WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of technology office employees at the Veterans Affairs Department received a total of $24 million in bonuses over a two-year period, some under questionable circumstances, the agency’s inspector general said in scathing reports that also detail abuses ranging from nepotism to an inappropriate relationship.

The Waynesboro News-Virginian: Down double digits in the polls, Deeds is launching the campaign equivalent of football’s “Hail Mary,“ attacking Robert F. McDonnell on the subject of abortion after both candidates had vowed to steer wide of social issues . . . . Deeds’ logic, which takes the convoluted form that shapes his strategy, is that McDonnell is “masquerading as a centrist,“ apparently a reference to the Virginia Beach Republican’s focus on the economy. Of course. If the Republican is talking about jobs, it must be diversionary, a puff of smoke to hide the real agenda, to return Virginia to the dark age.

A liquor store that opened six months after the end of Prohibition is still in business 75 years later in Clifton Forge, where state Alcoholic Beverage Control officials are gathered today to celebrate the milestone. Virginia ABC Store No. 123 is still operating at 531 Main St. in the Alleghany Highlands town, the only state liquor store to remain in continuous operation in one place for 75 years.The store opened on June 25, 1934, so the anniversary is tomorrow. Prohibition had ended with the ratification of the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in December 1933. The Virginia General Assembly established the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control by vote on March 7, 1934.

The story of April 16, 2007 first of three parts His Hokie Passport keycard wasn’t coded to let him in the dorm where, the year before, he’d tried to kindle a relationship with a girl from his high school. But his behavior then had been so bizarre—he stood in the fourth-floor hallway with sunglasses on and a hood over his head—that she’d called the police.

Fresh off their 24-14 victory over Oklahoma in last night’s BCS championship game, Florida’s Gators finished No. 1 in the final Associated Press college football poll of the season. But the AP voters were far from unanimous in their decision to make Florida (13-1) the top team in the land. The Gators received 48 first-place votes.

Virginia Tech basketball standout A.D. Vassallo and ex-Hokie Chris Tucker were arrested and charged with shoplifting by Virginia State Police on Thursday in Christiansburg, two days before Vassallo played in the Hokies’ win over Columbia. Athletic director Jim Weaver said yesterday that Vassallo was not suspended from playing in the team’s two games last weekend because he has not yet seen a police report. Another reason, said Weaver, is that he does not believe the senior forward did anything wrong.

A faith-based advocacy group is launching a billboard campaign today that seeks to warn consumers about car-title loans. The Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy is spending about $2,200 to display its message for four weeks on two electronic billboards in the Richmond area.

Virginia Tech freshman guard Shanel Harrison and Boston College sophomore post player Carolyn Swords were chosen this morning as the Atlantic Coast Conference Women’s Basketball Rookie and Player of the Week for the week ending yesterday. Swords led the Eagles to victories over New Hampshire and Florida International, while Harrison recorded her first collegiate double-double in Sunday’s 72-70 overtime win over James Madison.

Where tobacco once formed the foundation of the economies in Southside and parts of Southwest Virginia, the cash crop of the future could turn out to be energy research.