(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.

(Danville, Va.) — A Danville teenager was shot in the chest Friday night.

Danville Police were called to SOVAH Health just before 10 p.m. after receiving a report of a gunshot victim. The 15-year-old was transferred to the hospital by private vehicle. He was later taken by helicopter to Carilion Roanoke Memorial, where he is being treated for a gunshot wound to the chest.

It was determined that the shooting occurred in the 500 block of South Woodberry Avenue.

Danville Police are continuing their investigation.

(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.