AP
ROANOKE, Va. (AP) _ Roanoke City Council has approved changes to an agreement that will allow Carilion Clinic to convert a former grocery store to a neuroscience and orthopedic outpatient clinic. The agreement between the city and the property’s current owner, Valley Bank, required the building’s occupant to be a retailer. Council members voted Tuesday to change the agreement.
Carilion said Wednesday that it plans to buy the property from Valley Bank for $7 million. The Roanoke-based health care system will spend an additional $9 million to renovate the building. The project is expected to be completed in 18 months.
The building formerly housed a Ukrop’s grocery store. The store closed in 2009 and Valley Bank later bought the property at a foreclosure auction.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell says he will file a motion to dismiss the 14-count indictment against him by March 25. That’s the deadline for such motions set Tuesday by the judge in the public corruption case against McDonnell and his wife Maureen. U.S. District Judge James Spencer scheduled a hearing on motions for May 19.
McDonnell’s lawyers disclosed plans to file the dismissal motion in court papers seeking a March 18 hearing on their requests for prompt access to certain evidence in the case. The McDonnells are charged with accepting more than $165,000 in loans and gifts from the former CEO of a dietary supplements maker in exchange for helping promote his company’s products. They have pleaded not guilty, and a jury trial is set for late July.
Former Gov. Bob McDonnell
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell’s lawyers are asking a judge to give them access to evidence in a civil case against dietary supplements maker Star Scientific Inc. A federal judge last month granted a motion by prosecutors to stay discovery in the shareholders’ lawsuit until the government completes its case against McDonnell and his wife.
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) _ A federal judge has ruled that Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen’s decision Thursday makes Virginia the second state in the South to have a ban on gay marriages overturned. It comes the day after a similar ruling in Kentucky and following similar rulings in federal courts in Utah and Oklahoma.
Wright stayed her decision until an appeals court rules, meaning that gay couples will not be able to marry in the state immediately.
ASHBURN, Va. (AP) _ A Virginia Department of Transportation contract truck driver working to clear snowy roads has died after he was struck by another VDOT truck. Virginia State Police say the crash occurred just before 6 a.m. Thursday at Belmont Ridge Road in Ashburn.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ With more than 1 foot of snow forecast in some parts of Virginia, travelers are being warned that emergency roadside teams may only be able to respond to motorists in hazardous situations. AAA says that means motorists who are stranded in their driveway or secure location may be asked to stay put until conditions improve.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Up to 300 members of the Virginia National Guard and the Virginia Defense Force will be staged in central Virginia and along the Interstate 81 corridor to help respond to a winter storm. The National Guard says the soldiers, airmen and Virginia Defense Force members are expected to be in place at readiness centers by late Wednesday afternoon. Winter storm warnings and watches are in effect across Virginia from Wednesday afternoon through Thursday night. The National Weather Service says parts of central Virginia could receive 8 inches to a foot of snow. Up to a foot of snow also is possible in northern, southwestern and Southside Virginia. Gov Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency Tuesday ahead of the storm.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Virginia Senate Democrats, enjoying a new majority in the upper chamber, are trying to repeal a law mandating that women seeking abortions undergo ultrasounds. The Senate voted Tuesday 20-20, with Democratic Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam casting the deciding vote, to repeal the ultrasound law. The law garnered national attention when passed in 2012.
The repeal measure passed with the help of William County Democrat Sen. Charles Colgan, who typically votes against abortion-rights bills. Colgan told reporters he’d voted in favor of the repeal by mistake. The Senate voted against a motion to allow Colgan to change his vote. The measure has little chance of passing the GOP-controlled House.
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) _ Authorities have identified a slaying victim in Blacksburg as a Virginia Tech student. Virginia Tech says Blacksburg police identified the victim as Samanta Shrestha, a senior from Vienna.
The university said Tuesday in a posting on its website that Shrestha was a biological science major with minors in psychology and medicine and society.
Police told media outlets that 22-year-old Jessica Michelle Ewing of Blacksburg is charged with murder and 23-year-old Kyle Brown of Blacksburg is charged with accessory after the fact. Police have not provided details about the slaying.
Virginia Tech President Charles Steger says in a letter to the university community that one suspect is a Virginia Tech student and the other is a recent graduate. He didn’t say which one is a student and which is a graduate.
Click here to read the full Virginia Tech statement
ATLANTA (AP) _ As a winter storm with potential to coat the South with ice and snow moves in, nearly 900 flights have been canceled at three of the region’s major airports. Tracking service FlightAware shows that before dawn Tuesday, 894 flights for the day had been canceled into and out of the main airports in Atlanta, Dallas and Charlotte, N.C.