AP
Bob and Maureen McDonnell
(Associated Press photo)
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Newly filed tax documents show the legal fund for former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell raised $78,000 during the last quarter. Tax records posted Wednesday show that the legal defense fund also spent more than $100,000 on legal fees. The fund’s quarterly report includes donations from July through the end of September. McDonnell and his wife Maureen were found guilty on multiple corruption charges after a six-week trial that ended Sept. 4. Their legal defense fund has raised more than $300,000 since its inception last year, though McDonnell’s supporters have said their legal fees are likely much higher. Recent donors include Virginia state Dels. Glenn R. Davis, John M. O’Bannon III, and Bill DeSteph, and Virginia Beach Councilmember Rosemary Wilson.
Omar Gonzalez
(Source: LA Times)
WASHINGTON (AP) _ The man accused of jumping a White House fence and running into the presidential mansion while carrying a knife now faces a new weapons charge. A federal grand jury on Thursday returned the charge of possession of illegal ammunition magazines against Omar Gonzalez in an updated indictment. Gun magazines that hold more than 10 rounds were recovered from Gonzalez’s car after his Sept. 19 arrest. Such magazines are illegal under District of Columbia law. The new indictment also includes two federal counts that Gonzalez allegedly assaulted, resisted or impeded two U.S. Secret Service officers who apprehended him. The case is the latest in an embarrassing string of Secret Service security failures that led to the resignation of Secret Service director Julia Pierson.
The 42-year-old Army veteran from Texas also faces unrelated charges in Wythe County, after being stopped for reckless driving. When State Police pulled over Gonzalez on Interstate-81, he had a sawed off shotgun, two powerful rifles, four handguns, other guns and ammo with him. He also had a map with the White House circled. Gonzalez faces charges for eluding police and carrying possessing a sawed-off shotgun. Online records show he is scheduled to enter a plea on those charges December 1st.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ The average price for a gallon of gasoline in Virginia has dropped below $3 a gallon. AAA Mid-Atlantic says the average statewide price on Thursday was $2.98, compared to $3.14 in September and $3.16 a year ago. The national average price was $3.16 per gallon. In Richmond, the average price dropped from $3.05 in September to $2.86. Roanoke’s average price fell from $3.08 in September to $2.95. The average price in Charlottesville was $2.98, down from $3.11 in September. The Norfolk area’s average price was $3.02 a gallon, down from $3.16 in September. AAA Mid-Atlantic attributes the decline to several factors, including lower demand and uninterrupted refinery production.
MIDDLETOWN, Va. (AP) _ More than 180 acres of the Cedar Creek Battlefield will be preserved through two recent land acquisitions. Media outlets report that the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation and a coalition of community groups have acquired a conservation easement protecting 179 acres in Strasburg known as Island Farm. A Confederate division crossed the land’s southern border in a surprise attack during the Battle of Cedar Creek on Oct. 19, 1864. The Civil War Trust has acquired 6.7 acres of the battlefield north of Middletown. The land is the site of a defensive stand by Union forces during a Confederate counterattack. The land borders Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park. Park ranger Eric Campbell says the trust plans to eventually transfer the land to the park.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Nearly 1.1 million Virginians are set to participate in a multi-state earthquake drill. Virginia emergency officials say the “Great Southeast Shakeout” is set for Thursday morning and will invoke what has become the mantra of earthquake response. The action is called “drop, cover and hold on.” That means drop to the ground, take cover under a sturdy desk or table, and hold on until the shaking stops. Schools, business, government agencies and individuals are expected to join in the drill. Virginia joined the drill following the Aug. 23, 2011, powerful earthquake that rocked the East Coast and was centered in Mineral. More than 1 million Virginians participated in the drill last year.
Undated file image from the
Centers for Disease Control
(CDC) shows Ebola virus
CHANTILLY, Va. (AP) _ Customs and health officials at Dulles International Airport are scheduled to begin screening arriving travelers from three West African countries. Dulles is one of four U.S. Airports scheduled to begin the screening process Thursday, along with airports in Chicago, Atlanta, and Newark, New Jersey. Officials at the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which runs Dulles, estimate that anywhere from 15 to 55 travelers arrive at Dulles every day from the three affected countries — Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. The only direct service from West Africa to Dulles is a South African Airways flight that originates in Johannesburg and stops in Dakar, Senegal, before arriving at Dulles. Screeners will use no-touch thermometers to try to find passengers with fevers, the first symptom shown by Ebola patients.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ A move to raise the cost of liquor at Virginia’s beverage control stores is distilling sour spirits from restaurants and bars, as well as consumers. As part of a plan to close a $2.4 billion budget gap, Gov. Terry McAuliffe has directed the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to hike the costs of liquor. The agency has not yet decided how or when it will raise prices but consumers at the state’s 350 liquor stores or restaurants and bars will bear the brunt of the increase. The move comes as Virginia saw record alcohol sales of $801 million in the latest fiscal year. Because sales are controlled by the state, alcohol is already costly. The average price markup is about 69 percent.
Related story: McAuliffe announces layoffs, increased booze costs
Tappahannok Historic Marker
(Source: waymarking.com)
TAPPAHANNOCK, Va. (AP) _ The seizing of the town of Tappahannock during the War of 1812 is being remembered with a new state historical marker. The marker issued by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources will be dedicated on Saturday along the Rappahannock River. The marker will hark to a momentous time Tappahannock’s history. On Dec. 2, 1814, British naval forces commanded by Capt. Robert Barrie shelled and seized the town. The British were assisted by three companies of Colonial Marines — all formerly enslaved African Americans. The British left Tappahannock two days later, but not before they ransacked homes, torched two jails and the courthouse. The Tappahannock raid was one of the last the British conducted before the war ended.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Soybeans, cotton and peanuts are up, but corn and alfalfa hay are down, according to the latest crop production report for Virginia. The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services says the forecasts are based on conditions of Oct. 1. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service is the source. The report found that soybean acreage and estimated bushels are up, while cotton producers are reporting similar gains. Growers expect to produce 200,000 bales, up 32 percent from last year. Another signature Virginia crop, peanuts, is expected near 80 million pounds, up 28 percent from last year. Corn, meantime, is expected to reach nearly 50 million bushels, down 10 percent. Alfalfa hay production is also down, by 14 percent.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Gov. Terry McAuliffe left an angry voice message for a state senator after the southwest Virginia Democrat effectively sunk the governor’s effort to expand Medicaid. The Richmond Times-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/1zbeG3t) reported Wednesday that former Sen. Phillip Puckett’s attorney confirmed the “angry call.” A spokesman for the governor said he’d do it again. Puckett resigned in June, giving Republicans control of the Senate and sinking McAuliffe’s top legislative priority. McAuliffe spokesman Brian Coy said the governor has no misgivings about making the call. He said the governor was “understandably upset” that Puckett played a key role in the demise of a plan to care for hundreds of thousands of sick and poor Virginians. The circumstances of Puckett’s resignation are part of a federal investigation.