Hampton Roads Bankshares Inc. announced plans Monday to raise as much as $95 million through a sale of its stock in private and public offerings.

NORFOLK
A federal judge has set a Nov. 27 trial date for George Hranowskyj, the local developer and landlord charged with bilking the state and federal historic tax credit programs.
Hranowskyj, 48, pleaded not guilty to 14 charges before U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas E. Miller on Wednesday.

NORFOLK A former real estate broker and developer pleaded guilty Monday to a federal bank fraud charge, admitting his role in a larger conspiracy involving Bank of the Commonwealth. Recardo S. Lewis, 61, was described in U.S. District Court as "a minor participant" in a scheme to defraud the bank out of millions of dollars.

By Amanda Wilcox The Daily News (MCT) JACKSONVILLE, N.C. Military officials have issued letters restating the Navy and Marine Corps' opposition to a state bill that would increase the interest rates on short-term loans and, they say, harm service members.

CHESAPEAKE A request to rezone waterfront property in South Norfolk to allow a shipping company to build a terminal and warehouse was postponed until next month by the Planning Commission on Wednesday.

NORFOLK
A former vice president at Bank of the Commonwealth pleaded guilty Wednesday to a fraud charge as part of the government's investigation of wrongdoing at the failed bank.
Called the low man on the totem pole by his attorney, Jeremy C. Churchill, 35, faces up to five years in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced in August.

NORFOLK
For the first time, federal authorities have charged a Bank of the Commonwealth executive in an ongoing investigation into a real estate development fraud that's blamed for contributing to the bank's collapse.

"I might be the new CEO, but I won't be another Tommy Rueger," said Leroy Abrahams, who took over last week as SunTrust's president and CEO in Hampton Roads. "To do what he has done for as long as he has done it, you don't just replace that," said Abrahams, 47, who has spent more than 25 years in banking.

NORFOLK The nameplate on the desk of the 14th-floor office overlooking the Elizabeth River says Thomas V. Rueger. But no one ever calls him that. "I've always been Tommy," Rueger said last week. Constancy has been the hallmark of Tommy Rueger's life.

NORFOLK The collapse of the Bank of the Commonwealth has led to four people being charged with federal crimes so far, and authorities now have their sights set on the bank's former top executives, including onetime chief executive Ed Woodard Jr.