AP
Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport
(roanokeairport.com)
ROANOKE, Va. (AP) — Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport is expanding parking outside the main terminal for people with disabilities. The airport says parking compliant with the Americans with Disabilities will be expanded within the curbside passenger loading and unloading areas. The work will be done in four phases. The project is expected to be completed by Dec. 11, weather permitting. The airport’s commission has extended the time limit for free parking in the public parking lots from 15 minutes to 30 minutes because the project will limit available space for loading and unloading in front of the terminal.
Jesse Matthew, Jr.
(Galveston Co., TX
Sheriff’s Office)
GILCHRIST, Texas (AP) _ If Virginia kidnap suspect Jess Leroy Matthew Jr. was looking to hide from authorities, he couldn’t have picked a better spot than the Bolivar Peninsula. It’s a finger of Gulf of Mexico barrier sand and scrub vegetation barely above sea level and across from Galveston Island. The beaches have served as a hiding spot for centuries. Bodies from one of Houston’s most notorious mass murder cases wound up on Bolivar. Even Galveston Sheriff Henry Trochesset says it seems to be “the end of the road.” Matthew was on the beach where he had pitched a tent when he was arrested Wednesday. He’s now waived extradition and awaiting a return to Virginia, where he’s accused of abducting missing University of Virginia student Hannah Graham.
Jesse Matthew, Jr.
(Galveston Co., TX)
Thurs., Sept. 25 3:28 p.m.
GALVESTON, Texas (AP) — The man suspected of abducting a missing University of Virginia student will be heading back to Virginia to face charges. At a brief court hearing Thursday in Texas — where he was arrested Wednesday — Jesse Matthew didn’t challenge his extradition. He’d apparently spent several nights camping on a beach before his arrest. According to a person familiar with the search for Hannah Graham, authorities had been concerned that Matthew would try to cross into Mexico. The 32-year-old former college football player was captured less than a day after he was charged with “abduction with intent to defile” Graham — an 18-year-old sophomore who disappeared on September 13th in Charlottesville. The police chief in Charlottesville says the case is “nowhere near over” — and that the “long road ahead” includes the search for the missing student. Owners of rural and wooded areas around Charlottesville are being urged to examine their properties for any signs her. And authorities in Texas have now joined the search as well.
Jesse Matthew, Jr.
Thurs., Sept. 25 4:23 a.m.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ A man charged with abducting a missing University of Virginia student is in custody in Texas. Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy Longo says Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr. was arrested Wednesday on a beach in the community of Gilchrist in Galveston County, Texas. Court records show Matthew is being held in the Galveston County Jail while he awaits extradition to Virginia. Matthew has been charged with abduction with intent to defile Hannah Graham, an 18-year-old sophomore who went missing Sept. 13 in Charlottesville. Police believe the 32-year-old Matthew was the last person seen with Graham. Authorities obtained a felony warrant for his arrest late Tuesday. It’s not clear if the longtime area resident knew Graham. Longo says police are still searching for Graham.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe is planning a news conference to address ethics reform in Virginia state government. The governor has scheduled the event for Thursday morning at the Capitol. Public officials from both political parties have pledged to strengthen the state’s ethics laws following the conviction of former Gov. Bob McDonnell. A jury found McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, guilty earlier this month of several corruption charges after they accepted more than $165,000 in gifts and loans from former Star Scientific Inc. CEO Jonnie Williams in exchange for promoting his company’s dietary supplements.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Virginia is in the second day of a challenge aimed at sheltering homeless veterans. Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced the “100 Day Challenge” on Wednesday. He says mayors have taken up the challenge from Alexandria, Hampton, Richmond, Petersburg, Salem, Roanoke, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Newport News. The challenge will also bring together other partners such as charities and faith-based groups to implement strategies to end veteran homelessness. Based on a survey cited by the governor’s office, more than 600 veterans are homeless throughout Virginia on a typical night.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ The Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control is upping its promotion of state products — from wines to mixers. The ABC says it has increasingly stocked the shelves of its 350 stores with Virginia-sourced products through the years. Starting this month, top wines, spirits and mixers produced in-state will be labeled with tags reading “Virginia’s Finest.” The program celebrating its 25th anniversary is intended to promote the state’s top farm products and specialty foods and beverages. It was developed by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. ABC stores already have 100 Virginia-made products on their shelves. Starting in October, the department will add 13 new Virginia beverages at ABC stores. The new products include bourbons, wines, legal moonshine and simple syrup mixers.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Virginia education officials say about 90 percent of students who entered high school in the fall of 2010 earned a diploma within four years. And for the first time since the state increased graduation requirements, more than half of the graduates received an Advanced Studies Diploma. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Steven Staples calls this a “watershed event” in Virginia’s effort to increase college and career readiness. The Department of Education says that 89.9 percent of the 94,700 students in the class of 2014 earned a diploma. That’s up from 89.1 percent the previous year and 8.6 percent in 2008. Since 2008, the dropout rate has declined from 8.7 percent to 5.4 percent. Graduation requirements were increased as part of the Standards of Learning reform.
Click here to see graduation rates at all VA public high schools
Beth Macy
(submitted photo)
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) _ Best-selling author Frances Mayes and Virginia journalist Beth Macy are among the speakers for the 21st annual Virginia Festival of the Book. Macy is a former Roanoke Times columnist. Her most recent book, Factory Man, is about the Bassett family and furniture industry in Southern Virginia. The festival will be held March 18 to March 22, 2015, at a variety of locations in the Charlottesville area. The Daily Progress (http://bit.ly/1Cg1JDA) reports that Mayes is scheduled to speak March 19 at the festival’s luncheon at the Omni Charlottesville Hotel. Tickets are $60. Macy will speak March 18 at the Leadership Breakfast at the Omni. Tickets are $40. Authors Kate DiCamillo and Karin Slaughter also will speak at featured events during the festival. Tickets will go on sale online at 9 a.m. Thursday at vabook.org.
WFIR staff writer Velvet Hall contributed to this report.
McKinley Brown
(Phoenix PD sketch)
PHOENIX (AP) _ Authorities say a man accused to a sexual assault in east Phoenix also is being linked by DNA to two armed robberies in Virginia. Phoenix police said Tuesday that McKinley Brown, 24, is being held on suspicion of kidnapping, sexual assault and aggravated assault. They say forensic evidence linked Brown to a Sept. 13 sexual assault case and connected him with two armed robbery cases in Roanoke, Virginia. Police didn’t immediately have dates or details of the Virginia cases. It was unclear Tuesday if Brown has a lawyer yet.