The president of the University of Mary Washington has formed a task force to study campus safety after she pressed an emergency alarm and didn’t like the response she received. During an annual safety walk, Mary Washington President Judy G. Hample called university police from the “blue light” alarm system in a parking deck and said she needed help.

A soldier in North Carolina has been given a two-year prison sentence after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a fellow Fort Bragg paratrooper.

A Canadian teacher has been sentenced in Stafford to 14 years in prison on child pornography and other charges.

Shop for your home and office at the Big Flea Market on July 11-12 in the Fredericksburg Expo and Conference Center. Antiques and collectibles will be featured at more than 300 booths by antiques dealers from 20 states. Admission costs $7; parking is free. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 11 and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 12. The expo center is 2371 Carl D Silver Parkway in Central Park at Exit 130 off Interstate 95.

On stage for her fourth try at becoming Miss Virginia on June 27, 21-year-old Caressa Cameron was hit with a heart-stopping interview question. A judge asked her about California’s controversial Proposition 8, an initiative against same-sex marriage. In April’s Miss USA pageant, Miss California Carrie Prejean faced a similar query on same-sex marriage. Prejean ignited a firestorm when she said marriage should be strictly between a man and a woman—an answer that she claims cost her the Miss USA crown.

A man who robbed, abducted and fatally stabbed a Chinese-restaurant delivery driver has been sentenced to three life terms.

Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford made his first and last appearance in federal court in Richmond yesterday, requesting a detention hearing in Houston where he was indicted Thursday. Facing 21 charges that could net him life in prison in an alleged $7 billion fraud, the tall, neatly groomed Stanford appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge M. Hannah Lauck. Stanford, 59, wore leg shackles but no tie or belt.

The place where the Civil War came to an end is where the Museum of the Confederacy intends to begin sharing what it calls the world’s most extensive collection of Confederate artifacts. While the sour economy has slowed fundraising, the museum’s executive director said he is committed to creating a statewide museum system at historically significant locations, starting in central Virginia where Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant on Easter Sunday 1865.

Rappahannock Electric Cooperative will grow by nearly 50 percent under a $350 million plan to serve half of Potomac Edison’s Virginia customers. Fredericksburg-based Rappahannock Electric will gain about 50,000 subscribers if the State Corporation Commission approves the transfer of service. “We’d like to start serving these Potomac Edison customers by Jan. 1,“ said Rappahannock spokeswoman Rhonda F. Curtis, “but there’s a lot of work to be done.“

A Fredericksburg man who was an Army Ranger died Wednesday of wounds received by small-arms fire in central Iraq. Cpl. Ryan C. McGhee, 21, and his unit were conducting operations to rid Iraq of a weapons facilitator and suicide-bomber cell known to be operating in the area when they came under attack, the Army said in a statement. McGhee was an automatic rifleman assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Ga.

Fredericksburg’s city manager is on leave for two weeks while the City Council weighs whether he’ll keep his job after a personal relationship with a city employee is disclosed.

It cost $12 million to purchase for preservation a 208-acre portion of the Fredericksburg Civil War battlefield. But the price paid on that ground on December 1862 was far greater. Confederates suffered 5,300 casualties during the Battle of Fredericksburg, and Union losses were far greater, with more than 12,600 soldiers killed, wounded or missing.

At the end of the day, how will Sen. Mark Warner vote on the card check bill?