Charleston Gazette

Three Ja Football Coaches to Be Suspended: ; Incident Between Students On Bus Led to Discipline

Three football coaches at John Adams Middle School will be suspended from the team for the last two weeks of the season after seventh-grade players restrained a classmate on a school bus earlier this month and one simulated a sexual act with him. Head coach Richard Harper said he and two more of the team's four coaches would not coach the final two games of the season.

85% of Those Eligible to Vote Are Registered, a State Record

THE NUMBERS 675,305 Number of registered Democrats. 353,437 Number of registered Republicans. 183,375 Number of other voters. A record 1.21 million West Virginians are registered to vote in this year's general election - better than eight out of 10 of those who are old enough.

Fall In

Loophole an Easy Fix, Foster Says: ; Pension Law Allows Officials to Retire, Draw Salary As Well

Fixing a loophole in state law that allows certain elected officials to draw their pensions and salaries simultaneously should be relatively simple, the chairman of the Senate Pensions Committee said Tuesday. "The intent of the law was trying to provide some incentive for folks who've retired to run for elective office," Sen. Dan Foster, D- Kanawha, said of the 45-year-old provision in state pension law. "This certainly was not what the Legislature intended."

Election 2008: ; E-Voting Machines Good to Go, Ireland Says; Voting Irregularities Have Been Reported in Putnam, Jackson

Secretary of State Betty Ireland selected Omaha, Neb.-based Election Systems and Software, or ES&S, "to provide West Virginia with new voting machines," according to her Sept. 15, 2005, press release. Today, in spite of reports from Jackson and Putnam counties complaining of voting irregularities, Deputy Secretary of State Sarah Bailey said Ireland "remains confident that the machines will provide West Virginia with a fair, accurate and clean election.

In Food L Gourmet Page-Turner

In Sports L Game 1

Boil-Water Advisory

Correction

Students Struggle to Get Private College Loans

The credit crunch has officially arrived on campus. In a new survey, private colleges report their students are finding it significantly harder to secure the private loans they need to pay tuition bills. More alarmingly, nearly half of colleges say some students have been forced to take time off or go part-time as a result.

Motorcycle Gang Members Arrested in 6 States

LOS ANGELES - Dozens of burly, tattoo-covered members of the Mongol motorcycle gang were arrested Tuesday by federal agents in six states following a three-year investigation in which undercover agents infiltrated the group. At least 38 members of the Southern California-based Mongol Motorcycle Club were arrested under a federal racketeering indictment that included charges of murder, attempted murder and assault, as well as gun and drug violations, said Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms a...

Putnam Commissioner Worried About Early-Voting Problems

WINFIELD - A Putnam County commissioner wants Secretary of State Betty Ireland to look into complaints about voting machines in the county. "A complaint like that is at least worth checking into, and I'm sure the secretary of state is already looking into it," Commissioner Gary Tillis said Tuesday.

County to Get Bids On Reflective Safety Vests

Kanawha County officials are about to shell out as much as $40,000 to buy safety vests for emergency responders. Beginning Nov. 24, any firefighter, police officer or ambulance worker working outside their vehicle along an interstate highway will be required by law to wear a reflective safety vest. Federal officials passed a law requiring the vests, but did not provide local officials with a way to pay for them.

Hospital Bills Woman Who Never Saw Doctor

DALLAS - A woman says she waited 19 hours at Parkland Memorial Hospital's emergency department for treatment of a broken leg and never did get to see a doctor - but still got a bill for $162. Amber Joy Milbrodt, who said she broke a bone in her leg while playing volleyball, received the bill two weeks after her Sept. 24 visit.

Poll Shows Mccain Still Ahead in W.Va.;

Manchin appears headed for landslide Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain holds a nine- point lead in West Virginia, according to a poll released Tuesday by Rasmussen Reports.

Obama Says Mccain Offers 'Willful Ignorance'

LAKE WORTH, Fla. - Democrat Barack Obama said Tuesday that Republican John McCain is offering little more than "willful ignorance, wishful thinking, outdated ideology" to an economy in crisis, seeking to capitalize on the main issue that is propelling him forward in the race for the White House. "While President Bush and Sen. McCain were ready to move heaven and earth to address the crisis on Wall Street, the president has failed so far to address the crisis on Main Street, and Sen. McCain ha...

Obituaries: ; Obit

Aliscia Renae Ball Aliscia "Lissie" Renae Ball, 20, of Hamilton, N.J., formerly of Charleston, entered into rest Tuesday October 14, 2008, at Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia, Pa.

Nitro to Give Levy Another Try

Nitro City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to give the failed excess levy one more round before the voters. On Jan. 31, city residents will once again go to the polls to either continue the revenue source, or to vote it down, forcing the city to make $379,000 in budget cuts.

Agreement with U.S. Needs Changes, Iraq Says

BAGHDAD - Iraq's Cabinet decided Tuesday to ask the U.S. for changes to the draft agreement that would keep American troops here three more years, as key Shiite lawmakers warned the deal stands little chance of approval as it stands. The decision, reached in a closed-door meeting that lasted nearly six hours, raised doubt that the agreement can be ratified before a new American president is elected next month.

Vermont Bishop to Preside at Red Mass in City

Salvatore R. Matano, the Catholic Bishop of Burlington, Vt., will preside at the 13th annual Red Mass for lawyers, judges and elected officials held at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral in Charleston. Michael J. Bransfield, Bishop of Wheeling-Charleston, and priests of the West Virginia Catholic Church will assist Bishop Matano.