BRIEFS: NEWS NEAR YOU

NEWS NEAR YOU

Henrico Working with community groups and charitable organizations, the Henrico County Police Athletic League this week distributed educational toys donated by DARE America to needy children.

Petersburg Minerva Books in Petersburg has partnered with Peabody Middle School to begin a Book Study Club. The book store has agreed to provide bookmarks and bags for participants.

Mechanicsville For the second straight year, the Hudgins family of Mechanicsville has been named one of 12 semifinalists in KFC's Original Holiday Tradition Contest. Each December, Chuck Hudgins and his family turn their home and front yard at 6444 Little Sorrel Drive into a Christmas fantasy land using more than 60,000 decorative lights. The family uses the popularity of their decorative home to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. To help vote the Hudgins family tradition as America's most Original Holiday Tradition and to see the entries from all 12 semifinalists, visit http://www.KFC.com. The grand prize winner will be named on Monday.

Richmond Registration for the 2009 Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10K presented by POWERade opens on Friday. The 10K, which will be held March 28, will celebrate its 10th anniversary. Special 10th-anniversary activities include recognition of those who have run all 10 events. More than 31,000 people entered last year, and the Richmond Sports Backers has set a limit of 35,000 this year.

Hanover Animal Control will have a rabies vaccination clinic at the Parks & Recreation office on Jan. 10 from 9 a.m. to noon. The office is in the Taylor complex on state Route 54 between Ashland and Hanover Courthouse. Vaccinations are $7 for dogs and cats who are at least four months old. The shots will be given to pets while in their owners' cars. Registration must be completed inside the building first. Healthy, nonpregnant pets will be treated, and no wolf hybrids or other animals will be vaccinated. For details, call Animal Control at (804) 365-6485.

Chesterfield In this fall's United Way campaign, employees of Chesterfield County Public Schools set a record by pledging more than $240,000. That exceeds the school system's 2008 goal of $210,000 and breaks the record of $236,000 set in 2007. At three schools -- Crenshaw Elementary, Ecoff Elementary and Chesterfield Community High -- every staff member contributed to the United Way.

AROUND THE STATE

Appomattox Federal regulators have approved restarting a natural gas pipeline outside Appomattox that ruptured and caused an explosion Sept. 14. Five people were injured and two houses were destroyed when the pipeline ruptured. The U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration on Wednesday approved Williams Gas Co.'s application to restart the line. Williams is allowed to resume flowing gas at 640 pounds per square inch, about 20 percent less than the line's capacity of 800 psi. Resuming the line's full capacity will depend on further inspections.

Draper Police have tracked down a man wanted in the shooting death of his neighbor and the wounding of another neighbor and a sheriff's deputy in southwest Virginia. Douglas Albert Jaccard, 58, was arrested Thursday at his home, Virginia State Police Sgt. Michael Conroy said. State, federal and local officers had been searching for Jaccard in Wythe and Pulaski counties since Tuesday, after Joseph Foster Bane was fatally shot. Jaccard is accused of shooting Bane, 45, and another neighbor, then shooting a deputy who responded to the scene. Jaccard had been scheduled in court Wednesday for a hearing related to taking indecent liberties with a minor and other charges.