News Briefs

McDonnell outlines budget priorities to lawmakers

Two days after taking office, Gov. Bob McDonnell told lawmakers Monday, Jan. 18 that he will seek increased funding for economic development, but he gave little hint of what he will cut to close a $4 billion budget shortfall.

McDonnell told a joint session of the General Assembly that he wants a number of incentives to attract business and spur job growth. He vowed he would veto any bill to increase taxes and called on the legislature to help him in bipartisan fashion to put the state on “secure financial footing.”

Former Gov. Timothy M. Kaine left McDonnell a two-year budget that was balanced using a $1.9 billion tax increase, which McDonnell has flatly rejected. McDonnell and the legislature must find about $2 billion in cuts on top of the $2.3 billion that Kaine proposed.

McDonnell, inaugurated Saturday as Virginia’s 71st governor, said it was too soon to deliver his specifics on the budget but that his administration will offer a series of budget amendments this week.

Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch

Free health clinics plead with legislators to stop cuts

Virginia’s health clinics for the uninsured gave state legislators something to chew on Wednesday: a box of saltwater taffy and a plea for no more cuts in the state’s medical safety net.

Already stung by a proposed 10 percent cut in state aid, free clinics and other health providers are visiting the General Assembly with a message to hold the line on money for services to people with little or no insurance. Demand for services to new patients has increased more than 20 percent in two years at 58 free clinics across Virginia.

Representatives of free clinics were joined Wednesday by the foundation and community health providers, who will bill patients what they can afford to pay. They already have support from Del. John M. O’Bannon III, R-Henrico, a doctor who touts the demand for services at a new clinic opened by CrossOver Ministry in his West End district.

Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch

Local and VCU

Suspect in 8 Va. deaths might have left explosives

A man suspected of killing eight people before disappearing into dense Virginia woods surrendered at sunrise Wednesday, and bomb teams searched a house they said he might have rigged with explosives.

Christopher Bryan Speight, 39, was wearing a bulletproof vest but had no weapons when he turned himself in to police around 7:10 a.m., Sheriff O. Wilson Staples said. Authorities say at one point he fired at a state police helicopter, rupturing its gas tank and forcing it to land, but no one on board was hurt.

Staples said Wednesday that Speight co-owned a home where three bodies were found inside and four outside. The eighth victim, who was found barely alive on the road just outside the house, died at the hospital.

Authorities have not revealed a motive for the shooting or said how Speight was related to the victims.

Brief by The Associated Press

National and International

Mass. loss deals blow to Obama health care overhaul by costing Democrats 60th Senate vote

It’s gut-check time for President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats on their health care overhaul.

A stinging loss Tuesday in Massachusetts cost Obama the 60-vote Senate majority he was counting on to pass the far-reaching legislation. The outcome splintered the rank and file on how to salvage the bill, energized congressional Republicans and left Obama and the Democrats with fallback options that range from bad to worse.

A leading idea involves persuading House Democrats to pass a Senate bill that many of them have serious problems with. Another alternative calls for Senate Democrats to promise to make changes to the bill later on. Some Democrats said their big hopes would have to be scaled back.

Brief by The Associated Press

Body of US diplomat killed in quake arrives in LA

The body of U.S. diplomat Victoria DeLong, the first American reported killed by the earthquake in Haiti, has arrived in Los Angeles.

An eight-person honor guard from Los Angeles Airport Police carried the flag-draped coffin to an awaiting white hearse after the Boeing 737 arrived at LAX Tuesday night. Four members of DeLong’s immediate family were at the airport to receive the casket.

DeLong, a 27-year diplomat and native of California, was a cultural affairs officer and had been stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince since February of last year. She was killed when her home collapsed in the magnitude 7.0 quake on Jan. 12.

Brief by The Associated Press

Afghan official: Joint panel agrees to boost Afghan security forces to 400,000 within 5 years

Afghanistan’s finance minister says a joint panel has agreed to boost the number of Afghan security forces from the current level of about 191,000 to 400,000 within five years.

The announcement came Wednesday after a meeting of Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board to finalize a government action plan to be presented at a Jan. 28 international conference in London to shore up the Afghan leadership.

The panel includes Afghan government representatives and officials from the U.N. and major troop contributing countries.

Finance Minister Finance Omar Zakhilwal says the government is calling for 240,000 Afghan soldiers and 160,000 national police to be ready in three to five years. That’s up from about 94,000 Afghan police officers and 97,000 soldiers now.

Brief by The Associated Press