AP
ROANOKE, Va. (AP) _ A dog was fatally shot by a Virginia State Police trooper after police say it attacked him. State police spokeswoman Corinne Geller tells media outlets that the agency’s tactical team was searching for a wanted felon Sunday in Roanoke when a nearby dog began barking. Geller says when the dog’s owner came outside, the dog broke its chain and charged one of the troopers. Geller says the dog continued toward the trooper and lunged, and the trooper shot the dog. She says the dog appeared to be a 100-pound pit bull terrier. Roanoke police spokesman Scott Leamon says police were told the dog’s owner didn’t want to keep the body. The Public Works Department was contacted to dispose of it. State police continue to search for the fugitive.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Gov. Terry McAuliffe is touting higher-than-expected state tax revenues as a sign that Virginia’s economy has recovered from the Great Recession. McAuliffe said at a news conference Monday that the state’s revenues were $553 million more than projected for the last fiscal year that ended in June. The extra revenues, mostly due to income tax collections, will largely be set aside in the state’s rainy day fund. The extra money means the state will be able to go ahead with pre-approved raises of 2 percent for state workers. McAuliffe said that while Virginia’s economy is “back,” he’s still concerned about what effects federal defense spending cuts may have on Virginia’s financial health.
Bob and Maureen McDonnell
(Associated Press photo)
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Registered lobbyists spent about 16 percent less on wining and dining lawmakers in a recent six-month period compared to just before a corruption scandal involving former Gov. Bob McDonnell changed how things operate in Virginia politics. An analysis of newly filed disclosure forms shows lobbyists reported spending $456,000 on entertaining lawmakers and other officials between November and April. Two years ago, before McDonnell was completely engulfed in a gifts scandal with a vitamin salesman, that figure was $541,000. Lawmakers passed a new $100 gift limit earlier this year, which will go into effect next year. A jury in September found McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, guilty of doing favors for former Star Scientific CEO Jonnie Williams in exchange for more than $165,000 in gifts and loans.
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) _ A U.S. Navy pilot has been sentenced to 50 years in prison on child pornography and other charges. Prosecutors say Lt. Daniel Harris contacted nine underage girls online and coerced them into sending nude photos and videos of themselves to him. Harris was convicted on 31 charges in March by a federal jury, including production of child pornography and obstruction of justice. Media outlets report that the 31-year-old Virginia Beach resident was sentenced on Monday in U.S. District Court in Norfolk.
SCOTTSBURG, Va. (AP) _ A state park in Halifax County is the first in Virginia to be named as an International Dark Sky Park. Staunton River State Park is among 25 worldwide to receive the designation from the International Dark-Sky Association. The nonprofit works to reduce nighttime light pollution and to promote natural nighttime darkness. The association says in a news release that Staunton River staff has established an outdoor lighting policy that minimizes light pollution. The staff also conducts community outreach and promotes an annual stargazing and camping event at the park. Virginia State Parks director Craig Seaver says Staunton River’s outdoor lighting design principles will be used at other Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation properties.
Bob and Maureen McDonnell
(Associated Press photo)
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ A federal appeals court has upheld former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell’s public corruption convictions. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld the convictions Friday. A jury in September found McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, guilty of doing favors for former Star Scientific CEO Jonnie Williams in exchange for more than $165,000 in gifts and loans. The former Republican governor, once widely considered a possible running mate to former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, was sentenced in January to two years in prison. His wife was sentenced in February to one year and one day in prison. Both are free on bond while they pursue appeals.
DOSWELL, Va. (AP) _ Kings Dominion is retiring its Shockwave stand-up roller coaster. Media outlets say Kings Dominion announced Thursday that Shockwave will close in August for future growth in the theme park’s Candy Apple Grove section. The roller coaster will carry its last passengers on Aug. 9. Shockwave opened in 1986. Kings Dominion says it’s the oldest operating stand-up roller coaster in the nation. Kings Dominion says more than 22 million people have ridden the roller coaster.
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) _ The Army plans to eliminate more than 400 soldiers from three bases in Virginia. U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine’s office says the cuts will affect Fort Eustis, Fort Lee and Fort Belvoir. They are part of a decision to shrink the Army from 490,000 active-duty soldiers to 450,000. The Army has said the plan calls for cuts at nearly every installation in 2016 and 2017. Kaine’s office says the Army told it that Fort Eustis will lose 94 soldiers, Fort Lee will lose 127 soldiers and Fort Belvoir will lose 250 soldiers. At Fort Eustis, the cuts include inactivating an engineer diving team and a transportation detachment. Kaine says the impact on Virginia is less than he feared, but he’s concerned that troop levels are being affected by artificial budget reductions.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ A Virginia school board says its policy prohibiting a transgender student from using the boys’ restrooms is not discriminatory and was not enacted to stigmatize or embarrass the teenager. The Gloucester County School Board defended its policy this week in court papers arguing that a lawsuit filed by 16-year-old Gavin Grimm should be dismissed. A hearing is set for July 20 in U.S. District Court in Newport News on Grimm’s motion for a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of the policy. Grimm was born female but identifies and lives as a male. He says in the lawsuit that he used the boys’ restrooms at Gloucester High School without incident until the board, responding to complaints from parents, established private facilities for use by transgender students.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ A Southern heritage group says it is going to federal court to keep the Confederate battle flag on Virginia license plates. The Virginia division and the national leadership of the Sons of Confederate Veterans said Thursday they want to stop the state from banishing the image of the flag from the plates. In June, Gov. Terry McAuliffe called the flag “unnecessarily divisive and hurtful” in saying he wanted to phase out the plate. His announcement came after the mass killings of nine African-Americans inside a Church in Charleston, South Carolina. In announcing his bid to banish the flag’s image, McAuliffe asked the attorney general to move to have a court vacate a decision that cleared the way for the plates to be put on the plates.