Claim Costs Rise at Public Employees Insurance Agency in West Virginia. - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

By Fanny Seiler, The Charleston Gazette, W.Va. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Jun. 7--The Public Employees Insurance Agency may have to start negotiating fees with physicians, Director Tom Susman said Wednesday in response to a significant increase in claims paid by PEIA.

From July 1 through April, PEIA-paid claims totaled $28.8 million, a $5.8 million jump over the same period the prior year.

'We may have to look at physicians' contracts,' Susman said.

Last year, PEIA went to a 'facility-nonfacility' fee schedule that attempted to reimburse costs incurred by doctors in hospitals and by doctors with a higher overhead cost for their private offices.

But Susman said PEIA didn't accurately predict the cost of the changes, and how they would change billings from physicians and other health-care providers after the changes. PEIA didn't do monthly tracking, he added.

'I don't think anyone costed it out enough to know what they were doing.'

PEIA has five categories of fees, depending on the level of services. Susman said utilization has gone up to the highest code.

Staff believes some of the increased utilization resulted from patients having to get periodic tests when they were taking new prescription drugs.

PEIA is the best payer of any large insurance group, the director said. PEIA's fees were compared with Mountain State Blue Cross and Blue Shield's preferred provider organization, Carelink Health Plans, and Health Care of the Upper Ohio Valley.

Claims paid to hospitals for in-patient services increased from $46 million to $48 million, and the outpatient claims went from $27 million to $28 million during the same 10-month period.

Susman said PEIA currently has an evaluation committee that is reviewing bids received from private vendors to review bills from physicians and other providers to see if they are appropriate.

By the end of the fiscal year June 30, PEIA is projected to pay $47 million more for enrollees in its indemnity, or fee-for-service, plan. Susman said the estimated total is $299.18 million, compared with $253.77 million last fiscal year. 'It probably will be $50 million more by the time it's all said and done,' he said.

The pharmacy costs are projected to be $85 million, compared with $60 million the previous fiscal year.

Susman said 10,000 of the 200,000 people PEIA covers are coming back to the indemnity plan from managed-care programs, partly because Carelink offered a plan with less coverage.

The director is going to speak with representatives of the West Virginia State Medical Association to see if the organization has any suggestions. He said the association can help PEIA hold down prescription drug costs by telling the doctors to prescribe lower-cost drugs that will be just as effective as higher priced ones.

To see more of The Charleston Gazette, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.wvgazette.com

Fixing Weirton one penny at a time: Steelmaker pins its hopes on tariffs on foreign producers - Charleston Daily Mail

WEIRTON - In a town that measures its survival one tin can at atime, President Bush and his plan to protect the steel industry areworth about a penny.

A penny more for each of the billions of cans made from Weirtonsteel might be enough to keep blast-furnace electrician PhilDiMatteis from getting another layoff notice. It might keep customerscoming to Dewey Guida's BBQ rib restaurant, where $18.95 buys a fullrack with a side of potato skins smothered in cheese sauce. It mighteven help Weirton Steel Corp. Chief Executive John Walker pull off ararity in his beleaguered industry, a voluntary restructuring outsideof Bankruptcy Court.

'Our hope is to be one of the last ones standing,' Walker said.

With its soot-stained buildings and smoky-gray skies, Weirton isthe gritty incarnation of the political and economic upheaval thatprompted a Republican president who preaches trade liberalization topractice protectionism. It's a company town that feels betrayed byits traditional Democratic allies in Washington, a union strongholdthat feels victimized by what many see as a vicious form of predatorycommerce masquerading as free trade.

The past may be painful, the future dicey. But right now, withBush's tariffs of up to 30 percent beginning to take effect, it feelslike springtime in the Upper Ohio Valley. Every year, Americans buyabout 32 billion cans of green beans, sliced peaches, stewed tomatoesand other grocery staples. Every fourth can is made from tin platethat was cast, milled, plated and rolled at the sprawling WeirtonSteel plant that towers over everything else in town.

Industry experts say Bush's tariffs might cause steel prices torise 10 percent as foreign steelmakers abandon the U.S. market or tryto recover the import duties by charging more for their products. TheWhite House says the tariffs are intended to counteract 'dumping,'the practice of selling steel in the United States at below-marketrates.

The duties could push a can of Campbell's chicken noodle soup,which contains about 9 cents' worth of steel, from 79 cents to 80cents at the local supermarket. Weirton Steel's revenue, about $1billion last year, might go up $100 million.

Not everyone is ecstatic at the prospect. Bush's rescue plan willnot only inflate the cost of consumer products. Economists say thenumber of jobs saved in mill towns such as Weirton will be exceededby the number lost in industries that use steel to make autos,appliances and other durable goods. The tariffs could prompt othercountries to retaliate, and a trade war is the last thing the worldneeds as it tries to recover from recession.

But for Weirton and its 23,000 inhabitants, it's a chance to makea fresh start. For Bush, it's an opportunity to make further inroadsin a region that has long been allergic to Republicans.

'I'll tell you what this is about. We finally have a presidentwith the guts to enforce the law,' said Darrell Curtis, 48, who wentto work at the mill straight out of high school in 1972 and has beenthere ever since, except the year he was laid off in the early '80s.

In the United States, only about a dozen big companies still arecombining ore and coke in big blast furnaces to produce iron, the rawingredient of steel. These 'integrated steel' companies are agingbehemoths with high fixed costs, in large part because of thegenerous pension and health benefits they are obligated to pay tothousands of retirees.

Over the last four years, 31 American steel companies have enteredbankruptcy proceedings.

Weirton Steel was founded in 1909 by Ernest Weir, a youngentrepreneur who situated his startup in Holliday's Cove, an OhioRiver village wedged between Pennsylvania and Ohio in West Virginia'snarrow Northern Panhandle. The community returned the compliment,changing its name to Weirton.

For more than six decades, the city and the company thrived, theirfates so intertwined that even those townsfolk who have other jobssay 'we' and 'us' when talking about the company.

Mark Glyptis graduated from Weirton High School in 1969. Of the350 people in his class, at least 100 went straight to the mill,landing jobs that often paid better than the starting salariesreceived by college grads.

Today, Glyptis is president of the Independent Steelworkers Union,which represents workers at Weirton Steel and nowhere else. He has aseat on the board of directors, the result of a 1980s crisis resolvedwhen workers used an employee stock ownership plan to buy the companyand prevent it from being sold. About 25 percent of Weirton Steel'sstock still is held by past and present employees, and they have beenallowed to participate in the decision-making process. In recentyears, it hasn't been much fun.

Weirton's work force, which peaked in the early 1960s at 13,500,has withered away as the company cut back production, shut down someoperations and introduced labor-saving processes and technologies. Bythe end of this year, only 3,500 union members still will bereceiving paychecks.

Glyptis helped CEO Walker draw up the company's restructuringplan. He has had to sell his members on the need for more job cuts soWeirton Steel can hold its own against foreign steelmakers.

'We're not going to stop globalization, I think we're going tohave to concede that,' Glyptis said. 'As it becomes more difficult tocompete because of global economics, we're going to have to becomeeven more efficient. Machines, computers will ultimately take theplace of people. If we can maintain the number of employees that wehave now, I believe we will have been highly successful.'

The company's recent restructuring has been orchestrated byWalker, 44, who became Weirton Steel's president, CEO and chiefoperating officer two years ago. The company had not had a profitableyear since 1995 and was selling steel at prices below the cost ofproduction.

Faced with the same bleak circumstances, other integratedcompanies entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Walker chose a lessconventional strategy: He asked Weirton Steel's workers, suppliersand creditors to accept job cuts and debt markdowns that would helpthe company stay out of court and get back on its feet much faster.Most of them have signed off already.

Of all the integrated producers, Weirton Steel is the most heavilyconcentrated in high-end 'tin mill' products, the thin-gauge, platedsheet metal used to make food cans. Tin plate sells at higher prices,around $650 a ton, and under long-term contracts is less vulnerableto price fluctuations.

Under Bush's plan, all of Weirton's product lines will beprotected by the biggest tariff: 30 percent the first year, 24percent the second and 18 percent the third.

After three years, the levy would disappear. The government willcollect the tariff as steel enters the country; the effect on pricesdepends on how much of the import tax foreign steelmakers are willingto absorb and how much is passed on to buyers.

DiMatteis, the 25-year-old blast-furnace electrician, said he'snot sure what effect the tariff will have on prices, but he hopes itwill buy him a little security. In 1998, he was one of about 1,000employees laid off by Weirton Steel. He was called back within ayear, but his lack of seniority means he'll be among the firstcasualties if further cuts become necessary.

'I think the help from the president is hopefully enough of acrutch that the industry, at least Weirton anyway, can get somefinancial stability,' said DiMatteis, whose father, Tony, retired in1999 after 33 years.

Funding cuts hurt AIDS program: Patients dying awaiting drugs - The Charleston Gazette (Charleston, WV)

johnheys@wvgazette.com

Three West Virginians have died since February while waiting forfree HIV/AIDS drugs from a federally funded drug assistance program.At least fourteen others are still waiting.

The state's AIDS Drug Assistance Program stopped taking newpatients almost seven months ago because the federal funding isn'tenough to cover the costs of their drugs, said the director of WestVirginia's HIV/AIDS/STD program.

'People are now starting to die while they're on the waitinglist,' said Dr. Faisal Khan. 'It is a crisis that will continue.'

Fifteen other states have cut back their drug assistance programsfor people with HIV and AIDS, and others, including Texas andFlorida, are considering doing so, Khan said.

People infected with HIV who don't qualify for Medicaid or otherdrug programs and meet income requirements can get certain anti-retroviral drugs free. The program also provides drugs to fightinfections like pneumonia and tuberculosis, which can develop once aperson's immune system is damaged by the virus.

For patients taking multiple anti-retroviral drugs, taking threeof these drugs costs about $14,000 a year. Some patients must takefour or five.

Jay Adams, an HIV care coordinator with the AIDS Task Force of theUpper Ohio Valley in Wheeling, said the waiting list will likelygrow. He's taken calls from people interested in the drug assistanceprogram from other states looking to move here and from WestVirginians who recently learned they were HIV positive.

'There's no end in sight,' Adams said. 'It's a very seriousproblem.'

In 2002, West Virginia's drug program received about $1 millionfrom the federal Health Resources and Services Administration to buyHIV/AIDS drugs for people who can't afford them. The program alsogets rebates from drug companies to help with drug costs.

If people meet all the program's requirements and have a doctor'sprescription, they can get the drugs they need within days. 'Now,that comes to a screeching halt,' Adams said.

Three-hundred forty people are enrolled in West Virginia's versionof the program, and Khan said the enrollment has been increasing thepast two or three years.

But federal funding for the program isn't linked to how manypeople use it. Instead, federal health officials base the amount ofmoney a state gets on how many AIDS cases are diagnosed in thatstate.

For West Virginia, that number is small compared to other states.But it doesn't include people with HIV who don't yet have full-blownAIDS or people who moved to West Virginia after being diagnosed inanother state.

Drug assistance programs like West Virginia's are struggling asthe federal government urges more HIV testing and a new emphasis onthose who already have HIV or AIDS to prevent the spread of thedisease.

The federal initiative, first announced in April by the Centersfor Disease Control and Prevention, could also mean changes infunding.

'There are huge question marks about how this will be funded,'Khan said. If the federal government doesn't provide more funding,Khan said, pulling money from current programs to pay for otherscould be self-defeating.

West Virginia got about $1.8 million from the CDC this year forAIDS prevention efforts, Khan said.

A national group of AIDS directors for U.S. states and territoriesreleased a statement in July calling several parts of the CDC's newplan, including the emphasis on HIV-positive people, 'highlytroublesome to health departments.'

Khan said the 13 community-based groups that work on AIDSprevention efforts in West Virginia are probably safe from directcuts in their funding as a result of the shift in federal priorities.The goals of most of the programs are in line with federalguidelines, he said.

But Khan said cuts are possible in other budget items for thestate's HIV/AIDS/STD program, such as money for travel expenses orinformational brochures for the public. The state is still working onits funding request for next year, which is due in October, Khansaid.

State officials should know by the end of November or earlyDecember how much money they'll be getting from the CDC.

As of June 2002, 554 known people with AIDS were living in WestVirginia, according to the Department of Health and Human Resources.Since 1984, more than 1,200 people with AIDS have been identified inthe state.

Nationwide, about 40,000 new HIV infections have been reportedevery year for about the last 10 years, and as many as 200,000 peoplearound the country have HIV and don't know it, the CDC estimates.

Two honored by West Virginia Alzheimer's Association ; Everly, Foster receive Rockefeller Award before their retirement - The Charleston Gazette (Charleston, WV)

Peggy Baller Everly took care of her grandmother with Alzheimer'sdisease when she was a young teenager and, as a geriatricspecialist, she's worked with patients with the disease during thepast 25 years.

Now, Everly is dealing with her own memory loss.

The West Virginia chapter of the Alzheimer's Association honoredEverly and Sen. Dan Foster, D-Kanawha, with the 2012 RockefellerAward at the 12th Annual Thanks for the Memories Luncheon onWednesday at the Charleston Marriott Town Center.

The Rockefeller Award is named in honor of the first recipient,Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and given each year to two people fortheir outstanding support for fighting Alzheimer's disease in WestVirginia.

Everly and her two sisters would take care of their grandmotherin two-day shifts when they were between the ages of 10 and 13, shesaid. The girls watched as their grandmother's memory faded witheach passing day.

Today, Everly is the clinical director of the adult day careprogram of Family Service of the Upper Ohio Valley in Wheeling. Shehelped start the West Virginia chapter of Walk to End Alzheimer's inWheeling and is a great leader for policy change and advocacy, saidLaurel Kirksey, director of constituent relations for the WestVirginia chapter.

On August 10, Everly will celebrate 25 years as a geriatricspecialist for Family Service of the Upper Ohio Valley. She willalso celebrate her retirement the same day.

'On Sept. 18, 2009, I got a phone call from my doctor,' Everlysaid through tears to the crowd of more than 250 supporters at theluncheon. 'He said the MRI on my brain shows changes ... so I'mgoing to retire to enjoy my family while I can. I've seen the otherside for 25 years and now I'm ready.'

Sen. Foster, who is retiring from the State Senate in December,has worked very hard to push the association's cause forward in thehealth-care community, Kirksey said.

A physician and lawmaker, Foster has partnered with the statechapter of the Alzheimer's Association on the Silver Alert program,which helps to track missing adults with the disease. He's alsopartnered on the Family Alzheimer's In-Home Respite (FAIR) program,which offers support and funding for family caregivers, and on thestate's Make a Plan for Alzheimer's (MAP) to improve services,educational resources and awareness among West Virginia residents.

Foster was 'honored and humbled' to receive the RockefellerAward, which he said is named after an individual who has dedicatedmany years to serving senior citizens.

'Dr. Dan Foster is dedicated to Alzheimer's ... health care ishis niche and Alzheimer's has become his focus,' Sen. Rockefellersaid in a prerecorded video shown during the luncheon.

As Foster watches more people from his generation becomesubjected to the disease, he said raising awareness is important toending Alzheimer's. More than 48,000 West Virginians haveAlzheimer's disease.

'If we don't address it, it's going to be unsustainable,' Fostersaid. 'With 5.4 million people who have Alzheimer's and 16 millionexpected [to have it] in 25 years, there is potential for changingthis ominous trend.'

The Thanks for the Memories Luncheon raised $39,700 Wednesday forthe state chapter of the Alzheimer's Association. The luncheon isthe organization's second-biggest fundraiser, behind the Memory Walkin October.

The state chapter serves all 55 West Virginia counties as well assix counties in eastern Ohio. To learn more about the West Virginiachapter or to donate to the group, call 304-343-2717 or visitwww.alz.org/wv.

akenny kemp | Gazette Peggy Baller Everly (left); Jane Marks,executive director of the state chapter of the AlzheimersAssociation; Sen. Dan Foster, D-Kanawha; and Jerry Walker, theassociations president, pose at the 12th Annual Thanks for theMemories Luncheon on Wednesday at the Charleston Marriott TownCenter. Both Everly and Foster were honored for their support tofight Alzheimers disease.

Benedum Foundation grants total $11.67 million - Sunday Gazette-Mail

The Pittsburgh-based Benedum Foundation last year gave out 116grants in West Virginia totaling $11.67 million, or an average of$100,000 per grant.

The grants were used to promote and improve economic development,education, health and human services, and community development.

'We're pleased to make these investments in organizations that wefeel can improve the quality of life for many West Virginians,' saidBeverly Walter, vice president for programs. 'A lot of these arestatewide projects and really do reach a lot of people.'

The foundation gives roughly two-thirds of its grant moneyannually to West Virginia, where the late oil wildcatter MichaelBenedum was born and got his start buying oil leases from rurallandowners. The other third goes to Benedum's adoptive city ofPittsburgh and to three counties of southwestern Pennsylvania thatborder West Virginia.

Since its inception in 1944, the foundation has given $191 millionin philanthropic grants to West Virginia organizations.

Michael Benedum and his wife, Sarah, began the foundation as amemorial to their only child, Claude Worthington Benedum, who died inthe influenza epidemic of 1918 while serving in the U.S. Army.

At year's end, the foundation had assets of $378 million, up from$364 million last year. The foundation gave out a total of $16.7million in 2005, including roughly $5 million in Pennsylvania.

Here is a complete list of Benedum grants awarded during 2005 toWest Virginia groups:

The Alliance for Children Inc., Charleston, $200,000, continuedsupport to improve services for children requiring out-of-homeplacement; $25,000, truancy diversion social work services at middleand high schools in McDowell County;

Barbour County Community Development Corp., Philippi, $35,000,Alliance of Champion Communities Capacity Building Project;

Camcare Health Education and Research Institute Inc., Charleston,$5,000, needs assessment and business plan to create a GeriatricCenter of Excellence for Kanawha Valley and surrounding areas;

Center for Aging and Healthcare in West Virginia Inc.,Parkersburg, $100,000, spread over four years to support NeighborhoodM.A.P. (More Active People) in Wood County;

Center for Effective Philanthropy Inc., Cambridge, Mass., $25,000,survey of grantees regarding foundation practices and effectiveness;

The Center for Rural Health Development Inc., Dunbar, $200,000,matching grant for the West Virginia Rural Health Access Program thatincludes recruitment and retention of providers, managementassistance program, leadership development, and an infrastructureloan fund;

Change Inc., Weirton, $60,000, to assist Free Clinic in becoming afederally qualified health center serving Brooke and Hancockcounties;

University of Charleston, $75,000, to support Innovation WestVirginia project to encourage and support growth of entrepreneurshipin the state;

College Summit Inc., Washington, D.C., $100,000, spread over twoyears to expand program to promote college enrollment and retention;

Community Collaborative Inc., Charleston, $65,500, for continuedsupport for the Sustainable West Virginia Communities LeadershipDevelopment Program in 2005-2006;

West Virginia Leadership Network, $30,000, for coordination,communications, and evaluation development;

Community Foundation for the Ohio Valley Inc., Wheeling, $200,000,for flood assistance for the Upper Ohio Valley; $50,000, for staffingsupport to grow endowment;

Community Visions Foundation Inc., Morgantown, $325,000, spreadover two years for visioning services and coordination of a regionalcommunity development strategy;

CommunityWorks in West Virginia Inc., Charleston, $45,000,continued operating and program support in 2005 for low-incomehousing initiative;

Concord University Foundation Inc., Athens, $25,000, continuedsupport for Partnerships for Teacher Quality Initiative to develop aprofessional development school model of teacher preparation atpublic institutions in the state;

The Corridor G Regional Community Foundation Inc., Logan, $35,000,matching funds to support efforts of Alliance of Champion Communitiesto assess current broadband use and availability, and to work withresidents and businesses of seven rural distressed communities toincrease use and availability of high-speed broadbandtelecommunication;

Discover the REAL West Virginia Foundation Inc., Charleston,$25,000, operating support;

Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation, Martinsburg, $120,000,over three years for staffing support for two new affiliates in Hardyand Hampshire counties;

The Education Alliance - Business and Community For Public SchoolsInc., Charleston, $477,573, over three years for education researchand expansion of business/school partnerships for academicimprovement;

EdVenture Group Inc., Morgantown, $155,000, over two years forintegration of 21st Century Skills training in West Virginia's K-12science curricula; $70,000, for creation of a summer institute tointroduce educators and students to the field of biometrics;

Fairmont State University Foundation Inc. (formerly Fairmont StateFoundation Inc.), $5,000, for continued support for Partnerships forTeacher Quality Initiative to develop a professional developmentschool model of teacher preparation at public institutions in thestate;

Federation of Appalachian Housing Enterprises Inc., Berea, Ky.,$50,000, for continued operating support for low-income housinginitiatives in 2005; $100,000, for continued operating support forlow-income housing initiatives in 2006;

First Commitment Foundation Inc., Wheeling, $45,000, for continuedexpansion of board training for West Virginia nonprofit board membersand support to build a framework to maintain delivery of training andsupport services;

The Francis Foundation for the Arts, doing business as TheAppalachian Education Initiative Foundation, Morgantown, $84,800, forpilot of a model of arts-integrated learning into elementarycurricula and professional development of generalist teachers;

Gilmer County Family Resource Network Inc., Glenville, $31,200,for four-county collaboration to develop a system to create andsustain a community development structure that brings together localleaders to identify and solve community and economic developmentproblems and share best practices on a regional basis;

Glenville State College, Glenville, $22,000, for continued supportfor Partnerships for Teacher Quality Initiative to develop aprofessional development school model of teacher preparation atpublic institutions in the state;

Great Kanawha Resource Conservation and Development Area Inc.,Cross Lanes, $50,000, organizational development and use of theCommunity Visions process to support the Kanawha, Putnam GatewayProject involving development and promotion of Point Pleasant/St.Albans region;

Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation, Charleston, $10,000, continuedsupport of a funding pool for proposed sustainable developmentprojects in Kanawha and Putnam counties;

Harrison County Child Abuse Task Force Inc., Clarksburg, $50,000,for establishment of a Child Advocacy Center serving Harrison County;

Hopeful Housing Inc., Wheeling, $30,000, over two years foroperating support for low-income housing initiatives;

The Hopewell Fund Inc., Wheeling, $250,000, to expand operationsto build capital fund, regional presence, and impact;

Hospice of Huntington Inc., $65,000, to develop palliative careand hospice care curriculum for medical, nursing, and social workstudents;

Huntington Area Habitat for Humanity, $50,000, for start-up coststo establish a ReStore to serve Cabell and Wayne counties;

I-79 Development Council Inc., Fairmont, $100,000, to update theNorth Central West Virginia Biometrics Cluster study to initiate anaction plan to develop the biometrics industry and provide staff toimplement the plan;

Institute for Scientific Research Inc., Fairmont, $30,000, todevelopment of a bioinformatics curriculum for employers in WestVirginia and Southwestern Pennsylvania;

Jefferson County Development Authority, Charles Town, $78,000, fororganizational development of Gateway New Economy Council to promotetechnology business development in the Eastern Panhandle region;

Kings Daughters Child Care Center Inc., Wheeling, $30,000, onbehalf of the Harmony House Children's Advocacy Center, expansion ofthe service area to include Marshall County;

KYOWVA Planned Giving Council, Huntington, $30,000, to supportLeave A Legacy West Virginia, an outreach program to increase plannedgifts to West Virginia's nonprofit organizations;

Literacy West Virginia Inc., Dunbar, $150,000, to provide minigrants and technical assistance to local literacy organizationsacross the state;

Marion County Foundation Inc., Fairmont, $100,000, over two yearsto establish the Community Foundation of North Central West Virginiaserving Harrison and Marion counties and possible further expansioninto the region.

Marshall University Foundation Inc., Huntington, $20,500, incontinued support for Partnerships for Teacher Quality Initiative todevelop a professional development school model of teacherpreparation at public institutions in the state; $171,000, toimplement a program to improve the quality of obesity, asthma, well-child exams and risky behavior assessments in 50 school-based healthcenters in West Virginia;

Marshall University Research Corp., Huntington, $350,000, over twoyears for Rahall Transportation Institute to develop newtransportation industry businesses in West Virginia through abusiness incubator;

Mission West Virginia Inc., St. Albans, $52,100, matching fundsfor the STEP UP program to provide free community technology centersincluding computer skills training, job readiness training and softskills tutoring in rural distressed counties in West Virginia;$125,000, matching funds to support the Wellspring Center to buildorganizational capacity of faith-based and community-basedorganizations;

City of Morgantown, $225,000, over three years on behalf ofCommunity Visions Foundation, to support the newly created Federationof NonProfits;

Mountain Cap of West Virginia Inc., Buckhannon, $15,700, topurchase construction materials and for travel expenses for GroupWork Camp to be held in Upshur County between October 2005 and August2006;

Mountain Partners in Community Development Inc., Elkins, $25,100,for development of a Management Support Organization to serve thenonprofit community in Randolph County for the purposes ofstrengthening collective and individual operational capacity,leveraging resources, and better serving citizens and the community;

Mountaineer Food Bank Inc., Gassaway, $100,000, for transportationcosts and upgrades to technology;

Natural Capital Investment Fund Inc., Shepherdstown, $250,000, forexpansion of outreach and community partnership development effortsand to leverage matching funds;

North Central West Virginia Community Action Association Inc.,Fairmont, $8,500, as part of local match needed by Group Work Camp torepair more than 70 homes in Barbour and Taylor counties;

Office of the Governor, Charleston, $219,000, for expansion of acomputer maintenance program to eight West Virginia high schools;

Parkersburg Community Foundation, $37,000, for staff support forthe Mason County and Little Kanawha Area Community FoundationAffiliates;

The Progress Fund, Dawson, Pa., $250,000, for expansion ofprograms to promote tourism in West Virginia;

Region 4 Planning and Development Council, Summersville, $95,000,over two years for initiation of Connected Technologies Corridors, asouthern West Virginia regional organization whose goal is todevelop, recruit, nurture and coordinate technological businesses andresources for an 11-county service area;

Regional Family Resource Network Inc., Charleston, $15,000, fordevelopmental support for the Boone County Child Advocacy Center;

Shepherd University Foundation Inc., Shepherdstown, $6,000, forcontinued support for Partnerships for Teacher Quality Initiative todevelop a professional development school model of teacherpreparation at public institutions in the state;

Southern Appalachian Labor School Foundation Inc., Kincaid,$25,000, matching grant to purchase building materials to repairhouses for low-income residents of Fayette County through Group WorkCamp; $50,000, for administrative support for low-income housinginitiatives in 2006;

Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College, Mount Gay,$50,000, in continued support for APPALREAD family literacy programserving more than 350 children in Logan, Lincoln, Mingo, McDowell,Wyoming, and Boone counties;

Student Conservation Association Inc., Charlestown, N.H.,$125,000, for West Virginia Sustainable Communities Project to deploy10 interns to serve two West Virginia Alliance for ChampionCommunities to organize, educate, and assist local organizations indeveloping effective pollution prevention practices;

Tamarack Foundation Inc., Beckley, $175,000, to enhance careeropportunities for West Virginia artisans;

Team for West Virginia Children Inc., Huntington, $270,000, forpromotion and coordination of statewide efforts to reduce child abuseand neglect as a credentialed chapter of Prevent Child Abuse America;

Telamon Corp., Martinsburg, $64,283, to increase affordablehousing development capacity in Hampshire, Hardy, Mineral, Berkeleyand Jefferson counties;

United Way of Central West Virginia, doing business as LifeBridge,Charleston, $75,000, for support for family literacy programs in 20counties of West Virginia;

United Way of Harrison County, Clarksburg, $75,000, to increaseand sustain leadership giving in seven communities;

Upshur County Child Advocacy Center Inc., Buckhannon, $12,900, forcontinued development of Upshur County Child Advocacy Center;

West Liberty State College Foundation Inc., $35,000, for continuedsupport for Partnerships for Teacher Quality Initiative to develop aprofessional development school model of teacher preparation atpublic institutions in the state;

West Virginia Association of Free Clinics Inc., Charleston,$250,000, for statewide enrollment of diabetic patients served byfree clinics in a diabetes management program;

West Virginia Community Development Partnership Inc., Charleston,$150,000, for implementation of Standards for Excellence Training andCertification for West Virginia nonprofit organizations; $70,000, forthe West Virginia Conference on Entrepreneurship;

West Virginia Community Voices Inc., Charleston, $10,000, toprovide stipends to health professions students and community leadersto attend the 2005 Rural Health Conference; $50,000, for research,identification, and documentation of prenatal wellness and birthoutcomes in West Virginia and development of ways to improve birthoutcomes; $57,000, to increase the quality of child health byidentifying areas of improvement, partnering with nationalorganizations for technical assistance, and working with communityhealth centers, physicians, and others who provide medical care forchildren;

West Virginia Council for Community and Technical CollegeEducation, Charleston, $100,000, to assist students attaining theirGEDs to successfully transition into post-secondary education;

West Virginia Council of Churches, Charleston, $75,000, to providetwo community organizations in Nicholas and Fayette counties withtraining, information, and other technical assistance to supportparents in avoiding use of hospital emergency departments fornonemergency child health care; $65,400, to support the West VirginiaHealthy Kids and Families Coalition's 2005 Children's HealthConference and regional discussions leading to development of a long-term child health agenda;

West Virginia Department of Education, Charleston, $200,000, toimplement a statewide professional development program in mathematicsfor elementary school teachers; the money helped fund seminars forelementary school teachers last summer to extend a National ScienceFoundation-designed standards-based middle school math program namedMerit down to elementary schools.

West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources,Charleston, $250,000, to connect Family Resource Networks across thestate with the necessary equipment and training in order to establishstandards for planning, development, assessment, design, andevaluation of community service coordination; $256,000, to supportthe West Virginia Office of Healthy Lifestyles and communitydevelopment activities designed to reduce obesity in West Virginia;

West Virginia Economic Development Foundation Inc., Charleston,$76,000, for organizational and public outreach associated withimplementation of the Blueprint for Entrepreneurship developed aspart of Vision Shared, the state's economic development plan;$100,000, in matching funds for the ARC-funded Flex-E-Grant programproviding grants to build individual, organizational, and communitycapacity in distressed counties of the state;

West Virginia High Technology Consortium Foundation, Fairmont,$100,000, over two years to support FastTrac, an entrepreneurshipeducational program to help create new businesses or expand existingenterprises;

West Virginia Hospital Research and Education Foundation,Charleston, $75,000, to support Babies to Business: Building Brainsfrom Day One, a project to educate families and caregivers aboutinfant brain development and the role they play in this development;$110,000, to establish the West Virginia Center for Patient Safety,implement Critical Access Hospital Network Performance ImprovementInitiative, and evaluate and develop a demonstration waiver toimplement Project Vision;

West Virginia Kids Count Fund Inc., Charleston, $30,000, forcontinued support of Reach Out and Read and Building Blocks ofLiteracy programs as part of the Partners in Early LearningInitiative; $137,000, for evaluation of existing Early ChildDevelopment System, development of strategies to improve quality andassure accountability, and development of innovative public andprivate funding mechanism;

West Virginia Medical Foundation, Charleston, $180,000, to supportthe Healthy Lifestyles Coalition, Healthy Communities DesignationProgram, and Healthy West Virginia Summit to be held in 2006;

West Virginia Public Broadcasting Foundation Inc., Charleston,$78,000, to deliver a digital data stream of instructional materialscalled Chalkwaves to 29 at-risk rural schools in West Virginia;

West Virginia State University Foundation Inc., Institute,$23,000, for continued support for Partnerships for Teacher QualityInitiative to develop a professional development school model ofteacher preparation at public institutions in the state;

West Virginia University Foundation Inc., Morgantown, $250,000,over two years for second-year funding for operating expenses for theWest Virginia University Business Incubator; $95,000, for continuedsupport for the Community Lay Helper Program, promoting cancereducation efforts through leadership training and project mini grantsto 18 rural communities; $50,000, for second-year funding forGeriatrics Educators of the Medical Schools of West Virginia toimprove education of clinicians and other health professionals incaring for the rural elderly; $40,000, for continued operation of theWest Virginia Entrepreneurship Initiative of the EntrepreneurshipCenters at West Virginia University and the University of Charleston;$135,000, for continued development of West Virginia Seniors Projectto increase outreach efforts and expansion of WVSeniors.org onlineresources; $15,000, for technology transfer and commercializationorganizational cataloging research; $150,000, over two years forimplementation of CARDIAC, a school-based heart disease and diabetesrisk factor surveillance program with interventions linked to schoolsand RHEP; $50,000, in support for CARDIAC Intervention Director andfurther development of the Web-based instructional modules, TakeCharge for Teens; $100,000, for continued development andimplementation of Family Storyteller, Reading Partners, and EnergyExpress; $75,000, for research, policy, and development of pilotprojects to improve access, quality, and outcomes of children'shealth services in West Virginia; $129,500, for continued support forPartnerships for Teacher Quality Initiative to develop a professionaldevelopment school model of teacher preparation at publicinstitutions in the state; $500,000, over three years as final grantto ensure sustainability of palliative care services in West Virginiaby developing skilled health-care professionals and an informedpublic; $210,000, over two years for implementation of statewidecollegiate business plan competition; $160,000, over two years forstudent internship program to provide assistance to start-up businessventures; $50,000, to support the Health Sciences and TechnologyAcademy Club projects focused on healthy nutrition and physicalactivity; $50,000, for development of the State Technology Transferand Commercialization Blueprint;

Wheeling Hospital, Wheeling, $75,000, for development anddissemination of testicular self-examination outreach program forhigh school boys in conjunction with the West Virginia Department ofEducation;

Wood County Schools, Parkersburg, $37,400, over two years forinstitutionalization of a heart-health screening and interventionprogram for students, implementation of a countywide physicaleducation curriculum, and research regarding the relationship of bodymass index to variables such as academic achievement and fitness;

WV Welfare Reform Coalition Inc., Charleston, $75,000, tostrengthen the statewide Earned Income Tax Credit campaign andevaluation of results of a locally designed outreach strategy in asix-county region;

State briefs - The Charleston Gazette (Charleston, WV)

Ex-teacher pleads guilty to sex assault charges

SUTTON - A former sixth-grade teacher pleaded guilty Wednesday tocharges of having sex with three juveniles.

Toni Woods, 37, of Strange Creek was accused of having sexualintercourse with three juveniles a total of four times and oral sexwith one of those juveniles and a fourth juvenile a total of fourtimes, according to a criminal complaint.

She pleaded guilty to four counts of felony third-degree sexualassault and one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquencyof a minor. Prosecutors dismissed one sexual assault count becausethe victim was 16 at the time.

In West Virginia, third-degree sexual assault is a crime in whichan adult has sex with someone who is under 16, if the adult is atleast four years older than the juvenile and is not married to thejuvenile.

Several juveniles told police they had sexual encounters withWoods between Jan. 1 and Feb. 26.

After she was charged, Woods resigned from her teaching post atBraxton County Middle School and surrendered her teachingcertificate.

She will now have to register as a sex offender.

Woods will be sentenced March 13.

Target cashier accused of embezzling gift card

GRANVILLE - A department store cashier has been accused of usingmore than her employee discount to save money on items she purchasedat the store.

Tammy Brezinski of Charleroi, Pa., was charged this week withembezzling a $500 gift card from a Target store in Granville and thenusing the card and her employee discount to buy several items,according to State Police Trooper T.W. Morris and a criminalcomplaint filed in Monongalia County Magistrate Court.

Brezinski allegedly activated the card but did not put money inher cash register after the transaction, the complaint said. Sheremains free on $1,000 bond. If convicted, she faces up to one yearin jail and up to $2,500 in fines.

Ex-organizer sentenced for taking festival funds

WHEELING - The former administrator for the Upper Ohio ValleyItalian Festival has been sentenced to two to 20 years in prison fortaking nearly $43,000 from the organization's scholarship fund.

Linda DeLelles, 51, of Tiltonsville, Ohio, was sentenced Tuesdayby Ohio County Circuit Judge Martin Gaughan and has until Monday toreport to the Northern Regional Jail in Moundsville to begin servingher term.

Gaughan also ordered DeLelles to make restitution to the ItalianFestival.

DeLelles pleaded guilty in November to two counts of forgery andtwo of uttering.

Another defendant, Kathryn Smith, 50, of Wheeling, pleaded guiltyto the same charges in July, admitting that she took more than$84,000 from the fund. Smith, who is a former festival volunteer andDeLelles' cousin, was also sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.

Prosecutor David B. Cross has said the women wrote about 20 checkseach, and that both were initially unaware of the other's actions.

All but $35,000 of the embezzled money has been recovered,according to Italian Festival Board Chairman Robert Gaudio.

The missing money was discovered in October of 2004 as festivalorganizers were cleaning up from flooding that destroyed the festivaloffice.

The money was from an account that funded scholarships forgraduating high school students from Ohio, Marshall, Brooke andHancock counties in West Virginia and Belmont and Jefferson countiesin Ohio.

No scholarships were affected.

State summit to be held to plan for flu pandemic

Local and state officials and private sector representatives fromacross West Virginia will gather in Charleston in January for a one-day summit on planning for a pandemic flu outbreak, Gov. Joe Manchinsaid Wednesday.

The goal of the West Virginia Flu Pandemic Summit, set for Jan.12, is to raise awareness about the need to plan for a pandemic fluor other health-related crisis, Manchin said.

U.S. Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt, state Health andHuman Resources Secretary Martha Walker and state Military Affairsand Public Safety Secretary Jim Spears are scheduled to address thesummit.

A pandemic is a worldwide epidemic of a disease. About 20 percentof the global population came down with the Spanish flu near the endof World War I, according to global health records.

'This summit is part of our proactive efforts to be prepared forany type of health or homeland security concern that might come ourway,' the governor said. 'We want to make sure that we are doingeverything in our power to identify and secure all of the resourcesnecessary to protect our citizens from any potential harm.'

State and local agencies are developing plans to deal withpandemic flu. A Web site containing the state's flu preparations andsurveillance information will be launched soon, Manchin said.

N.C. to pay portion of fugitive's hospital bills

YADKINVILLE, N.C. - Yadkin County leaders have agreed to pay morethan $57,000 in hospital bills for a man wanted on a fugitive warrantfrom West Virginia until he became sick.

Law enforcement officials in Kanawha County, W.Va., then droppedtheir extradition request for William Joseph Spencer, who was chargedin that county with breaking and entering and failure to appear incourt.

Spencer had been arrested Aug. 27, 2003, during a traffic stop inYadkin County. While authorities arranged to return him to WestVirginia, the fugitive became ill and went into a coma.

'When the authorities from West Virginia found out he was in thehospital, West Virginia didn't want him anymore,' said James Graham,the Yadkin County attorney.

Spencer was a patient at Wake Forest University Baptist MedicalCenter for 60 days at a cost of $164,373.40, Graham said.

Negotiators from Yadkin County and the hospital agreed recentlythat Yadkin would pay only the costs associated with Spencer'semergency care - $57,404.31, Graham said.

Woman enters plea in raccoon possession

MARTINSBURG - A woman accused of illegally keeping about 60raccoons on her property has pleaded no contest to a misdemeanorwildlife charge.

Tests showed that at least one raccoon had parvovirus, which canbe fatal if untreated, and all had lesions on their paws from beingconfined to cages.

Patricia Hoffman-Butler, 47, who has said she is an animalrehabilitator, pleaded no contest to one count of illegal possessionof wildlife on Dec. 13 in Berkeley County Magistrate Court. She wasfined $20 and ordered to pay $153.50 in court costs.

Hoffman-Butler was originally charged Oct. 1 after a State Policetrooper responding to a report of shots fired in the area saw theraccoons. She does not have a state permit to possess wildlife, theDivision of Natural Resources has said.

None of the animals tested positive for rabies.

The DNR raided Hoffman-Butler's property in late October andseized and euthanized all the raccoons. Conservation officersbelieved the animals were a potential health threat to otherwildlife, said Curtis Taylor, DNR's wildlife resources chief.

Cat trips lock system, locking owner out of car

MORGANTOWN - Locking yourself out of your car is bad enough, butJeanna Stewart was even more embarrassed when the culprit was nother, but her cat.

The Morgantown resident said she was getting a spare house key outher car's trunk on Monday when her cat Mork, one of three in the car,stepped on the automatic door lock. She couldn't unlock the doorbecause she had left her car keys on the driver's seat.

'He wouldn't unlock the door for me,' Stewart said Tuesday. 'Hewas standing there, saying 'Why aren't you opening the door? I wantto go inside.''

Stewart went into her house and called the Morgantown FireDepartment for help. She said she was mainly concerned about freeingMork and the other cats, Minday and Alex.

MANUFACTURING: ; The shrinking steel industry; Only about 1,300 jobs remain in Northern Panhandle - Sunday Gazette-Mail

People in the Northern Panhandle are used to hearing aboutlayoffs in the steel industry. But with the current recession, fewpeople realize just how bad things have become.

Four years ago, Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel and Weirton Steelemployed more than 7,000.

Today, the names have changed, as has the number of steelworkers: ArcelorMittal Weirton employs 1,023; at Severstal Wheeling,it is 303.

Thousands of laid-off workers, including Dave Griffith, arewondering if they will ever be called back.

On a recent weekday, Griffith stopped by the local union hall inWeirton to check once again if there is any good news. Hisunemployment benefits run out in just a few weeks.

'The longest I was laid off before was 10 months, and so far ithas been 13,' Griffith said.

The job losses in manufacturing and steel are leading toincreased unemployment in the Upper Ohio Valley.

According to Workforce West Virginia, in the month of June theunemployment rate in Hancock County was 13 percent; in BrookeCounty, 12.5 percent; and in Ohio County, 9.4 percent. The nationalrate is 9.5 percent.

The Upper Ohio Valley is losing residents too. According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the area has lost more than 21,000 residentssince 2000. The city of Wheeling alone lost more than 2,500 people.

In the last year, more people in the region have turned to thegovernment for help. Since June 2008, the number of people receivingfood stamps has increased by 30 percent in Brooke County and 22percent in Hancock County.

The number of people receiving Medicaid is up about 22 percent inthe counties, according to Dan Hartwell with the Department ofHealth and Human Resources Bureau for Children and Families.

Griffith says he doesn't receive food stamps but he does scan thecomputer at Workforce West Virginia to look for jobs. As asteelworker, he was used to making $20, but now he has been forcedto lower his sights.

'You fill out a form when you are laid off and they say what isthe least amount of money you would take and I put down $15 dollarsan hour,' Griffith said.

'You know, if you put too much they say you won't find anythingpaying that.'

Long history of job loss

The U.S. steel industry has been shrinking for the past threedecades. The Northern Panhandle and the Upper Ohio Valley in generalare no exception.

In its heyday during the 1960s, Wheeling Pittsburgh Steelemployed more than 9,000 people at its Steubenville operationsalone, just one of several Wheeling Pitt plants in the region.

The former Weirton Steel employed more than 14,000 people it itsplant.

Although the recession is being blamed on the latest round oflayoffs, the steel industry has struggled for years. There are manyreasons: low steel prices, high wages, outdated equipment, dumpingby foreign steel producers, and the high cost of retiree healthcareand pensions.

The industry's problems have led to several restructurings andbuyouts at both Wheeling Pitt and Weirton Steel.

Wheeling Pitt has survived two bankruptcies and several rounds ofdownsizing.

In 2006, Wheeling Pitt was taken over by the Illinois steeldistributor Esmark. But the company's debt and other issues provedto be too much for Esmark to manage.

Within the past year, Severstal Wheeling has idled four plantsacross the Ohio River from the Northern Panhandle: Steubenville,Mingo Junction, Martins Ferry and Yorkville.

Bernie Ravasio has worked for Wheeling Pitt for 38 years. Now heis the contract coordinator for the United Steelworkers at theplant. He has never seen it this bad at the company.

'People are very concerned if and when plants will start up,'Ravasio said. 'I believe that there will be a Severstal Wheeling butthe number of employees will not be the same.'

The union is trying to negotiate a new contract but the joblosses and the recession are making it difficult. Severstal Wheelingemployees have been working on contract extensions since September2008.

Ravasio said there's a little bit of good news: Last week, 48workers at the Martins Ferry, Ohio, plant were called back to work.

Weirton Steel has also undergone ownership changes throughout itshistory. It was a division of National Steel and almost closed inthe early 1980s before then Gov. Jay Rockefeller and othersintervened and helped it become an employee owned company (ESOP) in1984. But the ESOP lacked the resources to run the company for thelong haul.

Despite these job cutbacks, not everybody has a gloomy outlook onthe future of steel in the Northern Panhandle.

Mark Glyptis, president of the United Steelworkers Local 2911 inWeirton, testified last month before the Congressional Steel Caucusin Washington. He spoke in favor of legislation that would requirecompanies that receive tax credits for renewable energy projectssuch as windmills to use American steel.

He said ArcelorMittal has invested $10 million in its tinoperations and plans to invest $40 million more.

'Our yields for tin plate are the best that we have ever had atthis point in time,' Glyptis said. 'We have a number of ideas andinvestments that will result in improved performance and we are veryoptimistic about our future.'

Glyptis and others are looking forward to the 100th anniversaryof Weirton Steel. A media tour is scheduled for Aug. 14. A picnicfor employees and their families is planned for Aug. 16.

Meanwhile, Severstal Wheeling is hoping to reopen some of theidled plants. But company officials say they don't know when theymay call people back to work or how many people will get their jobsback.