Metro Briefs

MARYLAND

ROCKVILLE

Man in mask robs bank

Authorities are looking for an armed man who robbed a Maryland SunTrust bank wearing a Halloween mask and for a man who drove a getaway car.

Montgomery County police spokeswoman Lucille Baur said authorities got a call about the robbery shortly after 11 a.m. Monday. The man who entered the bank was armed with a semiautomatic handgun and wearing a skeleton mask.

An undisclosed amount of cash was taken.

Miss Baur said the men fled in one car and later switched cars to a black Mercedes.

BALTIMORE

Work-zone warnings extended

State transportation officials have extended the warning phase for drivers who exceed the speed limit within automated speed enforcement work zones.

The warning phase, which could have ended Oct. 31, has been extended for two weeks.

More than 900 warning notices have been given out since Oct. 14.

The work zones include Interstate 95 between Routes 198 and 212 in Montgomery County; Interstate 695 at Charles Street in Baltimore County, and at I-95 near White Marsh.

When the warning phase of the program ends on Nov. 15, Maryland State Police Maryland Transportation Authority police will issue $40 citations.

VIRGINIA

RICHMOND

Report: Fed funds target 4,500 jobs

Federal stimulus funds have helped create or save more than 4,500 jobs at public schools and colleges in Virginia, education officials said.

The U.S. Department of Education said in a draft report Monday that Virginia education officials reported that 2,614 of the estimated 4,543 jobs were teaching positions. Other positions include 233 instructional assistants, 121 aides, 30 technology-support workers, and 28 bus drivers. The report didn’t break out all positions among K-12 schools or higher education.

The Education Department allocated $100 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to address state budget shortfalls, and credits it with the creation of 325,000 education jobs nationwide. Virginia’s allocation was nearly $1.4 billion.

The funding helped the state’s public universities hold tuition increases to about 5 percent for the 2009-10 school year, but the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia noted that the stimulus money is a one-time infusion.

BEDFORD

D-Day Memorial lays off half of staff

The financially troubled National D-Day Memorial will lay off nearly half its staff.

The president of the foundation that runs the memorial, William McIntosh, said Monday that 11 of the 24 full- and part-time staff members will be laid off Dec. 1.

He said the layoffs come as the outdoor museum enters the slowest time of the year, and it may only be open by appointment.

Mr. McIntosh has said the memorial was on the verge of closing because donations are down.

The National Park Service is studying whether the memorial can be transferred to the agency.

The memorial to the Allied invasion of Normandy, France, during World War II is in Bedford because the community suffered among the nation’s highest per-capita losses on D-Day.

VIRGINIA BEACH

Regent University names president

Regent University announced Monday that Carlos Campo will be Pat Robertson’s replacement as president of the Virginia Beach school he founded in 1978.

Mr. Campo will assume the post in August.

Mr. Campo has been the university’s vice president of academic affairs since 2008.

In April, the school announced that Mr. Robertson plans to retire as president next summer. He will continue to serve as chancellor and as a member of the board of trustees.

The religious broadcaster became the sixth president of Regent in 2000. The school is known for its Christian perspective and has more than 4,500 students studying on campus and online.

Mr. Robertson also founded the Christian Broadcasting Network, which broadcasts his television show “The 700 Club.”

From wire dispatches and staff reports