wlni.com » State News

Anti-Uranium Resolution Cites Threat

tina — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 11:01:40 +0000

The Hampton Roads Planning District Commission has taken a stand against ending a 30-year ban on uranium mining in Virginia. The commission adopted a resolution that cites the threat to Lake Gaston, which provides one-third of the water to the cities of Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Chesapeake. While the resolution states that the threat is “small,” the consequences would be “enormous and unacceptable” for the region. A company that wants to mine a 119-million-pound deposit of the radioactive ore in Pittsylvania County says it can be conducted safely.

Driver Has Gun & Drugs In Vehicle At Time Of Fatal Accident

tina — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 14:42:38 +0000

Virginia State Police have confiscated a semiautomatic assault rifle and drugs from a pickup truck involved in a fatal crash that killed three people and injured five others in Wythe County on Saturday. 32-year-old John C. Parker of Jackson, Miss., is being held at New River Regional Jail in Pulaski County, charged with reckless driving as well as felony possession of a firearm while in possession of narcotics. Authorities say the search of Parker’s pickup found a significant quantity of methamphetamine, containers and vials of prescription narcotics, and drug paraphernalia.

Trial Delayed For Agee

tina — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 13:50:20 +0000

A former Franklin County deputy sheriff’s attempted capital murder trial has been delayed. The Roanoke Times reports that Jonathan Agee appeared in Court in Montgomery County yesterday to request a continuance for additional time to meet with an expert on steroid use. The trial, which had been set for Aug. 27, was rescheduled for March 4, 2013. Agee is accused of shooting Virginia State Police officer in the leg on Interstate 81 on May 30, 2011. Agee also faces charges in Roanoke for the fatal shooting of his ex-wife that occurred earlier on May 30.

Trail Celebrates 75th Birthday

tina — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 11:12:48 +0000

Tuesday marks the 75th anniversary of the completion of the Appalachian Trail. That said, the nearly 2,200-mile path from Georgia to Maine is never really finished and most of it has been relocated ore rebuilt in the decades since the original path was laid out.

Virginia Pastor’s Trial Expected To Wrap Up

tina — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 11:03:59 +0000

Attorneys are expected to wrap up their defense of a Virginia Mennonite pastor on trial in a Vermont federal court for allegedly helping a Forest woman flee the country with her child rather than share custody with her former lesbian partner. Prosecutors say Kenneth Miller arranged for Lisa Miller and her daughter Isabella to travel from Virginia to Nicaragua via Canada with the help of a number of Mennonites. Kenneth Miller’s attorneys say he didn’t know Jenkins had legal parental rights when he helped the mother and daughter flee.

VA Tech Lawsuit Appeals

tina — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 11:29:11 +0000

Both sides plan appeals in a wrongful death lawsuit stemming from the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre. The lawsuit was filed by two families who said their daughters could have survived the gunman’s rampage that took 33 lives if the university alerted the campus earlier. The state was the only defendant taken to court.

Civil Custody Case Continues Today

tina — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 11:07:58 +0000

The trial of a Virginia pastor charged with helping a Forest woman flee the country with her daughter rather than share custody of the girl with the mother’s former lesbian partner enters its third day today. Today an American Mennonite missionary living in Nicaragua is expected to testify in the trial of 46-year-old Kenneth Miller. He’s accused of helping Lisa Miller and her daughter flee the US and live with Mennonites in Nicaragua.

Tuition Increases Are The Lowest In Decades

tina — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 11:06:36 +0000

Undergraduates at Virginia’s public colleges and universities will experience the lowest tuition and mandatory fee increases in a decade. Virginia’s State Council for Higher Education announced the average tuition increase this year of 4-point-1 percent represents a 3-point-8 percent drop from last year’s. This year’s low tuition and fee increase were made possible in large part to the continued commitment of reinvestment by the 2012 General Assembly. The body allocated 230-million dollars in additional general fund support to the state’s public higher education institutions.

Teenager Will Spend Nearly Fifty Years Behind Bars For Killing Her Mother

tina — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 15:21:48 +0000

A Stafford County teenager’s 48-year prison sentence for killing her mother will stand. The judge in the case Monday denied a motion from attorneys for Ashleigh Nicole Dye to present new evidence in hopes of getting a lesser sentence. The 18-year-old was sentenced in June after pleading guilty to first-degree murder and using a firearm in a felony. According to the Associated Press, Dye was a few months shy of 18 when she shot and stabbed 62-year-old Brenda Dye at the family home in July 2011. She told police her mother was standing between her and her boyfriend. Dye’s boyfriend, Eddie Chewning was convicted of being an accessory; his sentencing is set for Sept. 20.

Court Awards Damages In Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Police Officer

tina — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 15:20:43 +0000

The plaintiffs in a wrongful death lawsuit stemming from a shooting involving a law enforcement officer in Halifax County have been awarded $400,000 in compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages for a total of $750,000, to be allocated among the members of the victim’s estate. In November of 2009, the administrator for the estate filed against Halifax County Sheriff’s Investigator Thomas Lewis a member of the drug task force who fired the shot that killed Randolph Neal Seamster Jr. in a Sheetz parking in July of 2008. The original suit requested $5.35 million alleging that Lewis acted negligently and committed assault and battery when he fatally shot Seamster.