Va. to ban Confederate license plates

DANVILLE, Va. — A federal judge ruled Friday that Virginia can stop issuing specialty license plates that show the Confederate flag.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, ordered the removal of the Confederate flag’s image from the state-sponsored license plates in June. He argued that a recent Supreme Court ruling had opened the door for him to make the change, despite a 14year-old ruling by a lower court that Virginia could not prohibit the use of the flag on license plates.

Jury chosen for trial

RICHMOND, Va. — The unprecedented trial of a former Soviet army officer accused of being a Taliban fighter in Afghanistan began on Thursday in U.S. District Court with a jury being selected.

Irek Hamidullin is the first military prisoner from Afghanistan to be tried in a federal court. He faces charges stemming from a 2009 attack on an Afghan Border Police base in eastern Afghanistan.

Fighter jet ready for use

WASHINGTON — The Marine Corps declared its version of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter is ready for limited combat operations, a milestone for the Pentagon’s costliest weapons program.

The declaration came more than five years later than originally predicted in 2001, when the F-35 program began. Earlier delays resulted from difficulties in reducing the plane’s weight.

Guantanamo lobbying

WASHINGTON — Congress’ failure to finish up its annual defense policy bill is giving the Obama administration time to lobby lawmakers on shuttering the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

There is no date certain yet for when the Obama administration will produce a plan of action that would potentially affect the defense authorization bill’s final stance on Guantanamo.

Clinton emails released

WASHINGTON — Dozens of emails on the private email account that Hillary Rodham Clinton used when secretary of state were recently classified by the government, the State Department said on Friday.

The 1,356 emails released Friday were the third batch of emails from 30,000 or so from Ms. Clinton’s private account that she handed over to the State Department late last year.

$25 ATM limit in Kan.

WASHINGTON — Kansas plans to keep a controversial $25 limit on ATM withdrawals by welfare recipients, despite the possibility that the restriction might violate federal law.

Kansas receives $102 million in annual grant funds from the federal government. If the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services determines that the ATM limit violates the Social Security Act, those funds could be in jeopardy.

Fla. panthers at risk

COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. — Florida drivers have wiped out roughly 10 percent of the total Florida panther population in just seven months.

Collisions with automobiles are the number one cause of panther mortality, responsible for roughly two thirds of all panther deaths each year. And those numbers are rising.