Frederick County authorities say two women are in custody after using suspicious traveler’s checks at a convenience store. According to dispatchers, the call came in shortly after 1 am Wednesday from the Sheetz store on U. S. Route 7. After leaving that convenience store, the two unidentified women traveled to Clarke County and stopped at another convenience store. That is where Clarke County deputies apprehended the women and detained them until Frederick County authorities could arrive. The women apparently hit several Sheetz stores, including Millwood Avenue and U.S. Route 11 north of Winchester. 

Legislation to expand the death penalty in Virginia is up for a key vote at the General Assembly. The Republican-backed bill would redefine the so-called triggerman rule, which in most cases restricts the death penalty to the person who does the actual killing. The bill would allow the death penalty for accomplices who share the intent to kill. Area Delegate Todd Gilbert's bill is on the docket for Wednesday afternoon's Senate Courts of Justice Committee meeting. Two weeks ago, the Senate's own version of the bill, sponsored by area Senator Mark Obenshain, died in the courts committee on a 7-7 party line vote, with one Republican abstaining because he accepts court appointments to represent capital murder defendants. The same vote on the House bill would doom the triggerman revision for the fifth consecutive year.