Weather is blamed for 3 fatalities in Virginia

Virginia State Police say they have responded to at least three fatal crashes on icy roads in the state, a fraction of the nearly 100 crashes reported statewide.

Police say a trooper and two other people were on the median of Route 288 in Chesterfield County outside Richmond on Monday evening when they were hit by a vehicle, throwing one person into a nearby firefighter.

Police said that person was pronounced dead and the trooper and the second person were taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Police say 63-year-old Steven Gibbs of Linden was killed Monday morning when his SUV hit a snow plow in Fauquier County. In Loudoun County, police say a woman was killed Monday night when her car rear-ended a backhoe.