Briefs
Local and VCU
Planned Parenthood to retrain in reporting risks
Health care provider Planned Parenthood will retrain employees who deal with patients in how to report potential risks to minors, following the release of secretly recorded videotapes by an anti-abortion group that alleges they show clinic staff in Richmond, Va., and elsewhere counseling a man posing as a pimp for underage prostitutes.
Planned Parenthood, which has more than 800 health clinics and 11,000 employees, announced the retraining effort Monday. It also said it was changing its disciplinary policy to termination in all proved cases in which there has been a failure to report. The policy previously included punishments such as leave without pay and retraining.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America Inc., which has national offices in New York and Washington, D.C., says it delivers vital reproductive health care and sex education to millions of people. It said Monday the goal of retraining was to show a “firm commitment” to reporting any potential harm to minors.
Federation spokesman Stuart Schear emphasized that the training was not new but was meant as a refresher. He said training will follow state laws where affiliates have clinics.
“We want to be crystal clear for those millions of people who come to us and trust us that we will never put a minor at risk,” he said.
Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch
Richmond revising procedures for computer reserves
The Richmond school system is changing how it deploys new computers and other technology after a review that was prompted by a critical report by the city auditor.
A review by outside professionals affirmed the school system’s practice of keeping a reserve of computers in case of emergencies, but it suggested allowing the number of units to decrease if they prove to be reliable, School Board member Maurice A. Henderson said.
The school system generally has maintained a reserve of 50 to 100 units, with currently 106 spares among 12,724 computers system-wide, officials said. That amounts to 0.8 percent of the units in reserve.
By comparison, the Henrico County school system has about 38,000 computers with about 1,000, or 2.6 percent, in reserve, spokeswoman Mychael Dickerson said. The Chesterfield County school system does not keep computers in reserve, spokesman Shawn Smith said.
Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch
Chesterfield School Board approves textbook for Bible history course
The Chesterfield County School Board voted 5-0 to approve a textbook for an as-yet unscheduled elective course on the Bible’s impact on history, but not before a bit of rejoicing by one board member and a warning from another.
“Religion is a very personal thing,” said Marshall W. Trammell Jr. of Bermuda District. “We need to be clear that we’re not promoting the Bible. We’re not trying to impose one religion over another.”
His comments came moments after Matoaca District member U. Omarh Rajah called the Bible “the greatest book of all time.”
“What a great time to rejoice,” Rajah said. “To me, this is a hurdle we’ve jumped across.”
The class as conceived would explore ways in which the Bible has affected history. But because of funding cuts, a lack of student interest and qualified instructors, it has not been offered since the board approved it in 2009, and it isn’t likely to be on next year’s schedule.
Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch
National and International
Police: drunken driving suspect pulled self over
Police in Ohio can’t take too much credit for stopping a woman they say was drinking and driving — they say she pulled herself over.
Officers in the Lake Erie town of Sandusky say the woman stopped because she thought she saw police lights, but it turns out the flashing lights were from a skating rink sign.
The Sandusky Register reports that the woman’s car got stuck in a snowbank near the sign when she stopped early Monday, and another motorist called police.
Officers say they took 27-year-old Nicole Scott to jail on charges of operating a vehicle under the influence. Police say Scott denied she had been driving. There is no telephone listing for Scott, and it isn’t clear whether she has an attorney.
Brief by The Associated Press
Records show leaves cluttered home of Ohio killer
Records show that leaves filled the Ohio home of an unemployed tree-cutter who admitted killing two women and a boy and stuffing their remains into a tree.
The Columbus Dispatch reports the first two officers who entered the Mount Vernon home of Matthew Hoffman on Nov. 14 found a 3-foot pile of leaves on the living room floor.
After Hoffman was taken away in handcuffs, the detectives found a kidnapped 13-year-old girl alive in the basement, bound on a bed made of leaves. Back upstairs, they discovered bagged leaves hanging on a living room wall, and a bathroom lined with more than 110 bags of leaves.
One detective says the leaves may indicate Hoffman planned to set fire to the house.
The Dispatch obtained detectives’ notes through a public-records request.
Brief by The Associated Press
Two Koreas end defense talks without progress
North Korean military officers stalked out of the first official talks with rival South Korea in months Wednesday, dashing hopes for eased tensions after a deadly artillery attack in November increased fears of war on the peninsula.
In a sign of how troubled the relationship is, Wednesday’s meeting was sunk because the two sides disagreed about what should be on the agenda of their next talks — what many had hoped would be the first high-level defense talks in years.
On Wednesday, South Korea argued the high-level talks should focus on two attacks against it last year, while the North Koreans demanded discussion of other military issues as well, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.
South Korea blames the North for a warship sinking last March that killed 46 sailors, though North Korea flatly denies its involvement. Tensions sharply escalated further in November when the North launched an artillery barrage on a front-line South Korean island, killing four people.
Brief by The Associated Press
