State

    
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A federal appeals court in Virginia says a judge was wrong when he declared a century-old ban on corporate campaign contributions in federal elections unconstitutional.
 
    
U.S. District Judge James Cacheris ruled last year that the ban violates corporations' free-speech rights. In his first-of-its kind ruling, Cacheris said it was not logical for an individual to be able to donate up to $2,500 while a corporation can't donate at all.
 
    
A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously reversed that ruling Thursday, saying it violates Supreme Court precedent.
 
    
The issue arose when William Danielczyk Jr. and Eugene Biagi of Oakton were charged with illegally funneling contributions to Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. The lower court threw out one of the counts against the men.

    
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Starting Sunday, Virginians have to bring identification to the polls with them, undergo pre-abortion sonographic exams, pay sales taxes on Amazon purchases and have ignition interlock devices on their cars if they're convicted of drunken driving.
 
    
Laws passed by the long-running, often fractious 2012 General Assembly take effect July 1, including some of the most bitterly contested.
 
    
The ultrasound mandate for abortions drew large Capitol protests and comic ridicule on cable and late-night television. The tighter voter ID requirements evoked angry comparisons to Jim Crow voter suppression tactics from opponents who say it targets minorities, the elderly and poor.
 
    
The mandatory 5 percent public employee pension contribution offset by a 5 percent raise aims to reduce the Virginia Retirement System's large unfunded liabilities. Localities can phase in the raise.

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - The chief of naval operations has chosen a Virginia-based sailor to serve as the Navy's top enlisted sailor.

The Navy said Wednesday that Fleet Master Chief Michael Stevens will be the service's 13th master chief petty officer of the Navy. Stevens currently serves as the fleet master chief at U.S. Fleet Forces Command in Norfolk. He has held the position since 2010.

The master chief petty officer of the Navy serves as an adviser to the chief of naval operations and to the chief of naval personnel in matters that are important to enlisted personnel and their families.

Stevens may also be called upon to testify on enlisted personnel issues before Congress and maintains a liaison with enlisted spouse organizations.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) - A Virginia Beach man will spend five years in prison for hiding the body of a baby girl who died in his care.

Media outlets report that Circuit Court Judge H. Thomas Padrick Jr. sentenced 33-year-old Lawrence Ray Smith Jr. on Wednesday, telling Smith he would have put him away longer if possible.

Smith pleaded guilty April 3 to hiding the body of 11-month-old Janyiha Whiteman, who died while in his care in October. He hid the girl's body in a stroller in an Oceanfront parking garage, where no one discovered it for nearly three weeks. By then, the body was too badly decomposed for a cause of death to be determined.

Police say the mother left the girl in Smith's care after she was jailed for a parole violation.

=

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is set to begin selling the 2012 edition of the state migratory waterfowl conservation stamp.

The stamp features the work of Powhatan artist John Obolewicz, who depicts a pair of bufflehead ducks with the lighthouses of Cape Henry in the background.

This is the second time his work has been selected for the Virginia waterfowl conservation stamp. In 2009, his winning entry showed a drake ring-neck duck.

The game and fisheries board assembles a panel to make the annual selection.

The 2012 stamp goes on sale on July 1. The cost is $10.

.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The National Weather Service is confirming that a tornado hit central Virginia.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/QdKWcd) reports that the weather service said the tornado hit northeastern Goochland County on Monday afternoon. It was the lowest-level twister, producing winds of 65-85 mph.

The Goochland tornado was part of a brief but intense storm that swept through the Richmond area, punching a hole in the outfield fence of the minor league baseball park, downing trees and knocking out power to more than 100,000 electric customers.

Dominion Virginia Power reports that 38,000 customers remained without power on Tuesday.

ROANOKE, Va. (AP) - The U.S. Forest Service is reminding visitors to the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests to leave the fireworks at home.

The Forest Service says the use of fireworks is prohibited in national forests and grasslands, regardless of the weather or the upcoming July 4th holiday.

Violators can be fined up to $5,000 and face jail time as well.

Forest visitors are also reminded to ensure that all fires are fully snuffed before leaving them.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A woman who claims a priest molested her during a more than two-year exorcism is suing the Catholic Diocese of Arlington.

The lawsuit in Arlington County Circuit Court also names Bishop Paul Loverde and Front Royal-based Human Life International Inc. as defendants. It seeks more than $5.3 million in damages.

The complaint says the woman went to the Rev. Thomas Euteneur (ET'-en-our) in 2008 for spiritual help. Euteneur was president of HLI, an anti-abortion ministry, and also performed exorcisms.

According to the lawsuit, Euteneur's sessions with the woman frequently involved inappropriate touching and directing her to undress. The complaint says Euteneur explained passionate kisses as "blowing the Holy Spirit" into her.

The Arlington Diocese says Euteneur was never a priest in the diocese and reported the allegations to his superiors.

    
FARMVILLE, Va. (AP) - The opening of a breathtaking hiking and biking bridge near Farmville is scheduled to make its official debut.
 
    
Local, state and federal officials are to be in attendance Tuesday for the formal opening of 2,400-foot-long High Bridge. The bridge is the crown jewel of High Bridge Trail State Park, a 31-mile linear park that runs through Nottoway, Cumberland and Prince Edward counties.
 
    
The trail has been in use by hikers, bicyclists and horse riders since April. High Bridge is the last piece of the trail to open, and it's already an attraction.
 
    
State park officials say that since the bridge's opening, attendance has more than doubled compared to the same period last year.
 
    
The bridge towers 125 feet above the Appomattox River.

    
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) - Supporters of ousted University of Virginia President Teresa Sullivan are calling for her reinstatement and greater transparency by the school's board.
 
    
About 1,500 people gathered for the "Rally for Honor" on the Lawn adjacent to the Rotunda on the Charlottesville campus on Sunday, two days before the school's board is to meet.
 
    
Students, faculty, university deans and alumni have rallied in support of Sullivan and have criticized the board's executive committee for a lack of transparency in reaching a decision that shocked the campus.
 
    
On Friday Gov. Bob McDonnell threatened to replace the entire board if it fails to resolve the furor. Hours earlier, Carl Ziethaml, the university dean appointed as Sullivan's interim replacement, said he won't do anything related to the job until after the board meeting.

CHESTERFIELD, Va. (AP) - A suburban Richmond man is set to appear in court a day after police say he tried to shoot an attorney in his child custody case.

Police say 41-year-old Mark Low of Chesterfield fired a rifle at the attorney outside a law office across from the Chesterfield County Courthouse on Thursday. Low was charged with attempted murder, abduction and other charges.

He was held without bond at the Chesterfield County Jail pending Friday's court appearance.

Police say the unidentified attorney and a bystander received minor injuries when they fell while trying to run from the shooting. The shot missed the attorney and hit near the entrance of his office.

An off-duty Capitol police officer and a Chesterfield officer confronted Low with their guns drawn and disarmed him.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Gov. Bob McDonnell will honor six law enforcement officers who were killed in the line of duty in 2011.

The annual memorial service will be held Thursday at the Virginia Department of Transportation Auditorium in Richmond.

Those honored include Virginia Tech Police Officer Deriek Crouse, who was gunned down on campus in December by a part-time Radford University student, and Buchanan County Sheriff's deputies C. Neil Justus and William Stiltner, who were shot and killed in March while coming to the aid of fellow deputies who had been fired upon by a sniper.

Also honored will be Alexandria Police Sgt. M.M. "Morty" Ford, Virginia State Police Trooper Adam Bowen, and Chesapeake Police Officer Timothy Schock.

.

ETTRICK, Va. (AP) - Virginia State University says its first free dental clinic provided services to 426 patients.

The university announced results of the "VSU Cares" event Wednesday.

According to the university, more than 400 volunteers - including 56 dentists - provided more than $200,000 in donated care. Services included 425 fillings, 369 routine extractions, 150 surgical extractions, 83 cleanings and four root canals.

The June 9 program was a partnership between VSU, the Virginia Dental Association and the Virginia Commonwealth University.

VSU says it plans to make VSU Cares an annual event and hopes to add vision services in 2013.

    
PORTSMOUTH, Va. (AP) - The Coast Guard is teaming up with local and state police this weekend to crack down on those who operate a boat while drinking alcohol.
 
    
The increased patrols as part of Operation Dry Water 2012 will be seen Friday through Sunday. The annual campaign aims to enforce boating under the influence laws and to educate boaters of the risks involved with drinking while boating.
 
    
A Coast Guard report says recreational boating fatalities nationwide jumped to their highest levels since 1998 last year and that boating under the influence was the leading reason.
 
    
Officers will be looking for boaters whose blood-alcohol content exceeds the state limit of .08. The operation will include increased patrols, breathalyzer tests and boater-education outreach efforts.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The Virginia Department of Transportation's proposed $1 monthly fee for E-ZPass users is drawing strong opposition from the public.

Department officials say most of the nearly 25,000 public comments submitted on the proposed fee oppose it.

Virginia Highway Commissioner Gregory A. Whirley Sr. tells The Richmond Times-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/KXtABY ) that state officials will take the comments into consideration.

Several new toll roads are scheduled to open over the next few years. The department says the monthly fee is needed to keep up with the costs of operating the E-ZPass program.

The department expects the fee to generate an average $13.8 million a year over five years.

POCAHONTAS, Va. (AP) - A southwest Virginia town's demolition of an old coal company store's front is drawing fire from a preservation group.

Crews razed the front of the former Pocahontas Fuel Company Store in Pocahontas late Tuesday night.

Historic Pocahontas Inc. treasurer Thomas B. Childress says that he's angry. He says his group was working with the town to save the building.

Childress says the preservation group plans to seek an injunction in Tazewell County Circuit Court to block the town from proceeding with a downtown revitalization plan.

Pocahontas Mayor Jonathan Gibson says the town had to take immediate action because the top of the structure began swaying and posed a danger to the public.

OAKWOOD, Va. (AP) - The Appalachian College of Pharmacy is receiving federal funding to improve chronic disease management in southwest Virginia.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Wednesday that the college has been awarded $149,049 grant from the Distance Learning and Telemedicine program.

The money will be used to buy telemedicine equipment that will allow patients with chronic diseases to interact with providers to manage their symptoms.

The college's partners in the project are Johnston Memorial Hospital Diabetes Center in Abingdon, Rite Aid Pharmacy and Buchanan Health Center in Grundy, and Rite Aid Pharmacy in Lebanon.