Briefs

Local & VCU

8-year-old autistic boy found, remains in stable condition

An 8-year-old, autistic child who was found Friday, five days after wandering away during a family outing, remained in stable condition yesterday morning at VCU Medical Center, according to a spokeswoman there.

Robert A. Wood Jr. was found by a volunteer searcher Friday who was looking near a quarry less than a mile from where the child was last seen. He slipped away from his father Sunday afternoon within an 80-acre park.

Robert was airlifted to VCU Medical Center Children’s Hospital by a Virginia State Police helicopter shortly after 2 p.m. and was listed Friday night in good condition.

Robert, who cannot communicate verbally, apparently had been moving about the area throughout the search and may have benefited from stockpiles of blankets and water left in the woods by rescue teams and that were made visible at night by light sticks.

Gov. Bob McDonnell on Friday praised the “true sense of community and selflessness” displayed by those involved in the search. “I can only imagine the fear, uncertainty and sadness that Robert’s family endured during this difficult time,” he said.

Brief by The Richmond Times-Dispatch

Virginia Tech develops plan to curb alcohol abuse

Virginia Tech has developed a plan to curb alcohol abuse over the next seven years.

The report released Friday says 57 percent of Virginia Tech students drink beyond moderation and about 500 injuries occur each year at the school as a result of alcohol misuse and abuse.

The plan reportedly calls for engaging student leaders and providing risk-management training for student clubs. A campus task force has also called for a commitment to expanded opportunities that don’t involve drinking.

Tech administrators are writing budget requests to fund the report’s recommendations.

Brief by The Associated Press

Former VCU student struck by vehicle, killed

Josephine Varnier Stone stopped by Penny Lane Pub in downtown Richmond on Friday night to say hello to friends and former co-workers before heading to a show at The National. She had planned on returning after the concert and left some of her possessions behind.

But Stone, 23, was struck by a motor vehicle shortly before 10 p.m. as she walked toward the East Broad Street concert hall. She was pronounced dead at VCU Medical Center.

Stone was hit as she walked along Fifth Street by a vehicle being pulled into the Hilton Garden Inn garage by a valet parking attendant, said Richmond Police Capt. Yvonne Crowder.

Crowder said police will consult with the commonwealth’s attorney’s office on Monday to determine charges in the case.

“Im just astounded because Josie and I had been corresponding this past week about all the things that were going on in her life, all these good things,” said Jeff South, an associate professor in the mass communications department at VCU.

Stone was married on Halloween and would have celebrated her wedding anniversary Monday. “It was her favorite holiday,” Haegele said.

South recalled watching an excited Stone receive her degree, “and the promise she had as a journalist. I guess it just shows how quickly life can turn.”

Brief by The Richmond Times-Dispatch

National & International

Reports: Prosecutions going up for war zone crime

As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down, the number of people indicted and convicted by the U.S. for bribery, theft and other reconstruction-related crimes in both countries is rapidly rising, according to two government reports released Sunday.

In the past 13 months U.S. investigators in Iraq secured the indictments of 22 people for alleged aid-related offenses, bringing the total to 69 since the SIGIR office was created in 2004. Convictions stand at 57. Several hundred more suspects are under scrutiny in 102 open investigations and those numbers are expected to climb.

The rise in caseloads derives partly from spinoff investigations, where suspects facing prosecution lead investigators to other suspects, said Jon Novak, SIGIR’s assistant inspector general for investigations.

The inspectors general are only two of the U.S. government offices looking into fraud, waste and abuse. Others include State Department inspectors and Army criminal investigators.

Brief by The Associated Press

Activists slam US studio for filming in China city

Rights activists have criticized a Hollywood studio for filming a buddy comedy in an eastern Chinese city where a blind, self-taught activist lawyer is being held under house arrest and reportedly beaten.

Relativity Media is shooting part of the comedy “21 and Over” in Linyi, a city in Shandong province where the activist Chen Guangcheng’s village is located. Authorities have turned Chen’s village of Dongshigu into a hostile, no-go zone and activists, foreign diplomats and reporters have been turned back, threatened and had stones thrown at them by men patrolling the village.

The news that Relativity Media had chosen Linyi, a city of 10 million, as a location for its film and was touting its close government connections comes at a time when activists have renewed their attention on Chen.

Relativity declined comment but said in a press release that filming in Linyi began last Wednesday. In the release, Linyi’s top Communist Party official Zhang Shajun is quoted as calling Relativity’s chief executive Ryan Kavanaugh a “good friend” while Relativity’s Co-President Tucker Tooley describes Linyi as an “amazing” place.

Brief by The Associated Press

Snow smacks Northeast; power could be out for days

Millions of people from Maine to Maryland were without power as an unseasonably early storm dumped heavy, wet snow over the weekend on a region more used to gaping at leaves in October than shoveling snow.

The snow was due to stop falling in New England late Sunday, but it could be days before many of the 2.7 million without electricity see it restored, officials warned.

At least three deaths were blamed on the weather, and states of emergency were declared in New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and parts of New York.

Compounding the storm’s impact were still-leafy trees, which gave the snow something to hang onto and that put tremendous weight on branches, said National Weather Service spokesman Chris Vaccaro. That led to limbs breaking off and contributed to the widespread outages.

The 750,000 who lost power in Connecticut broke a record for the state that was set when the remnants of Hurricane Irene hit the state in August. People could be without electricity for as long as a week, said Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

Brief by The Associated Press