A federal jury is recommending the death penalty for a West Virginia man convicted of killing a sailor in a murder-for-hire plot.

4 lion cubs debut at Norfolk zoo Four lion cubs made their public debut yesterday at the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk. The cubs joined their mother, Zola, in the first public exhibit of the newborns since their birth three months ago. The four new cubs were on display until they joined their mother for lunch. The four cubs are named Ajani, Razi, Dakari (at right) and Zarina, the lone female.

A Norfolk plant that has produced contact lenses since the 1950s will close next year, eliminating 570 jobs. CooperVision Inc. announced the closure yesterday, citing excess manufacturing capacity as the reason for moving production from Norfolk to its plants in Puerto Rico and England over the next 15 months. The Norfolk plant’s work force includes about 65 temporary and 505 full-time employees, said Chuck Rogers, its vice president of operations. Employees will receive severance, and Rogers said the company decided to phase down the operation in part to give employees time to prepare.

Eastern Virginia Medical School is one of 15 sites nationwide testing the H1N1 influenza vaccine developed by pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis. Fifteen adults 18 and older are participating in the EVMS trial, which is being led by Dr. Rex Biedenbender. Participants receive the first injection then return 21 days later to get a second dose and blood tests.

The Norfolk Three are out of prison and with their families. Derek Tice and Danial Williams were released Thursday from Sussex 1, hours after Gov. Timothy M. Kaine granted them a conditional pardon. Joseph Dick was released from Sussex 1 yesterday around noon, Department of Corrections official Larry Traylor said. “It was very emotional,“ said Melissa Henke, a lawyer who represented Tice.

The ninth annual Health Net and Armed Services YMCA mud run will be Aug. 8 at 7:30 a.m. on Norfolk’s Naval Amphibious Base, Little Creek. The 8K race with obstacles through the surf, sand, mud and muck can be completed individually or in teams. A mile-long mini mud run will be at 9:30 a.m. for kids ages 5 to 12. Proceeds from the run will benefit the Armed Services YMCA, which helps support military families. Entry fees range from $30 for individuals to $150 for teams of five; the mini mud run is $10 per child. Prices increase after today.

Gates, chairman of the Afro-American Studies Department at Harvard University, had been arrested at his Cambridge, Mass., home by police Sgt. James Crowley, who is white. President Barack Obama accused police of acting “stupidly.“ Battle lines were drawn, much as they had been at Gates’ Harvard Square residence. No one could accuse the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives of closing ranks around a police officer. NOBLE President Joseph A. McMillan expressed concern about “the arrest of a man in his own home, after he had provided proper identification and proven that he was not breaking into the home, but was the home’s owner.“

A Norfolk man has been sentenced to six years and five months in prison for stealing millions from his brother-in-law’s game and trading-card company, where he managed the finances and computer systems.

More work is needed to repair a pump that closed the westbound tube of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, but authorities believe all lanes will be open today and tonight. “The last thing we want to do is close a lane on the tunnel on the Fourth of July evening,“ said Lauren Hansen, a Virginia Department of Transportation spokeswoman. Both lanes were open much of yesterday and traffic generally moved steadily compared with the massive jams that snarled the area Thursday. There were some backups of up to 6 miles near the bridge-tunnel.

More work is needed to repair a pump that closed the westbound tube of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, but authorities believe all lanes will be open today and tonight. “The last thing we want to do is close a lane on the tunnel on the Fourth of July evening,“ said Lauren Hansen, a Virginia Department of Transportation spokeswoman. Both lanes were open much of yesterday and traffic moved steadily.

One of every 84 people in Petersburg has HIV or AIDS. In Richmond, that number is one of every 91 people, and in Norfolk, it’s one of every 102 people. (The statewide rate is one in every 370 people.) These three urban areas are among the nation’s HIV and AIDS “hot spots,“ according to a group that yesterday launched a Web site that let users geographically map areas where the HIV and AIDS burden is high.

With former President Bill Clinton in tow, Democrat Terry McAuliffe pitched his business experience as a stronger asset in this fall’s governor’s race than his two rivals’ legislative background. In the third campaign swing across Virginia with the former president known for a record peacetime economic expansion, McAuliffe focused on experience in a strategy to define the rest of the field as part of a legislature that too often impeded progress.

Former President Bill Clinton is returning to Virginia for Terry McAuliffe, appearing with the Democratic gubernatorial prospect in Norfolk on May 14. On Monday Clinton stumped with McAuliffe in Richmond and Roanoke, depicting him as well-suited to guide Virginia out of recession. The selection of Norfolk is a signal that McAuliffe is targeting key Democratic voters. Southeastern Virginia has large numbers of trade unionists and African-Americans, blocs that could dominate the June 9 primary.

Less than two months into its latest deployment, the Virginia-based USS Bainbridge found itself at the forefront of a tense overseas showdown. Snipers from the guided-missile destroyer, whose home port is Naval Station Norfolk, needed just three shots to take out three Somali pirates holding an American cargo ship captain hostage Sunday in the Indian Ocean.

Norfolk will remain home—for now—for all five East Coast-based nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. In a victory for Virginia, the Pentagon yesterday postponed a decision on a proposal to shift one carrier from Virginia to Mayport, Fla. Virginia’s senators and House members from Hampton Roads resisted the move, saying it would be blow to the state’s economy.