated in January after regulators balked at approving the sale.
Dominion expects to net about $675 million after taxes from the new sales agreement with Babcock & Brown. Dominion said it will use the proceeds to reduce debt. Dominion listed $12.8 billion in long-term debt on its balance sheet at the end of March.
Because income from Dominion Peoples and Dominion Hope is excluded from the company's operating earnings, Dominion maintained its 2008 operating earnings guidance of $3.05 per share to $3.15 per share and its 2009 operating earnings outlook of $3.25 per share to $3.40 per share.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expect, on average, 2008 earnings per share of $3.11 and 2009 earnings per share of $3.34.
San Francisco-based Babcock & Brown Infrastructure Fund North America is an affiliate of Babcock & Brown, Australia's second-largest asset manager.
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