Latest Virginia News

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) The national president of the Outlaws motorcycle gang and three members have been convicted of racketeering and other charges in Virginia. Outlaws president Jack Rosga and Mark Jason Fiel, Harry McCall and Christopher Timbers will be sentenced in April.

Population growth has been good in Virginia, just not good enough to gain an extra seat in Congress. Census figures released today show the state surpassed eight million residents for the first time.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) Gov. Bob McDonnell is defending his proposal to make state employees pay into their pensions, saying the system will go bankrupt if they don't. Last week McDonnell proposed requiring all state employees to pay five percent of their pensions in exchange for a three percent raise next year.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) Smithfield Foods says it has fired two employees and their supervisor for mistreating pigs at a Virginia farm. The Humane Society of the United States last week released results from an undercover investigation that showed breeding pigs abused and crammed into small gestation crates at the Waverly farm of the company's livestock production subsidiary Murphy-Brown.

UNDATED (AP) A University of Virginia professor predicts population growth has been good in the state, just not good enough to gain an extra seat in Congress. U.Va. Center for Governmental Studies director Larry Sabato says long-term projections suggest Virginia could get another congressional seat in 2020.

BOWLING GREEN, Va. (AP) Virginia State Police are heading into the holiday season with staffing levels some say are the worst in decades. On Jan. 1, Virginia State Police will be down 249 sworn officers. The money is there to pay their salaries, but $52 million in budget cuts since 2006 have held up schools to produce new troopers.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) The state and Norfolk Southern Railway Company have signed an agreement aimed at bringing intercity passenger rail service to Norfolk for the first time since 1977. An $87 million grant will finance upgrades to make the tracks between Norfolk and Petersburg suitable for use by passenger trains.

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