When Ray Rucker and his wife, Meriam, bought a home in a middle-class Mechanicsville neighborhood in 1990, they were told the brick rancher was haunted. A ceiling light activated by a pull chain would mysteriously come on in one room, the previous owners said. Rucker was skeptical.

It was time for Cecil Vencill to get out of the auto-repair business, and it was time for Todd Atkinson to get out of the printing business. After 50 years in the automotive industry, Vencill retired this week at the age of 77. “I feel like it’s time to stop now,“ Vencill said, “and enjoy what the Lord has in store for me.“ And that opened an opportunity for Atkinson and his wife, Barbara, to buy Vencill’s Battlefield Service Center on Walnut Grove Road in Mechanicsville.

After letting it sit in a napkin holder for six months, Lydia Burke yesterday found better use for her winning lottery ticket, claiming her $250,000 prize eight hours before it expired. Burke, 62, of Mechanicsville, collected her check for the March 27 Mega Millions drawing at 9 a.m. yesterday. It would have expired at 5 p.m., 180 days after it was drawn.

NEW YORK (AP)—Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours” may be the longest running song in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, but the hippie-friendly jam has been around even longer. Mraz has played the song on tour for five years, and he said fans at live shows always responded differently to it, inspiring him to release the song as a single.

Rick Alvey’s passion for music serves as an inspiration for students at his Mechanicsville Music shop. Megan Adkins, 11, takes lessons there and is auditioning for the Richmond Youth Orchestra. She has been playing the violin since the second grade. “The people at Mechanicsville Music are the ones who encouraged Megan to pursue other avenues and try out for the orchestra,“ said her mother, Jennifer Adkins. “They knew it would end her lessons, but it was the next step.“

As first dates go, it was a little on the extreme side, seeing as how they almost died and all. Then again, it wasn’t really a date. Justin Walker was simply giving his classmate Jessica Hammer a ride on a very rainy afternoon. A couple of ill-advised turns later, they found themselves in Shockoe Bottom, generally a fine place to be except on this day—Aug. 30, 2004.

Not many are willing to devote a week of summer to fixing up their home, much less someone else’s. But each year, dozens of local teens pay for the opportunity. A group of campers with Richmond Metro Workcamp, a nondenominational faith-based group, yesterday finished up work on Betty Barner’s aging home in North Richmond. Meanwhile, six other groups were finishing work at other houses in the area.

Weeks away from football conditioning in August, Lee-Davis High School strength and conditioning coach Mike Craven has developed a testing method that identifies athletes who are susceptible to heat-related afflictions.

Dolley Madison is often considered the first first lady. The wife of fourth President James Madison proved intriguing enough for PBS to commission an installment about her for “American Experience,“ its flagship history series. Filming for the show began Saturday in Baltimore, and yesterday morning, the cast and crew slogged through mud and tried to avoid an intermittent drizzle on a set hidden in Hanover County.

Tuckaway Child Development and Early Education Centers has acquired Hanover Montessori School and plans to offer Montessori classes in all five of its day-care centers in the Richmond area.

A Mechanicsville doctor was reprimanded by the Virginia Board of Medicine and paid a $10,000 fine for prescription-related violations similar to those in which he was indicted Thursday in federal court in Boston, state records show. Dr. Torino R. Jennings, 35, a staff physician at Retreat Doctors’ Hospital, was cited in October 2007 for prescribing various Schedule VI controlled substances—including Cialis, Levitra, Ultram and Viagra—to clients on the Internet outside a “bona-fide practitioner-patient relationship” as required by law, according to Virginia Board of Medicine documents.

GODSPELL—Director Chase Kniffen is seeking 10 to 15 young men and women who are rising freshmen through current seniors in high school for this Barksdale Theatre and Stage 1 Theatre Company production. Auditions will be held Friday and May 25 from 6 to 9 p.m. at Stage 1 Theatre, 9130 Dickey Drive, Mechanicsville. Prepare a short song, not exceeding two minutes (accompanist provided) and bring sheet music in your key. No appointment necessary. Info: Call (804) 427-7548 or visit http://www.barksdalerichmond.org or http://www.stage1va.org.

Frances White was treated like a superstar yesterday, even if she didn’t get to sing with one. White, a Mechanicsville resident, was one of four finalists chosen to appear live on the “Today” show for the “Sing in the Spotlight with Jennifer Hudson” contest produced by the NBC morning program. But the longtime gospel singer was bested by 19-year-old Melissa Goscinski from Queens, N.Y., who got to share the stage with Hudson as her prize.

Moving day is next weekend for the Mechanicsville Library, and staff members are asking for the community’s help. As is the tradition when a new library opens within the Pamunkey Regional Library system, volunteers are asked to help move the books and materials from the old location to the new location. Jaime Stoops, Mechanicsville’s branch manager, said she’s signing up volunteers now for the May 16 move from the current library at 7179 Stonewall Parkway to new building at 7461 Sherwood Crossing Place, off U.S. 360 near Lee-Davis High School.

Five members of a Mechanicsville family have been charged with filing false income-tax returns for allegedly understating their tax liability by a combined $38,000. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the five are Eugene Bud Helmick and his wife, Doris Marie Helmick, both 72; and children Michael Wayne Helmick, 48; Eugene Larry Helmick, 41; and Diana Marie Acree, 40. If found guilty, the maximum punishment is three years in prison.