Next week’s scheduled sentencing of former gang member Detavis J. King for the 2007 slaying of Chesterfield County teenager Ryan Matko will be delayed for several months as his defense attorney seeks to have King’s guilty verdicts set aside. Defense lawyer Greg Sheldon filed a motion Wednesday to continue Monday’s sentencing hearing so he can obtain and review a transcript of the testimony given by Dominique Johnson, a key prosecution witness, who Sheldon suggested at King’s trial was the real killer.

Joey Monroe calls himself a survivor. The U.S. Marine Corps veteran has survived since August without a permanent roof over his head, and he understands the consequences of living on the streets. “Anything could have happened to me in the street,“ he said. “I could have ended up dead in the street.“

The CEO of the appliance and consumer-electronics retailer believes the chain can make headway in an already competitive market.

Chester-based Uppy’s Convenience Stores Inc. won the Greater Richmond Chamber’s Impact Award during a gala last night. The chain of convenience stores was picked from a field of six finalists. “Uppy’s ultimately demonstrated, across the board, their commitment to growing their company and building their community in the process, and we are pleased to recognize them for those efforts,“ said Slaughter Fitz-Hugh, chair of the award committee and president of CapTech Ventures.

A hunter was found dead early today in a wooded area off River Road in Chesterfield County after he had been reported missing by his family, police said.

Chesterfield County supervisors last night unanimously agreed to wait three months before voting on an ordinance prohibiting the use of a bow and arrow within 600 feet of a home. The issue arose in response to complaints from Salisbury residents in the Midlothian area concerned that bow hunters were hunting too close to homes where children were playing.

The cost of retiree health care is turning into a hot-button issue for state legislators and local officials, who will learn today how much more local governments will have to pay for employee retirement plans. The increase that will be recommended to the Virginia Retirement System Board of Trustees by its actuary is small—about 1 percent overall on average among all localities covered by the state system.

A new manufacturing line from Maruchan Virginia Inc., a Chesterfield County-based ramen soup and noodles manufacturer, will mean 50 new jobs for the region. The $18 million project, announced yesterday at the county Board of Supervisors meeting, will bring the number of manufacturing lines at the Chesterfield facility to nine. “Chesterfield County continues to offer a number of amenities and opportunities for the continued success of our business,“ said Maruchan Vice President and General Manager Nobuhide Kaneshige.

Before they vote, Chesterfield County leaders will hear from the public tomorrow night about a proposal to prohibit the use of bows and arrows within 600 feet of a home. The ordinance change was initiated to address concerns from homeowners in Midlothian’s Salisbury community that people were hunting too close to homes. Currently, Chesterfield property owners and permitted guests are allowed to use bows anywhere on their property, so long as the arrow does not cross the property line. Because of growth in the county’s deer population, the state Department of Game and Inland Fisheries allows additional bow hunting with site-specific “kill permits” on property adjacent to or within residential neighborhoods.

State and local officials are bracing for another round of bad news from Virginia budget analysts today, as the House Appropriations Committee opens a two-day annual retreat at the Capitol. Richmond-area legislators warned Chesterfield County officials last night that they can expect another drop in state revenue forecasts that likely will lead to further cuts in aid to local governments for education and other services.

Sitting in the shadows of the Westchester Commons, The Shoppes at Westchester is quickly filling up and becoming a major shopping and office complex on Midlothian Turnpike. The Chesterfield County development is part of the Watkins Centre, a nearly 640-acre project that includes retail, an office park and eventually residences. The Shoppes at Westchester sits on a 32-acre piece of Watkins Centre. It has 28,000 square feet of retail in the middle of the center and an additional 23,700 square feet in outer parcels.

Bon Secours will need to clear one hurdle to build its new ambulatory-care campus as planned at the Watkins Centre in Chesterfield County. The nonprofit health system has applied for a zoning amendment to reduce the required roadway setbacks on the 16-acre site at the southwest corner of state Route 288 and Midlothian Turnpike. The $30 million development would create 100 local jobs, making it the county’s biggest economic-development project of the year.

Two child-abuse prevention organizations in the Richmond area are merging this month. Greater Richmond SCAN (Stop Child Abuse Now) and Richmond CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) will become one entity after unanimous votes by their boards of directors. CASA will now fall under the scope of SCAN, which oversees four programs, including the region’s only Child Advocacy Center.

The disappearance of Mechanicsville teenager Theresa Marie Meadows languished in relative obscurity from the time she vanished in September 2004—until she was located alive last week in South Carolina. On the flip side, the case of missing 20-year-old Virginia Tech student Morgan Dana Harrington has received intense state and national attention since she disappeared Oct. 17 after a Metallica concert in Charlottesville. A three-day search last weekend involved more than 500 volunteers.

After a career spent working with at-risk kids, Gail Feind wanted to find a way to continue her passion in retirement. It found her. Feind, 60, was selected this year’s Chesterfield-Colonial Heights Christmas Mother. “It was a surprise and a humbling honor,“ she said. “You get to represent a lot of caring volunteers and represent children and their families to try and make a better Christmas for them.“