All posts tagged: Virginia News

Navy Reservist Arrested, Accused of Fleeing to Hong Kong After Wife’s Body Found in Virginia Freezer

Navy Reservist Arrested, Accused of Fleeing to Hong Kong After Wife’s Body Found in Virginia Freezer

Published by Sam Flores

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A man accused of fleeing to Hong Kong after his wife’s body was found in a freezer in their Virginia apartment has been apprehended, authorities said. David Varela, a 38-year-old Navy Reservist, was wanted on a first-degree murder charge in the death of Lina M. Guerra, 39, who was found dead at their Norfolk apartment in February, FBI Director Kash Patel announced in a social media post. Varela had been on the run for more than two months, “but justice doesn’t forget,” he said. Varela was returned to the United States on Wednesday and remains in California, where he faces federal charges, Norfolk police said Thursday in a news release. A notice filed Wednesday in federal court in San Francisco states that Varela was arrested on an unlawful flight warrant and accused of fleeing to Hong Kong from Virginia to avoid prosecution for first-degree murder and concealing a dead body to prevent detection. On Feb. 5, Norfolk police searched the home of Varela and Guerra, identified in an FBI affidavit as …

Nature Puts Heat on Blast as Scorching Temperatures in Eastern US Could Smash Records

Nature Puts Heat on Blast as Scorching Temperatures in Eastern US Could Smash Records

Published by Sam Flores

ATLANTA (AP) — A long-lasting weather pattern is poised to blast hot air like a furnace across the eastern United States, with the unusual heat wave threatening to shatter record high temperatures on Wednesday in big cities including New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. The heat is unusual for April, not only because it’s scorching much of the nation so early in the year but also for its duration. The near-record temperatures are expected to last into this weekend, forecasters say. The potentially dangerous heat comes after severe storms tore through Kansas, Minnesota and Wisconsin on Monday and Tuesday. There’s a possibility of more storms on Wednesday. While it’s not unprecedented to see high temperatures climb toward 90 degrees (32 Celsius) on an April day, the length of such an April heat wave is rarely seen, experts say. “That’s borderline unprecedented as far as the duration of it this time of year,” said John Feerick, senior meteorologist at the forecasting firm AccuWeather.com. Feerick said that starting Wednesday “we’re going to have records challenged from basically …

Era of Political Violence Means Higher Costs for Candidate Security, a New Report Says

Era of Political Violence Means Higher Costs for Candidate Security, a New Report Says

Published by Sam Flores

Security spending for congressional and presidential campaigns has jumped fivefold over the past decade as an increasingly hostile political environment has led to escalating threats against public officials, ranging from doxing to assassination plots, according to a report released Thursday. Federal political committees spent more than $40 million on expenses labeled as security during the 2023-24 campaign cycle, the most recent one for which data is publicly available, according to the report from the Public Service Alliance, a nonpartisan group that focuses on security for public officials. The report did not specify which candidates spent the most on security. The tally also did not count the escalating security costs of the federal government, which includes augmented Capitol Police services for members of Congress and heightened U.S. Secret Service protection for presidential candidates, as well as former and current presidents and their families. “This is not a good place to be as a country,” said Justin Sherman, the report’s author. The report calculated security costs by looking at publicly available filings with the Federal Election Commission …

What to Know About Attacks at Old Dominion University and a Michigan Synagogue

What to Know About Attacks at Old Dominion University and a Michigan Synagogue

Published by Sam Flores

In Virginia, a former Army National Guard member who served years in prison for attempting to aid the Islamic State opened fire Thursday on a classroom at Old Dominion University, killing one person and wounding two others. ROTC students subdued and killed him, authorities said. In Michigan at a major synagogue outside of Detroit, a man, who had learned a week earlier that four of his family members were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon, rammed into a synagogue and then killed himself, authorities said. None of the 140 children and staff inside were hurt, but a security officer was hit by the vehicle and knocked unconscious. Here is more information on what happened: Old Dominion University shooting Mohamed Bailor Jalloh yelled “Allahu akbar” and asked whether those in the university classroom were holding an ROTC event before he opened fire, according to authorities and court papers. Jalloh killed Lt. Col. Brandon Shah, an ROTC leader, and wounded two others, according to officials. FBI officials praised the students’ bravery for preventing further harm. One …

A Strong Chemical Smell Forces a 1-Hour Flight Halt at 4 Major DC-Area Airports

A Strong Chemical Smell Forces a 1-Hour Flight Halt at 4 Major DC-Area Airports

Published by Sam Flores

WASHINGTON (AP) — Four airports serving Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Richmond, Virginia, halted all flights on Friday evening for over an hour because of a strong chemical smell that was impeding air traffic controllers, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The ground stop affected Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, Baltimore-Washington International Airport and Richmond International Airport, FAA Secretary Sean Duffy announced on social media Friday. The declaration caused flight delays to soar to roughly two hours across some of the busiest airports in the country. Flights began to leave the airports after 7 p.m. ET on Friday, but the ground stop — which prevents planes from landing at an airport — remained in place. The smell was coming from Potomac TRACON, Duffy wrote, referring to a terminal radar approach control facility that manages air traffic for the Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Richmond, Virginia, and the Richmond-Charlottesville areas, according to the FAA website. A spokesperson for the federal agency didn’t respond to an emailed question clarifying how the smell was affecting traffic controllers …

Virginia’s Former First Lady to Run for Congress in Newly Drawn District

Virginia’s Former First Lady to Run for Congress in Newly Drawn District

Published by Sam Flores

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — There could be another McAuliffe representing Virginia soon. Dorothy McAuliffe — the former first lady, onetime state department official and wife of then-Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe — said Wednesday that she will run for Congress, putting a prominent name into the mix for a newly drawn district. “We need a leader who has a record of delivering and can finally bring down costs for families, who will increase access to affordable healthcare, and who will never back down from holding Donald Trump and ICE accountable,” McAuliffe said in a statement. If the map is approved, McAuliffe would campaign to represent the sprawling 7th District, which stretches from Arlington to western Augusta County. Most of the district’s voters would live just outside Washington, D.C., and it’s one of four new districts that are intended to favor Democrats. “I look forward to traveling this district — from Arlington to Augusta and Prince William to Powhatan — and sharing that vision for this community that I’ve long called home,” she said. An attorney and …

California GOP Lawmakers Are Incensed Over a Gas Tax Study. Rural Groups Say They Need It

California GOP Lawmakers Are Incensed Over a Gas Tax Study. Rural Groups Say They Need It

Published by Sam Flores

For more than a month, Republican lawmakers in California have blasted a legislative proposal to study alternatives to the state’s gas tax, declaring it a dishonest ploy by Democrats to hike taxes on drivers — a claim that’s gone viral on social media and is frequently repeated by conservatives nationally. Ironically, though, several of California’s biggest conservative interest groups and rural Republican officials support the legislation, some from the very districts those critical GOP lawmakers represent. Assembly Bill 1421, introduced by Assembly Transportation Chair Lori Wilson, a Suisun City Democrat, would order the California Transportation Commission to summarize all existing research and recommendations on how to charge drivers by how much they use the road instead of how much fuel they consume. With the shrinking revenue and growing road needs, the commission concluded that the state could fall $216 billion short of what is needed for maintenance over the next 10 years, which means roads and highways could fall further into disrepair. “(The bill) responds to a reality that we can no longer ignore,” Wilson …

Corporate Requests for Public Records Are Weighing Down Already Burdened Town Officials in Vermont

Corporate Requests for Public Records Are Weighing Down Already Burdened Town Officials in Vermont

Published by Sam Flores

In one of Vermont’s largest towns, most of the requests officials get for public records aren’t coming from local residents. Instead, said Renae Marshall, Colchester’s deputy town manager, they’re coming from people — and companies — around the country. The town is spending more and more time fielding requests from companies that aren’t based in Vermont but that collect and sell its public information for a profit, she said. There’s little or nothing illegal, Marshall acknowledged, about what those companies are doing. But she said the volume of corporate requests, combined with a limited window of time officials have to respond under state law, has been making it hard to keep up. When it comes to Vermont’s Public Records Act, “there’s obviously room for some modernization,” she said in a recent interview at the town office. Now, Colchester is turning to state lawmakers in hopes of some relief. But a slate of changes Marshall and other town leaders are proposing, along with the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, has drawn sharp rebukes from leaders …

Low-Income West Virginians Could Lose Access to 28% of Affordable Housing Unless Lawmakers Step In

Low-Income West Virginians Could Lose Access to 28% of Affordable Housing Unless Lawmakers Step In

Published by Sam Flores

At 93, Anna Lee Pettit lives alone in a first-floor apartment at Morgantown’s Unity House Apartments, where she can get her mail indoors and avoid hauling garbage outside in the winter. She survives on Social Security benefits and said she wouldn’t have made it without affordable housing after her husband died. She now pays $435 a month for rent on top of her electric and phone bills. Pettit said she was fortunate that subsidized housing was available for her. “They need to build more of them here in Morgantown,” she said. “So they can help seniors and those with disabilities.” Across the state, more than 60,000 West Virginians rely on federal rental assistance. Most of them are seniors, children and people with disabilities. But many of them could lose the help, because a growing share of those properties is nearing the end of the federal restrictions that keep rents low. Over the next 5 to 10 years, the state is projected to lose more than a quarter of its federally subsidized low-income rental units as …

Tragedy off America’s Oldest Seaport Claims 7 Lives as Fishing Boat Sinks in Frigid Waters

Tragedy off America’s Oldest Seaport Claims 7 Lives as Fishing Boat Sinks in Frigid Waters

Published by Sam Flores

BOSTON (AP) — The seven victims of a marine disaster that devastated a storied Massachusetts fishing town included a fifth-generation fisherman, a young federal fisheries observer and a father-and-son crew duo. All died when their fishing boat, the Lily Jean, sank in waters off America’s oldest seaport. The sinking underscored the risks long inherent in Gloucester’s fishing industry, which spans more than 400 years and was famously chronicled in “The Perfect Storm.” The names of the crew will be added to a city memorial honoring thousands of fishermen lost at sea over generations. The 72-foot (22-meter) vessel was returning to port early Friday to repair fishing gear when it sank in frigid Atlantic waters. The U.S. Coast Guard announced Monday that it was launching a formal investigation into the sinking after suspending a search for survivors Saturday. It has not said what might have caused the sinking, though it said ice buildup from freezing ocean spray can cause a boat to capsize. “You fish in federal waters, you fish in a Gloucester boat, and you …