News Near You for Oct. 31

NEWS NEAR YOU

Chesterfield Residents of a Chesterfield County home were startled awake early yesterday morning when a car crashed into their living room, police said. No one was injured in the 4:15 a.m. wreck in the 6100 block of Gates Green Drive. The home is in the Courthouse Green subdivision near the Chesterfield Government Complex. Chesterfield police Capt. David Stone said the driver of the errant car apparently was fatigued and veered off the road into the house about 1 to 2 feet. The woman, who lives in the same subdivision, was charged with reckless driving, he said.

Henrico More than 300 students ages 16 to 18 from Henrico County Public Schools will work with election officials to assist voters at 92 county precinct sites on election day. Students from eight Henrico high schools are participating in this year's Henrico Voter Page Program, which is sponsored by the Henrico County Electoral Board, the Voter Registration and Elections Office, and Henrico County Public Schools. Identifiable by their green shirts, pages will give demonstrations of the county's touch-screen voting equipment, help voters locate precinct information and fill out forms, serve as greeters, assist elderly and disabled voters, and help precinct election officials with various tasks. For more information, call (804) 501-4115 or visit http://www.co.henrico.va.us/registrar.

Richmond Roll 2 Rebuild, a charity event, will be held Thursday from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Science Museum of Virginia. The event, which is sponsored by the Universe Society and Richmond Rapport, will feature an open bar, hors d'oeuvres, music, casino games and prizes. Tickets are $25 each. Proceeds will benefit the Science Museum's educational programs and ElderHomes, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving housing conditions for low-income elderly and disabled individuals. For details, visit http://www.richmond rapport.com.

Henrico St. Joseph's Villa will host a "Transition Summit" on Wednesday to explore transition issues from childhood to adulthood for at-risk youth and adolescents with autism and developmental disabilities. The keynote speaker will be Carmen James Lane, a national expert on adolescent transition programs. The event is free and runs from 2 to 5 p.m. at St. Joseph's Villa, 8000 Brook Road. For more information, visit http://www.neverstopbelieving.org.

AROUND THE STATE

McLean Fairfax County planners estimate it will take $15 billion in transportation improvements to revamp Tysons Corner into a dense, walkable urban hub. The preliminary estimate was released this week. It includes $2.6 billion that has already been allocated for the first leg of a Metro extension to Dulles International Airport. It also includes $7 billion for roads, bus service and two additional rail lines that would not be spent until after 2030. The county hopes to remake Tysons Corner into a transit-oriented second city of the Washington area. Landowners who stand to profit from dense development are likely to donate much of the land to create a new street grid. But it's unclear where the county will get billions of dollars needed over the next 20 years.

Hampton Two retired NASA research pilots based in Hampton are being inducted into the Virginia Aviation Hall of Fame at the Virginia Aviation Museum in Henrico County. Aeronautical engineers James Patton Jr. and Philip Brown logged more than 16,000 flight hours between them at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton. They are being honored for their contributions to improving aviation safety and advancing aeronautics research. Patton started a 14-year long program that led to the production of new airplanes that were spin resistant. Brown worked to improve military aircraft performance, developing procedures and flight control systems for the F-16 and F-18 fighter jets. Patton and Brown will be joined in the hall this year by retired airport manager Alston Stevens, who worked at South Norfolk Airport in Chesapeake. -- From Staff and Wire Reports