Briefly

Virginia

Wind-driven fire spreads to several buildings

A spectacular wind-whipped fire that dropped burning debris Friday over downtown Richmond destroyed several buildings, including a four-story apartment house under construction.

A firefighter and a Virginia Commonwealth University security guard suffered minor smoke inhalation, but there were no reports of other injuries in the blaze near the campus, a mile west of the state Capitol.

Fire officials think the blaze started in the apartment house. A warehouse and several row houses also appeared to be destroyed.

The fire started shortly after 12:30 p.m. and spread quickly, said Fire Department spokesman Lt. Keith Vida. The blaze was declared under control after about three hours, fire officials said. Vida said the cause had not been determined.

The apartment building would have housed more than 170 university students beginning in August.

Phoenix

Bishop gets probation for deadly hit-and-run

Bishop Thomas O’Brien was sentenced to four years of probation Friday for a hit-and-run that killed a pedestrian and destroyed O’Brien’s career as head of the Phoenix Diocese.

O’Brien, 68, is believed to be the first Roman Catholic bishop in U.S. history to be convicted of a felony.

He also was ordered to perform 1,000 hours of community service, including hospital visits to severely injured and dying people, and his driver’s license was suspended for five years. The clergyman could have received as many as three years and nine months behind bars.

Judge Stephen Gerst said the conviction alone was a significant punishment for a public figure like O’Brien.

“He will bear the quiet glances and whispers of others for the rest of his life,” Gerst said.

O’Brien was found guilty in February of leaving the scene after he hit Jim Reed, 43, with his Buick. He claimed that he thought he had hit a dog or that a rock had struck his windshield.

North Carolina

Navy pilot ejects as jet catches fire

A Navy F-18 fighter jet caught fire Friday on the runway of the Raleigh-Durham airport during takeoff, but the pilot ejected, authorities said.

The pilot, whose identity was not immediately released, was in good condition at a Raleigh hospital, airport spokeswoman Teresa Damiano said. He was the only one on board; no one on the ground was injured.

Damiano said the plane had stopped to refuel during a training flight. She said the pilot described his plane as swerving and bursting into flames as it taxied toward a takeoff runway. The pilot ejected before the plane left the ground — about 1,700 feet down the 7,500-foot runway, she said.

The burning plane continued rolling before coming to a stop 500 feet from the terminal. Airport fire crews quickly extinguished the fire.

Washington, D.C.

FBI computer overhaul nearly complete

The FBI’s effort to modernize antiquated computer systems, already more than $120 million over budget and nearly two years overdue, will be completed this summer, FBI Director Robert Mueller says.

The upgrade, known as Trilogy, is intended to move the FBI from decades of dependence on paper to the digital age. But congressional investigators and some lawmakers question whether the bureau can even run the new system.

Before the overhaul, begun in November 2000, many of the FBI’s computer systems were 30-year-old hand-me-downs from other government agencies. Few of the bureau’s 56 field offices had connections to the Internet, and its networks couldn’t transmit a digital photo.

California

Hooters applicants filmed while undressing

Nearly 200 women who applied for jobs at a Hooters restaurant were secretly videotaped in a trailer while they undressed to put on a Hooters uniform, police said.

Authorities last month raided the trailer and seized a computer that held 180 digital videos of the women, ages 17-25, Lt. Mark Dettor said.

Hooters is a national chain known for its scantily clad waitresses, who wear low-cut tank tops and shorts. The restaurant in West Covina, about 18 miles outside of Los Angeles, was scheduled to open in April.

No charges have been filed, Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney, said Friday.

Justin Johl, a lawyer for Hooters, said the company was conducting its own investigation.

Washington, D.C.

U.S. presses for end to mad cow ban

The United States has formally notified its trading partners that U.S. beef is safe to eat, a principal step toward negotiations to lift bans they imposed because of mad cow disease.

The letters to his counterparts abroad from the Agriculture Department’s chief veterinarian, Ron DeHaven, were accompanied by summaries of what the United States has done to protect beef safety and search for other cases of mad cow. About 50 countries banned U.S. beef or cattle after bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, was identified in December in a cow in Washington state.

The department said U.S. responses to its case of BSE fully complied with international standards. It urged the countries that banned the import of U.S. beef or cattle to “modify any remaining trade restrictions.”

Los Angeles

Inspections ordered for oak-killing pathogen

The federal government Friday barred California nurseries from shipping 59 plant species out of state until they can be declared free of a disease that has killed thousands of oaks in California and Oregon.

Beginning Monday, nurseries that want to ship plants that can act as hosts of the funguslike blight, called “sudden oak death,” must undergo inspections before products can leave California, the U.S. Agriculture Department said. The list includes species and subspecies of popular garden plants such as rhododendron, azaleas and camellias.

Similar restrictions have been in place in 12 northern California counties since 2001.

The announcement came as another setback for California’s $2.35 billion nursery industry, which is also threatened by an invasion of imported red fire ants and other disease-carrying pests.

Nursery plants are the state’s third-largest agricultural commodity, behind dairy products and grapes.

Washington, D.C.

Mideast leaders to meet with Bush next month

A Washington meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and President Bush has been set for next month as part of an intense period of personal Bush consultations with Mideast leaders, the White House announced Friday.

Bush and Sharon will discuss “the war on terror and the search for Israeli-Palestinian peace” when they meet April 14 at the White House, said Bush spokesman Scott McClellan.

The session, in the works for weeks, is scheduled two days after Bush is to welcome Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to his Texas ranch. A week later, on April 21, Bush will meet with Jordan’s King Abdullah at the White House, McClellan said.

Mideast peace talks have been derailed recently amid new fighting between Israel and the Palestinians and Israel’s consideration of a plan to disengage from the Gaza Strip.