During the day-to-day drama in his courtroom, Judge Robert Bruce Spencer Jr. would peer over half-frame reading glasses as he heard cases from speeding tickets to landlord-tenant disputes. “When those glasses would slide to the tip of his nose, lawyers and defendants knew there was going to be trouble,“ said his son, Robert Bruce Spencer III of Powhatan County.

Dominion Virginia Power got a little ahead of itself in its Bear Garden plant rate case. “Any information provided by Dominion’s representatives that suggested a stipulation or settlement was in place concerning the Bear Garden facility was in error,“ the utility company said in a statement yesterday. Dominion Virginia Power representatives had said Tuesday that the utility had reached a tentative agreement with state regulators on a rate increase to pay for the natural-gas-fired power plant in Buckingham County.

Community leaders have been hitting the pavement to raise money to keep the Hatton Ferry running, and they already have enough to operate the ferry this year. “We’re pleased with both the size and the number of contributions,“ said E. Marshall Pryor III, director of Old Dominion National Bank in Scottsville. Pryor, who is leading the fundraising effort, said there have been more than 75 donors.

A longtime Buckingham County supervisor with a history of legal and tax problems now faces a criminal charge.

Dominion Virginia Power received permission from the State Corporation Commission yesterday to build a new 580-megawatt electricity-generating facility in Buckingham County. “We are pleased with the decision and the SCC’s recognition that new generation is needed in Virginia,“ said Mark F. McGettrick, president and chief executive officer of Dominion Generation, which will operate the plant for Dominion Virginia Power.

Sheriff says arrests could be key to solving Glenmore area burglaries.