Government

    Terry McAuliffe won a narrow victory over Ken Cuccinelli Tuesday night to become Virginia's next governor.  Although polls a month ago showed McAuliffe with a substantial lead of Cuccinelli, that lead evaporated as Election Day approached. In the end, McAuliffe received 48 percent of the vote to Cuccinelli's 45 percent. Robert Sarvis, who ran as a Libertarian, came in a distant third with 7 percent of the vote.

    At a 5 p.m. work session Monday evening,  Jack Jones, Bedford County’s chief of fire and rescue—accompanied by Eric Shell, the Hardy fire chief and Jack Sorrells, the Boonsboro fire chief—spoke to the supervisors about the need to set up an apparatus purchase program for its fleet of firetrucks.

    Bedford County staff now have more room to make small purchases without going through the sealed bid process. The supervisors voted unanimously, Monday night,  to raise the small purchase limit from $30,000 to $50,000.
    According to Deputy County Administrator Frank Rogers, the $30,000 limit was set in 2002. He said state law allows the limit to be as high as $100,000.

    Lewis Medlin Jr. is making his third bid for the 19th District House of Delegates seat. The seat was left vacant this year when Delegate Lacey Putney announced that he would not seek reelection. Putney held the seat for 52 years.