Former Lawmaker Is Convicted on Charges Related to His Hiring by Old Dominion U.

A former state lawmaker in Virginia who was controversially hired by Old Dominion University after he helped obtain state funds to start a teacher-training center there in 2007 was convicted in federal court on Wednesday on federal charges of bribery and extortion, The Virginian-Pilot reported. The university rescinded its contract with the legislator, Phillip A. Hamilton, in August 2009, and he lost a re-election bid later that year. During the trial, William Graves, a now-retired dean of education at Old Dominion, testified that the university’s president at the time, Roseann Runte, had ordered Mr. Hamilton’s hiring. Ms. Runte, who is now president of Carleton University, in Canada, denied any involvement in or knowledge of the hiring.