The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Today's Front Page

Today's Front Page
  • visit Getting technical assistance

    Kristean Hallett, a student at New River Community and Technical College, center, shows Jemeria Toney, left, and Meranda Todd, both seniors at Woodrow Wilson High School, how to use a infrared camera that shows cold spots in a house at the college’s Advanced Training Center in Ghent Wednesday. Fifty students from Liberty, Shady Spring and Woodrow Wilson high schools visited the college to learn about the school’s various training programs.

    February 9, 2012 1 Photo

  • OPEB bill passes without changes

    Republican fears that ingredients of “Obama care” are embedded in it failed Wednesday to sway the House of Delegates from altering a Senate bill retiring the Other Post-Employment Benefits liability.
    One by one, with a few Republicans voting against them, the House shot down amendments that would have eliminated a dozen points of SB469.

    February 9, 2012

  • Tattoos, tanning for kids targeted

    Skin artists can imprint no tattoos on minors before their time.
    At least that was the thinking Wednesday in the Senate’s unanimous approval of a bill that makes it unlawful for anyone under 16 to walk into a tattoo parlor and get a skin picture.
    Teenagers between 16 and 18 would have to be accompanied by an adult or legal guardian before getting a tattoo. The bill also bans all indoor tanning for children.

    February 9, 2012

  • ‘Perfect storm’ brewing against coal

    A mild winter, sluggish global economy and more strict enforcement of federal laws relating to smokestack emissions have combined to create “a perfect storm,” for West Virginia’s coal industry, according to Bill Raney, president of the West Virginia Coal Association.
    Raney responded to a question concerning Wednesday’s announcement that FirstEnergy Corp., will retire three coal-fired power plants that are part of its Monongahela Power Co., subsidiary in northern West Virginia.

    February 9, 2012

  • House amends child neglect law

    Her voice choked with emotion, Delegate Barbara Fleischauer arose on the House floor Wednesday with a sordid tale of a child born with organs outside her body and only a single lung.
    A victim of repeated neglect, Fleischauer said Madison Violet Dodson died, one year and three months after arrival, the night her father left the child on the floor and went to sleep.
    Minutes after she spoke, the House unanimously approved a bill that alters the child neglect law so that a tiered system of offenses is provided.

    February 9, 2012

  • Senate forbids tattoos for anyone under 16

    Skin artists can imprint no tattoos on minors before their time.
    At least that was the thinking Wednesday in the Senate’s unanimous approval of a bill that makes it unlawful for anyone under 16 to walk into a tattoo parlor and get a skin picture.

    February 8, 2012

  • House amends child neglect law

    Her voice choked with emotion, Delegate Barbara Fleischauer arose on the House floor Wednesday with a sordid tale of a child born with organs outside her body and only a single lung.
    A victim of repeated neglect, Fleischauer said Madison Violet Dodson died, one year and three months after arrival, the night her father left the child on the floor and went to sleep.

    February 8, 2012

  • sign Sparks are flying

    Mike Williams, an employee with SKYWAY Signs and Graphics out of Bastian, Va., is showered with sparks as he uses a cutting torch to help dismantle the old Raleigh Mall sign Tuesday afternoon in Beckley.

    February 8, 2012 1 Photo

  • Bill would strengthen copper theft laws

    Copper thieves, led largely by an insatiable hunger for narcotic drugs, are vandalizing telephone lines, even swiping manhole covers, in what one senator terms “an epidemic” spreading across West Virginia.
    A fresh bill put on the Senate floor Tuesday by nine senators seeks to throw up a roadblock when stolen copper is fenced at scrap metal dealers and hopefully open a trail back to the bandits.
    Put simply, it means no junk dealer may buy any metal that is “reasonably” recognized as stolen.
    “It bans the purchase of copper that’s been burned,” explained a co-sponsor, Sen. Richard Browning, D-Wyoming.

    February 8, 2012

  • ‘Paint the town blue’

    Mountain State University hopes members of the business community, public officials and citizens will show their support for the school by painting the town blue as the university prepares for an upcoming accreditation visit, said Andrew Wessels, public relations officer.
    Students, faculty and staff will be handing out “I support MSU” buttons and yard signs to individuals and businesses this week.

    February 8, 2012