State and regional news
Gunshot-like sounds come from Virginia Tech residence hall
Blacksburg -- Firecrackers may have been source of gunshot-like sounds that prompted a lockdown of a Virginia Tech residence hall Thursday afternoon.
A university spokesman, Mark Owczarski, said police searched every room of Pritchard Hall after two people reported hearing gunfire, but they found no evidence of gunshots. The dorm on the Blacksburg campus is home to 1,000 students. No one was being allowed in or out of the building, but the rest of the campus had not been locked down.
There were no reports of injuries. In 2007, a student killed 32 people on campus before taking his own life.
Roanoke -- There’s a new way to get around downtown Roanoke.
The city has begun offering a free trolley bus service that travels along a two-mile loop and stops at various places, including the Roanoke City Market and Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital.
The Star Line trolleys look like streetcars but run on diesel and use tires instead of rails. The four trolleys cost $1 million, and estimated annual operating costs will be about $260,000. City officials and business owners say the trolleys will promote downtown business.
Norfolk - - A scientist in Virginia accused of selling rocket technology to China will enter a guilty plea to the federal charges.
Quan-Sheng Shu's Monday plea hearing was listed Thursday on the docket of U.S. District Court in Norfolk. The 68-year-old president of a Newport News company, AMAC International, is accused of two counts of illegally exporting technology to China and bribing Chinese officials.
The bribery charge relates to a $4 million contract to a French company acting as an AMAC intermediary.
Salem -- Salem police say a feud between two fraternities at Roanoke College escalated into theft, assault and other incidents.
Three members of Sigma Chi fraternity are charged with breaking and entering and battery. A fourth, unaffiliated student, is also charged with breaking and entering and grand larceny. The incidents included the theft of a computer and assault on two students during a break-in.
Roanoke College spokeswoman Teresa Gereaux says both fraternities have been placed on probation.
Richmond -- A federal appeals court has upheld bribery charges against U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, clearing the way for a trial. The Louisiana Democrat tried to dismiss the indictment, claiming that his constitutional rights were violated when the grand jury received evidence that violated legislative immunity.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday rejected Jefferson's claims, ruling that prosecutors can pursue the case without making reference to constitutionally protected material.
A lower court judge previously refused to dismiss the indictment, saying Jefferson was trying to apply immunity so broadly that it would become virtually impossible to ever charge a congressman with a crime.
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