AP
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ The challenger to Virginia House Speaker William J. Howell is suing members of the Virginia State Board of Elections. Susan Stimpson alleged in a lawsuit filed in Stafford County Circuit Court on Wednesday that the elections board hurt her campaign by ruling that voters could submit electronic signatures on absentee ballot request forms. Stimpson said the board’s ruling earlier this month on electronic signatures was “arbitrary and capricious.” The board’s ruling came after receiving a request for clarification on state policy from Howell’s campaign. Stimpson is a former Howell protg who has said the speaker has lost touch with his small-government roots. A spokesman for Howell said Stimpson’s attacks are “getting more ridiculous by the day.”
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ A task force created by Gov. Terry McAuliffe is poised to issue its recommendations to combat sexual assaults on Virginia’s college campuses. Attorney General Mark R. Herring will present the recommendations to McAuliffe on Thursday. The report will be delivered following the final meeting of the Task Force on Combating Campus Sexual Violence. The task force lists some of its draft recommendations on its website. They are subject to revision in the final report. One draft recommendation would create a database of students who have been dismissed or expelled from a college or university for forcible sex offenses or violations of the sexual misconduct code. The task force included campus administrators, advocates, law enforcement, higher education attorneys, health professionals and others. McAuliffe will review the recommendations for possible action.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Former Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli has settled a lawsuit on favorable terms with a conservative political action committee he accused of engaging in a national fundraising scam. Federal court papers filed last week show that Cuccinelli and the Arlington-based Conservative StrikeForce PAC reached a settlement that will prohibit the PAC from using a political candidate’s name for future fundraising efforts against the candidate’s wishes. The PAC also agreed to pay Cuccinelli’s gubernatorial campaign $85,000 and give it exclusive rights to the PAC’s direct mail and email donor lists. Cuccinelli sued the PAC last September alleging that Conservative StrikeForce raised $2.2 million in 2013 by largely promising donors the money would help Cuccinelli in his ultimately unsuccessful Virginia campaign against Democrat Terry McAuliffe. The PAC only gave Cuccinelli’s campaign $10,000.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ A Virginia House of Representatives technology official has been named as the state’s chief information officer. Gov. Terry McAuliffe said Tuesday that Nelson Moe’s appointment is effective June 8. Moe currently is the House’s chief information officer. He previously worked in the private sector for several small information technology startups and served as a Navy nuclear submarine officer. As the state’s chief information officer, Moe will oversee the Virginia Information Technologies Agency. He replaces Eric Link, who has served as interim director of the agency since March. Former director Sam Nixon left the agency to become chief administrative officer of the State Corporation Commission.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Virginia State Police say nine people died in the state from traffic accidents over the Memorial Day holiday weekend. That’s one more death that occurred over the same weekend this past year. This year’s fatalities occurred in the counties of Albemarle, Campbell, Franklin, Page, Prince George, Prince William, Rockingham and Roanoke. Police say one fatality in Prince William County involved a pedestrian and the crash in Campbell involved a motorcycle. A double fatality occurred in Page County. Alcohol was a factor in three of the crashes. At least four of the crash victims were not wearing seat belts. During the 2015 weekend, troopers responded to and investigated 768 total traffic crashes statewide.
BEDFORD, Va. (AP) _ Authorities say no one was seriously injured in a series of accidents on the James River near Balcony Falls. The Bedford County Department of Fire and Rescue says crews rescued seven people on Monday. The department tells media outlets that a woman suffered non-life threatening injuries after she slipped and fell on rocks in the Jumping Rock area. An emergency crew rescued her by boat and took her to a hospital. Several rescue boats then went back and picked up the woman’s three friends. Crews also rescued two people who were thrown out of a canoe and a man who was thrown out of a float.
ROANOKE, Va. (AP) _ A man has been seriously injured after he was shot following a police chase and crash near Roanoke. The suspect was shot by Virginia state police yesterday after he wrecked his car on Interstate 81 near Botetourt County. Troopers say they tried to pull the man over for speeding but he refused to stop, and a 21-mile chase followed. Authorities say he was going 95 miles per hour in a 70 mph zone. The suspect’s car eventually ran off the highway and crashed. Police say he got out of the car and was holding a gun. Authorities say the man refused to comply with troopers’ demands to drop the weapon, and was shot once by a state trooper. He was rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Jesse Matthew, Jr.
FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A woman who was attacked in a 2005 case that authorities have linked to the death of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham will testify at a pretrial hearing next month. The woman, who now lives in India, will be traveling back to Virginia before trial to determine whether she can identify 33-year-old Jesse Matthew of Charlottesville as her attacker. Matthew is charged with sexual assault and attempted capital murder in the Fairfax case. Defense lawyers, though, question whether she can identify Matthew as her attacker. At a hearing Friday in Fairfax, a judge scheduled a June 4 hearing with the victim to determine whether she can reliably identify Matthew as her assailant. Prosecutors say they also have DNA evidence linking Matthew to the crime.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginians who want to stock up on batteries, bottled water and other supplies for the hurricane season will get a tax break starting Monday. A sales tax holiday will spare residents state and local levies for items priced at $60 or less, and bigger-ticket items such as generators priced at $1,000 or less. The tax holiday runs through May 31. For a full list of products eligible for the sales-tax break, go to www.tax.virginia.gov. The Atlantic hurricane season officially starts June 1 and ends Nov. 30.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ U.S. Census Bureau estimates for Virginia show healthy population increases last year in counties near the nation’s capital and in nearly all of the state’s largest cities. According to census estimates released Thursday, Fairfax County remains the state’s largest, gaining 3,100 residents to nearly 1.14 million in 2014. Loudoun County’s population jumped more than 12,000 to 363,000, and Prince William County had an increase of 5,900 residents to more than 446,000. Those areas near Washington, D.C., accounted for more than one-third of the state’s overall estimated gain. Virginia’s population rose nearly 56,000 last year to more than 8.3 million. Four of Virginia’s five largest cities gained residents. Virginia Beach is still the largest, growing by 1,672 residents to about 451,000. It’s followed by Norfolk, Chesapeake, Richmond and Newport News.