Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 4, 1995 TAG: 9503060090
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
NEWPORT NEWS - The number of new HIV infections reported in Virginia in 1994 was the lowest in five years, but state officials said it is too early to say whether the decrease marks the start of a trend.
Health officials recorded 1,124 new cases of the virus that causes AIDS, down from 1,484 in 1993.
Despite the 24 percent drop, the demands placed on AIDS service agencies has continued to grow as more people carrying the virus become sick.
``From a public health standpoint, the decrease in new infections is wonderful,'' said Heidi Villanueva, a coordinator of statistics and data management with the state Health Department.
``But statistically, I don't think we can say that much yet. We'd need a few years' worth of data.''
The first full year the state recorded HIV figures was 1990, when the number was 1,143.
- Associated Press
Officer is cleared of wrongful death
MANASSAS - A jury has rejected a lawsuit filed against a Prince William County police officer who was in a Woodbridge home when a man stabbed his wife to death.
Zameena Baksh's estate sought $750,000 from Officer Ramon Gomez for ``gross, wanton and reckless disregard'' for the woman's safety, according to the suit.
Gomez was a police escort for Baksh, 31, when she went to her home Jan. 8, 1990, to pick up her 4-year-old son and pack her belongings.
As Gomez waited downstairs for the woman, her husband, Zaineel Baksh, 48, sneaked into the house and entered the room where his wife was, locking the door behind him.
Baksh then stabbed his wife at least a dozen times as Gomez beat on the door and tried to talk the husband into coming out.
A Circuit Court jury cleared Gomez in the wrongful death suit on Wednesday.
In September 1990, Baksh was sentenced to life in prison for the killing.
- Associated Press
by CNB