The Virginia Court of Appeals yesterday overturned the first-degree murder conviction of a former Navy SEAL trainee in the 1995 slaying of college student Jennifer Lea Evans in Virginia Beach.

The ear-arresting sound of metal crashing into metal filled Squire Recreation Center in Danville as men in Mad Max-style wheelchairs slammed into one another during quad rugby games over a July weekend. “It’s a mix of basketball, football and bumper cars, because we do run into each other quite a bit,“ said Greg Taylor, a quadriplegic rugby player.

When Jeremih first contemplated a career in music, it was rap, not silky soul, that intrigued him the most.  “I had so many beats on my computer, [and] people were telling me I sounded like I could be the next so-and-so,“ said Jeremih (pronounced JEHR’-uh-meye). “But after all the beats and rhymes, I felt like everybody around me was rapping, and so I was like, ‘I got to do something to stand out.‘  . . .  So I started singing.“

A teenager accused of manufacturing explosive devices in his home and speaking about plans to blow up Landstown High School will be tried as an adult, a judge in Virginia Beach Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court ruled last week. Philip Bay, who was 17 at the time of his arrest but is now 18, faces 10 counts of possessing and manufacturing explosives and one charge of planning to use them for an act of terrorism.

VIRGINIA BEACH It’s the last house standing in Town Center. Behind a sagging, chain-link fence stands the lifeless home, surrounded by construction clutter, shadowed by stately buildings. “This house,“ says Mike Clifford, senior superintendent with developer Armada Hoffler, “we’ve been saying we’re going to tear it down for the past four years.“

Virginia Beach health officials have lifted a ban on swimming and wading in a section of the Chesapeake Bay.

A 15-year-old boy accused of participating in a bomb plot targeting Landstown High School has pleaded guilty to possession of a sawed-off shotgun.

Virginia Beach health officials are prohibiting swimming in a section of the Chesapeake Bay because bacteria levels exceed state water quality standards.

Thieves posing as a janitorial crew are cleaning out stores in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake.

A toddler has been found unharmed after her family’s minivan was stolen at a Virginia Beach convenience store with the child inside.

Former NFL star Bruce Smith was convicted of drunken driving today.

A 33-year-old woman from Northern Virginia drowned Friday night in the Atlantic Ocean at Virginia Beach. Officials said Sujana Umesh of Ashburn was swimming with her family near 36th Street when a rip current pulled them away from shore just after 8 p.m. Lifeguards and other beach-goers went into the water to help pull them out and began rescuing people, but they were unable to get to Umesh in time, said officer Adam Bernstein, a police spokesman.

Aerosmith has postponed its Sunday show at Verizon Wireless Virginia Beach Amphitheater because of an unspecified “artist injury.“ The band, on tour this summer with ZZ Top, also postponed last night’s show in Cincinnati and tonight’s gig at Hersheypark Stadium in Pennsylvania. A rescheduled date is expected to be announced soon. Previously purchased tickets will be honored.

Virginia Beach police say they believe an 84-year-old woman was getting water for her garden when she fell into a private lake and drowned.

Out of work since December, Kathleen Hewes quickly realized a 14-year family tradition at the Delaware shore would have to end in 2009. “We decided in January we couldn’t afford it,“ Hewes said of her now one-income household. fina31Then Hewes heard back from rental agent Sue Cooper: The owner of the beach property would welcome the Hewes back to Bethany Beach—for free. The family has the last week in July booked at a three-bedroom town house.