BLACKSBURG, Va. – A manhunt for an escaped convict suspected in the slayings of a hospital guard and a sheriff’s deputy shut down the Virginia Tech campus on the first day of classes Monday as sharpshooters were posted on university rooftops and students scrambled for safety.
Authorities later captured William Morva, 24, after he was found hiding in a briar patch along an off-campus trail, Blacksburg police said. The spot was about 150 yards from where the sheriff’s deputy was slain during the intense search Monday morning.
Morva had escaped from a hospital – about two miles from campus – where he had been taken for treatment of a sprained wrist and ankle early Sunday.
Police said Morva overpowered a deputy at the hospital, took the deputy’s gun and then shot an unarmed hospital security guard.
D.C.: Black boxes in new vehicles
Car owners need to be told if their vehicles are equipped with event data recorders, commonly called “black boxes,” the government said Monday. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said automakers, beginning with 2011 model year vehicles, will need to disclose the existence of the technology in owner’s manuals. Privacy groups have said many owners don’t know the boxes are in their cars. About 64 percent of 2005 model year vehicles have the equipment. GM, Ford and Toyota Motor Corp. currently install the devices in virtually all new vehicles.
Hinckley can still visit his parents
Would-be assassin John W. Hinckley Jr. is not a threat to society and can continue leaving a Washington mental hospital to visit his parents, a federal judge said. Hinckley, who said he shot President Reagan to impress actress Jodie Foster, was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1982. Last year, a federal judge approved Hinckley’s request to leave St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington for seven extended visits with his parents in Virginia. Hinckley is down to his last visit and he asked a federal judge Aug. 1 to extend that order.
N.Y.: Church fires female teacher
The minister of a church that dismissed a female Sunday School teacher after adopting what it called a literal interpretation of the Bible says a woman can perform any job – outside of the church. The Watertown First Baptist Church dismissed Mary Lambert on Aug. 9 with a letter explaining that the church had adopted an interpretation that prohibits women from teaching men. She had taught there for 54 years. The Rev. Timothy LaBouf, who also serves on the Watertown City Council, issued a statement saying his stance against women teaching men in Sunday school would not affect his decisions as a city leader in Watertown, where all five members of the council are men but the city manager who runs the city’s day-to-day operations is a woman.
Nevada: Las Vegas corruption
Two former politicians were sentenced Monday to federal prison for taking bribes from a strip club owner. Former Clark County Commissioner Dario Herrera, 33, was sentenced to four years and two months in federal prison. His former colleague, Mary Kincaid-Chauncey, 68, received 21/2 years. They were convicted in May of conspiracy, fraud and an extortion charge, and U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks called Herrera’s actions “bribery of the worst level.” In seeking political favors, strip club owner Michael Galardi said his goal was to make his strip club, Cheetah’s, the foremost in a town with more than two dozen competitors. Herrera, Kincaid-Chauncey and two other former commissioners were charged in 2003 with accepting cash and campaign contributions from Galardi, 44, who has pleaded guilty to bankrolling political corruption in Las Vegas and San Diego, where he also owned a strip club.
California: Smoky jet evacuated
An Alaska Airlines MD80 was evacuated on a taxiway after smoke appeared in the cabin shortly after the plane landed in Long Beach, a company spokeswoman said. The 140 passengers and five crew members on Flight 338 from Seattle used emergency slides Sunday evening to escape, said Caroline Boren of Alaska Airlines. “The crew felt (the smoke) was at a level that they needed to get people off the plane right away,” she said. The cause of the smoke remained undetermined pending an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.
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