Briefs

LOCAL & VCU

Richmond dialysis clinic evacuated after chemical spill

A Richmond kidney dialysis clinic was evacuated Wednesday morning after an unknown chemical spilled, leaving employees with watery eyes.

Richmond firefighters said two employees at the RAI Care Center at 800 W. Leigh St. were treated at the scene after the 6:15 a.m. discovery of an unknown chemical spill in a back room at the clinic.

There were no patient injuries reported.

Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch

Break coming on Richmond gas bills

Richmonders will get a break on their natural-gas bills next month, when the city will cut its charge for fuel because of a months-old drop in wholesale prices.

The move will cut a typical consumer’s bill by a bit less than 17 percent and will affect about 110,000 Richmond Department of Public Utilities customers in the city and suburbs.

The city is supposed to pass on the cost of purchasing gas, dollar for dollar, to customers as what it calls a purchased-gas cost, which it reports as a separate line on bills.

Tuesday ‘s action means that charge now will be 89.5 cents per hundred cubic feet of gas used, down from $1.185. It is the lowest fuel rate since November 2006.

Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch

City Council committee favors favors Church Hill condos

A proposed 33-unit condominium complex in Church Hill picked up a key endorsement yesterday despite objections that it would overwhelm the two-story homes in the historic neighborhood.

The Richmond City Council’s land-use committee voted 3-0 in favor of Oakwood Heights, which would be built at the edge of East Broad and Marshall streets overlooking Gillie Creek.

The Commission of Architectural Review had rejected the development, saying the scale of the buildings would make it incompatible with other buildings in the Chimborazo Park Old and Historic District.

Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch

Chandler Middle School to close

The Richmond School Board voted unanimously last night to close Chandler Middle School at the end of this school year.

The school has had four principals in seven years and high staff turnover. Its enrollment has dropped from 600 to 300 in recent years.

Richmond schools Superintendent Yvonne W. Brandon recommended closing Chandler in late January because of low test scores and budgetary concerns.

Brandon pledged to have transition teams go into Chandler and into elementary schools that would have fed into the middle school to discuss processes for the transition to other schools.

Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

Obama signs massive stimulus package

President Barack Obama on Tuesday signed a massive $787 billion package to revive the economy, saying the measure represented the “essential work of keeping the American dream alive in our time.”

The stimulus plan of spending programs and tax cuts is at the heart of Obama’s effort to turn the economy back into a job-creating machine. It comes with a huge price tag for taxpayers and lingering doubts about whether the plan’s results will match all the lofty promises that its supporters have made.

Brief by The Associated Press

US general visits Afghan bomb site for death claim

A U.S. general traveled to Western Afghanistan on Wednesday to investigate claims that six women and two children were killed in a U.S. airstrike, officials said. Photographs of the site showed at least one dead boy, bloodied and dirty from the attack.

Civilian deaths have been a huge source of friction between the United States and President Hamid Karzai, who has increased demands that United States avoid killing civilians.

Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch

Pope to US Speaker Pelosi: Reject abortion support

Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday told U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a Catholic who supports abortion rights, that Catholic politicians have a duty to protect life “at all stages of its development.”

Pelosi is the first top Democrat to meet with Benedict since the election of President Barack Obama, who won a majority of the American Catholic vote despite differences with the Vatican on abortion.

Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch

Egypt frees dissident from prison after 3 years

Ayman Nour, one of Egypt’s most prominent dissidents who was jailed after challenging the country’s longtime president in the 2005 elections, was unexpectedly freed Wednesday after years of pressure from the United States.

Nour’s jailing has troubled Egyptian-U.S. relations for more than three years, and his sudden release might be a gesture to improve ties with President Barack Obama’s new administration.

Nour told The Associated Press from his Cairo home that he learned he was going to be freed only when a car arrived at the prison to take him home.

Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch