A Williamsburg man who trolled Web sites dedicated to pedophilia was sentenced Wednesday to 27 years in prison, with all but three years suspended. Henrico County Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael Huberman described Arel W. Powers, 56, as a man who did far more than possess child pornography. In December, after repeated online conversations with someone he didn’t realize was a Virginia State Police investigator, Powers drove to a Henrico restaurant expecting to meet with a woman who would take him to her 7-year-old daughter for sex.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine is admonishing the state government’s top techies to stick to the rules for making changes in Virginia’s giant contract with Northrop Grumman for computer services. Wayne Turnage, Kaine’s chief of staff, issued the warning in an e-mail this week to the state’s new computer chief, George F. Coulter, and other senior officials of the information-technology bureaucracy.

Prison officials have decided to allow a Charlottesville program to resume sending free books to inmates after stopping it last month for unspecified contraband concerns. “I am just relieved and very grateful,“ said Kay Allison, owner and president of Quest Bookshop and the founder of its Books Behind Bars program. “We need to get busy and start getting these [backed-up] orders out.“

Democratic gubernatorial nominee R. Creigh Deeds outraised Republican nominee Bob McDonnell in July and August, but McDonnell entered the final two months of the campaign with a clear financial advantage, campaign reports show. McDonnell had $5.8 million in the bank Aug. 31, while Deeds had about $4.4 million, the campaigns reported yesterday.

As drivers and crews scramble for top spots going into the Chase for the Sprint Cup, the Richmond region is scrambling to cash in on race weekend when its economic boost is more important than ever. International Speedway Corp. officials announced in July that the Indy Racing League event won’t return to Richmond International Raceway next year, putting more pressure on this weekend’s Chevy Rock & Roll 400 to bring in big bucks in the face of a still-slumping economy.

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.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said yesterday that his team is well into its work to cut the fiscal 2010 budget as the state faces an expected $1.5 billion revenue shortfall. Kaine will announce cuts shortly before or after Labor Day, Sept. 7. Those cuts, he said, will include layoffs among Virginia’s estimated 100,000 state employees. “That’s the case,“ Kaine said when asked about the potential loss of jobs by during his monthly call-in radio show on WRVA (1140 AM) in Richmond. Kaine noted there already have been between 1,000 and 1,500 layoffs of state employees, including workers from the Virginia Department of Transportation.

What happened to Pamela Sue Dodson? After eight years, investigators are puzzling again over the woman’s disappearance after learning that skeletal remains found Aug. 18 are those of the Chesterfield County mother of two. Dental records obtained after Dodson was reported missing in 2001 helped authorities make a match this week. Police still don’t know how she died.

What happened to Pamela Sue Dodson? After eight years, investigators are puzzling again over the woman’s disappearance after learning that skeletal remains found Aug. 18 are those of the Chesterfield County mother of two. Dental records obtained after Dodson was reported missing in 2001 helped authorities make a match this week. Police still don’t know how she died.

The taking of Virginia Tech killer Seung-Hui Cho’s mental-health records by a former university official does not appear to violate any criminal laws, the local prosecutor said yesterday. Cho shot and killed 32 students and professors on April 16, 2007. Montgomery County Commonwealth’s Attorney Bradley W. Finch said he does not expect to file charges against the former director of Tech’s counseling center, Robert Miller.

After nearly four weeks of treatment for leukemia at VCU Medical Center, 7-year-old Madelyne Blanton finally went home to Midlothian last week. Last Saturday, she insisted on releasing gift balloons she’d received while undergoing chemotherapy, said her father, Henry Blanton. He is amazed at where they landed. Madelyne attached a note saying she was a leukemia patient at VCU and asked for a response if the balloons were found.

Smokers still huddle outside the doors of more than half of America’s hospitals—and 65 percent of Virginia’s—a new study found. But the study, published this week in the medical journal Tobacco Control, says more hospitals are moving to having a completely smoke-free campus. In central Virginia, HCA’s Chippenham and Johnston-Willis campuses went tobacco-free—even banning smokeless tobacco—last year, said Karen Nelson, executive director for marketing.

Virginia government is reaching to industry for a new computer boss to set right the troubled changeover to a privately run information-technology network under Northrop Grumman. George F. Coulter succeeds Lemuel C. “Lem” Stewart Jr., a state government veteran who was fired in June after proposing to withhold a $14 million monthly payment to Northrop Grumman as punishment for poor service and incomplete billing.

A man described by Henrico County’s top prosecutor as having “an interest in police that is far beyond what is normal” now faces 13 years in prison for trying to abduct a woman while impersonating an officer. Shay Cameron Mann, employed most recently as a senior research analyst and program evaluator for the Virginia Department of Corrections, was convicted yesterday on four counts in Henrico County Circuit Court.

A man described by Henrico County’s top prosecutor as having “an interest in police that is far beyond what is normal” now faces 13 years in prison for trying to abduct a woman while impersonating an officer. Shay Cameron Mann, employed most recently as a senior research analyst and program evaluator for the Virginia Department of Corrections, was convicted yesterday on four counts in Henrico County Circuit Court.