AP
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ After years of failed attempts, the General Assembly has passed legislation to allow home-schooled students to participate in public-school sports. A longtime goal of home-schoolers, the measure is commonly known as the “Tebow bill,” named for Tim Tebow, the former NFL quarterback who was home-schooled and allowed to play football for his local high school. The measure has been repeatedly passed by the House of Delegates only to be killed in the state Senate. The Senate, which flipped from Democratic to Republican control last year, approved the bill Tuesday on a 22-13 vote. The bill leaves it up to local school boards whether to implement the policy. The measure is sponsored by Del. Rob Bell, an Albemarle County Republican. Gov. Terry McAuliffe has not said whether he will sign it.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft are now completely street legal in Virginia. Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed legislation Tuesday that regulates how ride-sharing companies operate in the state. Virginia has allowed the companies to operate under a temporary agreement since this summer. That move came after state officials had initially told the companies to cease their operations in Virginia because they didn’t have proper licenses. The General Assembly passed legislation with broad support this session that established licensing procedures for ride-sharing companies, which use smartphone apps to dispatch drivers who use their personal vehicles to give people rides.
Jesse Matthew, Jr.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) _ A former hospital worker is due in court on charges of abducting and killing a University of Virginia student. Jesse Matthew Jr.’s first court appearance since being indicted on a first-degree murder charge is set for late Wednesday morning. Matthew is also charged with abduction with intent to defile, or sexually assault, 18-year-old Hannah Graham. The 33-year-old Matthew will appear by video link in Albemarle County Circuit Court. Matthew was the last person seen with Graham, who disappeared after a night out with friends last September. Her remains were found in a rural area five weeks later. Authorities say forensic evidence also has linked Matthew to their investigation of the 2009 disappearance and death of Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington. Matthew has not been charged in that case.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ The executive director of the cash-strapped Republican Party of Virginia is stepping down after less than a year on the job. Shaun Kenney announced Monday that he will be leaving his post by the end of February. Kenney’s departure comes a few weeks after John Whitbeck took over as the party’s chairman. The party listed having more than $217,000 in debt in its federal campaign account last month. State Republicans lost a major source of campaign cash when former U.S. House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor was defeated in a GOP primary last summer. Cantor is scheduled to join potential Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush in Richmond on Monday to raise money for the Republican State Leadership Committee, an organization that helps state-level Republicans around the country.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Legislation that would allow school security officers to be armed with stun guns, pepper spray and similar weapons is advancing in the General Assembly. Security officers are not sworn law enforcement officers and are not allowed to be armed under current law. Del. Mark Cole is the Spotsylvania County Republican who introduced the measure. He says he wants school security officers to be better equipped to respond in the event of an armed intruder. Opponents, including Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s administration, say they worry that stun guns and other such weapons could be turned against students. They also point out that Cole’s bill includes no training requirement. The bill has passed the House of Delegates and was approved Monday on a 3-2 party-line vote by a Republican-controlled Senate subcommittee.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Gas prices are on the rise in Virginia. The Mid-Atlantic Triple A reports that the average price of a gallon of gas in Virginia is now $2.12 a gallon. That is up 4 cents from a week ago, but down nearly a dollar from a year ago. Gas prices range from a low of $2.08 in the Roanoke area to $2.16 in the Norfolk region. Gas prices in Virginia were $3.19 one year ago. Nationally, gas prices are $2.25, up 7 cents from a year ago. Nationally, a gallon of gas was $3.34 in 2014.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ The story of a second-grader who was locked in a room at school has prompted the Virginia General Assembly to pass legislation to rein in the use of seclusion and restraint as methods of controlling children in public schools. Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, is expected to soon sign the bill into law, making the state the 33rd to govern the use of seclusion and restraint in schools by law or regulation. Carson’s mother says he still has nightmares about the time four years ago when he was shut inside a concrete seclusion room at his school and emerged with a broken hand and foot. Critics say such techniques are almost always unnecessary to keep order in the classroom and are actually counterproductive, exposing kids to injury and long-term trauma.
vdacs.virginia.gov
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ More than a half-million dollars in federal grants are available under a program aimed at promoting specialty crops. The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is accepting applications for the grants until April 2. Grants of up to $60,000 are available under the anticipated $565,000 the state expects to receive. Specialty crops do not include common field crops such as corn and peanuts. They do include nursery crops, dried fruit and tree nuts, among others. The U.S. Department of Agriculture offers the grants to improve the competitiveness of specialty crops. Applicants are weighed on a number of factors. They include development of organic and sustainable production practices and improved food access to underserved communities.
CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. (AP) _ A 23-year-old woman has pleaded guilty to first degree murder in the strangulation of a Virginia Tech student. Jessica Michelle Ewing entered the plea Thursday in the slaying of Samanta Shrestha. The plea was entered in Montgomery County Circuit Court in Christiansburg. Shrestha’s body was found on Feb. 10, 2014, wrapped in a sleeping bag in the back of her car. She was a 21-year-old biological sciences major from Vienna, Virginia. Besides the murder charge, Ewing also admitted to transporting or concealing a dead body. She could be sentenced to 20 years to life at her April sentencing on the murder conviction. A jury trial on the charges was set to begin on Tuesday.
WINTERGREEN, Va. (AP) _ Coal and property baron Jim Justice has sold the Wintergreen Resort in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Media reports say Justice sold the Nelson County resort to EPR properties, a real estate investment trust based in Kansas City, Missouri. EPR Properties and Justice did not immediately comment Thursday on the sale. Justice owns The Greenbrier resort in West Virginia. He purchased Wintergreen in June 2012 for $16.5 million. But Justice told The Associated Press one year ago he was interested in selling Wintergreen. Shortly after purchasing Wintergreen, Justice invested nearly $12 million to
make improvements over the next 16 months.