P.J. DICKERSCHEID

Associated Press Writer
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Post office closings upset rural communities

Retha Casto doesn't pay her bills online, connect with friends through Facebook or use GPS for directions. So when the U.S. Postal Service decided after 153 years to suspend operations at the Hacker Valley post office, the 87-year-old woman picked up her pen.

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W.Va. Courtesy Patrol chief urges 24/7 service

On the opening day of the year's busiest travel season, the director of West Virginia Courtesy Patrol urged Gov. Joe Manchin and lawmakers Monday to reinstate around-the-clock roadside assistance service throughout the state.

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W.Va. diverts more child support to poor

Changes in how state governments are allowed to disperse child support payments to welfare families has put more money in the pocket of West Virginia resident Becky Salmons, allowing her to buy school supplies and medicine for her 17-year-old daughter.

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VA says 600 veterans wrongly told they had ALS

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs now estimates that more than 600 veterans erroneously received letters telling them they had been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, VA spokeswoman Katie Roberts said Thursday.

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Group: Vets wrongly told they have fatal disease

Former Air Force reservist Gale Reid received a letter from the Veterans Affairs Department that told her she had Lou Gehrig's disease, and she immediately put herself through a battery of painful, expensive tests. Five days later, the VA said its "diagnosis" was a mistake.

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Abu Ghraib scandal haunts W.Va. reservist

More than two years since leaving her prison cell, the woman who became the grinning face of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal spends most of her days confined to the four walls of her home.

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Ex-Miss W.Va. wins $7.2M over bogus sex tapes

A former Miss West Virginia has won a $7.2 million verdict against nine Internet companies and individuals who tried to sell pornographic videos they falsely claimed featured her.

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Judge OKs financing, auction date for W.Va. resort

A U.S. Bankruptcy judge on Wednesday approved financing and auction procedures for the sale of West Virginia's historic Greenbrier resort.

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Recycling goes from boom to bust as economy stalls

Norm Steenstra's budgeting worries mount with each new load of cardboard, aluminum cans and plastics jugs dumped at West Virginia's largest county recycling center.

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W.Va. AG sues Countrywide over home foreclosures

West Virginia's attorney general accuses a national mortgage lender of making risky and unconscionable loans in a lawsuit that's similar to challenges filed in several other states.

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Mom: Walkie-talkie picks up trashy trucker talk

A West Virginia mother is seeking a recall of a popular walkie-talkie after her 3-year-old's toy apparently intercepted a profanity-laced conversation between truckers about drugs and strip clubs.

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Real estate slump is a boon to conservation deals

Hard times for real estate developers means good times for conservationists as plummeting property values put tens of thousands of additional acres of historic and scenic property within their reach.

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Gas, food prices pinch elderly meal programs

Ruth M. Jones doesn't know what she'd do without hot meals delivered daily to her home. The 81-year-old Charleston widow can't walk or drive since a car wreck nine years ago left her stricken by arthritis.

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Students skip slime, stink with virtual dissection

It's not just concern for the squeamish biology students who wince at the feel and smell of cutting into a formaldehyde-soaked animal.

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