Divorce Buyout

The General Assembly on Sunday overwhelmingly passed a new two-year budget that makes unprecedented cuts to state services and programs but includes no tax increase.

Virginia State Police are investigating a hit-and-run crash near Springfield that left an elderly man seriously injured.

A bill establishing an abortion-rights license plate is headed to Gov. Bob McDonnell, who has said he doesn't support the organization that would receive money from the plates.

The House of Delegates yesterday passed Gov. Bob McDonnell's proposal to create a framework for approving virtual classes for public school students and gave preliminary approval to a plan to create college partnership lab schools.

The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles has introduced a new license plate that will raise money for Shenandoah National Park.

The outcome of key legislation in the 2010 General Assembly: BILLS ENACTED --Increases the speed limit to 70 mph on interstates, divided highways and some high-occupancy vehicle lanes.

More Virginians lost jobs in January as the state unemployment rate rose slightly to 6.9 percent from 6.8 percent the month before, the Virginia Employment Commission reported yesterday.

A. W. Morgan writes: A gay Jew has invited a Muslim terrorist sympathizer to give the Virginia General Assembly's opening prayer on March 11.

"What I said in my March 4 letter was accurate advice under Virginia law, and it still stands," Cuccinelli said in brief comments to reporters after addressing lawmakers on an unrelated issue.

A flood warning has been issued for Pocahontas, Greenbrier, Monroe and Summers counties.

Virginia residents rank No. 7 in the nation among the most frequent users of GPS navigation, according to new research.

For the past five months, Steve Williams has lived with a secret. Today, he let it be known that he was the Virginia resident who won last fall's $200 million Mega Millions drawing.

The Virginia Port Authority's planned expansion of Craney Island has received its final permit but funding for the multibillion-dollar project is still a hurdle.

Virginia can now, if it wishes, raise the speed limit on some limited-access highways to 70 miles-per-hour. But not right away.

Opponents of uranium mining in Southside Virginia and the people who want to end a state moratorium on mining the fuel for nuclear power plants have one more difference of opinion: the size of the deposit.

The Senate approved bills Tuesday that would give the state a role in the creation - and funding - of charter, online and virtual schools despite objections from some that doing so would raid public school funding in a time of unprecedented budget cuts.

In this June 24, 2007, file photo, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., right, and his wife Landra Reid attend an event at Ford's Theater in Washington.

Mark Obenshain, Virginia State Senator from the Shenandoah Valley issued the following statement this week, entitled: "My Votes on the Budget and Senate Leadership Playing Games." In the email, he explains why he voted against the Virginia Senate budget bill that just passed, and which is now headed to the Virginia House for approval.

Virginia lawmakers approved bills Wednesday that will expand the death penalty, making more people eligible for capital punishment in a state that already is home to the nation's second-busiest death chamber.

Three cheers to Gov. Bob McDonnell, who gives every indication that he intends to enforce at least a smidgen of spending restraint in Virginia, bringing general government spending back down to 2006 levels.