NEWS NEAR YOU

Chesterfield Learn how to avoid telemarketing scams, identity theft, home-repair scams and other crimes that target older adults at a free seminar Oct. 29 at 10 a.m. at the Ettrick Community Center. The seminar is sponsored by the Chesterfield unit of TRIAD, a statewide network of public-safety and older-adult organizations. Jennifer Aulgur, director of TRIAD and senior outreach with the attorney general's office, will lead the seminar. To register, call (804) 768-7878.

Hopewell Hopewell High School will hold its homecoming parade today at 6 p.m. The parade, which will include the high school's marching band, will start at the high school student parking lot at 400 S. Mesa Drive, and will end at Merner Field around 7 p.m.

Petersburg Space travels, an interactive exhibit created by the Science Museum of Virginia, visited Petersburg's Walnut Hill Elementary School from Sept. 18-20. The program was brought to Walnut Hill by the Petersburg chapter of The Links Inc., an international service organization. The 53-foot Space Travels vehicle is a self-contained space environment filled with interactive exhibits. Students from J.E.B. Stuart Elementary School also took part in the program.

Henrico County police have identified the person wanted in a recent break-in at Westbury Pharmacy as

Shawn Franklin Eades, 26, of Beaverdam Road in Beaverdam. Police have warrants out for his arrest. Between 3 and 4 a.m. on Sept. 24, someone broke into the pharmacy at 8903 Three Chopt Road and stole prescription narcotics. A witness later identified Eades as the person on the store's surveillance video, police said. Anyone with information is asked to call Henrico police at (804) 501-5000 or Crime Stoppers at (804) 780-1000.

Petersburg Southside Regional Medical Center in Petersburg has filed an application to start providing open-heart surgery and to add a second cardiac catheterization lab to its existing facility. The Central Virginia Health Planning Agency will hold a public hearing on these projects Monday at 3 p.m. at the Appomattox Regional Library, 209 E. Cawson St. in Hopewell. To comment on either project, you may attend the public hearing or write to the planning agency at 1808 Coyote Drive, Suite 100, Chester, VA 23836. For details, call (804) 425-8867.

Caroline Virginia State Police arrested two men and a woman without incident at their residences in Stafford on Tuesday afternoon and charged them with starting a fire Monday night that destroyed a vehicle on a dirt path near Ladysmith. Karen Elizabeth Melvin, 30; Paul Alan Melvin, 32; and Robert Dean Martin, 53, all of Stafford, were each charged with arson, attempting to obtain money under false pretenses, and conspiracy to obtain money under false pretenses.

AROUND THE STATE

Winchester The Virginia Army National Guard's 3rd Battalion, 116th Brigade Combat Team has been selected as the Army's top National Guard outfit. The Winchester-based battalion has received the Walter T. Kerwin Jr. Readiness Award for the 2007 training year. The unit served in Afghanistan in 2004-2005 and in Iraq and Kuwait in 2007-2008.

Newport News A 15-year-old Newport News boy accused of vandalizing a Jewish community facility has been charged with a hate crime. Police said the teenager allegedly broke into a storage shed at the United Jewish Community of the Virginia Peninsula on Oct. 1 and spray-painted anti-Semitic graffiti inside and outside the shed. The boy was arrested Wednesday night and released to his parents' custody. A court date has not been set.

-- From Staff and Wire Reports