Week in review

Taking off

NASA opened a new Horizontal Integration Facility on Wallops Island on Virginia's Eastern Shore Tuesday. The new facility is 250 feet long, 150 feet wide and 60 feet high. It will support medium-class missions, or projects that are capped at $750 million per mission. NASA says the first customer to use the facility will be Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., with its Taurus II launch vehicle. The test vehicle will be launched on its trip to the space station later this year, Space.com reports.

In mourning

A Virginia couple is mourning their daughter's death after her body was found in disaster-ravaged Japan, where she had been teaching English.

Taylor Anderson, 24, could be the first known American victim in the Japan disaster as authorities continue finding and identifying almost 13,000 missing people. Anderson spent more than two years overseas, fulfilling her longtime dream to live in Japan, immerse herself in Asian culture and befriend new people. Her body was found 10 days after an earthquake and tsunami devastated the coastal city where she taught. She was last seen riding her bike away from an elementary school where she had been making sure students were safe.

Redistricting ruckus

Black legislators on Monday called for a second majority black congressional district when lines are realigned to match 2010 census numbers. The General Assembly will return to Richmond in two weeks to redefine the state's political boundaries in as little as three days. The Virginia constitution empowers the legislature alone to redraw the legislative and congressional districts to reflect population shifts after each national census.

Historically, lawmakers have preserved one party's electoral advantage or protected sitting officeholders, even at the expense of far-flung, serpentine geographical oddities that dissect counties, cities, and sometimes even voting precincts. The 1965 Voting Rights Act forces Virginia and other Southern states to protect minority-dominant districts.

Rest revenue

Virginia is hoping to cash in by contracting out business at dozens of rest stops, Gov. Bob McDonnell announced Thursday. The state is attempting to defray the $20 million annual cost of operating the state's 42 rest stops and welcome centers, which get about 33 million visitors per year. Businesses have until May 4 to submit proposals to manage paid sponsorships, advertising and the sale of snacks, drinks and merchandise such as souvenirs, attraction tickets, lottery tickets and more at the roadside centers.

Federal law prohibits states from charging travelers for goods or services at rest areas along the federal interstate systems, but it allows for the sale of items in vending machines. The items sold, from T-shirts to toothpaste, would come from the machines. The winner of the contract will pay the state a $3.4 million annual fee, plus anywhere from 25 percent to 50 percent of revenue over that amount, depending on sales.

Deficiency of care

The state Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services has filed a plan to correct deficiencies at a Williamsburg geriatric psychiatric center that lost Medicaid certification last September. Eastern State Hospital's Hancock Geriatric Treatment Center was decertified because of safety and staffing deficiencies.

The Daily Press reported Thursday that a survey team from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services last month found problems with record-keeping and nursing practices at the 130-patient center. Ten of the 24 patients surveyed were not receiving proper care. The center failed to follow doctors' orders for administering medication, insulin and nutritional supplements. The center also failed to document whether patients were given prescribed liquids or medications. So far, decertification has cost the state about $7.1 million.

Chemicals decline

Thanks to the recession and new pollution reduction equipment, Virginia industries released fewer chemicals into the air, land and water in 2009, according to the state's annual inventory. The state Department of Environmental Quality said Wednesday industries reported an 8.3 percent decline in chemicals released at chemical manufacturing plants, coal-fired plants, paper manufacturing plants, and others. Overall, industries reported 900.4 million pounds of chemicals managed on-site, transferred off-site or released on-site, a 9.2 percent decrease from the previous year. Chemicals that remain in the environment for a long time, including lead and mercury, also declined by 4.9 percent.

Church vandalized

A vandal broke into a Bristow church, broke the screen on a plasma TV, and discharged fire extinguishers at around 5:45 a.m. Wednesday, InsideNova.com reports. A police spokesman said the man also urinated and defecated in the Manassas Assembly of God Church hallway. In total, the vandalism caused about $2,000 in damage.

Police are still seeking the man, who is described as a 5-foot-8-inch-tall white male from 20 to 25 years old. He has short brown hair, either a goatee or a beard, and a medium build. Callers may receive up to a $1,000 reward for his arrest.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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