The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports here that the U.S. Forest Service has released this management plan for the Jefferson National Forest.

Bristol lawyer Jim Bowie is quoted in this article about why Virginia communities are looking to telecommunications for economic development.

In this article, Attorney General Kilgore explains how he'll defend the "Choose Life" license plates authorized by the recent session of the General Assembly.

Attorney General Kilgore said of Southwest Virginia lawyers that "eventually we'll take over" in this article on the swearing-in of Virginia Supreme Court Justice Agee.

Columnist James J. Kilpatrick likened the views of W.D. Va.'s Judge Williams to those of Alice in Wonderland in this column about this Sixth Circuit opinion to which Judge Williams dissented.

A Richmond-area jury awarded $800,000 to a woman who claimed she was bitten in a Dairy Queen by a restaurant employee who declared, "I am like Dracula," as reported here.

Norfolk lawyers have sued a Virginia Beach nightclub for providing liquor to a driver who caused a collision that killed three people, according to this report.

According to this report, in another Virginia internet case, Judge Moon of the W.D. Va. dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction a lawsuit by Jerry Falwell against an Illinois resident who operates an anti-Falwell website. Judge Moon relied on this recent Fourth Circuit opinion, which dealt similarly with a Southwest Virginia prison official's claim against a Connecticut newspaper.

Two Northern Virginia lawyers were convicted this past week, one for selling visas (as reported here) and one for drugs (as reported here).

This article describes the position of Virginia's Office of Protection and Advocacy for the Disabled, which disagreed with Attorney General Kilgore's states' rights position on the issue of the amenability of states to suit under the Americans with Disabilities Act. This Richmond Times-Dispatch article describes the Attorney General's views and explains how the California case on which the Supreme Court had granted certiorari was withdrawn.

The U.S. Attorney in Roanoke is contemplating indictments in a case for which the state prosecutors have already obtained six capital murder indictments, according to this report.

A federal judge has upheld Virginia's laws requiring recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools, according to this report.

The New York Times magazine for Saturday contains this critique (registration required) of conservatism of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

In this opinion from the Fourth Circuit overruling the ban on mountaintop mining, Judge Niemeyer begins by noting that the opinion does not "present the question of whether mountaintop coal mining is useful, desirable, or wise." Mining advocates and opponents disagreed about the opinion, as shown here and here.

Virginia Lawyer's Weekly has this report on the state of ANLIR, the malpractice insurer formerly endorsed by the Virginia and Tennessee bars, following administrative action in Tennessee and Virginia.

The Kingsport Times has this report on the effort to fill the judicial vacancies in Lee, Scott, and Wise counties.

ANLIR's reinsurer Reciprocal of America was taken over by the state on Wednesday, according to this report.

Governor Warner has criticized the Republicans for their role in denying reappointment to Judge Askew, according to this report. The Washington Post continues to hammer away at the Askew story, as evidenced by this story about unhappy Newport News resident.

In this opinion, Judge Turk declared a federal statute unconstitutional, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc-1 (2002). The case arose in the context of a prisoner's claim that various prisons in Virginia would not accommodate his dietary needs based on his religion.

The Coalfield paper has this article on Judge Quillen's retirement.