Several school divisions in central Virginia are reporting delays tomorrow after this week’s heavy rains and flooding. The following county school districts are reporting two-hour delays for Friday: Amelia, Dinwiddie, King and Queen, New Kent and Prince George. Also, Sussex County schools are closed Friday.

A Petersburg man died yesterday afternoon after his pickup truck crashed into a tree in Dinwiddie County, Virginia State Police said. Nelson E. Morton, 82, of the 5000 block of Sterling Road, was driving north on U.S. 1 about a mile and a half north of state Route 613 when he veered off the road to the left and hit a tree shortly after 12:30 p.m., Sgt. Thomas Molnar said.

There will be no tricks, treats or Halloween parties this year for many of Virginia’s convicted sex criminals. Officers with the Virginia Department of Corrections and the Virginia State Police are teaming up again to make sure registered sex offenders who are under state supervision won’t cause any harm to young ghouls and goblins.

Dinwiddie County mother Julie E. Futrell will spend the rest of her life behind bars. After Futrell testified yesterday about how good of a mother she was, Dinwiddie Circuit Judge Pamela S. Baskervill sentenced Futrell, 36, to life in prison for drugging and stabbing to death her young son in the family’s bathtub in 2006. Baskervill imposed the sentence recommended by a jury, which convicted her of murder in March.

A second home was being raided in Amelia County the same time Tuesday that authorities raided a home in Dinwiddie County, where the owner was fatally shot by a state trooper. State and federal authorities simultaneously raided the homes as part of a probe that officials acknowledge was at least tangentially related to a multistate investigation of the Pagans Motorcycle Club.

A Pagans Motorcycle Club member was fatally shot by police at his Dinwiddie County home after he refused an order to drop a shotgun as state and federal officers entered to serve a search warrant, state police said yesterday. After announcing their presence and forcibly entering the house in the 10000 block of Halifax Road early Tuesday, the officers were confronted by James M. Hicks Jr., 45, who was armed with a shotgun, said state police Sgt. Thomas Molnar.

A Pagans Motorcycle Club member was fatally shot by police trying to serve a search warrant at his Dinwiddie home after he refused an order to drop a shotgun he held as state and federal officers entered, state police said today.

A law-enforcement officer fatally shot a man early yesterday as Virginia State Police and federal agents were serving a search warrant at his house on Halifax Road in northern Dinwiddie County. The man, identified as James M. Hicks Jr., 45, was taken to VCU Medical Center in Richmond, where he was pronounced dead, said state police Sgt. Thomas Molnar.

Area law enforcement agencies began issuing alerts this evening that a motorcycle gang may be organizing to exact retribution for the shooting death of a Dinwiddie County man earlier today. A Richmond police department bulletin warned that members of the Pagans motorcycle club are forming in nearby states and may be traveling to the Richmond area.

DINWIDDIE—A man was shot and fatally wounded this morning while Virginia State Police and federal agents were serving a search warrant at a house in Dinwiddie County. State police Sgt. Thomas Molnar said no law-enforcement officers were wounded in the shooting, which occurred about 6:05 a.m. at a residence in the 10000 block of Halifax Road, a short distance from a rear entrance of Richard Bland College.

Central Virginia has seen a slight increase in homicides so far this year, with higher numbers in Richmond and Petersburg offsetting improved numbers elsewhere. For the first nine months of the year, the region had 59 homicides, compared with 55 at the same time last year. The biggest shift has been in Richmond, where city police recorded seven more homicides as of Sept. 30 than a year earlier. Richmond’s nine-month count of 34 exceeds the total of 32 homicides for all of 2008.

120 had no critical violations during inspections conducted during the 2008-09 school year; and
93 had two or fewer total
critical violations for the year
Here are some examples of critical violations inspectors found at area schools. These
violations were corrected:
Oct. 30, 2008: Employees were observed handling ready-to-eat food with bare hands at

The controversy over President Barack Obama’s plan to address the nation’s schoolchildren Tuesday—during a noon broadcast from an Arlington County high school—picked up steam yesterday. Chesterfield County school officials joined those in neighboring Powhatan County in deciding not to broadcast the speech.

A Richmond woman was charged during the weekend with leaving her 8-year-old son on the side of the road after arguing with him about his performance in a BMX bicycle race, state police said. Leanne Denise Casolaro, 38, was charged with felony child neglect and reckless driving. The latter charge stems from a wreck that authorities say she caused while looking for her child after abandoning him.

DINWIDDIE—In response to 2008 property reassessments that showed a significant increase in property values, the Dinwiddie County Board of Supervisors is considering several options to improve the reassessment process. The 2008 reassessment, the first in four years, showed that residential property values went up an average of 47.4 percent, and some residents complained about increases of as much as 300 percent. The results created public outrage and led to several county actions, including a 19-cent reduction to the real estate tax rate and the approval of a new reassessment this year.