Atlantis and its crew of six will hook up with the space station Wednesday. In the meantime, the astronauts will pull out an inspection boom Tuesday and check their ship’s thermal shielding.

Parents of students in the Campbell County schools should receive phone calls and e-mails Thursday as part of a test for a new emergency alert system.

A week after several pointed comments were made about the work it does, the Historic Preservation Commission has decided to seek some face time with City Council.

BEDFORD — A developer’s plan to build attached homes in a neighborhood taking shape at Smith Mountain Lake received approval from Bedford County planners Monday.

Campbell County will file a motion this week asking a judge to set aside a jury’s decision last month that granted a $9 million judgment in favor of owners of a mobile home park who had sued the county, administrator David Laurrell said Monday.

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., joined a leading Republican senator Monday in sponsoring a bill that, they said, would double nuclear-produced electrical power in 20 years and support other forms of clean energy with “mini-Manhattan projects.”

An airplane towing a banner depicting the hand of a human fetus lying on top of a dime flew for three hours over Lynchburg on Monday and is expected to return Tuesday.

AMHERST — The town of Amherst and Witco Inc., the operator of local Quik-E Foods stores, agreed Monday to pay a former town homeowner $75,000 to settle a lawsuit over a 2004 sewage backup.

Astronauts climbed aboard space shuttle Atlantis on Monday for an afternoon liftoff to the space station, and Lynchburg native Leland Melvin is on the crew.

Police are searching for the person who shot two Lynchburg men in their legs.

An early morning crash on the Lynchburg Expressway has left a Rustburg man with life-threatening injuries.

Failure to yield and failure to use headlights after dark caused a two-car crash on U.S. 460 in Thomas Terrace on Sunday that sent three adults and a child to the hospital, police said.

Campbell County School Board members will take a look at proposed changes to the division’s policy regarding parents who also are registered sex-offenders at their meeting Monday.

This school year, the Lynchburg City Schools are adding extra time for extra help. Superintendent Paul McKendrick has directed all elementary, middle and high school principals to divert time to “enrichment periods” during the regular school day this year.

A Goodview man is facing malicious wounding charges after a shooting incident at his home Saturday, officials with the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office said.

More than 100 students from four area colleges combined their manpower to take a bite out of world hunger Saturday.

Using your debit card to buy a $2 cup of coffee when there is $1 in your account could cost you an extra $30 in overdraft fees today. After new rules on those fees take effect, that purchase could be denied instead, costing embarrassment but not money.

Bedford County officials plan to ask state legislators to lower speed limits on all secondary roads in the commonwealth from 55 miles per hour to 45 unless otherwise posted.

When Mary Lowry enters the pasture at Brook Hill Farm, a large paint horse named Flagstaff heads straight for her. Horse and human move toward each other, finally meeting in the middle, just as Flagstaff starts nipping at the cell phone in Lowry’s hand.

A physician in the Lynchburg area has been named the president of the Medical Society of Virginia for the second year in a row.

The 49th annual Lynchburg Christmas Parade will be held on Dec. 5 with the theme, “A Star-Spangled Christmas.”

APPOMATTOX — Citizens from the town of Appomattox gathered Wednesday night to discuss what they wanted to see in their community’s future.

RUSTBURG — The second phase of a landfill pollution trial that had been scheduled for Friday was delayed.

A Lynchburg man convicted of wounding two people during a March 22 drive-by shooting on Madison Street will spend 37 years in prison.

The first Lynchburg astronaut to go up in space is about to experience the second trip of a lifetime.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees will be brought to trial in a civilian federal courthouse in New York, near the site of the devastating 2001 terror attacks. Prosecutors expect to seek the death penalty.

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — The Colorado parents accused of pulling a spectacular hoax by reporting their son was aboard a runaway balloon have pleaded guilty to charges that could bring some jail time and probation.

The state’s community colleges will increase tuition for next semester, and Virginia Commonwealth University plans to eliminate 91 jobs as the schools attempt to absorb multiple cuts in their budgets.

Swine flu appears to have been cut in half in Virginia.

BEDFORD — A proposed hospice that has received community support over the past several years will locate on an acre of Bedford County land on Falling Creek Road.