AP
Former Virginia
Gov. Bob McDonnell
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Jurors saw a forlorn email former Gov. Bob McDonnell wrote to his wife three years ago trying to save his marriage, telling her she was his “soulmate.” McDonnell testified extensively about his troubled marriage Thursday at his corruption trial in Richmond. He and his wife, Maureen, are charged with accepting 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. The McDonnells say their marriage was broken, they were barely speaking and they couldn’t have engaged in a criminal conspiracy. McDonnell choked up as he described Labor Day 2011, when his wife rejected his efforts to spend the weekend with her. He wrote he was at a loss to deal with his wife’s anger.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Communities across Virginia are getting funding to help offer tutoring and other educational services to students and their families. The Virginia Department of Education is awarding 47 new grants ranging from $50,000 to $200,000 through the 21st-Century Community Learning Centers program. Fifty-two programs that already received grants in 2012 and 2013 will continue to be funded. Officials say the funds will allow school divisions, faith-based organizations and community groups to provide tutoring, enrichment activities and other services. The new recipients include school districts in the counties of Albemarle, Bedford, Charles City, Chesterfield, Cumberland, Fairfax, King and Queen, Mecklenburg, Nottoway, Prince William, Russell, Smyth, Southampton and Surry. Districts in Hampton, Lynchburg, Newport News, Petersburg, Roanoke and Virginia Beach also received grants along with Patrick Henry Community College.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Virginia is sharing more than $17.3 million from NASA to increase student and faculty engagement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics at community colleges and technical schools. Officials say the Virginia Community College System is getting funding through the National Space Grant and Fellowship Program. Thirty-five awards were granted after a solicitation to members of the national Space Grant Consortia. Each award has a two-year performance period and a maximum value of $500,000. NASA says the winning proposals outlined ways to attract and retain more students from community and technical colleges in STEM education and develop stronger collaborations to increase student access to NASA’s STEM education content. Virginia officials proposed several programs in collaboration with NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton and NASA Wallops Flight Facility on the Eastern Shore.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Parties in the legal fight over prayers at Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors meetings are taking the battle to federal appeals court. Attorneys in the case are scheduled to present oral arguments in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond on Oct. 28. The Danville Register & Bee reports (http://bit.ly/VG3Jop) that the Pittsylvania County and the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia will each have 20 minutes to argue their cases. The county is arguing that resident Barbara Hudson’s 2011 suit has failed following a May U.S. Supreme Court decision in favor of public prayer. ACLU attorneys are asking the court dismiss the county’s appeal, arguing that the county failed to file a timely appeal and that the Supreme Court case is different from that involving Pittsylvania County.
Former Virginia
Gov. Bob McDonnell
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell will answer questions about the state of his marriage when his public corruption trial resumes in federal court in Richmond. McDonnell took the stand Wednesday afternoon and said his wife, Maureen, showed anxiety over her new role as first lady the day after he was elected in 2009. His attorney was about to ask him more questions about the marriage when court adjourned, leaving that topic for Thursday. The former governor and his wife are charged with accepting more than $165,0 in gifts and loans from former Star Scientific Inc. CEO Jonnie Williams in exchange for promoting his company’s dietary supplements. Defense attorneys have suggested that the McDonnells could not have conspired because their marriage was crumbling and they were barely talking.
ROANOKE, Va. (AP) _ A former bookkeeper at a Roanoke accounting firm has admitted to stealing money from a client. The Roanoke Times (http://bit.ly/1sVy94e) reports 36-year-old Laura Warner Scott of Vinton pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in Roanoke to one count of wire fraud. Court records show Scott used bank account information from a client of her employer to arrange payment of her personal credit cards, utility bills and student loans. The scheme lasted from January 2012 to April 2014. The client, who was the president of a Wytheville-area business, spotted suspicious transactions in his business checking account and alerted authorities. Scott is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 24.
PITTSBURGH (AP) _ The National Park Service has banned drones from flying over the Appalachian Trail. The Park Service said Wednesday the interim rule prohibits launching, landing or operating unmanned aircraft from or on Appalachian National Scenic Trail lands. The ban takes effect immediately and lasts until the Park Service can develop an appropriate policy. The Park Service says drones could affect resources and visitors in ways it has yet to analyze so more study is needed. The Appalachian Trail goes through parts of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia. In June the Park Service directed all parks to take steps to prohibit the use of the increasingly popular aircraft, which are often used to take photos and videos.
Former Virginia
Gov. Bob McDonnell
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Former Gov. Bob McDonnell is telling jurors that the former CEO of a dietary supplements maker did not get any special treatment from his administration. McDonnell testified that Star Scientific Inc. founder Jonnie Williams got little more than routine access. The onetime rising Republican star began his much-anticipated testimony Wednesday. He and his wife, Maureen, are accused of accepting more than $165,000 in gifts and loans from Williams in exchange for promoting his company’s products. Williams testified for the prosecution under immunity. He said he showered the McDonnells with gifts and loans to entice them to help him gain acceptance and state-backed research for his company’s tobacco-based anti-inflammatory, Anatabloc. The former governor’s lawyers have suggested that Maureen McDonnell acted largely on her own to promote the product.
Former Virginia
Gov. Bob McDonnell
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Taking the stand in his defense in his public corruption trial, former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell says he got an inkling soon after his election that his wife had reservations about being first lady. McDonnell began his much-anticipated testimony Wednesday. He and his wife, Maureen, are accused of accepting more than $165,000 in gifts and loans from former Star Scientific CEO Jonnie Williams in exchange for promoting the dietary supplements-maker’s products. The former governor’s lawyers have suggested that Maureen McDonnell acted largely on her own to promote Anatabloc, a tobacco-based anti-inflammatory. Bob McDonnell said Wednesday that he could tell she was not as happy as he was about his election and that she was upset and concerned about her role as first lady.
WASHINGTON (AP) _ The Supreme Court is delaying the start of same-sex marriage in Virginia. The court on Wednesday granted a request from a county clerk in northern Virginia to block same-sex marriages across the state while the issue is being appealed to the Supreme Court. The court provided no explanation for its order. Without court intervention, same-sex couples would have been allowed to wed as of Thursday. In January, the justices issued an order putting same-sex unions on hold in Utah while the federal appeals court in Denver was hearing the case. That court upheld the decision striking down Utah’s gay marriage ban, but delayed its decision from taking effect pending appeal to the Supreme Court. Most other federal court decisions in favor of same-sex marriage also have been put on hold.