Anheuser-Busch InBev said yesterday that it will sell its 10 theme parks, including Busch Gardens near Williamsburg and three SeaWorlds, to private equity firm Blackstone Group for at least $2.3 billion. The world’s largest brewer, based in Belgium, has been shedding assets to help pay for the $52 billion takeover of St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch that formed the company last year.

The “BUD” ticker is back. Anheuser-Busch InBev said that starting yesterday, the “BUD” ticker symbol is trading again on the New York Stock Exchange. The symbol left the exchange last year after Anheuser-Busch Inc. sold itself to Belgian brewer InBev for $52 billion. The deal created Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewer, known for brands like Budweiser and Beck’s. The company has a plant and theme park in the Williamsburg area.

WILLIAMSBURG—A Richmond woman will serve eight years in prison for a plot to kill the father of her only child and his wife over custody of the boy. Caren Taylor Pressley Brown was sentenced yesterday to 40 years with 32 suspended for the two counts of attempted capital murder by Judge Samuel T. Powell III of Williamsburg/James City County Circuit Court, who called her actions “outrageous.“

Beginning in late November, Busch Gardens will transform into a holiday wonderland, featuring more than 1 million twinkling lights and a 45-foot, light-animated Christmas tree.

There have been no new cases of swine-flu-related illness at Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center in Chesterfield County, but cases of the virus continue to increase across the state. On the Peninsula, health and school officials say a male student at Grafton High School in York County and a male student at Jamestown High School in James City County have the virus and are recovering at home.

A Richmond woman has pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted capital murder for trying to hire a hit man to kill her former lover and his wife over a child-custody battle. Caren Taylor Pressley Brown, 48, was arrested in August after an undercover Virginia State Police agent posing as a hit man videotaped her offering him $4,000 to commit the murders, James City County Commonwealth’s Attorney Nathan Green said yesterday.

As a child, Wilbert Davis had a passion for collecting old things such as colored glass bottles and other items he found in the woods and in abandoned houses around his home. He continued that passion for collecting antiques in later life, visiting thrift stores, flea markets and antiques malls to find treasures that struck his fancy.

A fire and acid spill at a metal plating company near Toano in James City County resulted in three firefighters being taken to a hospital yesterday evening. The fire broke out from a heater that activated a sprinkler system about 7:30 p.m. at the Greystone of Virginia plating operation, James City fire district Chief Bob Ryalls said. The sprinkler system forced two, 120-gallon vats of chromic acid to overflow, creating noxious smoke and corrosive problems.

Bid goodbye to state Route 5’s old, gapped, sagging span over the Chickahominy River, and say hello to the new Judith Stewart Dresser Memorial Bridge. The $33.6million span will open to traffic today, the Virginia Department of Transportation said, replacing a balky, 70-year-old bridge that has to swing open to allow boats to pass. “The drive to Williamsburg will be made much easier now that they have the new bridge,“ said Charles City resident Doris Slusser. “It’s a big help for me.