Tagged: West Virginia

Along with the headlines about Sen. Richard Lugar's loss in Indiana's Republican primary and passage of a ban on gay marriage in North Carolina, there's this news from Tuesday's voting:

"A man in prison in Texas got 4 out of 10 votes in West Virginia's Democratic presidential primary." (The Associated Press)

West Virginia will soon hold its annual Liars Contest. Last year, college professor Adam Booth won. He's been a contender five times according to West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

The Northeast and mid-Atlantic began the cold season with an unusual Halloween snowstorm that knocked out power to millions. And after that? Almost no snow in may parts of those regions.

So maybe it's fitting that one of the mildest winters in memory is being followed by a storm that's expected to dump several inches of snow today on higher elevations of states from West Virginia up into New York.

Tonight, in Whitesville, W.Va., mourners will silently walk with candles on sidewalks lined with luminary lights to remember the 29 coal miners who died two years ago today in the nation's worst mine disaster in 40 years.

That memorial will follow a 3 p.m. ET event in Beckley,W. Va., where an honor guard will ring a bell 29 times to mark the moment the Upper Big Branch coal mine erupted in a massive explosion.

Patty Quarles plans to attend both gatherings in memory of her son, Gary Wayne, who died in the April 5, 2010, blast. Quarles now has her son's image tattooed on a leg and still can't talk about that evening of waiting for news two years ago without breaking into tears.

"The former superintendent of a southern West Virginia mine where an explosion killed 29 workers in April 2010 pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal fraud charge," The Associated Press reports. "Gary May of Bloomingrose, the highest-ranking Massey Energy official charged in connection with the blast, faces up to five years in prison when sentenced Aug. 9."