NATION IN BRIEF : VIRGINIA : Wilder to Reimburse State for Jet Trips

Gov. L. Douglas Wilder said that he will reimburse the state nearly $2,700 for using the state jet to go to New York City on a vacation last week. Wilder, criticized last year for using state aircraft for personal trips, took the jet to John F. Kennedy International Airport on July 14 and returned to Richmond, Va., on the jet last Sunday, state records show. The state’s twin-engine, eight-passenger Cessna Citation II costs $625 an hour to operate, so the two round-trips, plus landing fees at Kennedy, cost nearly $2,700, about 15 times the $173 cost of a round-trip commercial ticket. The governor refused to say where he spent his week off and also would not say why he chose to fly on the more expensive state jet instead of a commercial plane.