A Mt. Solon man faces charges of breaking into eight businesses.

Scuffling through the “doctor’s office” portion of the Waynesboro First Aid Crew haunted house, Whitney McCormick rattled off the key ingredients.

“Ten feet, 10 heads and two brains,” she said, motioning to a refrigerator full of appendages. “We’re going to have a surgeon and patient, slinging things around here.”

Unopposed since 2005 and still ascending the legislative ladder, House District 24 incumbent Ben Cline this year faces Democratic challenger Jeff Price, an historic home contractor with no intentions of becoming a “career politician.”

A Waynesboro public works backhoe driver caused an accident Wednesday morning, sending two people to the hospital.

At about 9:45 a.m., city employee Glen W. Towler, 46, of Stuarts Draft, drove a backhoe into a blue Chevrolet Blazer on Shenandoah Avenue near High Street, Waynesboro police said.

Shots fired in the area of Stafford Street in Staunton caught police attention Monday night, and now authorities are asking for tips.

The Staunton Police Department released a request, Wednesday afternoon, in hopes of finding assistance in identifying an unknown male who fired a gun at least five times Monday night. More than 20 residents called police, said Staunton police Officer Lisa Klein, sparking an entire shift of officers to respond to the neighborhood.

Homemade ribbon to carry on cancer awareness

Authorities observed the single story ranch-style house for hours. They even sent someone to the inside.

Incumbent defends decisions

VERONA – Augusta County supervisors voted to cut $836,000 from the current fiscal year budget Wednesday night to offset state and local shortfalls, but not without strong dissent from one member.

The statewide Republican ticket along with the party’s national committee chairman are scheduled to roll into Waynesboro this morning.

A Waynesboro woman pleaded guilty Wednesday to abduction and child abuse more than a year after she held a teenage girl against her will and refused to feed her, causing the child’s weight to plunge to 61 pounds.

Authorities arrested Christopher Ray Chaplin, 22, of Staunton, for his involvement in an April 20 robbery on Central Avenue, said Staunton police spokeswoman Officer Lisa Klein.

A Waynesboro man filed an Alford plea Wednesday to aggravated sexual battery charges.

Augusta County Judge Victor V. Ludwig sentenced David Dwight Cosner, 40, to a year behind bars. Under the Alford plea, Cosner acknowledged that the evidence against him was strong enough to convict him of assaulting a toddler but he stopped short of admitting guilt.

His main targets involved buildings with food, but they weren’t enough to satisfy the habitual burglar’s taste for breaking and entering, authorities said.

Staunton police are looking for a man who fired five shots on a neighborhood street late Monday.

President Barack Obama’s daughters, Malia and Sasha, have received their swine flu shots.

A U.S. Marine corporal will spend eight years in prison for his role in two robberies that netted $10.

RICHMOND — César Augusto Chumil, 59, a deeply ill mental patient hospitalized over a 30-year period in his native Guatemala and in Virginia, has died.

Chumil’s death came three weeks after he had been moved from Western State Hospital to a Northern Virginia mental facility, where he was able to live out his last days in an unlocked room, among other patients, and with daily visits from his family.

WAYNESBORO — City schools officials on Tuesday night heard “less bad” news about anticipated revenue for the 2011 fiscal year budget.

Instead of the $1 million drop in local funding estimated in March, schools can expect a dropoff of half that, or about $500,000, City Manager Mike Hamp said.

Conservative activist and former presidential candidate Alan Keyes offered his prodigious speaking talents Tuesday night to help raise money for ComfortCare Women’s Health.

The organization is a non-profit medical clinic in Waynesboro and Staunton that helps women with life choices, pregnancy confirmation and peer counseling on pregnancy options.

While Keyes was focused on helping ComfortCare, he did express great fear about the state of the country.

STAUNTON — Augusta County’s former information technology director has been indicted on charges he misused government equipment.

Authorities recovered computers and electronics worth “several thousand dollars” from the home of Rick L. Vernier after receiving a tip that he had county property in his Stuarts Draft home, said Lt. A.C. Powers of the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office. 

An Augusta County grand jury Monday indicted Timothy Aaron Wilkins, 39, of Churchville, in the murder of his girlfriend.

Augusta County Sheriff’s deputies testified they found Misty M. Phillips, 36, of Staunton, strangled and stuffed in the back of Wilkins’ Toyota 4 Runner in the Food Lion parking lot in Verona.

Historic home transports visitors

The yellow moped gave him away.

Interrupted by a Staunton homeowner during a burglary attempt Monday morning, Matthew S. Carr, 28, raced from the front door to the moped as the victim futilely gave chase, authorities said. When the victim’s wife spotted the moped on a nearby street, she yanked Carr to the ground, authorities said. Still, he managed to get away.

Two James Madison University students are facing trespassing and disorderly conduct charges after they entered a campus dormitory to interview students for a news article.

César Augusto Chumil, 59, a mental patient in Virginia for more than 20 years who spent nearly all of that time in restraints or confined to a specially designed living area, has died.

The usually tepid Virginia attorney general’s race is anything but in 2009.

Two articulate candidates offer differing philosophies and visions:

Joan Byrne, a resident on Misty Hill Lane, reported catching a red fox Monday morning after she set up traps for groundhogs, luring them with cat food.

Local House Republican candidates led the campaign fundraising race for the three-week reporting period that ended last week.

And a write-in candidate for Waynesboro city treasurer got the jump on the two ballot candidates, one of them the incumbent.

Waynesboro City Council voted unanimously Monday to amend the agreement between the city and state for the Delphine Avenue Improvement Project.

In the amendment, the Virginia Department of Transportation will lift $26,000 of the project’s expense from the shoulders of the city, but will expect Waynesboro to accept more responsibility should the project be delayed or expenses increase, said City Manager Mike Hamp.