Briefs

LOCAL & VCU

Va. superintendents plead their case in Richmond

The Virginia Association of School Superintendents will meet in Richmond Thursday to plead with lawmakers to keep their funding. Their budget is being threatened by a $3 billion shortfall in the Commonwealth. The group meets every year to discuss their Legislative Priorities for the respective year. This year, however, Governor Kaine has proposed cuts totaling some $400 million dollars from public schools grades k though 12. Here’s the 2009 Legislative Priorities list from the ‘VASS.’

VASS supports restoring the $27 million in the school construction grand program and the $55 million in the lottery construction fund which were removed in the governor’s proposed budget. VASS supports the withdrawal of appropriate funds from the Revenue Stabilization Funds (Rainy Day Funds) for 2009. VASS supports suspending the requirements of NCLB until the federal government provides adequate funding to meet the requirements of law.

Brief by WCAV

Fainting defendant jailed in Hanover

A 26-year-old defendant’s fainting spells landed a man in a jail cell today. A Hanover County judge revoked the man’s $100,000 bond this afternoon, fearful that two mistrials in the murder defendant’s case may have been caused by more than Burkhead’s medical condition.

Burkhead has twice collapsed in the midst of trials in which he faced life in prison for the murder of his girlfriend, Jennifer Michelle Willis, 25. The most recent incident happened after a lunch break Jan. 5.

Willis was shot in the head in the midst of an argument Sept. 3, 2006; Burkhead has contended that he stumbled as the two fought in his apartment and the gun fired. Burkhead has been free on $100,000 bond since shortly after the time of the shooting.

Brief by The Richmond Times Dispatch

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

Judge grants Obama request to suspend 9/11 trial

The judge in the Sept. 11 war crimes case at Guantanamo has agreed to President Barack Obama’s request to suspend the case pending a 120-day review.

The defendants opposed the delay. All have said they want to plead guilty to charges that carry a potential death sentence. Army Col. Stephen Henley issued the ruling Wednesday after a brief hearing at the U.S. base in Cuba.

Prosecutors sought the suspension to give the Obama administration time to review the special system for prosecuting alleged terrorists set up by former President George W. Bush and Congress.

Brief by The Associated Press

Hunger strike started to demand change in Zimbabwe

Activists launched a hunger strike Wednesday to demand faster political change in Zimbabwe and urge African leaders to isolate the country’s president, Robert Mugabe, who is accused of overseeing its political and economic collapse. The South African and Zimbabwean activists also hope thousands in the region will join them in a series of fasts over the next three months.

Wilson Mugabe, a pastor from Zimbabwe who is not related to its president, said he would go for a week without water or food and camp out at a Johannesburg church that has been a refuge for Zimbabweans fleeing political oppression and economic collapse.

The church, draped Wednesday in anti-Mugabe banners as well as the drying laundry of the hundreds of Zimbabweans living there, will be the headquarters for the hunger strike. The pastor said he sent his family into hiding before coming to Johannesburg for fear the protest would prompt attacks by Zimbabwe’s government.

Brief by The Associated Press

N. Korea, Iran open to US efforts to defuse tension

North Korea and Iran, two nations with nuclear aspirations the U.S. wants to thwart, both signaled Wednesday that they were open to new initiatives from President Barack Obama that could defuse tensions.

A newspaper considered a mouthpiece for the North Korean government said the communist regime is willing to give up its nuclear weapons if the U.S. agrees to conditions imposed by the North, including establishing formal diplomatic relations.

Iran said it was “ready for new approaches” from Obama after his predecessor, George W. Bush, shunned the country.

“With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat,” Obama said in his inauguration speech Tuesday.

Brief by The Associated Press

Sunni politician escapes bombing in Baghdad

A top official of Iraq’s biggest Sunni party escaped assassination in a Baghdad car bombing that killed at least two other people Wednesday – only 10 days ahead of an election that could reshape local power bases.

The U.S. military blamed al-Qaida in Iraq for the attack against Ziyad al-Ani, deputy secretary-general of the Iraqi Islamic Party and dean of the Islamic University, a Sunni institution.

His party said the blast was a “dangerous indication” of the perilous security in Iraq, even as President Barack Obama prepares to shift America’s focus to Afghanistan.

The car blew up near al-Ani’s convoy as it traveled through the former Sunni insurgent stronghold of Azamiyah in northern Baghdad. Al-Ani, who said he survived two other assassination attempts last year, was not injured.

There were conflicting casualty reports, as is common in Iraq. The U.S. military initially reported college guards were killed but later said two Iraqi civilians had died. Iraqi police and hospital officials reported four people killed in the attack.

Brief by The Associated Press