For 30 minutes on Friday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia skillfully weaved anecdotes of middle class success with a scorching rebuke of President Barack Obama's administration economic policies.

Three Up and Three Down

Area briefs

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell advocated for Mitt Romney as the Republican presidential nominee and future president on Friday, and made a compelling case for the work of Republican governors across America.

A family of four was taken to area hospitals after a single-vehicle wreck on Interstate 81 near Christiansburg on Friday night.

About 6:40 p.m. Faye Worrell, 63, of Dublin, was driving a Chevrolet Blazer and ran off the road. The SUV, which also held a man and three children, overturned several times, according to state police spokesman Sgt. Rob Carpentieri.

"If we can keep one child from going to a drug-dealing lifestyle, then it's worth all the resources," Judge Michael Urbanski said.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael Urbanski was discouraged by the number of young adults who came before his bench on drug charges.

Their sentences often carried up to 20 years in jail or more. Their lives were ruined over drugs, he said.

Inga Solonevich saw the dark side of the human condition, so she focused on the good things in life.

Inga Solonevich, the Finnish-born artist who survived two world wars and life as a refugee in Europe before finding an oasis of calm on a Roanoke County hillside in 1955, has died, family members said Friday afternoon.

No state is safe from ridicule during W&L's annual tongue-in-cheek procession. The more serious business of predicting a Republican nominee comes tonight.

LEXINGTON — Eight young women bedecked in bridal gowns peopled the parade's Utah float. At least one wore boots.

A detective testified she quickly considered George Huguely a suspect in Yeardley Love's death.

CHARLOTTESVILLE — A former University of Virginia lacrosse player said he got physical with his former girlfriend but did not kill her, sobbing and saying "she's not dead" when detectives told him she died, according to a videotape played Friday at his murder trial.