Briefs

Local and VCU

Chesterfield man faces illegal dentistry charges

A Chesterfield County man is charged with performing dental procedures on patients without a license inside his Hull Street Road home, from which police have seized dental equipment, supplies and records.

Jose A. Hernandez, 52, of the 7900 block of Hull Street Road, was arrested Feb. 11 after police received a complaint about him from the Virginia Department of Health Professions, Chesterfield police Sgt. David Higgins said Friday.

“We received information that he was targeting individuals without dental insurance,” Higgins said.

After further investigation, police determined that Hernandez was performing “invasive dental procedures,” such as tooth extractions and fillings, inside his residence, Higgins said. Police have charged Hernandez in connection with at least one patient but suspect there are many other.

Briefs by the Richmond Times-Dispatch

Benedictine considers move to Goochland abbey

Two years after committing to stay in Richmond for the long haul, Benedictine High School is moving forward with plans to relocate the military academy to Goochland County and sell its city property to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

The 100-year-old school would move into the abbey for the Benedictine Society of Virginia, the monastery in charge of the school. Most of the academy’s extracurricular activities, including all sports except basketball, already are held on the 50-acre parcel on River Road.

VMFA would use the North Sheppard Street school building located directly behind the museum to stage exhibits, freeing up coveted museum space.

The museum and the high school have discussed the idea for years but agreed in writing Thursday to pursue the sale for an undisclosed price, said Bryan Walsh, financial adviser for the society. The property is assessed by the city at $7.8 million.

The high school sent an e-mail to parents Friday announcing a Tuesday meeting to lay out its plans, which call for moving the school by the start of the 2012-13 school year.

Briefs by the Richmond Times-Dispatch

Anderson Cooper addresses Richmond Forum

Speaking to a packed audience at Richmond’s Landmark Theater on Saturday night,  Anderson Cooper, whose career has since taken him into disaster and war zones all over the world, described how he sat in a hut in Somalia with a husband and wife whose young son had just died of starvation.

“They were using what little water they had left to wash his body,” Cooper said. “You could see the hollowed-out circles around his eyes. You could see the ribs which were unobscured by muscle or fat. I will never forget his legs were as thin as the twigs in the outer layer of the hut they were living in.”

Cooper, who spoke as part of The Richmond Forum series, urged the audience not to turn away from the tragedies they see reported every day.

“It is very easy in this day and age to kind of look the other way,” he said. “I think it is important for us not to look away, but to look directly at the things that frighten us most.”

Cooper also charmed the crowd with stories of how he essentially stumbled into becoming a broadcast journalist. He didn’t set out to be a TV anchor, he said, and he is suspicious when aspiring young reporters tell him that’s what they want to do.

“It’s like a kid telling me they want to be a politician,” he said. “I think you need to be a real person before you want to become a fake one.”

Briefs by the Richmond Times-Dispatch

National and International

A driving question for Colo. marijuana users

The surge of medical marijuana use in Colorado has started another debate in the state Legislature: What constitutes driving while high?

Lawmakers are considering setting a DUI blood-content threshold for marijuana that would make Colorado one of three states with such a provision in statute – and one of the most liberal, according to Rep. Claire Levy, one of the bill’s sponsors.

Under the proposal, drivers who test positive for 5 nanograms or more of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, would be considered too impaired to drive if the substance is present in their blood at the time they’re pulled over or within two hours.

While it’s already illegal to drive while impaired by drugs, states have taken different approaches to the issue. Twelve states, including Arizona, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa and Rhode Island, have a zero-tolerance policy for driving with any presence of an illegal substance, said Anne Teigen, policy specialist at the National Conference of State Legislatures. Minnesota has the same policy but exempts marijuana.

Brief by The Associated Press

Wisconsin governor seizes chance to take on unions

It took Scott Walker only a few weeks to push the Capitol into political chaos.

The newly-elected Republican governor of Wisconsin has set his sights on forcing public workers to pay more for benefits as he looks to balance the state’s budget – savings he needs to help cover the cost of tax cuts he demanded the day he took office.

Walker insists that his push to force concessions from public employees by doubling their health insurance contributions and requiring them to pay half their pension costs is all about balancing the budget and not busting unions. But the bill also would strip them of most collective bargaining rights.

Wisconsin faces a $137 million budget shortfall by July. The concessions Walker seeks from the state workers would save $30 million over four months. He would balance the budget this year mainly through refinancing debt.

The increased pension and health benefit costs would save Wisconsin $300 million over the next two years, which would help buy down a projected $3.6 billion shortfall.

Brief by The Associated Press

Thousands march in Morocco to seek reform

Thousands of people marched in cities across Morocco on Sunday, demanding a new constitution to bring more democracy in the North African kingdom amid the wave of Arab world upheaval.

Demonstrators shouted slogans calling for economic opportunity, educational reform, better health services and help in coping with rising living costs during a march on central Hassan II Avenue in the capital, Rabat.

The day of demonstration was Morocco’s entree into the series of protests that have swept up North Africa and the wider Arab world after popular uprisings brought down longtime autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt.

The main target of Sunday’s rallies was parliament, where many Moroccans fear their voices are not heard. Still, the protests are likely to pressure King Mohammed VI, who has been seen as a reformer compared to his iron-fisted father, Hassan II, and who still holds absolute authority.

Plainclothes police mingled among the demonstrators in Rabat, though police were generally discreet.

Most marches took place peacefully, officials said.

Brief by The Associated Press