AP
Gov. Terry McAuliffe
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Gov. Terry McAuliffe has announced the appointments to a 20-member panel that will review the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Department’s law enforcement activities. McAuliffe directed his public safety secretary, Brian Moran, to assemble the panel after a public uproar over an ABC agent’s arrest of a University of Virginia student last month. The student, Martese Johnson, needed 10 stitches to close a gash on his head. Photos and video of the arrest were widely distributed on social media. Along with establishing the review panel, McAuliffe ordered a state police investigation and retraining of ABC agents. Moran will chair the panel, which includes law enforcement officials, lawmakers, ABC officials, alcohol safety activists and others. Its first meeting is set for May 4 in Richmond.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ The University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors is turning its attention to extending President Teresa Sullivan’s contract following a tumultuous academic year. The contract is scheduled to run through July 2016. Rector George Keith Martin says that he’s confident a contract extension will be completed before June 30, when his term as rector expires. Martin says input from students, alumni, faculty and staff has been part of the evaluation process. He says he’s pleased with Sullivan’s performance. U.Va. political science professor Larry Sabato says some recent events were out of Sullivan’s control. They include a discredited Rolling Stone article about sexual violence at U.Va., the slaying of 18-year-old student Hannah Graham, and the high-profile arrest of a student by Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control officers.
PULASKI, Va. (AP) _ A former middle school assistant principal has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for having a sexual relationship with a student. 33-year-old Jonathan Edward Bell of Salem was sentenced Friday in Pulaski County Circuit Court. He pleaded no contest in December to multiple counts of taking indecent liberties with a child under the age of 15, carnal knowledge and sexual battery. Prosecutors say Bell was a teacher at Dublin Middle School when he began talking with an eighth-grade female student in 2010. The relationship continued until they stopped seeing each other in 2012. Bell resigned in March 2014 as an assistant principal at Woodrow Wilson Middle School in Roanoke.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ An associate dean of students at the University of Virginia says a discredited Rolling Stone article caused her professional and personal harm by portraying her as insensitive and unresponsive to an alleged victim of a gang rape. Nicole Eramo said in an open letter Wednesday that the magazine has not done enough to make amends for the damage it caused. A report from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism released earlier this month said the Rolling Stone article was a “story of journalistic failure that was avoidable.” Eramo has hired a law firm that specializes in defamation lawsuits, but has not said whether she plans to sue the magazine.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ The U.S. Department of Education has recognized five Virginia schools for promoting energy efficiency and environmental awareness. The schools were among dozens nationwide recognized by the Green Ribbon Schools Program on Wednesday. The Virginia schools are Coles Elementary School in Manassas; Crozet Elementary School in Crozet; Bassett High School in Bassett; the Steward School in Richmond; and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. The university also received the Postsecondary Sustainability Award.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) _ The University of Virginia is offering an early retirement package to about 800 employees. The voluntary package announced Tuesday includes nine months’ salary and a $9,000 health care subsidy. It’s being offered to eligible staff members 55 years old or older who have at least 20 years of uninterrupted employment with the state. Eligible employees work either in U.Va.’s academic division or at the College at Wise, in positions ranging from administration to technology support. Faculty and classified staff aren’t eligible for the retirement package. University chief human resources officer Susan A. Carkeek tells The Daily Progress that the early retirement package is “a one-time offer.” Carkeek says the goal is to help reduce costs in the long term by restructuring or eliminating some positions after employees leave.
PULASKI, Va. (AP) _ A judge has denied bond for a Pulaski County woman whose 5-year-old son was found dead in a septic tank. Pulaski County Circuit Court Bradley Finch said he believes Ashley Jennifer White is a flight risk. Finch’s decision came Tuesday on a bond appeal by White. A Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court judge had denied White bond last week. White and her husband, Paul Thomas, each face two counts of felony child abuse and neglect. One charge involves the couple’s son, Noah, whose body was found March 26 in the septic tank on the family’s property. Prosecutors say they’re awaiting the results of autopsy to determine the cause of death. The other charge is linked to the couple’s infant daughter.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ The Virginia Court of Appeals has affirmed the parental rights of a man whose son was conceived by using a turkey baster. A three-judge panel unanimously upheld Roanoke Circuit Judge Charles N. Dorsey’s decision granting joint custody and visitation rights to Robert Preston Boardwine. According to the court, Joyce Rosemary Bruce wanted to have a child she could raise on her own. Boardwine supplied the sperm in a plastic container. Bruce transferred it to a turkey baster, which she used to inseminate herself. Bruce argued that Boardwine had no parental rights under the state’s assisted conception law. But the appeals court said Tuesday that the law applies only to pregnancies resulting from the use of medical technology, and the use of a common kitchen implement at home doesn’t qualify.
Bob and Maureen McDonnell
(Associated Press photo)
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Former Virginia first lady Maureen McDonnell says her public corruption convictions are based on an overly broad definition of bribery and she did not receive a fair trial due to a number of mistakes made by the presiding federal district court judge. Her attorneys argued Monday in a 101-page court filing that McDonnell’s conviction on several public corruption counts should be overturned. McDonnell and her husband, former Gov. Bob McDonnell, were convicted in a joint trial in September of accepting more than $165,000 in gifts and loans from former Star Scientific Inc. CEO Jonnie Williams in exchange for promoting his company’s nutritional supplements. Bob McDonnell was sentenced to two years in prison and his wife to one year and one day, but they remain free while they pursue separate appeals.
COVINGTON, Va. (AP) _ Virginia State Police are investigating a weekend traffic accident involving a state trooper in Alleghany County. State police spokeswoman Corinne Geller says a cruiser driven by Trooper J.E. Philpott was unable to avoid striking a car that had pulled in front of him on U.S. Route 220 on Sunday night. Geller says the driver of the car, 80-year-old Matthew T. Barnette Sr. of Clifton Forge, was charged with failure to yield to oncoming traffic. Both Philpott and Barnette were taken to LewisGale Hospital Alleghany for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. The crash remains under investigation.