Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 30, 1995 TAG: 9506300075
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
RICHMOND - The Virginia Lottery says it will turn over a record $311 million in profits to the state for the 1995 fiscal year.
The lottery - Virginia's third-largest revenue source behind sales and income tax - said Wednesday that it made $10 million more than the General Assembly last year projected it would.
In a written statement, lottery Director Penelope Kyle attributed the agency's sixth straight increase to new games and promotions, as well as cost-cutting and staff reductions. Sales were $900 million.
The growth of Virginia's lottery is consistent with a national trend. Among the 38 lotteries in the country, profits are improving, with states that saw flat or declining performance during the recession now rebounding.
This year's contribution to state coffers is $7.5 million higher than the 1994 transfer of $303.5 million. Since its launch in 1988, the lottery has produced about $1.8 billion for the state's general fund.
The transfer of profits officially takes place today, the final day of the fiscal year.
- Associated Press
Death sentence reinstated
RICHMOND - A federal appeals court has overturned a lower court ruling and reinstated the death sentence of Coleman Wayne Gray for the 1985 murder of a Portsmouth store manager.
Last year, after a lengthy hearing, U.S. District Judge James Spencer ruled that the sentencing phase of Gray's trial was flawed because evidence was introduced that tied Gray to other slayings for which he never had been charged.
Spencer ruled that Gray was ``ambushed'' by the prosecution and ordered a new sentencing.
A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, however, ruled Wednesday that the evidence was proper because it gave the jury information about Gray's potential as a danger to society.
Gray, then 28, was convicted in December 1985 of murdering Richard McClelland, 49, manager of a Murphy's Mart in Portsmouth. Gray robbed the store and abducted McClelland, who later was shot six times in the head.
- Associated Press
Bag of TNT found in car
YORKTOWN - A plastic bag containing 51/2 pounds of TNT was found in the trunk of car by a state trooper who stopped the vehicle for a routine traffic violation, police say.
The driver of the car, Eva Moreno, and her passenger, Gilardo Martinez, both of Yorktown, were taken into custody Wednesday when they offered no explanation for possessing the explosive material, said Tammy Van Dame, a state police spokeswoman.
The trooper who stopped Moreno along U.S. 17 was about to cite her for an equipment violation and failing to wear a seat belt when he saw a can that had been crushed in a fashion sometimes used for making a crack cocaine pipe, Van Dame said.
The driver gave the trooper permission to search her car, Van Dame said, and the trooper found a bag containing a brownish substance in the trunk. An evaluation of the substance determined it was TNT.
Van Dame said charges in the case were pending. She said the TNT would be disposed of in a location that would not be disclosed.
- Associated Press
by CNB