Briefs

LOCAL & VCU

Legislators return to Richmond for short session

Legislators are returning to Richmond for a short session that’s expected to be dominated by debate on how to plug a $3 billion hole in the state’s two-year budget.

The budget was passed last year, but a crumbling economy has left Virginia with less money coming in than legislators planned.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has proposed taking money from education and health care, drawing down money from the state’s rainy day fund and doubling the 30-cents-per-pack cigarette tax.

The session begins Wednesday and legislators have only 46 days to figure out how to keep the state’s budget balanced, as required by law.

Lawmakers also are expected to take up thousands of other proposals, including banning smoking in public restaurants and changing election procedures.

Brief by The Associated Press

Va. commission deadlocks on ‘gun-show loophole’

The state crime commission deadlocked Tuesday on whether to support a bill that would force unlicensed sellers to do background checks on people who buy firearms at gun shows, drawing criticism from the loved ones of those killed at Virginia Tech.

The 6-6 vote by the commission was largely symbolic and will not stop proponents from filing a bill to close the loophole in state law that allows private sellers at gun shows to avoid the background checks that commercial dealers are required to perform. It does mean that whatever bill is filed won’t get the commission’s seal of approval.

Similar bills have failed for at least the past five years, but supporters vowed to continue fighting for them.

Mike White, whose daughter Nicole died at Virginia Tech, said the indecision Tuesday reminded him of school officials’ decision not to close campus after Seung-Hui Cho killed two students in a dormitory on April 16, 2007. Tech officials waited more than two hours to inform students of the shooting, and that e-mail came only minutes before Cho killed 30 others, including Nicole White, in a classroom building across campus.

Brief by The Associated Press

Twitter added to General Assembly coverage

The Capital News Service, which is staffed by students in the School of Mass Communications, will use the social media tool Twitter to provide up-to-the-minute coverage during the upcoming Virginia General Assembly session, adding to the in-depth reporting it already provides for its clients.

Because the Capital News Service Twitter site is not limited to CNS clients, anyone can use the service to keep track of the state legislature. Capital News Service reporters and editors will write multiple posts each day of the upcoming session, highlighting the day’s major stories and sending occasional dispatches after press conferences, committee hearings and other activities. Twitter limits posts to 140 characters, allowing for quick headlines about the day’s events. The CNS Twitter page can be found at https://twitter.com/vcucns.

Brief by VCU News Center

Despite budget crunch, poll shows school funding support

With state budget cuts on the horizon for the upcoming session of the General Assembly, VCU’s Commonwealth Education Poll finds 68 percent of Virginians willing to pay more in taxes in order to keep public schools at current funding levels, and 28 percent of Virginians are not willing to pay more in taxes for the schools.

“While throwing money at issues never seems to be a desire of Virginians, the public clearly believes that funding for K-12 education should not be compromised,” said William C. Bosher, Jr., executive director, Commonwealth Educational Policy Institute.

Brief by VCU News Center

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

Police: Calif. dad sold 14-year-old into marriage

A California man has been arrested for arranging for his 14-year-old daughter to marry a neighbor in exchange for $16,000, 100 cases of beer and several cases of meat, police said.

Authorities in Greenfield, a farming community on California’s central coast, said they learned of the deal after Marcelino de Jesus Martinez, 36, asked them for help getting back his daughter after payment wasn’t made.

Martinez hesitated to say the girl was being sold into marriage, as the money was intended as a dowry and the beer and meat were for the wedding. But, he added, the arrangement violates California law, where the age of consent for marriage is 18, and with parental approval, 16.

Brief by The Associated Press

Proposal emerges for 10-day cease-fire in Gaza

Egypt and Hamas were negotiating a proposal for a 10-day cease-fire in Gaza, officials said Wednesday, as the Palestinian death toll in the war passed 1,000 and smoke from Israeli airstrikes rose over Gaza City’s devastated streets.

Egyptian and Palestinian officials said they hoped to seal Hamas’ agreement on a temporary halt in fighting, which would be presented to Israel for approval. Key uncertainties remained for a longer-term deal under which Gaza’s borders would be open and Israeli troops would withdraw.

Brief by The Associated Press

Ukraine sees Russian power grab in gas dispute

The Ukrainian president says Russia is using a gas dispute that has deprived Europe of energy supplies in winter to gain control of Ukraine’s gas transit network.

Viktor Yushchenko says Russia’s gas monopoly Gazprom wants to charge the former Soviet republic an unjustly high price in order to drive it into debt and later acquire a stake in its pipeline network.

Visiting Poland on Wednesday, Yushchenko said he will not allow that to happen.

Much of Europe is heavily dependent on Russian gas that is shipped primarily through Ukraine. Russia briefly restarted sending gas through Ukraine on Tuesday but then accused Ukraine of blocking its flow to Europe. Ukraine said Russia deliberately chose a pipeline route that would force Ukraine to cut off domestic users before the gas could reach Europe.

Brief by The Associated Press