Briefs

Local & VCU

Train shed focus of Shockoe Bottom plan

Richmonds strategy for revitalizing Shockoe Bottom will begin with peeling the corrugated metal siding off the Main Street Station train shed.

Then, the historic landmark is envisioned to be turned into a glassy beacon for travelers and a hub of creativity and innovation.

Mayor Dwight C. Jones rolled out Tuesday a long-awaited plan for Shockoe Bottom that was first envisioned in 2009 as city officials were considering a large development proposal that included a minor-league ballpark.

Instead of a ballpark, the Shockoe Economic Revitalization Strategy recommends a broad framework of ideas for development, as well as marketing strategies and other initiatives that build on a scheduled third phase of renovations to the 1901 train station.

The $28 million project, which is largely federally funded and scheduled to begin in June, will enclose the two-level shed, or concourse, in glass and allow Franklin Street to be reopened between downtown and Shockoe Bottom. The project is slated for completion in 2014.

Brief by The Richmond Times-Dispatch

Six charged in ring that allegedly provided Va. driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants

Six Richmond-area residents, including a former Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles employee, will be tried in February in connection with a fake-identification operation that processed drivers-license applications for illegal immigrants.

According to court documents, from October 2010 until last month, DMV customer-service representative Roberto Lainez, 23, helped process drivers-license applications for illegal immigrants in exchange for bribes.

Lainez was arraigned before U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson in Richmond on Monday. Lainez pleaded not guilty.

Five others charged in a 13-count indictment last month also pleaded not guilty Monday and will be tried starting Feb. 6. Lainez, who is free on bond, will be tried by Hudson; the rest, still in custody, will be tried by a jury.

Kenia Vanessa Gomez Mendez, 28, Benjamin Paz-Villalobos, 32, Enoc Doblado Zuniga, 29, and Manuel Alexander Saban Bedoya, 24, are charged with conspiracy to commit identification fraud and making a false claim to U.S. citizenship.

Zuniga and Paz-Villalobos also are charged with illegal re-entry, having already been removed once before.

Brief by The Richmond Times-Dispatch

Cuccinelli testifies against EPA electrical utility regulation

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli testified before a U.S. House committee today on what he said could be the devastating impact of a proposed Environmental Protection Agency regulation on Virginia and the nation.

Saying he was testifying on behalf of Virginias electrical utility consumers, Cuccinelli said the EPAs Maximum Achievable Control Technology rule, which creates national standards for emission levels for certain utilities, could be “a financial death blow for businesses struggling to meet payroll and families on fixed incomes.”

Cuccinelli said the regulation could increase electricity prices between 10 and 35 percent and cause power plant closures because of the cost of retrofitting the facilities. He also cited job loss estimates of 180,000 between 2013 and 2020.

Brief by The Richmond Times-Dispatch

National & International

Gas could indicate new Japan nuclear plant trouble

Officials detected a radioactive gas associated with nuclear fission at Japans tsunami-damaged atomic power plant Wednesday, indicating there could be a new problem at one of its reactors. They injected a substance that neutralizes nuclear reactions as a precaution.

Gas from inside the reactor indicated the presence of radioactive xenon, which could be the byproduct of unexpected nuclear fission. Boric acid was being injected through a cooling pipe as a countermeasure because it can counteract nuclear reactions.

The Tokyo Electric Power Co., or TEPCO, said there was no rise in the reactors temperature, pressure or radiation levels. The company said the radioactive materials inside the reactor had not reached criticality – the point when nuclear reactions are self-sustaining – and the detection of the xenon would have no major impact on their efforts to keep the reactor cool and stable.

Hiroyuki Imari, a spokesman with the Nuclear Industrial Safety Agency, said the detection of the gas was not believed to indicate a major problem, but its cause was being investigated.

A 12-mile (20-kilometer) exclusion zone has been in effect since the earthquake and tsunami on March 11 crippled the facility north of Tokyo, sending three of its reactors into meltdowns, touching off fires and triggering several explosions.

Brief by The Associated Press

Alaska soldier held on suspicion of espionage

A 22-year-old U.S. Army soldier based in Alaska is being held without bail on suspicion of espionage.

The Anchorage Daily News reports Spec. William C. Millay was arrested Friday.

The FBI spokesman for Alaska, Eric Gonzalez, says his agency and military personnel investigated the case. Millay is based at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage. He was jailed at the Anchorage jail but Gonzalez says Millay will be prosecuted through the military justice system.

Gonzalez says there is no connection between Millay and leaks of information to WikiLeaks.

According to a weekend story in The Army Times, Millay was a military policeman from Owensboro, Ky., and was assigned to the 164th Military Police Company. Most members of that company are on a year deployment to Afghanistan that started in March.

Brief by The Associated Press

Global health fund probe uncovers $20m in losses

A global health fund investigating its own losses in grant money said Tuesday that 12 more probes had turned up an additional $20 million of mismanagement, alleged fraud and misspending.
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria posted the results – contained in three fraud probes, eight audits and an internal review of travel involving about $1 billion in grant – on its website.

Earlier probes by the funds internal watchdog, the inspector generals office, had detected about $53 million in losses, according to fund documents, some unpublished, provided by senior officials.
He said the fund, which has approved more than $22 billion in grants since its creation in 2002 as a major financing tool, is demanding repayment of the money – and two new cases in Nigeria and India could lead to criminal charges. The fund says it has recovered $19 million in misspent or undocumented money so far.

Brief by The Associated Press