Virginia gas prices hit a record high today, with a gallon of regular fuel selling for $3.51 on average, AAA Mid-Atlantic said.

The aroma of baked goodies greets customers as they enter Bill’s Pastry Shop on Bay Street, just as in years past. But this is a restored version of the iconic bakery.

Crimora beef rancher Carl Freed grows most of his cattle’s feed, but that hasn’t stopped soaring grain prices from dipping into his pocket.

In the good old days when gasoline was, say, $2.50 a gallon, rising prices were just a nuisance to the middle class. But with gas now settling at $3.50 a gallon and likely to go higher, evidence is mounting that those families are finally cutting back.

The Smith Mountain Lake Chamber of Commerce has 178 businesses registered for its annual Business Expo today.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — American Electric Power said Thursday that its first quarter earnings more than doubled from a year ago when it took a big charge for pollution controls installed at two West Virginia power plants.

The No. 1 transportation priority of the business communities in Danville and Lynchburg is a 5.5-mile bypass around Charlottesville’s heavily traveled stretch of U.S. 29.

Existing home sales in the Lynchburg area were down during the first quarter of 2008, but home prices actually rose, according to the Virginia Association of Realtors.
The association released statistics for the first quarter Wednesday.

Existing home sales were down, but home prices were up in the Lynchburg area during the first quarter of 2008, according to the Virginia Association of Realtors.

Two Nelson County farmers can continue selling their pork products at local farmers’ markets as long as they follow state and federal rules.

Eight companies with headquarters in the Richmond area have made this year’s Fortune 500, an annual ranking of the nation’s largest publicly traded companies by revenue.

Dear Propeller Heads: I saw something on TV about “3-D printers.“ They look cool, but will we ever really see these? A: All we can say is, start designing your fembot today, because “3-D printers” are real and they’re coming soon.

Since 2002, Furniture Promotions has moved in and out of Lynchburg, Warrenton, Leesburg and Sterling. Now the store is calling Charlottesville its home, at least through the summer.

NEW YORK — The souring job market and rising costs of the usual teenage indulgences — a slice of pizza, a drive to the mall, the hottest new jeans — are causing teens to do something they rarely do: be thrifty.

Under pressure from skyrocketing fuel and fertilizer prices, Adventure Farms in Earlysville is taking an unprecedented step: the cattle farm is getting into the soybean business.

Thanks in part to a strengthening mortgage business, Lynchburg-based Bank of the James had a net income of $504,000 in the first quarter of 2008, nearly a 27 percent increase from the same period in 2007.

There are 24,000 chickens that, by the beginning of June, will likely make one Piney River farm the largest organic, free-range, egg producer in the state.

Virginia is for lovers, and for greens — as in lovers of the environment, that is. That’s what state officials are hoping, at least.

Representatives from several companies and organizations in the Lynchburg region hope to attract veterans by attending a job fair in Hampton Roads today.

The long-term financial structure that Centra used to cover the cost of the new East Tower was hit by aftershocks from the subprime mortgage crisis — briefly almost tripling interest rates for the local health care system.

Blockbuster Inc. said Monday it will take an unsolicited $1 billion-plus bid for Circuit City Stores Inc. directly to shareholders of the nation’s second biggest consumer electronics chain, saying the struggling retailer has not responded to repeated offers.

At Goldy’s Truck Plaza, halfway between Lynchburg and Altavista on U.S. 29, it isn’t hard to see the effects of diesel prices teetering on the edge of $4 per gallon.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said yesterday in Richmond that the nation is not heading toward a slide similar to the Great Depression that lasted 12 years.

United Way of Central Virginia has hired Marie Martin as its new president and CEO, the agency announced Thursday.

Circuit City Stores Inc. is pegging its future on a renewed focus on customer service.

New River Packaging, a box manufacturer formerly located in Madison Heights, has packed up and moved to Campbell County.

The national spotlight will be on Richmond tomorrow when Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will speak to the World Affairs Council of Greater Richmond.

On the eve of a recession, the last place you need to be is in the financial red zone. Lenders get stingy with credit and cash is king, leaving cash-strapped, credit-addicted consumers up the creek without a paddle. Are you in the financial red zone?

WASHINGTON — Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman told an energy conference here yesterday that the nation must diversify its energy supply. Technology is the key to solving the country’s most pressing energy challenges, Bodman said.