Across Virginia
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) — After a 20-year hiatus, visitors can again tour the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Williamsburg. Anheuser-Busch is bringing back tours of the Virginia facility on weekends this summer. Adults must pay $25 for the tour, which takes about 90 minutes. The Virginian-Pilot reports visitors will be able to sample fresh beer straight from the brewery’s finishing tanks. Samples are also provided at the lagering tanks, where the yeast has not yet been filtered. The brewery tour was once a highlight of a visit to the nearby Busch Gardens theme park — a monorail connected the brewery and the park, which at the time was owned by the brewer. The Williamsburg facility is the sixth largest of the company’s 22 breweries.
LORTON, Va. (AP) — An unlicensed 14-year-old driver has been killed and four passengers were injured after the driver lost control of his car and hit a tree in northern Virginia. Fairfax County Police say the accident occurred Friday before 11:30 a.m. on Furnace Road in Lorton. The 14-year-old boy was only identified as a resident of neighboring Prince William County. The four passengers were all 15 years old and were taken to the hospital with injuries that are not believed to be life threatening. Police say the 14-year-old was driving a Nissan Maxima when he lost control and struck a tree. The car flipped and landed on the driver side door. Police say alcohol was not a factor in the crash, but speed may have been.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — A lawsuit has been settled between police and a woman who was arrested for exposing her breasts during August’s deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Daily Progress reported that the undisclosed settlement agreement was reached this week. The financial terms are confidential. But the officers acknowledge they were in the wrong. Police arrested Morgan Hopkins on indecent exposure charges Aug. 12. She and others removed their shirts to protest society’s differing treatment of male and female breasts. The indecent exposure charge was later dismissed in Charlottesville General District Court Hopkins’ attorney, Jeff Fogel, said Virginia’s indecent exposure statute does not differentiate between men and women and that nudity itself is not indecent exposure. He said the offense requires either obscenity or an “appeal to the prurient interest.”
HAMPDEN SYDNEY, Va. (AP) – The parents of a freshman who died from alcohol intoxication are suing his Virginia college, his fraternity and several of its members. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that Harrison Carter Cole’s parents filed the $78 million lawsuit Thursday. The 18-year-old Hampden-Sydney College student was found dead in his dorm room last year after taking part in what the lawsuit calls a hazing event at Alpha Chi Sigma, a professional fraternity focused on chemical sciences. One fraternity member was later convicted of a misdemeanor charged for buying alcohol for underage individuals. The lawsuit says Cole vomited during the party and fraternity members were directed to check on him during the night, but he received no medical attention. The college declined comment. The newspapers couldn’t reach fraternity members.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) – A Virginia grand jury alleges that a trash truck driver was under the influence when he collided with a train carrying Republican congressmen in January, leaving one person dead. The Albemarle County Police Department said in a statement Friday that 31-year-old Dana W. Naylor Jr. was indicted on one count of involuntary manslaughter and one count of maiming another while driving under the influence. It’s not clear what the alleged intoxicant was. One trash company employee was killed in the collision near Crozet, and a second passenger was seriously injured. The chartered Amtrak train was carrying dozens of lawmakers to an annual retreat in West Virginia. Court records don’t list an attorney who could comment on Naylor’s behalf. Previous attempts by The Associated Press to reach Naylor have been unsuccessful.
Alex Ovechkin
WASHINGTON (AP) – Tens of thousands of red-clad Capitals fans partied in the streets Thursday night to celebrate the franchise’s first Stanley Cup and the city’s first title in the major four professional sports since 1992.
After the Capitals beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-3 on the road in Game 5, celebrations erupted inside their home arena at the viewing party and around Chinatown. Fans chanted, “We got the Cup!” and then “Ovi! Ovi” as captain Alex Ovechkin was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.
As police officers blocked F Street and announcements were made about the last subway train, many fans ignored those pleas and kept partying on the steps of the National Portrait Gallery and in bars surrounding the rink. A couple of fans climbed light poles and one even scaled the nearby dragon tower.
The championship is the first by a Washington professional sports team in the NFL, NBA, NHL or Major League Baseball since the Redskins won the Super Bowl on Jan. 26, 1992.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has signed a new state budget that expands Medicaid to as many as 400,000 low-income adults. The Democratic governor signed the legislation Thursday on the steps outside the state Capitol. He said the bipartisan compromise on Medicaid expansion is a stark contrast to the “chaos and partisan warfare” in national politics. The General Assembly voted last week to approve the budget with Medicaid expansion. The vote ended a long-running partisan stalemate over the issue, with several Republicans joining Democrats to support the measure. A tally from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows Virginia will become the 33rd state to approve Medicaid expansion. Expanding Medicaid was a key provision of the Affordable Care Act pushed by former President Barack Obama.
AP photo
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ A spokesman for the Virginia National Guard is refuting an officer’s claim that he had been ordered by his brigade commander to drive an armored personnel carrier off base. 1st Lt. Joshua Yabut told The Associated Press he was following commands to take the vehicle as part of a training exercise to gauge the police response. Yabut was arrested in downtown Richmond late Tuesday night following a lengthy police chase, and is being held against his will in a psychiatric hospital. Guard spokesman A. A. “Cotton” Puryear says Yabut’s claim is not true. He says the officer was not authorized to drive the carrier off Ft. Pickett “to any location for any reason,” and that there was no exercise to gauge police response.
Ralph Northam
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is set to sign a new state budget that will expand Medicaid to as many as 400,000 low-income adults.
The General Assembly voted last week to approve the budget with Medicaid expansion. The vote ended a long-running partisan stalemate over the issue, with several Republicans joining Democrats to support the measure.
Northam, a Democrat, made expanding Medicaid a key plank of his successful 2017 gubernatorial campaign. He’s scheduled to sign the budget bills on the steps outside the state Capitol Thursday afternoon.
A tally from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows Virginia will become the 33rd state to approve Medicaid expansion. Expanding Medicaid was a key provision of the Affordable Care Act pushed by former President Barack Obama.
A new statewide poll finds an overwhelming majority of Virginians know very little about the three Republican candidates for U.S. Senate. The Roanoke College Poll shows 77% of those questioned say they don’t know enough about Corey Stewart to form an opinion of him. That number climbs to 90% for E.W. Jackson and 93% for Nick Freitas, this with primary day is now less than one week away. More from WFIR’s Evan Jones:
Click here for full poll results and methodology.