PETRAEUS-SENTENCING
Petraeus sentenced to 2 years’ probation for military leak
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Former CIA Director David Petraeus, whose career was destroyed by an extramarital affair with his biographer, has been sentenced to two years’ probation and a $100,000 fine for giving her classified material while she was working on the book.
Thursday’s sentencing came two months after Petraeus agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor count of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material.
The plea agreement carried a possible sentence of up to a year in prison. In court papers, prosecutors recommended two years of probation and a $40,000 fine. But the judge was not bound by that.
The agreement was filed in federal court in Charlotte, where Paula Broadwell, the general’s biographer and former lover, lives with her husband and children.
ABINGDON BANK FRAUD
Southwest Va. farm accountant charged with bank fraud
ABINGDON, Va. (AP) — An accountant and bookkeeper for a southwest Virginia farming operation has been charged with bank fraud.
Federal prosecutors say 43-year-old Robert Donald Morgan III of Hillsville was arrested Wednesday. A preliminary hearing is set for May 13 in U.S. District Court in Abingdon.
According to an affidavit filed by a U.S. Secret Service agent, Morgan stole more than $66,000 from Carroll County-based Andrews Farming Inc. The affidavit says Morgan forged the company president’s name on business checks he made out to himself. He also allegedly deposited a check from the company’s insurance carrier into his personal account.
The public defender’s office, which was appointed to represent Morgan, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
OFFSHORE WINDS
Dominion puts on hold offshore Va. wind test turbines
(Information in the following story is from: The Virginian-Pilot, http://pilotonline.com )
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — Two test wind turbines that were to rise off Virginia Beach are being put on hold by Dominion Virginia Power.
A spokesman for the utility tells The Virginian-Pilot the project is too costly, with an estimated price tag of between $375 million and $400 million. Dominion had estimated their cost at about $230 million.
Dominion and its partners are forming a task force to look at ways to bring down the costs.
The pilot project was scheduled to be up and running by 2017.
Critics say the Dominion decision confirms their skepticism of Dominion’s commitment to developing wind farms off the coast.
Dominion successfully bid on an expanse of ocean off Virginia Beach to develop one of the nation’s first offshore wind farms.
JOHN HINCKLEY
Government wants strict conditions for man who shot Reagan
WASHINGTON (AP) — Government lawyers are arguing that if the man who shot President Ronald Reagan is allowed to leave a mental hospital for good, he should have to live under strict conditions. Prosecutors want John Hinckley Jr. to wear an ankle monitoring device and drive a car with a GPS tracking device.
Lawyers were discussing those and other potential conditions Thursday during the second day of a multi-day hearing on whether Hinckley should be allowed to live full-time at his mother’s Virginia home. Hinckley’s attorney Barry Levine says his client is ready and that the mental illness that drove Hinckley to shoot Reagan has been in remission for more than two decades.
But Levine and prosecutors disagree about the conditions he should have to live under if allowed to move to Virginia.
MICHELLE OBAMA
First lady: Tech industry to train, hire 90,000 veterans
MANASSAS, Va. (AP) — Michelle Obama says the technology industry has committed to hiring or training 90,000 military veterans and spouses over the next five years.
The first lady also says the private sector has far exceeded her husband’s goal of hiring 100,000 veterans and military spouses.
Less than four years after President Barack Obama issued the hiring challenge, Mrs. Obama says U.S. businesses have employed or trained more than 850,000 veterans and military spouses.
The first lady is marking the fourth anniversary of Joining Forces, her nationwide campaign to secure jobs and other support for military veterans and their families.
She made the announcement at Micron Technology, a Manassas, Virginia-based manufacturer of memory storage devices.
Micron Technology also trains and hires military veterans.
POLICE SHOOTING-PORTSMOUTH
Victim in Portsmouth police shooting identified
PORTSMOUTH, Va. (AP) — Virginia State Police have released the identity of an 18-year-old man who was shot and killed by a Portsmouth police officer in a Wal-Mart parking lot.
Police say the person who was killed Wednesday morning was Portsmouth resident William L. Chapman II. State police say the Portsmouth officer was responding to a call from Wal-Mart security about shoplifting.
Police say Chapman was crossing the parking lot on foot when he was approached by the officer, who has not been identified. State police say a struggle ensued between the officer and Chapman.
Chapman was the second person shot and killed by a Portsmouth police officer in the past 30 days.
On March 24, an officer fatally shot a drug suspect who fled when police attempted to question him.
EASTERN SHORE ARSONS
Man sentenced for arson spree on Virginia’s Eastern Shore
ACCOMAC, Va. (AP) — A man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for setting more than 60 fires on the Eastern Shore.
Charles Smith III pleaded guilty in October 2013 to 67 counts of arson and one count of conspiracy to commit arson. Media outlets report that he was sentenced on Thursday in Accomack County Circuit Court.
Smith and Tonya Bundick were accused of setting fire to abandoned structures between November 2012 and April 2013.
Bundick was sentenced on Monday in Virginia Beach Circuit Court to 17-and-a-half years in prison after she entered Alford pleas to 61 arson counts. She previously was convicted of setting two fires.
Smith apologized on Thursday to property owners affected by the fires, firefighters and anyone else who might have been affected by the fires.
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