The VLW Blog

Sometimes state agents and federal revenooers bust up stills making illegal moonshine. Sometimes, vice squads raid crack parlors, brothels and other houses of ill repute.
In Kentucky, they’ve gone to court to crack down on illegal online gambling.
Yep, the commonwealth of Kentucky now owns the domain names of numerous illegal gambling sites (141 to be exact), […]

[Read more →]

The FBI has released a cryptic statement indicating that the agency has a lead on a vehicle possibly connected to the five-year-old Short family murder case in Henry County.  WSLS reports that the FBI is not adding much in the way of explanation.
Last month, Henry County officials announced a reward of $67,000 for information about […]

[Read more →]

Virginia Sen. Jim Webb is quoted in a press release about a poll conducted by an organization that opposes mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses.
Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) says the poll shows that 59 percent of Americans are opposed to mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent offenses and that 57 percent of respondents say they […]

[Read more →]

A shrinking lake has produced evidence of a death that may have occurred more than 80 years ago.
Mountain Lake, the centerpiece of the celebrated Mountain Lake Resort, is one of only two natural lakes in Virginia.  Estimated to be more than 10,000 years old, the lake occasionally recedes due to geologic phenomena.  Currently, the lake […]

[Read more →]

Leave it to lawyers to be worried about judicial oversight.
Young lawyers serving as judicial clerks dominated the audience waiting for oral argument in a Sarbanes-Oxley case this morning in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond.
Overheard from one of the courtroom benches:
“I’m trying to find someone who will nationalize my debt.”
“What about […]

[Read more →]

Those British writers must find us Virginians terribly amusing.  And when we’re not, they are not above making us amusing.
Take this article about Barack Obama that appeared today on the website of the British tabloid The Independent.  With a dateline of Roanoke, the story caught our eye with references to “Billie Jo’s breakfast joint” where […]

[Read more →]

What are the boundaries for break-room chatter about the current presidential campaign?
As this historic campaign heats up, employers may wonder about how or whether to monitor workplace political discussion. Hot-button issues of race and gender make for lively discussions that are potentially distracting and divisive in the workplace.
One workplace test came in late August when […]

[Read more →]

William E. Thro will step down next week after four years as Virginia’s solicitor general to become university counsel at Christopher Newport
University.
Thro’s deputy, Stephen R. McCullough will become solicitor general. The solicitor section in the attorney general’s office is responsible for handling the state’s U.S. Supreme Court litigation other than capital cases, constitutional challenges to […]

[Read more →]

We note with interest that Roanokers soon will enjoy a new downtown dining option with a legal theme.
According to this item in The Roanoke Times, “Judges Chambers,” a breakfast and lunch place, will be opening within walking distance of the state and federal courts in the Star City. The menu will be titled “The […]

[Read more →]

Spam, i.e., unwanted e-mail, won’t go away. At least the spammers are getting funnier.
Check out your spam filter some time to see what’s been blocked. Use the same care and caution you’d use when opening a full trash can that’s been sitting out in the summer sun a few days. You can’t be sure what’s […]

[Read more →]