LYNCHBURG — Heavy rainfall that fell on the area over the past two days should abate Friday after causing closed roads, downed trees, cresting rivers and at least one fatality.

The weather is blamed in the death of an Amherst County man early Thursday on Virginia 56 in Nelson County — one of three weather-related fatalities statewide.

Alger H. Fleming, 66, died after he was hit by a tractor-trailer carrying logs.

All three area school districts will lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in state cuts in basic aid starting next year because of an increase in their respective composite indexes.

The superintendents of Waynesboro, Staunton and Augusta County Schools say they are working on strategies to deal with the cuts, and hope to minimize the impact on teaching positions and instructional programs.

STAUNTON — City officials will apply for federal funds to hire six firefighters.

The Staunton City Council voted unanimously Thursday to apply for a Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant, which at $527,892 would cover the costs of salaries for the firefighters for two years.

VERONA – A legal representative of the Stuarts Draft Rescue Squad told Augusta County supervisors Thursday that the squad would like to administer its own revenue recovery plan.

STAUNTON — The Staunton City Council on Thursday night outlined the process by which they will replace outgoing Councilman Dickie Bell, who this month won the House District 20 delegate seat.

STAUNTON — An Augusta County judge Thursday dropped charges against a couple accused of neglecting an elderly woman.

Relatives and friends of Irene Mae Mitchell, 84, left the General District courtroom confused and angry after Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Angela Landes failed to provide enough evidence to certify the charges against Timothy L. Propst, 33, and Gracia H. Propst, 32.

VERONA – Pastures District Supervisor Tracy Pyles made a plea to fellow Augusta County supervisors Thursday to scale back spending after learning that the county schools’ state funding would be cut further next year.

RICHMOND — Relentless rain drenched much of the Atlantic seaboard Thursday, pelting communities from North Carolina northward with gusty winds and heavy rains, inundating streets, stranding drivers and causing three deaths in hard-hit Virginia and one in North Carolina.

Relentless rain swept much of the Atlantic seaboard Thursday, triggering coastal flood warnings and watches from North Carolina to New York’s Long Island, inundating streets and forcing some rescues of stranded drivers in hard-hit Virginia.

A bomb-sniffing dog that disappeared during a fierce battle in Afghanistan between Australian troops and militant fighters has been found and returned to its unit after more than a year.

ARLINGTON — On a cold, rain-soaked Veterans Day, President Barack Obama walked slowly through the white, stone markers at the section of Arlington National Cemetery reserved for troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, the two wars he oversees as commander in chief.

WILLIAMSBURG — For veterans looking to continue their education, the College of William and Mary can be the academic equivalent of shock and awe.

It is a highly competitive school that traditional students can find challenging. Now take a veteran from Iraq or Afghanistan who is accustomed to a regimented military life. Plunk him or her down in a world where he or she must learn new study habits, navigate a different bureaucracy and sit next to classmates who consider 8 a.m. classes to be the crack of dawn.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A new poll shows Southerners are fretting about job loss and the economy and don’t think the federal government is doing enough to address either.

The Winthrop Poll of 866 respondents in 11 Southern states found the economy was the top concern of four in 10 — the same share of people who said they were concerned about losing their jobs.

With a two-year federal grant, Staunton City Council could chip away at fire department understaffing with six hires. The catch: those salaries could cost the city when the grant ends.

Locally grown produce makes its way onto school menus this week

All the things Shannon Button left behind, even washing laundry, felt different when she came home.

In Iraq she never enjoyed privacy. The hot weather and oppressive sun altered her sensibilities about the region. But when she stepped off the plane and onto Virginia soil, her old life looked, felt and seemed new.

16th annual Dawbarn awards announced

nTelos trims local crew, offers early retirement

School bus driver hit after breaking for a late riser

STAUNTON — Facing possible sanctions for suing Augusta County officials over the 2009 property reassessment, Churchville attorney Francis Chester on Tuesday defended his lawsuit and alleged the county government wants to “silence the people’s attorney.”

Barring clemency, John Allen Muhammad will be led into the state death chamber tonight and executed for the Oct. 9, 2002, capital murder of Dean Harold Meyers.

STAUNTON — A former corrections officer pleaded guilty Monday to feeding a stream of marijuana to a drug-trafficking ring inside the Augusta County Correctional Center in Craigsville.

RICHMOND — Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5th, and supporters Monday defended his vote in favor of the $1.2 trillion health-care overhaul, while an anti-tax group picketed his offices in Martinsville, Danville and Farmville.

State authorities found black powder, grenades, guns and mortar rounds in an Afton man’s home after a scare on Delphine Avenue in Waynesboro, according to court records.

Authorities armed with search warrants rifled through two properties belonging to Mark S. Bales, 51, after the Waynesboro Police Department connected a suspicious drug package with a metal pipe sticking out of the side to him, according to a search warrant in Augusta County Circuit Court. Police closed the street Nov. 2 after finding the package.

STAUNTON – Buffie Sue Wells pleaded guilty in Augusta County Circuit Court Monday, to drug charges and charges she eluded police.

Authorities charged Wells, 39, of Stuarts Draft, in late September after she and her then-wanted husband, Andrew Ivan Wells, 32, fled from an Augusta County Sheriff’s Office deputy. The deputy saw Andrew Wells sitting in the front seat of a Chevrolet Camero and stopped to question him, said Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Thomas Knoll Jr. Monday.

Leaders: SRI a long-term benefit to Valley

Waynesboro City Council without discussion Monday night voted unanimously to allow an exotic car dealership to occupy a recently vacated downtown building.

In October, Weldon and Phyllis Scrogham of G&W Motorwerkes on Greenville Avenue in Staunton applied to the city for a permit to relocate their auto sales, service and restoration operation to the recently vacated Grand Home Furnishings building at 518 W. Main St.

A Waynesboro grand jury indicted two men Monday, for charges they used a handgun during a robbery in September.

Authorities charged Jeremy Lamont Brown, 24, of Lyndhurst, and Daryl Shondell Washington, 35, of Waynesboro, on charges they robbed two other men in the 7-Eleven parking lot, police said.

WAYNESBORO — City departments will seek to reduce expenses by 5 percent this year and next in an effort to offset decreased state and local revenues.

First-quarter sales, meals and lodging tax revenues have not met budgeted projections, City Manager Mike Hamp and Finance Director Pat Nicosia told the Waynesboro City Council finance committee Monday night.

Culling through records of hundreds of sharpshooting Civil War soldiers, Brocky Nicely more than once had to turn to experts of another nature to build their biographies.