Briefs
Chesterfield teacher charged with assaulting students during fire drill; Richmond to feel Qimonda demise; Tech president discusses slaying aftermath in letter to campus; Obama economic plan now tops $900 billion; Feds set to unseal evidence in Barry Bonds case; Panasonic cutting jobs as it slips into red; Russia says it wants to help US in Afghanistan
LOCAL & VCU
Chesterfield teacher charged with assaulting students during fire drill
A teacher at Tomahawk Creek Middle School in Chesterfield County was arrested yesterday on charges of assaulting three students between 12 and 13 years old.
Patrick H. Simmons, 29, of the 3900 block of Resting Place in Powhatan County, is accused of pushing the students against a wall when they failed to comply with his instructions during a school fire drill on Jan. 30, police said.
Simmons was charged with two counts of assault and battery and one count of felonious assault. He surrendered to police last night.
He is being held without bond in the Chesterfield Jail pending a hearing at 2 p.m. today in Chesterfield Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court.
Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch
Richmond to feel Qimonda demise
The Richmond region is losing part of what had been one of its most promising industries.
Shutting down production of Qimonda AGs computer memory-chip manufacturing plant in eastern Henrico County means the loss of 1,500-plus high-paying tech jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue to the county and the state.
The plant, which opened in 1998, was seen as such a boon for the region that it received one of the highest total incentive packages granted by the state. Virginia and Henrico since have recouped their investments.
Qimonda’s local demise also represents a blow to the region’s burgeoning tech industry. And its absence could affect VCU’s School of Engineering, which Qimonda helped establish more than a decade ago and continued to support.
Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch
Tech president discusses slaying aftermath in letter to campus
Virginia Tech President Charles W. Steger has sent an open letter to the university community following a student slaying last month in which he addresses ethnically-charged commentary about the suspected killer.
The letter, in which Steger also urges students, faculty and administrators to keep in mind that college campuses are still some of the safest places in the nation, takes issue with those who have used accused killer Haiyang Zhu’s Chinese background to somehow disparage the school’s other Asian students.
Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch
NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL
Obama economic plan now tops $900 billion
The cost of President Barack Obama’s economic recovery plan is now above $900 billion after the Senate added money for medical research and tax breaks for car purchases.
It could go higher Wednesday if a tax break for homebuyers is made more generous, even as centrists in both parties promise to clear away spending items that will not jump-start the economy right away.
In an interview on CNN, Obama signaled a willingness to drop items that may not really stimulate the economy right now.
In a victory for auto manufacturers and dealers, Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., won a 71-26 vote to allow most car buyers to claim an income tax deduction for sales taxes paid on new autos and interest payments on car loans. The break would cost $11 billion over the coming decade but could mean savings of $1,500 on a $25,000 car.
Brief by The Associated Press
Feds set to unseal evidence in Barry Bonds case
The government’s case against Barry Bonds includes several positive drug test results that prosecutors say belong to the former San Francisco Giants slugger.
That evidence will be part of hundreds of pages of court filings by prosecutors and Bonds attorneys that a federal judge plans to unseal Wednesday.
The documents are expected to reveal details of the governments allegations against Bonds, who is accused of lying to a grand jury about alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Among the positive drug test results is a urine sample submitted by Bonds during Major League Baseball’s anonymous testing program in 2003, according to a New York Times report.
Bonds sample did not test positive under MLB’s program but was retested by investigators after it was seized in a 2004 raid, anonymous sources told the newspaper.
Brief by The Associated Press
Panasonic cutting jobs as it slips into red
Panasonic Corp. says it is reducing 15,000 jobs worldwide, about 5 percent of its work force, by the end of March 2010. Half of those jobs will be overseas, while the other half will be in Japan, the Japanese electronics maker said Feb. 4.
The company, which makes digital cameras, flat-panel TVs, batteries and cell phones, is not giving a further breakdown by nations. It is also shuttering 14 overseas plants and 13 plants in Japan to adjust production and cut costs.
Panasonic is expecting a 380 billion yen loss for the fiscal year ending March 2009, its first yearly net loss in six years. It had previously forecast a 30 billion yen profit.
Brief by The Associated Press
Russia says it wants to help US in Afghanistan
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says that Russia and its ex-Soviet allies want to cooperate with the United States in stabilizing Afghanistan.
Medvedev’s comments Wednesday came a day after the ex-Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan announced it would evict U.S. forces from an air base that is key to U.S. and NATO operations in Afghanistan.
Kyrgyzstan made the move after getting a promise for $2 billion in loans from Russia-which has long been concerned about the U.S. presence in Central Asia.
The possibility of base closure poses a serious challenge to the new U.S. administration and President Barack Obama’s plan to send up to 30,000 more American troops into Afghanistan this year.
Brief by The Associated Press