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NO VA OFFSHORE DRILLING HEARINGS
The U.S. Interior Department said Thursday it is indefinitely suspending the remaining public hearings on the proposed sale of oil and gas leases of Virginia while it focuses on the Gulf oil spill.
Some environmentalists hailed the decision as the death knell for East Coast drilling because of the deadly and destructive spill in the Gulf, but the government said that is not the case.
"This announcement is just concerning the meetings," said Caryl Fagot, a spokeswoman for the Interior's Mines Management Service, which oversees offshore energy leasing. (WTOP)
TOP CHEF'S CALICCHIO ADVOCATES 'FOOD JOBS'
Celebrity chef Tom Colicchio appeared on the George Washington University campus Wednesday afternoon to promote good food and good jobs. Colicchio is most famous for his role as head judge in Bravo's Top Chef series, now filming right here in Washington, D.C.
The event was held by the Progressive Policy Institute as part of its call for a "Good Food, Good Jobs" initiative. By promoting and expanding community food projects such as urban farms and CSAs, neighborhood food processing activities, and urban farm fishing (grow tilapia in vacant warehouses!), the government can promote good nutrition, affordability and availability of fresh foods, as well as jobs in areas with few healthy food options and high rates of unemployment, according to PPI and Joel Berg, author of PPI's report. (DCist)
POLICE INVESTIGATE INCIDENT HOURS BEFORE LOVE'S DEATH
Charlottesvile police are investigating accounts that University of Virginia lacrosse player George Huguely V was involved in an altercation with 22-year-old Yeardley Love hours before Love was found dead in her apartment.
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Police spokesman Lt. Gary Pleasants said Huguely and Love were at a restaurant in Charlottesville when the alleged altercation took place. He said he did not know whether violence was involved.
"We're not going to go into any specifics" regarding different leads, Pleasants said. He said the police department is being inundated with calls and information indicating Huguely and Love had more than one violent encounter. A number of tips are purely rumors, he said. (Washington Examiner)
COUNTY DEFENDS FEDERAL IMMIGRATION INITIATIVE
The top spokesman for Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) defended the county policy of checking nonviolent offenders against federal databases for immigration violations despite NAACP claims that the initiative is damaging relations with the county's Latino population.
"There may be people out there who are criminals elsewhere," said James Keary, communications director for the executive. "There could be a murderer out there. Who knows?"
Since December, Prince George's has participated in the Secure Communities initiative, a program that allows the fingerprints of those arrested in the county to be shared electronically with the U.S. Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Keary said the county gives the fingerprints to the state and FBI, who then passes the information to ICE officials. (Gazette.net)
