Local and VCU
Execution date set for DC sniper
A Nov. 10 execution date has been set for John Allen Muhammad, one of two snipers whose murder rampage left 10 dead and a half dozen wounded in four states and the District of Columbia in Oct. 2002.
He was sentenced to death in Virginia in 2004 for the Oct. 9, 2002, capital murder of Dean Meyers in Prince William County.
One of Muhammad’s lawyers and the Virginia attorney general’s office said the execution date was set Wednesday morning in Prince William County Circuit Court.
Muhammad’s accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, is serving life in prison.
Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch
Police find body near Virginia Union University
Richmond police said they are investigating the discovery of the body of a homeless male Wednesday morning under Interstate 95.
Police said the body was of Joseph McCray,54, discovered shortly before 9 a.m. under an elevated section of the interstate just off Lombardy Street, between Virginia Union and Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School.
According to an e-mail from the Richmond Police Department, McCray died of blunt force trama, and his death is being investigated as a homicide.
Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch
Virginia seeks to move up timeline for higher ed stimulus
The state will seek a waiver from the federal government that would allow Virginia to move forward stimulus funding to help offset more than $196 million in budget cuts to higher education this year.
Secretary of Finance Richard D. Brown told the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia Sept. 15 that it appears the state will qualify for the federal waiver that is required to use $91.5 million in stimulus money this fiscal year instead of next.
Gov. Tim Kaine announced Sept. 8 that he would seek federal permission to move forward that stimulus funding, which had been set aside for higher education in fiscal year 2011. Using the stimulus money now would reduce the state cuts to higher education this fiscal year to about $105 million.
Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch
Student arrested in high school parking lot shooting
Henrico school officials locked down the Virginia Randolph Community High School campus Wednesday afternoon after a student gunman fired shots in the school parking lot.
Henrico police said the 12:30 p.m. incident was resolved within minutes when a suspect in the case was arrested a short distance from the school and the weapon, a handgun, was recovered.
“No one was hurt-no teachers or students,” said Henrico Police Lt. Douglas Perry.
Perry said the suspect, a 16-year-old student at the central Henrico school, was arrested within 30 minutes of the shooting in a wooded area to which the gunman fled on foot.
Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch
National and International
3 arrested for rocket attack during Biden visit
U.S.-Iraqi forces arrested three militants suspected of firing rockets at Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, where visiting Vice President Joe Biden was spending the night, the U.S. military said Wednesday.
The rockets hit in the Green Zone on Tuesday evening, killing two Iraqi civilians. The rockets hit soon after Biden had retired for the night following meetings with American officials on the first day of his visit to Iraq.
A joint rapid-reaction force raided the launching site and, after coming under small arms fire, arrested three Iraqis along with three rocket rails believed to have been used to fire the shells, the U.S. military said in a statement.
The military did not identify the men.
Brief by The Associated Press
Oil hovers around $71
amid rising US supplies
Oil traded just above $71 a barrel Wednesday as investors weighed a weakening dollar – which supports commodity prices – against a rise in crude supplies, suggests demand remains weak.
Benchmark crude for October delivery was up 13 cents to $71.06 a barrel by mid-afternoon in Europe in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Tuesday, the contract rose $2.07 to settle at $70.93.
Crude prices have hugged the $70 level for months as gasoline demand remains sluggish despite signs the global economy is recovering.
On Tuesday, a SpendingPulse report by MasterCard showed the four-week average for gasoline consumption in the United States fell 3.2 percent for the week that ended Friday, the ninth straight weekly decline.
Brief by The Associated Press
Hungary to accept Guantanamo detainee
Hungary said Wednesday it will accept a detainee from Guantanamo Bay, inching President Barack Obama closer to his pledge to close the U.S. military detention center.
The country will choose from a short list of Guantanamo prisoners in the coming days and the released detainee will participate in an 18-month integration program, Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai said.
“According to our current expectations … the chosen candidate will be a Palestinian man who will be able to start a new life in Hungary,” Bajnai told reporters. “I ask my fellow citizens to consider the difficult circumstances in which the detainee spent his latest years and help his future integration.”
Brief by The Associated Press