PORTSMOUTH (AP)—A Portsmouth teenager convicted of killing a former classmate has been sentenced to 42 years in prison. Robert Lee Barnes, 18, was sentenced Thursday by Circuit Judge James C. Hawks. The judge sentenced Barnes to a total 148 years but suspended all but 42 years. Barnes had pleaded guilty in September to first-degree murder and other charges. Prosecutors say Barnes stabbed Meghan Landowski, 16, more than 40 times at her house in April 2008.

Communities In Schools of Richmond is the first affiliate among 3,200 nationwide to receive accreditation for its data-management system for student performance. Communities In Schools is a dropout-prevention program that provides resources to public schools for at-risk students. Wendy Hosick, the director of external affairs for Communities In Schools of Virginia, said that includes everything from mentoring and counseling to helping students find alternative housing.

Local governments aren’t likely to escape the pain when the General Assembly attempts to eliminate an estimated $3.5 billion hole in the next two-year budget. That estimate does not include the losses faced by local school districts to replace federal stimulus money that will dwindle next year and then disappear entirely in the second year of the budget.

When the Rev. Claude Charles Vaché became diocesan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia in 1978, he was seen as “high church” or very traditional in his views, according to clergy colleagues. However, “he prayed a lot over issues, always asking for guidance,“ said his “foster son,“ Valdeir France of Portsmouth. Unequivocally opposed to the ordination of women, he surprised his diocese by changing his mind. “He began to think and talk about it and thought it was the right thing to do,“ France said.

A federal judge has approved the settlement of claims that the Portsmouth Fire Department’s hiring practices discriminated against black applicants.

CHESAPEAKE (AP)—Portsmouth police officers killed one person and wounded another during a shootout in Chesapeake that followed a chase. The Chesapeake Police Department said the incident occurred at about 11:25 p.m. yesterday. Portsmouth officers told Chesapeake police that they attempted to stop a vehicle near the Portsmouth-Chesapeake city lines. The vehicle fled and the Portsmouth officers chased it into Chesapeake.

The Justice Department says it has settled a lawsuit against the city of Portsmouth over alleged discrimination in hiring practices for its fire department. Justice officials had been investigating whether Portsmouth’s fire department discriminates against blacks in their hiring and promotion practices. Under the agreement, Portsmouth will no longer give a written exam that was challenged by the Justice Department, and it will implement new selection procedures.

A prosecutor says Portsmouth police officers were justified in shooting a suspect after a vehicle chase. Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Gregory D. Underwood wrote in a letter to the Portsmouth police chief that the officers will not be prosecuted. The officers shot 30-year-old Kenji Lee Danzy of Newport News on Jan. 9 after a chase that ended on a dead-end street in Norfolk. Danzy died at a hospital.

A Henrico County man was killed after his electric scooter collided with a pickup truck on Friday. Kenneth Archie Merritt Jr., 38, was riding a scooter south on East Laburnum Avenue, about 110 feet north of Adams Road, when it crossed over the median and struck a northbound pickup truck at 2:40 p.m., police said Merritt, who lived in the 1700 block of South Battery Drive, was taken to VCU Medical Center, where he died.

A gunshot fired during a 1976 robbery at a Portsmouth bus stop left Michael Edward Clark, a 19-year-old sailor from Illinois, paralyzed from the neck down. A veterans hospital later sent him home. Clark died Nov. 24, at age 51, of complications of quadriplegia. This month a Kendall County, Ill., coroner’s jury ruled the death a homicide.

Petersburg The Walnut Hill Elementary School PTA is hosting a Real Men Can Cook chili cook-off today at 6:30 p.m. at Walnut Hill, 300 South Blvd. Admission is $5 or five canned goods. For more information, contact (804) 350-8301. Chesterfield The Southern Economic Development Council has named Garrett Hart as its newest honorary life member. Hart serves

PORTSMOUTH—A 75-year-old Portsmouth man was stabbed to death by his son in a courthouse hallway just outside a magistrate’s office, where the father was heading to get a restraining order against the younger man, police said. The killing Thursday ended years of bad blood between the victim, Franklin R. Lancaster Sr., and his 54-year-old son, Michael Lancaster, family members told police.

PORTSMOUTH—A 75-year-old Portsmouth man was stabbed to death by his son in a courthouse hallway just outside a magistrate’s office, where the father was heading to get a restraining order against the younger man, police said. The killing Thursday ended years of bad blood between the victim, Franklin R. Lancaster Sr., and his 54-year-old son, Michael Lancaster, family members told police.

Growing up in the Prentis Park neighborhood in Portsmouth, Howard Kelford Darden saw role models in his neighbors—the city police chief, two captains and a detective—and decided to follow them into police work. Mr. Darden, who spent 35 years with the Portsmouth Police Department, died of cancer Wednesday at his Bracey home. The 70-year-old retired commander and assistant chief of police will be remembered today, Sunday, at a celebration of life service at 3 p.m. It will be held at Ephesus Baptist Church in South Hill, where he was a deacon and a director of the senior adult ministry.