News Near You for Oct. 30

NEWS NEAR YOU

Caroline One of nine people charged in the fatal shooting of a teenager at a Sweet 16 party in Caroline County has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. Dwight Leo Smith II pleaded guilty Wednesday to assault by mob and received a 12-month jail sentence that was suspended. Smith, 20, had been charged with murder by mob, a felony. Sixteen-year-old Raquel Hunter was fatally shot as he left a classmate's birthday party in November 2007.

Hopewell The Fall Appomattox River Cleanup, co-sponsored by the Friends of the Lower Appomattox River, the city of Hopewell, Prince George County and Richard Bland College, will be held tomorrow from 9 a.m. to noon. This fall's cleanup will be held at historic Weston Manor, located along the river at the corner of Weston Lane and 21st Avenue in Hopewell. Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m. For information, call Victor Liu at (804) 861-1666.

Chesterfield Swift Creek Baptist, 7511 N. Spring Run Road in Midlothian, is holding its annual Fall Festival from 5 to 8 p.m. tomorrow. The festival will feature inflatables, carnival games, pony rides, trackless train rides, food and more. Admission is free. All guests will receive free candy.

Henrico Fetch a Cure, a nonprofit working to improve the quality of life for pets as it focuses on issues of pet health, specifically cancer and aging, will sponsor an educational seminar on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Tuckahoe Library, 1901 Starling Drive. Dr. Nancy Gustafson, a member of the Fetch a Cure medical advisory board and a radiation oncologist, will speak on "Pets with Cancer: You Have Options." For details, call (804) 525-2193 or visit http://www.fetchacure.com.

Chesterfield The Chesterfield County Joint Board of Supervisors/School Board Liaison Committee will meet Monday at 5 p.m. at the School Board Administration Building, 9900 Krause Road.

AROUND THE STATE

Roanoke The parents of a Virginia Tech student missing since she went to a Metallica concert nearly two weeks ago are asking that people continue to share information with police. Daniel and Gil Harrington of Roanoke said in a statement yesterday that they're doing everything in their power to bring their daughter home. Morgan Dana Harrington, 20, disappeared Oct. 17 after she left a University of Virginia concert arena and was denied re-entry. Police say witnesses saw someone matching her description in two nearby parking areas, and she was last seen on a bridge that leads to a commercial area of Charlottesville.

Cedar Bluff The Nature Conservancy has acquired a 25-acre hillside tract along Indian Creek in the Clinch Valley to help protect a rare freshwater mussel. That section of Indian Creek flanks Cedar Bluff. Town Manager Jim McGlothlin says it's home to the only reproducing population of tan riffleshell mussel in Virginia. The tan riffleshell is listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as endangered. Nature Conservancy land protection manager Steve Lindeman says acquiring the property represents a 20-year effort to join with local partners to protect critical habitat for the tan riffleshell. Spectra Energy provided a grant, and the Virginia Division of Mines, Minerals and Energy provided funding for the acquisition.

Hampton College students are being recruited to work the polls during local elections in 2010. Hampton University is using a $74,055 grant from the Election Assistance Commission to train students interested in helping during local elections. Participants will be trained through the city registrar's office and via mock elections on campus, said state Sen. Mamie E. Locke, dean of the HU school of liberal arts and a political science professor. Participants in the college poll worker program must be registered to vote in Virginia. Locke said that because many HU students are registered in their home states, she will recruit students at Thomas Nelson Community College to sign up as well. It's also open to high school seniors in Hampton. HU's goal is to attract 150 students, Locke said.