The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is investigating a hit-and-run involving two boats on Smith Mountain Lake that happened around 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

RALEIGH - In the halls of the General Assembly, the phrase “tax reform” is like a mantra.

A Ridgeway woman faces an attempted murder charge and two men face assault charges after a fight Saturday at a Smith Mountain Lake campground, authorities said.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The chance to make a major push into Florida at a perceived low risk convinced BB&T Corp. to take over the banking operations of a collapsing Colonial BancGroup Inc. Friday.

Two more local Republicans have announced their intention to challenge U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello, D-Ivy, in next year’s mid-term congressional election.

More than 1,300 state employees in Virginia have obtained short-term loans through a pilot program created to help them during tough economic times.

A Roanoke man has pleaded guilty to charges he threatened a San Francisco area transit policeman in an online posting.

An alligator seized from a pet store in Waynesville will have a new home, as will four snakes if they’re confirmed to be Eastern diamondbacks, an endangered species.

They spent their nights jumping in and out of strange cars, trolling otherwise empty streets lined with decaying storefronts and boarded-up homes. Many sold sex to support drug habits or children left in the care of worried, hardworking grandmothers.

A 25-year-old man has been sentenced to more than three centuries in prison in connection with a fatal gang beating in 2007.

A Lynchburg man has pleaded guilty to charges related to a Ponzi scheme that prosecutors say cost about 19 investors a total of more than $400,000.

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., the first member of Congress to visit Myanmar in more than a decade, arrived in the military-ruled country’s remote capital Friday to meet junta leaders, officials said.

A North Carolina woman has surrendered 65 cats to animal control officials after a neighbor complained about the numerous pets.

Federal investigators are asking for the public’s help in tracking down an eighth North Carolina terrorism suspect.

Michael Vick is back in the NFL, landing a job with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate R. Creigh Deeds said yesterday that if the General Assembly passes a bipartisan bill that includes a tax increase to fund Virginia’s transportation needs, he will sign it.

Call this one the deli meats throwdown.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell wants to get tougher on criminals.

Virginia’s backlog of forensic science cases could skyrocket as examiners spend a lot more time in court because of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, Department of Forensic Science officials told an oversight board Wednesday.

The state’s top licensing official for day-care facilities has decided that a Richmond center ought to close after leaving a 13-month-old boy alone in a van, where the child died.

Virginia agriculture officials say two more cases of Eastern Equine Encephalitis have been confirmed in the state, bringing the total cases of infected horses to four.

BB&T Corp. could be facing the biggest risk-reward opportunity in its 137-year existence, potentially as soon as today.

RALEIGH - As the General Assembly ended its session yesterday and adjourned for the year, Gov. Bev Perdue signed into law one of the year’s most significant pieces of legislation.

More than 1,300 residents packed Charlottesville High School’s auditorium Tuesday night to deliver their views on health care reform to U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello.

The Virginia Museum of Natural History is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

The cool, wet spring wasn’t just good for replenishing water reserves - it also has killed off vast swaths of gypsy moths that infested mountain forests throughout the state.

Special operations at a North Carolina Army post will swell by an additional 500 soldiers despite the departure of a large special forces group in 2011.

In a victory for environmental groups, a Richmond judge on Tuesday invalidated a permit for a coal-burning power plant being built in southwestern Virginia.

The Amherst Volunteer Fire Department’s brand-new engine sat outside Clifford Baptist Church waiting to take the man who was instrumental in its design and funding on his final ride.

The death of a longtime pilot on Lake Anna in Louisa County on Sunday has stunned friends and flying companions who say he was a fixture in the flying community throughout Virginia.