Warner, Kaine urge repeal of defunct same-sex marriage ban and more Va. headlines

The State Capitol. (Ned Oliver/ Virginia Mercury)

• The 6-year-old Newport News boy who shot his elementary school teacher allegedly choked a different teacher “until she couldn’t breathe” in a prior incident at the school, according to a new legal filing by the wounded teacher’s lawyer.—Associated Press

• Virginia’s politically divided legislature and short session mean lots of bills are dying, and others that aren’t dead yet have little hope of survival.—Roanoke Times

• U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine sent the General Assembly a letter officially backing the repeal of Virginia’s antiquated 2006 ban on same-sex marriage. “It is long past time that Virginia’s governing document conveys to same-sex marriages the same freedoms, rights, and responsibilities that are afforded to all other constitutional marriages,” the senators wrote.—Richmond Times-Dispatch

• The Republican-controlled House of Delegates did not take up a Democratic bill that would have barred people convicted of insurrection-related charges from holding government jobs in Virginia.—VPM

• A central Virginia man is a national mustache champion who spends 20 minutes per day styling his ‘stache and sleeps with a special pillow to “preserve the shape of his handiwork.”—Washington Post