A 26-year-old Hopewell man found to be a “career offender” was sentenced to 30 years in prison yesterday for possession of crack with the intent to distribute and a firearms charge. Roberto Carlos Alvarez was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson after Alvarez’s Dec. 7 jury convictions. Because of Alvarez’s prior record, Hudson found him to be a career offender, increasing his sentence under federal guidelines. At the time of his arrest last year, Alvarez was on probation for drug trafficking and facing a firearms charge from a 2007 arrest.

A Prince George man was charged yesterday in a 2008 fatal shooting that partly stemmed from damage to the victim’s car. Derrick Coleman, 28, of the 4200 block of Montreal Avenue was charged with second-degree murder and felony use of a firearm in the Nov. 30, 2008, slaying of Wallace Wesson Jr., 21. A co-defendant, Anthony Lorenzo “Amp” Green, 20, pleaded guilty last year to second-degree murder and felonious use of a firearm in Wesson’s death. Under a plea agreement, a judge sentenced Green to serve 13 years in prison.

Parachute training has been suspended at Fort Lee as authorities investigate conditions, including wind speed, that may have affected a routine jump that turned fatal on Thursday. Parachute-jump training is supposed to be canceled when winds reach 10 knots—11.5 mph—under the base’s safety protocols, said Fort Lee spokeswoman Sarah Trier.

A Virginia State Police video shows Glenn Fuselier Jr. fleeing officers at high speeds before crashing his van carrying three children in Petersburg.

A 16-year-old Prince George County High School student was killed Monday in a two-vehicle crash in the 14000 block of Prince George County Drive, police said. Ryan A. Newman was declared dead at the scene of the 4:40 p.m. wreck after he and the occupant of the second vehicle were cut from their vehicles. It took rescue workers nearly 20 minutes to free both drivers.

A 16-year-old Prince George County High School student was killed yesterday in a two-vehicle crash in the 14000 block of Prince George County Drive, police said. Ryan A. Newman was declared dead at the scene of the 4:40 p.m. wreck after he and the occupant of the second vehicle were cut from their vehicles. It took rescue workers nearly 20 minutes to free both drivers.

Richmond police K-9 officer Robin Robinson has lost count of the number of public schools she has helped sweep for drugs. Hundreds would be on the low side. “I’ve done a lot,“ she said.

Burn victim Glenn Fuselier Jr., charged this week with leading police on a high-speed chase before crashing, was placed in a court-ordered mental-health and substance-abuse program last month after embezzling more than $2,100 from his employer. Court records show the 19-year-old was ordered to receive treatment for unidentified mental-health and substance-abuse problems during his sentencing hearing Jan. 25 in Colonial Heights Circuit Court. He also was ordered to make restitution of $2,182.23 to Wal-Mart, where he worked as a cashier.

The driver involved in a nearly hourlong, 50-mile police pursuit Wednesday that neared speeds of 100 mph and involved several law-enforcement agencies is an area teenager who gained attention four years ago after being seriously burned by a campfire. The inspiring story of 19-year-old Glenn Fuselier Jr.‘s recovery from burns on 60 percent of his body in 2006 has a puzzling new chapter after police said he crashed the van he was driving on Interstate 95 with three young children inside.

Central Virginia students have had as many as nine unscheduled days off recently because of this winter’s storms. Now, they need to start making up the lost time. Some schools already have snow days built into their calendars or use banked time for inclement weather. The Richmond and Henrico County school systems plan to make up one day. Chesterfield and Hanover counties will make up the equivalent of two snow days.

When a loved one dies, it doesn’t mean they are gone forever, says Prince George medium Patrick Mathews. He says he is able to connect with their spirits and communicate with them, which he has demonstrated on television and radio shows. Spirits speak to him or show him visuals; he says he can sense their feelings. Sometimes, he says, it’s a combination of all three.

Lawmakers are considering legislation that could give residents of southeast Virginia a significant boost in their fight against the proposed construction of a Navy outlying landing field. A bill sponsored by Del. William K. Barlow, D-Isle of Wight, would give localities more land-use control by repealing existing provisions that require local governments to adopt Navy zoning ordinances.

A Louisa County woman convicted 30 years ago of a felony crime pleaded guilty yesterday to illegally registering to vote in the 2008 national election and unlawfully casting her ballot for President Barack Obama. Felons cannot vote in Virginia unless their rights are restored by the governor. Bonnie Nicholson, 57, of Louisa pleaded guilty in Louisa Circuit Court to felony voter fraud and forging a public document. She was sentenced to a total of 10 years in prison, all suspended.

Richmond fire officials began the month of December with fingers crossed, hoping their education and prevention efforts—and good luck—would hold until year’s end with no one dying in a fire in the city. Then tragedy struck twice in 19 days. Two disabled men, ages 62 and 65, were killed in separate house fires Dec. 8 and Dec. 27. In the first case, a stove used to cook or possibly warm the victim’s house sparked the fire. A burning cigarette ignited bedding material in the second blaze.

PETERSBURG—A city man convicted six years ago of stabbing to death his first cousin pleaded no contest yesterday to fatally stabbing his roommate in a domestic clash. Timothy M. Blowe, 42, entered an Alford plea to voluntary manslaughter, reduced from second-degree murder, in the Nov. 24, 2008, slaying of Charles Avent, 39, in a mobile home the men shared in the 2100 block of County Drive. In an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt but agrees that prosecutors have enough evidence for a conviction