Wreck victims' conditions

improve, official says

The conditions of three people who were hospitalized after a head-on crash in Franklin County on Tuesday have improved.

A total of eight people were taken to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital after a Chevrolet Blazer crossed a double yellow line and struck a Dodge van on Hardy Road about 5:15 p.m. Tuesday.

The Blazer's driver, 24-year-old Kevin Parker of Goodview, was charged with failure to maintain control of his vehicle, Virginia State Police Trooper D.H. Cepelnik said.

Parker and one of his passengers, 21-year-old Charles Trail, were listed in serious condition Tuesday night but had improved to good condition by Wednesday afternoon, hospital spokesman Eric Earnhart said.

Savannah Beckner, 18, was still listed in critical condition Wednesday, he said. Beckner was also a passenger in the Blazer, as were a teenager and a 12-day-old baby. The names of the teenager and baby were not released, but Cepelnik said they weren't seriously injured.

The van's driver, 70-year-old William Rye of Roanoke, was listed in serious condition Tuesday night but was released from Roanoke Memorial on Wednesday, Earnhart said. Rye's two passengers were treated and released Tuesday night.

-Shawna Morrison

RICHMOND

Legislator protests GMU's

invite to Michael Moore

RICHMOND - A Republican state legislator is challenging George Mason University's plan to pay "Fahrenheit 9/11" director Michael Moore to speak on campus five days before the election.

"How can GMU justify a $35,000 payment for any college speaker," Del. Dick Black, R-Loudoun County, asked in a letter dated Tuesday to the university's president, Alan Merten.

"Profligate spending for liberal speakers sets a tone for slipshod financial practices permeating the university system. Tax money is being spent poorly, and for partisan purposes," wrote Black, who has one of the General Assembly's most conservative voting records.

Moore's film criticizes and ridicules President Bush's response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and his decision to go to war with Iraq. Republicans have denounced the film as blatant anti-Bush propaganda.

Moore is scheduled to discuss "Fahrenheit 9/11" on GMU's campus in Fairfax Oct. 28. University spokesman Daniel Walsch said Moore planned to screen clips from the film, and the event would be open to the public.

-Associated Press

RICHMOND

Lt. Gov. Kaine endorses

Wilder's mayoral bid

RICHMOND - Lt. Gov. Timothy Kaine endorsed former Gov. Douglas Wilder's bid for Richmond mayor Wednesday.

Wilder, the nation's first elected black governor, is battling three other candidates, including incumbent Rudy McCollum, to become the city's first popularly elected mayor in decades.

Kaine, who was Richmond's mayor until three years ago, is the presumptive Democratic Party nominee for governor next year.

Wilder, 73, last fall led a citywide referendum to change Richmond from a weak mayor form of government in which the city council appoints the mayor from among its members but gives the position little authority. Wilder was aided in the campaign by former Republican Rep. Thomas Bliley, who, like Kaine, is a former Richmond mayor.

The referendum passed with 80 percent of the vote, despite opposition from elected city officeholders and many black leaders. The city of 200,000 is 57 percent black.

-Associated Press