Richmond Jon R. Donnelly is retiring, effective today, after 18 years as executive director of the Old Dominion Emergency Medical Services Alliance. A search committee is looking for a replacement. The alliance is a nonprofit agency that coordinates emergency medical services in a 9,000-square-mile area of central Virginia. Alliance members include ambulance and emergency medical services agencies, acute-care hospitals and others. Donnelly, 65, plans to volunteer as a legislative assistant to Del. John M. O'Bannon, R-Henrico, and continue as volunteer coordinator of Chesterfield County's Community Emergency Response Team.

Henrico Deep Run High School's Key Club has been named Youth Group of the Year by the Central Virginia Foodbank. Members of the Key Club volunteered 500 hours at the foodbank in 2007 by sorting donations, replenishing supplies, filling orders and cleaning. Members of the club spend one Saturday a month helping out. They also join the Tuckahoe Kiwanis Club monthly to serve at the foodbank. Deep Run's club has 500 members and is the largest club in the capital district, which includes Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and Washington.

Ashland The Virginia Department of Transportation has awarded Blakemore Construction Corp. of Richmond a $1.7 million contract to add raised medians, curbs, gutters and sidewalks to a half-mile section of U.S. 1 in Ashland between Pleasant and England streets. Lane closures will be restricted to off-peak driving times. The work should be completed in April 2009.

Richmond The Richmond Youth Peace Project will present its third annual edu-concert, "Generation Dream 2008," on Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. The program, commemorating the life and work of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., will be held in the Virginia Commonwealth University Performing Arts Center at 922 Park Ave. The 90-minute performance is free to the public. For details about the concert, call the Richmond Peace Education Center at (804) 232-1002 or e-mail rpec@rpec.org.

AROUND THE STATE

Roanoke For the past five months, the life of Ashlee Holland, 28, could have been written for television. The former Roanoker appeared on a reality show, beat out nine other contestants and won a role as Crystal the Psychic on "Days of Our Lives." Holland, a graduate of William Fleming High School, made her debut on "Days" last week -- opposite actress Deidre Hall, who has been on the soap since before Holland was born. Winning SOAPnet's "I Wanna Be a Soap Star" show earned Holland a 13-week contract, but then "Days" offered her one for three years. Holland accepted.

Lawrenceville Melonie A. Thomas, 29, of Brunswick County was recently sentenced to 38 years in prison on murder and firearms charges in the August 2005 slaying of her father, William David Thomas Jr. Judge W. Allen Sharratt of Brunswick County Circuit Court imposed the sentence. In November, Cardell Avent was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the slaying. On Aug. 17, 2005, police responded to a call from a neighbor who had not seen William Thomas for several days. Officers discovered Thomas' decomposed body in a small shed on his property.

Boydton The three-county South Side Regional Service Authority opened its new $6 million Butchers Creek Sanitary Landfill on Dec. 27. Mecklenburg, Halifax and Charlotte counties developed the project on state Route 92 between Boydton and Chase City. It took about five years to develop the landfill in response to environmental regulations that closed all unlined landfills in the state.