Briefs

VCU & LOCAL

Democratic hopefuls make pitches in Richmond

The three men seeking the Democratic nomination for governor stopped in South Richmond Tuesday night to discuss jobs, education, health care and their support for restoration of felons’ voting rights.

More than 150 local residents, city politicians and campaign operatives gathered at the Southside Community Services Center on Hull Street for a forum sponsored by the Richmond Crusade for Voters.

State Sen. Creigh Deeds of Bath County, former Delegate Brian Moran of Alexandria and former Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe of McLean took turns making their pitch for votes and answering questions from the audience.

The gubernatorial candidates’ whirlwind series of joint appearances continues Wednesday in Hampton with a debate sponsored by the Virginia Education Association.

Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch

Philip Morris consolidating N.C. work in Richmond by July

Philip Morris USA said Wednesday it will end production at its suburban Charlotte, N.C., cigarette manufacturing plant and consolidate its operations in South Richmond by the end of July.

Philip Morris announced in June 2007 it was closing its Concord, N.C., facility because of declines in U.S. cigarette volume and reduced contract manufacturing. The company indicated that production in North Carolina might continue until 2010.

In December, the company said 814 employees in Concord had been offered jobs in the Richmond plant. As of the end of November, 530 salaried employees had transferred or planned to transfer, company officials said.

Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

World economy likely to shrink for the first time in six decades

The International Monetary Fund projected the 1.3 percent drop in a dour forecast released Wednesday. That could leave at least 10 million more people around the world jobless, some private economists said.

“By any measure, this downturn represents by far the deepest global recession since the Great Depression,” the IMF said in its latest World Economic Outlook. “All corners of the globe are being affected.”

The IMF’s outlook for the United States is bleaker than for the world as a whole: it predicts the U.S. economy will shrink 2.8 percent this year. That would mark the biggest such decline since 1946.

Brief by The Associated Press

Police investigating death of Freddie Mac official

David Kellermann, the acting chief financial officer of money-losing mortgage giant Freddie Mac was found dead at his home Wednesday morning in what police said was an apparent suicide.

The Fairfax County police responded to a 911 call at 4:48 a.m. at the suburban Virginia home Kellermann shared with his wife. The police would not release the cause of death or say if a suicide note was found.

“He was just a nice guy … You cannot imagine what kind of pressures he must have been under,” said Paul Unger, who lives across the street from the Kellermanns.

Kellermann worked for Freddie Mac for the past 16 years and was named acting chief financial officer last September when the government seized control of the company to keep it from failing.

Brief by The Associated Press

FDA to make morning-after pill available to 17-year-olds

The “morning-after pill” will be available without a prescription to women 17 and older, the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday. The minimum age has been 18.

Plan B, also called the morning-after pill, is intended to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex.

On March 23, a federal court ordered that Plan B, an emergency contraception pill, be made available over the counter to those 17 and up, the agency said in a statement on its Web site. The agency will not appeal that order, the statement said.

In August 2006, the administration approved the sale of Plan B without a prescription to those 18 and older, but those 17 and under needed a prescription to obtain it.

Brief by CNN.com