(Charlottesville, Va.) — A judge in Virginia says a lawsuit over Charlottesville’s plans to remove a Confederate statue should go forward.

Judge Richard Moore ruled against the city’s request to drop the lawsuit.

A group of plaintiffs sued after Charlottesville’s City Council voted earlier this year to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. Among other things, they say doing so would violate a state law that protects memorials for war veterans.

Controversy over the statue sparked an August rally of white nationalists that descended into violent chaos. Charlottesville has since shrouded the monument with a black shroud as a symbol of mourning for the woman who was killed.

The city council has also since voted to remove another statue of Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson.

 

 

 

Second-degree murder charge returned in death of Gretna teen

(Gretna, Va.) – Charges have been filed in the death of a Gretna teen in Harrisonburg last year.

Hailey Ryan Moore was a student at James Madison University on November 9, 2016, when the 18-year-old died of a drug overdose.

20 year-old Joey Fondaco, Moore’s boyfriend at the time, is now charged with second-degree murder.

Moore was a freshman at JMU when she was found unresponsive at Fondaco’s off-campus apartment. She was pronounced dead at a local hospital a short time later.

The state medical determined her death was the result of a drug overdose.

Fondaco is scheduled for a bond hearing in Rockingham County Circuit Court on September 25.

 
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Snow released on $15 million bond

(Eden, N.C.) — Mickey Snow has been released on bond, again. The 77-year-old Eden businessman had been free since his arrest in 2015 but was taken into custody again last week after traveling to Florida.

Snow is accused of paying an Eden woman money for sexual acts with her mentally disabled teenage daughters.

Snow told the court he was seeing a specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Florida last week.

 
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Averett announces a dozen lay-offs

(Danville, Va.) — Averett University laid off 11 employees this week and reduced one full-time employee to part-time status.

Cassie Jones, Averett’s Director of Marketing and Communications, confirmed the decision.

The layoffs happened on Monday afternoon and were blamed on a decrease in enrollment by adult students in Averett’s Graduate and Professional Studies program and an increase in higher-achieving students.

Jones said the decision was painful but is part of an effort to reorganize and make the university more efficient. The cuts represent a 2.5% reduction in the overall budget.

She said that half of the affected employees worked in the GPS program and rest are spread throughout the campus.

 
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