Passenger charged in shooting death of Lyft driver

By The Associated Press
January 31, 2020 | 4:01 AM

CHESTERFIELD, Va. (AP) — A Virginia man accused of fatally shooting his ride-hailing driver lived on the same street where the driver was found dead.

News outlets report 18-year-old Bernard Smith was charged Thursday in the death of 79-year-old Franklin Farrens. Chesterfield police say they were called to a crash in Smith’s neighborhood early Monday morning. Farrens was found inside his vehicle with gunshot wounds.

He was pronounced dead at the scene. Police say Smith was Farrens’ passenger that morning. Authorities haven’t determined a motive for the shooting. Smith is being held without bond.

Va. health dept. improves nursing home inspection backlog, reforms sanction criteria for facilities

By Virginia Mercury
August 22, 2026 | 8:37 PM

Stories of neglect in care or unsanitary living situations have plagued several of Virginia’s nursing home facilities in recent years and data backs up a lapse in oversight by state agencies. With reform efforts underway, the Virginia Department of Health officials said they aim to adopt sanction criteria by the end of the year to rein in bad actors and get troubled facilities back on track. As of July, 58% of Virginia’s nursing homes were overdue for inspections and 68 of Virginia’s 289 nursing homes were found to have serious deficiencies, according to ProPublica. Several of the state’s flagged facilities with numerous deficiencies also had high staffing turnover rates. The issue has been salient among various healthcare spaces, including VDH.

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