Six men have been arrested in Campbell County as part of an operation targeting sex traffickers.Preview: No injuries have been reported after a coal train derailed in Fluvanna County. Multiple agencies responded after the train derailed in Bremo Bluff yesterday morning. Several coal cars overturned, though authorities said there were no ongoing environmental concerns. The cause of the derailment is under investigation.
A doctor who received a new trial on charges that he operated a "pill mill" in southwest Virginia has been found guilty by a federal jury. Joel Smithers was convicted last week on more than 460 counts of illegally prescribing and distributing controlled substances. Smithers was convicted in 2019 after federal investigators accused him of prescribing more than 500-thousand Schedule Two drugs to patients in the Martinsville area. He was given a new trial after the U.S. Supreme Court changed the way jury instructions can be handled in illegal drug distribution cases. His sentencing is set for March 3rd.
An effort to turn DC into a U.S. state is being reintroduced in Congress. Congresswoman Elanor Holmes Norton announced the effort yesterday. Maryland Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen will sponsor the bill in the Senate. Norton said every resident of DC deserves the same rights as the citizens of other U.S. states, including full representation in Congress and an independent local government.