Briefs

Local and VCU

Man wrecks stolen vehicle near VCU, is arrested

A man was being held on 10 charges Wednesday after Richmond police said he was spotted driving a stolen vehicle and then wrecked while trying to flee.

Richmond police Capt. Harvey Powers said the incident began shortly before midnight when an officer on patrol downtown near VCU’s Siegel Center spotted what was confirmed as a stolen vehicle.

When the officer tried to pull over the vehicle, the driver sped away, but a short distance later crashed into two parked cars near Lombardy and Grace streets. The impact pushed those two cars into two more, causing slight damage to those two but significant damage to the other three vehicles.

The driver jumped from his wrecked vehicle and tried to flee on foot but was quickly apprehended.

Later this morning, Hill was charged with single counts of felony eluding police, felony grand larceny, operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license, reckless driving, having an open container of alcohol and failure to wear a seatbelt. Hill also was charged with four counts of hit and run/property damage.

Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch

Richmond planners OK first phase of greenway project

The city of Richmond’s plan to start construction this summer on a pedestrian and bicycling trail in North Side is moving forward, despite concerns that 40 to 50 mature trees might be destroyed.

The Richmond Planning Commission voted 6-0 on Tuesday to approve plans for the first phase of the Cannon Creek Greenway after the area’s City Council representative, neighborhood leaders and bicycling advocates urged support for the project.

The 10-foot-wide asphalt trail is planned along the Richmond-Henrico Turnpike from Valley Road to Dove Street.

The Virginia National Guard is planning to clear the 0.4-mile route this summer after working with community volunteers over the past several years to clean up years of illegal dumping in the area.

No one objected to the plan for the greenway during Tuesday’s hearing, but the city’s Urban Forestry Committee has expressed concern about the possible destruction of so many trees.

Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch

VCU submits proposal to build a new Children’s Pavilion

The VCU Health System has submitted a proposal to the state Health Department to build a children’s outpatient facility and parking deck at a property on Broad Street.

The proposed outpatient facility would replace the existing Children’s Pavilion at 1001 E. Marshall St. and would be built on a lot between North 10th Street and North 11th Street on Broad used for surface parking.

“It’s the development of a medical office building forpediatric services,” said John Duval, CEO of MCV Hospitals, part of the VCU Health System.

“We are talking about relocating the existing Children’s Pavilion and occupants and consolidating pediatric outpatient clinical, diagnostic and treatment and administrative services from around the campus,” Duval said.

The existing Children’s Pavilion is in a building that used to house the Richmond Eye and Ear Hospital.

Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch

National and International

Democrats attempt to halt vote on anti-union bill in Wisconsin Assembly

Democrats kept the Wisconsin Assembly up during Tuesday night with a droning filibuster in another desperate attempt to block the Republican governor’s plan to strip public sector workers of nearly all of their bargaining rights.

The debate marked the first movement in days in what has become a high-stakes game of political chicken between Democratic lawmakers and Gov. Scott Walker. The governor says the bill is needed to help solve the state’s looming budget deficit, but Democrats see it as an all-out assault on unions, their staunchest campaign ally.

Republicans control both the Assembly and Senate, but Democratic senators have blocked a vote in their chamber by fleeing to Illinois. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of demonstrators have descended on the state Capitol in protests that entered their ninth day Wednesday.

“Can you hear that?” Rep. Tamara Grigsby, D-Milwaukee, screamed into her microphone. “Can you hear the cheers? Can you hear the chants? Can you hear the voices of the people who elected you? How can you not hear that?”

Brief by The Associated Press

Iran’s president: Mideast upheaval will reach US

Iran’s president said Wednesday he is certain the wave of unrest in the Middle East will spread to Europe and North America, bringing an end to governments he accused of oppressing and humiliating people.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose own country resorted to violence to disperse an opposition rally earlier this month, also condemned Libya’s use of force against demonstrators, calling it “grotesque.”

Iran’s hard-line leaders have sought to claim some credit for the uprisings in Arab nations, saying they are evidence that its 1979 Islamic Revolution, which ousted the U.S.-backed shah, is being replayed.

“The world is on the verge of big developments. Changes will be forthcoming and will engulf the whole world from Asia to Africa and from Europe to North America,” Ahmadinejad told a news conference Wednesday.

Brief by The Associated Press

Report: Libyan aircraft crashes after troops refuse bombing orders

A Libyan military aircraft crashed Wednesday southwest of Benghazi after the crew refused to follow orders to bomb the city, Libya’s Quryna newspaper reported.

The pilot and co-pilot parachuted out of the craft, and the plane crashed in an uninhabited area, the paper said.

The Russian-made Sukhoi-22 aircraft crashed west of the city of Ijdabiya, 160 km (100 miles) southwest of Benghazi, Quryna reported, citing military sources.

When the protests began, Quryna reported regime propaganda. But it later switched, reporting on the protests and casualty figures.

Brief by the CNN Wire staff