AP
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Virginia welcomed more overseas visitors to the state in 2014. Gov. Terry McAuliffe says 413,000 overseas visitors took in the sights last year, an increase of 17 percent over 2013. It was also the first time the number of overseas visitors had topped 400,000. McAuliffe says tourism revenues for 2014 are expected to exceed $22.4 billion. That’s a 4.1 percent increase over 2013.
Mark Herring
DANVILLE, Va. (AP) _ Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring says it’s up to Danville City Council to decide whether a Confederate flag should be removed from the grounds of a city-owned mansion. Herring tells media outlets that the flag shouldn’t be on public property. He says he supports its removal. The council has said it doesn’t have the authority under Virginia law to remove the flag from the Sutherlin Mansion. The law forbids removal of a war monument or memorial. Herring says it’s up to the General Assembly to change the law. But ultimately, removing the flag is a decision for City Council to make. The Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History’s board asked the city last year to remove the flag from the mansion’s grounds. The museum leases the mansion.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ State Republican lawmakers blasted Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s establishment of a commission to study potential criminal justice reforms and whether Virginia’s parole abolition in the 1990s has been good for the state. GOP lawmakers said at a Capitol news conference Monday that Virginia’s criminal justice system works well and that reviving parole in Virginia would hurt victims of past crimes. They spoke just before the commission’s first meeting. Del. Todd Gilbert called McAuliffe’s commission a “song and dance” whose mission is to give a pretext for bringing back parole. But Secretary of the Commonwealth Levar Stoney, who is the commission’s co-chair, said the commission was formed to have a “frank conversation” about imperfections in the criminal justice system. Former Republican Gov. George Allen and the legislature abolished parole in 1995.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ A Virginia law hits the books this month that will make it easier for small companies to raise capital. According to the State Corporation Commission, the new regulations will allow companies to raise up to $2 million through crowdfunding. Crowdfunding typically uses the internet to raise funds. The Virginia regulations adopted by the 2015 General Assembly establish the criteria for such funding appeals, which are exempt from the more detailed registration requirements of the Virginia Securities Act. The Virginia crowdfunding exemption allows companies to raise up to $10,000 from each investor.
SWEET BRIAR, Va. (AP) _ Now that Sweet Briar College is on track for the upcoming academic year, its junior year abroad programs are returning from Hollins University. The agreement to transition the programs back to Sweet Briar was announced Monday by Hollins President Nancy Gray and her counterpart at Sweet Briar, Phillip Stone. The agreement is effective immediately. Hollins agreed to take on the junior abroad programs in France and Spain after Sweet Briar’s leaders decided early this year to close in late August. Under a mediated settlement, however, Sweet Briar will remain open. Hollins agreed the programs would return to Sweet Briar if that was to occur. The women’s college is located in Roanoke.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Nearly 400 Virginia school board members, superintendents and others are expected to attend an annual education conference in Richmond. The Virginia School Boards Association 30th annual Conference on Education will be held Tuesday at the Richmond Marriott. Virginia first lady Dorothy McAuliffe will address the conference and present awards to the winners of the association’s Food For Thought competition. The association says nearly 50 mini-workshops will be held on personnel, school law, curriculum and instruction, and other topics.
FARMVILLE, Va. (AP) _ The Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control is holding a conference to prepare high school students to get involved with preventing alcohol and drug abuse. The 2015 Youth Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Project will begin on Monday with opening remarks by Virginia first lady Dorothy McAuliffe. The five-day conference will be held at Longwood University in Farmville.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Universities and colleges in Virginia expect enrollment to increase by more than 7 percent in 2021. A preliminary state report says public and private institutions expect to enroll about 475,000 undergraduate students in 2021. Undergraduate enrollment last year totaled about 442,300 undergraduates. Institutions also expect to award more than 75,200 associate and bachelor’s degrees in 2021. That’s an increase of almost 7 percent. The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia will discuss the report on Tuesday at its regular meeting. Higher education council director Peter Blake says the enrollment and degree projections serve as benchmarks to ensure Virginia stays on track. The Virginia Plan for Higher Education’s target is to award an additional 1.5 million degrees and workforce credentials by 2030.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Gov. Terry McAuliffe is rejecting calls from Virginia House Republican leaders for an investigation into how Planned Parenthood clinics handle fetal organs. Republicans called for an investigation Thursday following an anti-abortion group’s release of a video showing a Planned Parenthood official discussing the disposal of body parts from aborted fetuses. The group said the video proves the organization is breaking federal law against selling human fetal tissue. Planned Parenthood has said it only helps women legally donate fetal tissue to research firms, not sell it commercially. A spokesman for McAuliffe, said the Democrat governor was disturbed by the video but said it shouldn’t be used as “fodder for political attacks on women’s access to health care.” Planned Parenthood lists seven health centers in Virginia on its website.
Richard Allen Welch, Sr.
(Source: Bedford Co.
Sheriff’s Office)
WASHINGTON (AP) _ A day after charges were announced in the 40-year-old kidnapping and slayings of two sisters from Maryland, investigators are turning their attention to the suspect’s uncle and others they say were involved in the crime and subsequent cover-up. At a Thursday news conference in Virginia, police said they believe 70-year-old Richard Welch sexually abused at least one of the Lyon sisters. Twelve-year-old Sheila and 10-year-old Katherine Lyon were abducted from a suburban Maryland mall in March 1975. Their bodies have never been found. Richard Welch remains a person of interest in the case but has not been charged. His wife, Patricia Welch, has been charged with perjury. Their nephew Lloyd Welch is charged with the girls’ murder. Richard Welch’s attorney did not immediately return a message.