Charleston Gazette

Southern W.Va.: ; Coalfield Flooding Litigation Settled

Lawyers for coalfield residents and for large land-owning companies and coal operations have reached an agreement to settle lawsuits over the impact of mining and timbering on the July 2001 floods in Southern West Virginia. Final details need to be worked out, and papers filed and approved by a judge. But the settlement would resolve a legal battle that has lasted more than eight years.

Health Reform Edges Closer: ; Democrats May Be One Vote From Passage

WASHINGTON - Prodded by President Obama, Senate Democrats won tentative backing from one holdout and worked intensely to satisfy another Tuesday as they grappled with the last, lingering disputes blocking passage of health-care legislation by Christmas. Obama said his congressional allies were "on the precipice" of a historic accomplishment that has eluded presidents and lawmakers for generations, adding the emerging bill includes "all the criteria that I laid out" in a speech to a joint sess...

Whittaker Link Haunts Crosier, His Mother Says: ; 'Nobody Will Let Him Live It Down'

WINFIELD - The mother of a Putnam County man who hid the body of Jack Whittaker's granddaughter in 2005 said the media and community continue to unfairly connect her son to the Powerball winner. "It keeps coming up, and nobody will let him live it down," said Vicky Crosier, Stephen Brandon Crosier's mother.

Gazette Charities Christmas Fund: ; 2 Need Help to Fix Up Their Mobile Home

Katie, who is in her mid-50s, was living in a mobile home with one of her relatives, Charlie. Both were on a fixed income, but were managing to pay the rent for their lot until the property owner decided he wanted to use the land for another purpose. They had no choice but to move her mobile home elsewhere. Katie and Charlie managed to scrape up enough money to have the trailer relocated, but after it was moved, they began having problems. They hired contractors to build a front porch with an...

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Correction

Water Advisories

The state Department of Health and Human Resources has issued a boil-water advisory for the Fayette County town of Meadow Bridge because of a water main break. Customers are advised to boil water for one minute prior to use. ***

Iraq, Afghan Wars Take On Language of Their Own

WASHINGTON - Like their fellow soldiers in Germany, Vietnam or Korea, those deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq have created a language all their own, filled with black humor, cultural references and even the occasional crudity. Most of us have heard of RADAR - originally a military acronym standing in for the cumbersome term "Radio Detection and Ranging." We may even have encountered, or experienced, the occasional SNAFU, for "Situation Normal: All [Fouled] Up."

Kanawha to Return 600 Doses of Vaccine

The Kanawha County Health Department will be sending almost 600 doses of the swine flu vaccine back after a national recall of certain batches of the vaccine was announced Tuesday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recalled 800,000 doses manufactured by Sanofi Pasteura. Tests indicated that the vaccine doses lose some strength over time.

Child Swine Flu Shots Weaken; Doses Recalled: ; 800,000 Pre-Filled Syringes in Recall Are for Children, Ages 6 Months to Nearly 3 Years

ATLANTA - Hundreds of thousands of swine flu shots for children have been recalled because tests indicate the vaccine doses lost some strength, government health officials said Tuesday. The shots, made by Sanofi Pasteur, were distributed across the country last month and most have already been used, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The 800,000 pre-filled syringes that were recalled are for young children, ages 6 months to nearly 3 years.

Health-Care System has Let Us All Down

Politicians, right-wing commentators and lobbyists, who often puppet the aforementioned, have kept a negative fog over health- care reform. They've skillfully turned people against a single-payer, government-controlled system. They've made an alternative "public option" just as distasteful. What's clear is the political noise has been disturbing and destructive because it is hurting people who need medical services now.

Supreme Court Asked to Rehear Foia Case

The Associated Press has asked the state Supreme Court to reconsider a November ruling that declared a former justice's e- mails to a coal company executive were not subject to West Virginia's Freedom of Information Act. The rehearing request, filed late Monday, argues that if the 4-1 ruling is allowed to stand, it could serve as a way for "hundreds of thousands of records previously disclosed under the Act to be concealed from the public."

State Briefs

Huntington council votes to restrict dog tethering Huntington City Council has restricted the tethering of dogs following months of public debate and a protest by animal lovers who chained themselves to trees.

Dna Test Clears Man Who Served 28 Years

WASHINGTON - A man who spent 28 years behind bars for a rape and murder he said he didn't commit walked out of a federal prison in Arizona on Tuesday with $75 and a bus ticket to Ohio after DNA testing showed he was innocent. The conviction of Donald Eugene Gates, 58, was based largely on the testimony of an FBI forensic analyst whose work later came under fire and a hair analysis technique that has been discredited.

Adm. Mullen: Most of Surge Troops Will Arrive by August

KABUL - The top U.S. military officer said Tuesday that he's confident that most of the 30,000 additional troops that are being sent to Afghanistan will be there by August. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters traveling with him in Afghanistan that the first 16,000 troops who already have orders will be in on schedule.

More Than 30 Arrested in Medicare Fraud Sweep

MIAMI - Federal agents Tuesday arrested about 30 doctors, nurses and health care operators in Miami, Detroit and New York on charges of submitting tens of millions of dollars in bogus bills to the taxpayer-funded Medicare program. Among those arrested in South Florida: Dr. Fred E. Dweck of Hollywood, who was the medical director for a Miami health care clinic, Courtesy Medical Group.

Readers' Voice

* It looks like the TV news is brighter than what the Gazette is on the Obama administration regarding coal. TV news is showing other sides of the story. I don't think the Gazette has the guts to do that. * Dave Callaghan's piece on mining Sunday should be required reading. Our generation neglected Governor Hulett Smith's warnings about strip mining. Callaghan put it into historical perspective. We need to rein in mountaintop removal before all streams are lost and we are known as "Almost Lev...

Energy Agency Honors 4 State Businesses

Four West Virginia businesses are being recognized by the U.S. Department of Energy for their efforts to reduce energy consumption. The four are Mittal Steel in Weirton, Marble King in Paden City, QuadGraphics in Martinsburg and Wheeling Nisshin in Follansbee. Each was recognized by the energy department's Energy Industrial Technologies Program and its Save Energy Now initiative.

Federal Bill has Millions for State Roads

A bill headed to the White House for President Obama's signature includes millions of dollars for West Virginia roads, Sen. Robert C. Byrd said Tuesday. Byrd is the senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. The projects include: