Today's News

RICHMOND — Virginia law enforcement officials have a new tool available to help solve serious crimes: family DNA checks.
Such searches involve comparing crime scene DNA against a genetic database for partial matches that can be used to narrow the search for a suspect to a specific family if a member of the gene pool is already in the testing database.
Cross-referencing DNA that way gives forensic scientists another means to check evidence from certain violent offenses against the more than 331,000 profiles in the database.

HILLSVILLE — For the Fancy Gap water and sewer projects, the Carroll Public Service Authority has enlisted a co-signer for federal loans — the Industrial Development Authority.
Carroll officials received word in 2009 of more than $8 million in loans and grants to pay for the utility work in Fancy Gap.
The funds for Fancy Gap will pay for construction of 13 miles of wastewater lines to serve 65 homes and businesses, 13 miles of water lines to connect to 190 homes and businesses and a 200,000 gallon storage tank.