BRIEFS: NEWS NEAR YOU

By Staff Reports

Published: January 3, 2009

NEWS NEAR YOU

Chesterfield Members of the 52nd Basic Recruit Class of the Chesterfield County Police Academy will graduate Friday. The graduation ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. at Colonial Heights Baptist Church, 17201 Jefferson Davis Highway.

Hanover Christmas trees can be recycled at all Hanover County solid waste convenience centers from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. They can also be taken to the transfer station on U.S. 301 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For details, call (804) 365-6181.

Richmond People interested in Richmond history can now explore the Valentine Richmond History Center from the comfort of their own computers. A portion of the museum's collection is now available online via a searchable database linked to the center's Web site. The database features items from the permanent collection, including fine art, decorative art, photographs, and archival material. Of note are works by artists William L. Sheppard, Edward F. Peticolas, Edward V. Valentine, Margaret May Dashiell and Conrad Wise Chapman. To use the database, visit http://www.richmondhistorycenter.com

AROUND THE STATE

Norfolk The Navy's newest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the George H.W. Bush, will be commissioned next Saturday at Norfolk Naval Station. President George W. Bush will deliver the principal address. The last Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, the George H.W. Bush will be initially homeported in Norfolk and assigned to the U.S. Atlantic Fleet. The carrier towers 20 stories above the waterline, displaces about 95,000 tons of water, has a flight deck width of 252 feet, and at 1,092 feet, is nearly as long as the Empire State Building is tall.

Manassas Police are investigating a bank robbery yesterday outside Manassas, the area's third in nine days. The latest robbery happened around 2:25 p.m. at the Commerce Bank on Balls Ford Road. The description of the suspect matches that of a robber who has hit three other banks in the past two months. In yesterday's incident, a man approached a teller, implied he was armed and demanded money. He left in a red pickup that was possibly stolen earlier in the day in Prince William County. About 25 minutes earlier, a man with a knife, matching the bank robber's description, tried to rob an employee at a Dairy Queen on Sudley Manor Drive.

Virginia Beach Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson aired his annual predictions yesterday, forecasting an economic recovery and a rejection of Islam as a "religion of hate." "The Lord said the economy of your nation will recover," Robertson told a New Year's Day prayer session, which he broadcast on "The 700 Club." While he said the economy will rebound during Barack Obama's presidency, Robertson said it will come with a dose of more government. "The people will welcome socialism in order to relieve their pain," he said.

Norfolk Sizable amounts of rain in November and December helped Norfolk end the year just shy of its normal rainfall totals, the National Weather Service said yesterday. The weather service recorded 44.8 inches of rain in Norfolk in 2008; the normal amount is 45.74 inches, said Lyle Alexander, a meteorologist at the Wakefield office. "Officially, the area is out of a drought," he said. At the end of August, Norfolk was 7.43 inches below normal for the year.

-- From Staff and Wire Reports