Kaine signs repeal of abusive driver fees

RICHMOND - Gov. Tim Kaine signed emergency legislation ending abusive driver fees Thursday afternoon. Bipartisan support in the General Assembly passed the bill earlier this month.

"After six months of implementation, it was clear that the fees did not improve the safety of Virginia highways," Kaine said in a statement his office issued announcing his signature.

Kaine called for a repeal of the fees in January after reports that they came nowhere close to generating their expected $65 million a year for highway maintenance, and highway deaths continued to mount.

"This was simply the wrong way to go about funding transportation. And today is the day we correct all that," said Sen. R. Edward Houck, D-Spotsylvania, who proposed the bill to repeal the fees.

Virginia high-schoolers make biofuel

PRINCE GEORGE - Students at Prince George High School are transforming recycled cooking grease into biodiesel fuel. Biodiesel, which has become a popular fuel alternative, is a nontoxic renewable energy source produced mostly from soybeans, but it also can be processed from recycled oil.

Randy Bullock, the manufacturing and production systems teacher, said if the school buys an $8,000 processor, production capacity could increase to 300 gallons a day. Prince George won a state Career and Technical Education award for the project last summer.

The biodiesel is being stockpiled in the school until enough is produced to start running one or two buses with it, Bullock said.

Currently, one farmer is using it in his tractors. Other farmers have expressed interest in buying the fuel, Bullock said, and they might start selling it soon. Bullock also uses the fuel in his sport utility vehicle.

For diesel engines newer than 1995, no modifications are necessary to switch to biodiesel fuel, Bullock said.

VCU student robbed, murdered in Richmond park

RICHMOND - Richmond police said a 19-year-old Virginia Commonwealth University student from the Shenandoah Valley was robbed and shot to death early Thursday in a city park.

Police and VCU officials said police responded to reports of a shooting at 1 a.m. and found Tyler Binsted of Mount Jackson.

Authorities said Binsted, a sophomore sculpture major at VCU, and a female friend were walking in Byrd Park and were robbed of their car keys by two male teenagers. Binsted was shot in the back as he and his friend walked away.

The suspects fled in Binsted's car, a navy blue Honda Accord.
University officials said on the school's Web site that VCU will do everything it can to help catch and prosecute the suspects.

Train derails in Richmond

RICHMOND - A freight train derailment early Thursday in suburban Richmond blocked some Amtrak traffic along the East Coast.

Fourteen cars of an 81-car freight train being pulled by a CSX locomotive derailed in Henrico County just after midnight Thursday, about 500 yards north of one of the Richmond train stations. The locomotive also jumped the tracks. The train was en route to Rocky Mount, N.C., from Cumberland, Md. There were no injuries

Amtrak officials said service from Washington to Richmond and Newport News resumed about 2:45 p.m. Thursday, but only one track was open, so significant delays were expected.

The service disruption may continue through Friday, the company said in a news release.

Other trains affected include routes between New York and Charlotte, N.C., Savannah, Ga. and Miami; and Lorton, Va., to Sanford, Fla.

Amtrak spokeswoman Karina Romero said Amtrak was working to provide alternate transportation for passengers, but there weren't enough buses to carry everyone. She said Amtrak was working with passengers on a case-by-case basis.

-Associated Press

 

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