By JOSH BOAK (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden signed an executive order Wednesday to block and regulate high-tech U.S.-based investments going toward China — a move the administration said was targeted but it also reflected an intensifying competition between the world’s two biggest powers.

The order covers advanced computer chips, micro electronics, quantum information technologies and artificial intelligence. Senior administration officials said that the effort stemmed from national security goals rather than economic interests, and that the categories it covered were intentionally narrow in scope. The order seeks to blunt China’s ability to use U.S. investments in its technology companies to upgrade its military while also preserving broader levels of trade that are vital for both nations’ economies.

The United States and China appear to be increasingly locked in a geopolitical competition with a conflicting set of values. Biden administration officials have insisted that they have no interest in “decoupling” from China, yet the U.S. also has limited the export of advanced computer chips and kept the expanded tariffs set up by President Donald Trump. China has engaged in crackdowns on foreign companies.

Biden has suggested that China’s economy is struggling and its global ambitions have been tempered as the U.S. has reenergized its alliances with Japan, South Korea, Australia and the European Union. The administration consulted with allies and industry in shaping the executive order.

“Worry about China, but don’t worry about China,” Biden told donors at a June fundraising event in California.

The officials previewing the order said that China has exploited U.S. investments to support the development of weapons and modernize its military. The new limits were tailored not to disrupt China’s economy, but they would complement the export controls on advanced computer chips from last year that led to pushback by Chinese officials. The Treasury Department, which would monitor the investments, will announce a proposed rulemaking with definitions that would conform to the presidential order and go through a public comment process.

The goals of the order would be to have investors notify the U.S. government about certain types of transactions with China as well as to place prohibitions on some investments. Officials said the order is focused on areas such as private equity, venture capital and joint partnerships in which the investments could possibly give countries of concern such as China additional knowledge and military capabilities.

J. Philip Ludvigson, a lawyer and former Treasury official, said the order was an initial framework that could be expanded over time.

“The executive order issued today really represents the start of a conversation between the U.S. government and industry regarding the details of the ultimate screening regime,” Ludvigson said. “While the executive order is limited initially to semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and artificial intelligence, it explicitly provides for a future broadening to other sectors.”

The issue is also a bipartisan priority. In July by a vote of 91-6, the Senate added as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act requirements to monitor and limit investments in countries of concern, including China.

Yet reaction to Biden’s order on Wednesday showed a desire to push harder on China. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., said the order was an “essential step forward,” but it “cannot be the final step.” Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Biden should been more aggressive, saying, “we have to stop all U.S. investment in China’s critical technology and military companies — period.”

Biden has called Chinese President Xi Jinping a “dictator” in the aftermath of the U.S. shooting down a spy balloon from China that floated over the United States. Taiwan’s status has been a source of tension, with Biden saying that China had become coercive regarding its independence.

China has supported Russia after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, though Biden has noted that the friendship has not extended to the shipment of weapons.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said it met a number of times with the White House and federal agencies as the order was being prepared and said its goal during the comment period will be “to ensure the measure is targeted and administrable.”

U.S. officials have long signaled the coming executive order on investing in China, but it’s unclear whether financial markets will regard it as a tapered step or a continued escalation of tensions at a fragile moment.

“The message it sends to the market may be far more decisive,” said Elaine Dezenski, a senior director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “U.S. and multinational companies are already reexamining the risks of investing in China. Beijing’s so-called ‘national security’ and ‘anti-espionage’ laws that curb routine and necessary corporate due diligence and compliance were already having a chilling effect on U.S. foreign direct investment. That chilling now risks turning into a deep freeze.”

China’s strong economic growth has stumbled coming out of pandemic lockdowns. On Wednesday, its National Bureau of Statistics reported a 0.3% decline in consumer prices in July from a year ago. That level of deflation points to a lack of consumer demand in China that could hamper growth.

Separately, foreign direct investment into China fell 89% from a year earlier in the second quarter of this year to $4.9 billion, according to data released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

Most foreign investment is believed to be brought in by Chinese companies and disguised as foreign money to get tax breaks and other benefits, according to Chinese researchers.

However, foreign business groups say global companies also are shifting investment plans to other economies.

Foreign companies have lost confidence in China following tighter security controls and a lack of action on reform promises. Calls by Xi and other leaders for more economic self-reliance have left investors uneasy about their future in the state-dominated economy.

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AP reporter Joe McDonald contributed to this report from Beijing.

WILLIAMSBURG — Skeletal remains found earlier this year in a cluster of graves in the city’s historic area have been identified as Confederate soldiers, but when and where they will be reburied is an open question, Colonial Williamsburg archaeology staff members said Wednesday.

Jack Gary, the foundation’s director of archaeology who has been leading the recovery project said, “I’m really happy we’re able to work toward identifying these guys (and) then provide some level to dignity” in their reburial.

A group of stakeholders, including the Williamsburg Battlefield Association, Civil War Trails and the Office of U.S. Army cemeteries, will determine the appropriate reburial location, probably in or around Williamsburg, Gary added.

Thus far, research has narrowed the identification of the four remains to to 21 or 22 individuals “that likely died during the period when the (Union-operated) hospital” was caring for the Confederate dead and dying after the Battle of Williamsburg on May 5, 1862. The temporary hospital was next door to where the burial site was discovered adjacent to the Powder Magazine off Duke of Gloucester Street.

At a news conference, Gary said one soldier “had a wound that was likely the cause of death.

“A minié-style ball was lodged in his spine at the thoracic vertebra,” said staff archaeologist Ashley McCuistion. “This was found as the bones were removed.” This person was found in a burial pit by himself.

The three other remains were in a pit together, just a foot or so away. Just another foot away was the surgeon’s pit that contained three amputated limbs.

There were pieces of shrapnel around two of the other remains, but Gary said, “we don’t know whether that was the cause of death or not.”

Personal items also were found. One man was buried with an ivory-handled toothbrush with a snuff bottle under an arm.

“We have the feeling that these were purposely interred with him. There were some vest buttons also found in the grave.”

No uniforms were found with the remains.

Another was buried with two dollar gold coins “right next to his pelvis. “They apparently were sewed into the waistband of his pants.” He also had a musket ball imbedded in his hip, but the injury was received at an earlier time “because the bone has grown over it.”

They determined the remains where those of Confederate soldiers through analysis of the grave location and documentary research, staff archaeologist Eric Schweickart said.

Details have been put together regarding the operation of the Baptist Church hospital that was at first a Confederate hospital and later a hospital for Confederates manned by Union personnel and headed by Dr. David L. Rogers.

Also, the city undertaker Benjamin Bucktrout maintained a “Daybook and Ledger,” which included the Confederate soldiers by name he buried in the city cemetery.

The owners and managers of Magnolia Cleaning Services in Williamsburg have been sentenced in an ongoing large-scale human trafficking case.

In 2021, a tip from an acquaintance of one of the victims led to the discovery of the operation. According to investigators, owners George Evans and Jeffrey Vaughan co-owned the cleaning business, which mainly focused on hotels and timeshares. Between the first quarter of 2018 and the first quarter of 2022, wage records indicate around 121 employees with alleged invalid or mismatched social security numbers, with more than $1.2 million in wages being paid to these employees. About 70% of employees had incomplete and invalid social security numbers.

According to investigator Adriana Mirarchi, who spoke at a press conference Wednesday, victims were between the ages of 14 to over 25 years old.

Evans was sentenced to 30 months in prison, and Vaughan was sentenced to 51 months. Salvador Jeronimo-Sis, who the prosecution says created false documents to employees, was sentenced to 20 months. Ana Aragon Landaverde, manager of Magnolia Cleaning Services, was sentenced to 57 months. All four defendants pleaded guilty, and restitution will be paid to the victims along with a $3.9 million forfeiture.

James Stitzel, assistant special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations, said the “groundbreaking” investigation came out of a partnership between Homeland Security Investigations, the Hampton Roads Human Trafficking Task Force and partner law enforcement agencies.

“These criminals operated a family-based labor trafficking enterprise, where they smuggled their workforce into the United States from El Salvador,” Stitzel said. “They coordinated and funded the smuggling of Salvadorian nationals into the U.S. for the purpose of employment at Magnolia Cleaning Services. The victims were further told their smuggling fee was a debt owed to the business upon their rescue. One teenage victim told investigators that for a two-year period from the ages of 14-16 years old, they were forced to work 11-hour overnight shifts before attending their high school classes.”

One of the victims, a mother, was assaulted when she asked if someone could care for her infant while she worked, investigators say. In October 2021, she and her baby were rescued, and officers found the infant alone and tied to a stroller. Some victims lived at the business and could only bathe in the company’s decontamination shower. Since there was no shower curtain, investigators said one victim used laundry bins for privacy.

Investigators and prosecutors Wednesday did not comment on immigration statuses on specific victims, but Mirarchi said resources have been provided to them, including some pathways to permanent citizenship. One is a T visa, which is a temporary immigration benefit that enables certain victims of a severe form of trafficking to remain in the U.S. for an initial period of up to four years if they have complied with any reasonable request for assistance from law enforcement.

Attorney General Jason Miyares said a combination of factors can influence human trafficking in Hampton Roads. He said the region’s transient nature combined with its large population and economic drive makes it a location where human trafficking, labor and sexual, happens. Other key areas specifically for labor trafficking include tourism, agriculture and aquaculture.

“It goes to show you that even after four decades in law enforcement, I’ve even learned that you don’t know everything that’s going on in the community without communicating with the people,” York County Sheriff Ron Montgomery said. “And sometimes it just takes the smallest tips.”

Eliza Noe, [email protected]

The fate of the Paradise Ocean Club at Fort Monroe remains up in the air as the club’s owner is accusing the National Park Service of allowing the building to fall into disrepair and deliberately delaying lease negotiations.

Club owner Baxter Simons said he’s being “stonewalled” by the park service as he attempts to renegotiate the terms of a new lease of the property, where he operated the popular beach club for 10 years.

“Here’s what’s going on in a nutshell; they don’t want us back in there,” Simmons said. “They’re trying to force us not to take the lease by making it as rough on us as they can. And there’s no hiding that, it is blatant.”

Simmons’ popular beach club was forced to close last year after Labor Day weekend when the park service abruptly ended the club’s lease negotiations. The club was at the end of its 10-year lease and seeking to renew. The park service subsequently issued a new request for proposals to reopen bidding to lease the site to other businesses.

Simmons reentered lease negotiations with the park service this year in an attempt to reopen his business. But the start of the summer beach season came and went without any agreement.

Now, Simmons says “it has gotten to the point where they are bullying us and trying to make us go away.”

Kevin Garden, a legal representative for the club, sent an Aug. 3 letter to the National Park Service Regional Director Gay Vietzke outlining several outstanding disagreements holding up lease negotiations.

One issue is the current state of the building.

Garden’s letter notes Paradise Ocean Club was selected for negotiation of a proposed lease in March. But when Simmons went to inspect the facility, he was shocked to find it was not in the same state as he left it when his business vacated.

The letter describes the facility as being “in complete shambles.” Simmons says there’s now mold, destroyed HVAC ductwork, graffiti, damaged flooring, and other issues.

The club informed the park service of the poor condition of the facility. Simmons wanted NPS to adjust the lease terms or to provide rent credits so that Paradise Ocean Club could address the damage.

The letter says the park service “absurdly asserted” to Simmons that he had agreed when he submitted a bid to accept the facility “as is” and that no adjustments would be made to the lease terms.

However, Simmons says he agreed to accept the condition of the facilities at the time of a walk-through the National Park Service conducted in November, not — as the letter describes — “the decrepit condition of the facilities which NPS had knowingly and deliberately caused.”

“The building should be in the same condition that it was marketed in when they showed it back in November,” Simmons said.

National Park Service spokesperson John Warren declined to specifically address the allegations in the letter.

“We’re not going to respond to individual things,” he said. “We’re not going to try this in the press. The NPS continues to negotiate the lease in the multi-use facility formerly known as the Officers Club at Fort Monroe. And the National Park Service is committed to engaging and welcoming all communities to enjoy our lands and waters.”

The letter also takes issue with the park service trying to restrict the number of patrons on the premises to 750 when Simmons said the park service previously told him the 750-person limit would only apply to people within the buildings. He said a 750-person limit on the premises would make the club “look empty.”

“On Saturdays, we’d have 2,000 people come through and on Sundays, we’d have 3,000,” he said.

Simmons estimates the crowd that showed up on Sunday afternoons was 95% people of color.

In the letter, Garden says the National Park Service is engaging in “blatantly discriminatory conduct at Fort Monroe National Monument by taking actions which will permanently close down a popular beach facility frequented by the underserved local African American community.”

Josh Janney, [email protected]

NEWPORT NEWS — Getting shot by a student isn’t anything a first-grade teacher would “expect or anticipate” during their time on the job, according to a new filing in a lawsuit over the Richneck Elementary School shooting.

The newly reached stipulation between the Newport News School Board and a Richneck teacher who was shot in her classroom Jan. 6 comes during a pending dispute over whether Abigail Zwerner’s wounds should be deemed a mere “workplace injury” or something beyond that.

“The School Defendants will stipulate … that no first grade teacher in the Newport News Public School System would expect or anticipate” that getting shot by a student is “part of their job,” the stipulation reads.

That agreement comes as the two sides spar over whether Zwerner was merely injured on the job — in which case the lawsuit would be dismissed and her claim subject to the terms of the Worker’s Compensation Act. If it’s not a workplace injury, her $40 million lawsuit can proceed to a jury trial next year.

A hearing to decide that issue is slated for October before Newport News Circuit Court Judge Matthew W. Hoffman.

Robert “Bob” Samuel Jr., an attorney for the Newport News School Board and two school administrators, said after a hearing Wednesday that the board isn’t conceding anything and still maintains Zwerner indeed suffered a workplace injury. (The stipulation will no longer apply if the case goes to trial).

“She was in the school,” Samuel said. “She was teaching the child. She was shot while she was teaching the child in the classroom. That’s a workplace injury.”

Anne Lahren, another attorney for the School Board and the two administrators, said in an email that Zwerner would qualify for up to 500 weeks — or nearly 10 years — of pay under Worker’s Compensation Act, “as well as lifetime medical benefits.”

Still, that’s a far cry from the millions of dollars Zwerner is seeking at trial.

Zwerner’s attorneys contend that getting shot on the job isn’t a reasonable expectation of teaching first graders, and that a school administrator’s failure to act on real threats that the 6-year-old boy had a gun in school that day led directly to Zwerner getting shot.

They contend Richneck’s assistant principal, Ebony Parker, ignored clear warnings the boy was armed.

One of Zwerner’s attorneys, Jeffrey Breit, said the School Board’s lawyers agreed to the stipulation because they wanted to avoid the prospect of a litany of first grade teachers — Zwerner’s colleagues — getting on the witness stand one by one to say they wouldn’t have ever expected to get shot by a student.

A key issue at the October hearing will be whether there’s an “actual risk” to first-grade teachers of getting shot by a student.

Another of Zwerner’s lawyers, Kevin Biniazan, said teachers’ expectations of such risks go a long way in establishing that the prospect of getting shot on the job is virtually unheard of or “hypothetical,” not real.

“An expectation goes directly to the issue — the legal issue of an actual risk,” he said. “And that’s why it’s a significant stipulation … We think the stipulation really eliminates the issues in dispute.”

If Zwerner is ultimately told she can’t file a lawsuit after being shot and must only get worker’s comp, Biniazan said that would “change the legal rights of everybody in the Commonwealth of Virginia,” if not the nation.

“We have an amazing client that went through horrific circumstances,” he said. “And I’m sure that people want to support her and are supporting her. But beyond that, it has implications for everybody’s lives.”

Most other matters in dispute over document sharing between the sides were resolved by agreement between the parties — either before Wednesday’s hearing or during the hearing with slight wording adjustments or compromises.

In one of the few disagreements that ended up requiring a ruling, Hoffman gave the School Board 30 days to tell Zwerner’s lawyers why Richneck’s former principal, Brianna Foster Newton, was moved to a new job within the school division after the Jan. 6 shooting.

Peter Dujardin, 757-247-4749, [email protected]

<p>Wildfires have devastated parts of the Hawaiian island of Maui, killing at least six people, damaging or destroying over 270 structures and reducing most of a historic town to ash.</p><p>County of Maui Mayor Richard Bissen Jr. said Wednesday that the number of fatalities could rise. At least two dozen people were injured by the fires. Bissen also said dozens have been evacuated.</p><p><strong>MAP:</strong> <a href=”https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/08/09/map-maui-wildfires-lahaina-upcountry/”><strong>Maui wildfires burning in Lahaina and upcountry</strong></a></p><p>County of Maui spokesperson Mahina Martin says the fire was widespread in the historic tourist community of Lahaina, including on Front Street, a popular shopping and dining area.</p><p>Acting Gov. Sylvia Luke is discouraging travelers from coming to Maui, saying that right now, it’s “not a safe place to be.”</p><p>

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Hampton City Council unanimously voted Wednesday to censure Councilman Chris Bowman for conduct unbecoming of a public official after court documents detailed his sexual encounter with a prostitute.

Vice Mayor Jimmy Gray said Bowman’s actions violated the “moral and ethical standards with respect to council members.” He also said Bowman’s behavior “undermines the trust and confidence of the constituents that he represents.”

Due to the situation, Gray said Hampton council members and staff have received numerous inquiries from the media and the public and that the matter has taken up time and “negatively impacted the work of this body on behalf of the Hampton citizens.”

Gray then introduced a motion to censure Bowman, which is “a form of expression of disapproval and admonishment.”

“It is our belief that his actions are contrary to the integrity and standards that the Hampton City Council upholds,” Gray said.

The Daily Press reported last week on criminal charges brought against a man accused of extorting Bowman. Court documents filed in the case state that in January 2022, Bowman paid a woman $200 for oral sex at a Newport News hotel room. When he returned to his car, he found several items were missing — including his personal cellphone. A man later demanded Bowman pay $5,000 for the return of the cellphone, or else its contents would be publicly released.

The court documents said Bowman paid the $5,000 but he did not receive the phone. Police arrested Michael Eugene Brown II, of Hampton, more than a year later — on June 17 — on a felony extortion charge.

Bowman was not charged with any crime.

On Wednesday night, Hampton resident Aaron Weaver offered harsh criticism toward Bowman and urged the council to do something.

“We want clarity; we want you all to do something, to act accordingly,” Weaver said. “Because without action, you are right with him.”

Shortly after, Gray introduced a motion to censure Bowman.

City spokesperson Robin McCormick clarified after the meeting that the censure doesn’t impact what Bowman can and can’t do as a council member, but said it was a way for council members to voice disapproval.

Gray said he hopes the censure will serve as a strong message to Bowman and the community that “such actions will not be tolerated.”

“We call on Councilman Bowman to reflect on his behavior and take immediate steps to redress his conduct,” Gray said. “It is essential that all members of this council, as representatives of the community, uphold the public trust and act in the best interest of our constituents.”

Gray, Mayor Donnie Tuck, and council members Hope Harper, Martha Mugler, Billy Hobbs and Steven Brown voted in favor of censuring Bowman.

Bowman, who was at the meeting, did not participate in the vote and did not address his censure or the comments made about him.

When previously asked about the court case and incident, Bowman confirmed to the Daily Press he met with the woman but said he was unaware soliciting a prostitute was a Class 1 misdemeanor in Virginia — punishable by up to a year in jail.

“It was a one-time thing,” he said.

Josh Janney, [email protected].

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — An Ecuadorian presidential candidate known for speaking up against corruption was shot and killed Wednesday at a political rally in the capital, an attack that comes amid a wave of startling violence in the South American country.

President Guillermo Lasso confirmed the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio and suggested organized crime was behind his slaying. Villavicencio was one of eight candidates in the Aug. 20 presidential vote, though not the frontrunner.

“I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished,” Lasso said in a statement. “Organized crime has gone too far, but they will feel the full weight of the law.”

The killing comes as Ecuador is rattled by rising violent killings and drug trafficking.

Videos on social media appear to show the candidate walking out of the event surrounded by guards. The video then shows Villavicencio entering a white truck followed by gunfire.

The politician, 59, was the candidate for the Build Ecuador Movement.

Patricio Zuquilanda, Villavicencio’s campaign adviser, told the Associated Press the candidate had received death threats before the shooting, which he had reported to authorities. He called on international authorities to take action against the violence, attributing it to rising violence and drug trafficking.

“The Ecuadorian people are crying and Ecuador is mortally wounded,” he said. “Politics cannot lead to the death of any member of society.”

Other candidates echoed Zuquilanda in their demands for action, with former vice president Otto Sonnenholzner saying in a news conference, “We are dying, drowning in a sea of tears and we do not deserve to live line this. We demand that you do something”.

Villavicencio was one of the most critical voices against corruption, especially during the government of former President Rafael Correa from 2007 to 2017. He filed many judicial complaints against high ranking members of the Correa government, including against the ex-president himself.

Early accounts show that several others were injured in the attack, though authorities did not confirm how many.

He was married and is survived by five children.

RICHMOND (AP) — The Virginia Department of Corrections, under scrutiny over the death of an inmate that raised broader questions about conditions at a southwest Virginia prison, is refusing to release public records documenting inmate complaints about the facility.

Allegations that multiple inmates were treated for hypothermia arose as part of a lawsuit over Charles Givens’ death last year at the Marion Correctional Treatment Center. The lawsuit alleges Givens was tortured and beaten by guards off-camera.

The Department of Corrections said Wednesday that it isn’t required to turn over dozens of pages of documents because they involve incarcerated people and relate to their imprisonment. The agency refused to hand over the documents even with the names of prisoners’ and corrections officers redacted.

The Associated Press had asked the department for two years’ worth of any inmate complaints related to topics such as uncomfortably cold temperatures at the prison, nonfunctioning or poorly functioning heating systems, and windows being left open during cold months. Those and other claims were made in the lawsuit filed on behalf of Givens’ sister, Kym Hobbs.

Colleen Maxwell, who handles public records requests for the department, said in an email Wednesday that she had identified 46 pages of responsive records. But the agency invoked an exemption in the state’s open records law that deals with “records of persons imprisoned in penal institutions” to withhold the documents.

Paul Stanley, an attorney representing Givens’ sister, said the agency is likely “ashamed” of the information contained in the inmate complaints.

“If they’ve got 46 pages … and they are redacting the names of the inmates, what are they afraid the public may see?” Stanley said in an interview.

The lawsuit filed against five correctional officers alleges that Givens, who was intellectually disabled, was “sadistically tortured” and beaten in an off-camera shower area of the facility before being found unresponsive in his cell on Feb. 5, 2022. In the year before his death, Givens was taken to a hospital emergency room multiple times for hypothermia treatment, according to the lawsuit and medical records reviewed by AP.

During a hospital visit in February 2021, Givens’ initial body temperature was 87.2 Fahrenheit (30.6 Celsius) — well below the normal body temperature of 97.6 to 99.6 (36.4 to 37.5 Celsius). A hospital admission record states that Givens was “found down on the cold concrete and hypothermic.”

A special grand jury impaneled last year found Givens’ death was “suspicious” and said in a report that “nearly every witness” described living conditions in the prison sector housing mentally ill inmates as “unsuitable.” The report also said that more than one witness had seen ice form on the water in toilets.

“We find these conditions to be inhumane and deplorable,” the report said.

Department spokesperson Kyle Gibson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday on the decision to withhold copies of the complaints. He said the agency does not routinely comment on active litigation.

In response to the grand jury’s findings, he said that department facilities are regularly inspected by a range of groups and agencies.

The AP reported last month that Givens’ death is under investigation by the FBI. The bureau has declined to comment.

The Department of Corrections has also declined to comment on the FBI investigation, besides noting that the department cooperates with law enforcement probes. In an email last month, department spokesperson Carla Miles declined to comment on why Givens or any other inmate may have needed to be treated for hypothermia, but wrote “there are other triggers” that cause hypothermia including “anti-psychotic medicines.”

According to the lawsuit, Givens had been incarcerated at Marion since shortly after he pleaded guilty to two felonies in connection with the fatal 2010 shooting of Misty Leann Garrett. She was employed as a home health nurse for Givens’ mother, according to local news accounts.

The lawsuit said Givens suffered a traumatic brain injury after falling down a flight of stairs as a young child and he needed assistance and supervision with daily functioning for the rest of his life.

An autopsy report reviewed by the AP said that Givens’ cause of death was blunt force trauma of the torso and his manner of death was undetermined.

The correctional officers named as defendants in the lawsuit have denied the allegations in their answer to the complaint, and none have been charged with a crime.

Under the open records law, the AP also sought a copy of a report pertaining to Givens’ death produced by the Department of Corrections’ special investigations unit and other related records.

Both the office of state Attorney General Jason Miyares — which said it had about 150 pages of records — and the department have withheld documents in their custody. The department said it identified 65 gigabytes of digital media and 6,795 pages of responsive records.

Both the attorney general’s office and department cited a wide range of exemptions in withholding the documents.

The words of “Eternal Father, Strong to Serve” could be heard Wednesday from the Virginia Beach United Methodist Church as dozens of community members and former Navy sailors gathered to remember Rear Adm. Fred Metz.

The Navy hymn was a favorite of the naval aviator and longtime resident of Virginia Beach. Metz died July 27 at age 87.

Metz had “a life well lived,” said Rev. Tim Craig. “A life of service — commitment to country, family and to the church.”

Metz enlisted in the Navy in February 1956, receiving his Wings of Gold and being commissioned an ensign in October 1957. It was the start of a 35-year naval career that took him to the Pentagon, the Gulf of Tonkin, President Ronald Reagan’s briefing room, and — of course — the sky.

“Fred was an aviator’s aviator,” his family wrote in his obituary.

During his career, Metz flew more than 5,000 hours, beginning with the A-4 Skyhawk and in 1964 transitioned to A-6A Intruder. He made four combat deployments to the Gulf of Tonkin starting in 1965 and completed his Vietnam service in 1974 as the Commanding Officer of Attack Squadron 145 in Oak Harbor, Washington.

In 1979, he met Cmdr. Tom Chafin.

“I was the executive officer of the USS Caloosahatchee. Fred was coming on board to be my commanding officer. He started out as my boss, but became my brother,” Chafin said after Wednesday’s memorial service.

Metz later served in Washington D.C. and was responsible for the daily briefing of President Ronald Reagan. His final Pentagon assignment placed him in charge of all aircraft carriers and naval air stations.

Metz retired in 1990 as a rear admiral. His awards include the Legion of Merit with two gold stars, the Distinguished Flying Cross with three gold stars, the Meritorious Service Medal with two gold stars, the Air Medal with gold numeral 7 and bronze numeral 15, the Navy Commendation Medal with Combat Distinguishing Device and three gold stars, and numerous service and campaign awards.

“In 1969, Paul Anka wrote a song called ‘My Way’ for Frank Sinatra — he didn’t write the music, he wrote the lyrics. Well, he also wrote that for my dad,” said Fred Metz Jr. “He liked things his way, and those who served with him, know he was tough but he was fair and that was probably why he was so successful in his Navy career.”

Upon retirement, Metz and his wife of 65 years settled in Virginia Beach. Metz became active in various local veteran and civic organizations, including the Association of Naval Aviation, Kiwanis, Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Intruder Association.

Over the years, he connected with other military veterans and became fast friends over a shared bond of battle stories and patriotism.

“I actually met him when he was in his backyard. He had slipped and broken his ankle and needed help. We were friends from that day forward,” said Ken Wilson.

Wilson went on to join the Association of Naval Aviation at Metz’s encouragement.

“I was an enlisted man in the Navy, an aircraft carrier sailor, but not a flier like Fred,” Wilson said.

Wilson, who served from 1952-56 through the Korean War, said he and Metz exchanged sea and sky stories, including how Metz came to be so committed to his faith.

“He had a conversation with God on his last flight from bombing Hanoi. He was all shot up and wasn’t sure he was gonna get back to the ship. So, he told me he said to God, ‘If you get me back,’ I will be your number one disciple forever’,” Wilson said.

Metz sought to live up to that.

“He was the best Sunday School teacher around — taught me more about the Bible in a week than I ever knew,” Wilson said with a laugh.

Metz was also devoted to maintaining the relationship between the city of Virginia Beach and the Navy. He served on Virginia Beach’s Military Economic Development Advisory Committee, and was instrumental in the design and construction of the Naval Aviation Monument at the Oceanfront.

“Fred was very involved. He met with the architect to design the whole thing,” said retired Cmdr. Dave Moore.

Moore and Metz met through church 10 years ago.

“It was important to Fred that the memorial be very family oriented because of how important family is to the military. If things are not going well at home, members are not going to be focused on the mission,” Moore said.

Loved ones gathered for a reception following the memorial service. They exchanged hugs and condolences.

But occasionally, laughter would burst out following as they began sharing stories that began with “Remember when Fred…”.

Looking around at full room, Wilson said, “Wonderful guy. We are all gonna miss him, but his legacy is strong.”

Caitlyn Burchett, [email protected]