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October 19, 2009 - WASHINGTON (AP) A Chevy Chase scientist who had worked for the Defense Department has been arrested on espionage charges. The Justice Department says Stewart David Nozette as been charged with attempting to communicate with a person suspected of being an Israeli intelligence officer.
WASHINGTON (AP) A fire that destroyed the northwest Washington home of former D.C. school board president Peggy Cooper Cafritz has been ruled accidental. Investigators say the fire last July might have begun with oil used to treat some patio furniture.
WASHINGTON (AP) A bigger font, more graphics and new movie reviews are all part of a makeover for The Washington Post. The venerable Washington daily says the redesign is the biggest it has undertaken since 1998.
WASHINGTON (AP) A federal appeals court says it won't reconsider a decision declaring police checkpoints unconstitutional in one Washington neighborhood. The city had asked for a hearing before the entire appeals court about the checkpoints that were set up the Trinidad neighborhood.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
October 19, 2009 - GREENBELT, Md. (AP) An Upper Marlboro man has been sentenced to more than three years in prison for his part in a plot to issue fraudulent Maryland driver's licenses. Authorities say Patrick Gordon was paid thousands of dollars by people who weren't entitled to the licenses.
BALTIMORE (AP) Prosecutors say a Baltimore man has been sentenced to more than three years in prison for conspiring to launder drug proceeds. Prosecutors say Eugene Petasky knowingly accepted cash from drug traffickers in exchange for jewelry between 1982 and 2006.
OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) Ravens Defensive back Samari Rolle isn't expected to play at all this season, owing to a neck injury. The team says surgery to correct the problem didn't work as expected and he has been unable to practice this season.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
October 19, 2009 - PRINCE GEORGE, Va. (AP) Rolls-Royce has broken ground on a $100 million aerospace campus in Prince George County. Officials are beginning construction of a new plant where workers will manufacture aircraft engine components.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) Police are asking the public for any information leading to a missing Virginia Tech student. Authorities say Morgan Dana Harrington was last seen over the weekend in Charlottesville during a Metallica concert there.
ROANOKE, Va. (AP) A nationwide bus tour by veterans opposed to greenhouse gas emissions has rolled into Virginia. The veterans say they are seeking backing for a bill in the U.S. Senate that would cut pollution and draw up clean energy programs.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
October 19, 2009 - WASHINGTON (AP) D.C.'s mayor and city health officials are holding a meeting to discuss past mismanagement of the city's HIV/AIDS office and discuss reforms.
Monday's meeting comes after The Washington Post began a series of stories Sunday on the mismanagement of Department of Health money going to D.C. HIV/AIDS groups. The paper reported that between 2004 and 2008, the department awarded more than $25 million to nonprofit agencies that had questionable spending or provided substandard care.
According to a report released by D.C. health officials earlier this year, at least three percent of residents in the nation's capital are living with HIV or AIDS.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
October 19, 2009 - President Barack Obama made a surprise visit to a Maryland school today to offer encouragement and congratulations.
Mr. Obama stopped by Viers Mill Elementary School outside Washington, where he met with third- and fourth-grade students during their lunch period. The school receives federal poverty aid and has been celebrated for closing the achievement gap between minority children and other students.
Viers Mill Principal Matt Devan says the President made his way through the cafeteria, shaking hands with students and asking them what they were reading. Devan says Obama also offered some students advice on their fledgling political careers.
"A couple of our students running for student council asked him for some advice on how to get elected," Devan says. "I thought that was a pretty special moment." Obama said he came to Viers Mill because it is "a great example of how much improvement a school can make."
Jonathan Wilson reports...
October 19, 2009 - Much of the Chesapeake's pollution comes from industrial farms. Their fertilizer and livestock waste drain into the Bay.
Democrat Ben Cardin of Maryland says state regulation isn't working. "The [Chesapeake] Bay Program has not reached it's goals in the last couple cycles," he says.
Cardin plans to introduce a bill Tuesday to allow the EPA to penalize states that don't meet their goals.
Don Parrish with the American Farm Bureau says this could drive already-struggling farmers out of business. "It appears to be a very aggressive approach," Parrish said of Cardin's bill. "It's probably something that we'll oppose very vigorously."
But Cardin is optimistic. "There's always interest groups," he says. "I happen to believe that the people of this region know just how valuable the Chesapeake Bay is."
Democrat Elijah Cummings of Maryland plans to introduce an identical bill in the House.
David Schultz reports...
October 19, 2009 - (October 18-28) SAMPLING WRITERS The Washington DC Jewish Community Center presents the 2009 Jewish Literary Festival through next Wednesday. The festival celebrates this year's best works by emerging and established writers with panel discussions, readings and talks for lovers of fiction, poetry, history and humor.
(October 20-November 4) HALLOWEEN, ON SCREEN AND STREET The AFI Theatre in Silver Spring plays host to Halloween on Screen, starting tomorrow with An American Werewolf in London followed by a long, blood-curdling lineup of horror flicks and fans. On Saturday, the Silver Spring Zombie Walk takes off from the Quarry House Tavern, ending at the AFI Theater for a screening of Shawn of the Dead. You can join other faux flesh-eaters as they shamble and totter down Georgia Avenue at dusk.
(Indefinitely) WEAPONS OF MASS DISRUPTION Perhaps equally scary is The International Spy Museum's newest gallery, Weapons of Mass Disruption, on display in downtown D.C. This wing focuses on cyber-terrorism and the massive disruptions that the simplest technology can create. The museum also presents CIA Magic: The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception tomorrow night at 6:30, linking magic and intelligence as "kindred arts."
October 19, 2009 - A new farmer's market is trying to establish roots in downtown D.C. Recently, on the lawn of the market at Mt. Vernon Square, Pennsylvania farmer Carl Purvenas-Smith set out jams and jellies at the new Liberty Market. "For the same amount of time and effort we would expend going to the square in Gettysburg, and bringing in fifty or sixty dollars, we can bring in seven to twelve hundred dollars coming to D.C."
But where to park is proving to be an issue for these urban-bound sellers, who arrive Tuesday afternoons to catch the work crowd. Mike Berman manages the market. The land they're on is under the purview of the Washington Historical Society, but the streets are a different matter. "We got the grounds, but working with the city is a different deal." He points to the cars parked on K Street at Massachusetts Avenue, near the farmers. "The goal is to get this as a loading zone, and to get meter bags put over the meters for our farmers."
Berman intends to keep Liberty Market open through November, well past the time most farmers markets close, to give their downtown roots a longer chance to take hold.
Stephanie Kaye reports...
Mike Berman with Diverse Markets manages the new Liberty Market.
Courtesy of: Stephanie Kaye
October 19, 2009 - An agency helping D.C.'s Latino community jump on the property ladder is shifting into high gear, as the deadline approaches on a federal tax credit for first-time home buyers.
The Latino Economic Development Corporation helps low-to-moderate income residents buy their first home using government programs - such as the $8,000 credit for first-timers who close by November 30th.
Eric Qutierrez helps run the non-profit corporation, located in Northwest D.C. near Columbia Road, a traditional stronghold of the city's Hispanic community.
"There has been a surge of applicants interested in buying a house," says Qutierrez.
Nancy Miranda, a Remax sales agent in D.C., works closely with Qutierrez's clients. She says her clients are crossing their fingers that their banks will finalize loans in time to meet the deadline.
"It is definitely crunch time," she says. "A lot of them are counting on this money to remodel the homes that they're planning to buy."
The city offers $5,000 tax credit to buyers who do miss the deadline.
Mana Rabiee reports...
An agency helping D.C.'s Latino community jump on the property ladder is shifting into high gear, as the deadline approaches on a federal tax credit for first-time home buyers.
Courtesy of: www.flickr.com/Casey Serin
October 19, 2009 - The Washington Post has endorsed Democrat Creigh Deeds for Virginia Governor. In its 1,400 word editorial Sunday, the Post's editors wrote that transportation is the "central challenge" facing any Virginia governor.
They claim Deeds was the "only" candidate to provide a "common sense" approach to what was described as the "daunting crisis" of transportation funding.
"It was a clear decision," said Fred Hiatt, the Editor of the Post's Editorial Page.
"The solutions that McDonnell offers sort of sound good at first but if you look at them don't seem to us to carry the hope really of producing the revenue and action that might be needed."
But transportation wasn't the only reason Deeds received the much-anticipated endorsement.
"We think his record is one of taking principled positions even when it's difficult to do. And at the same time having the character and connections to maybe get something done in Richmond."
The Post called McDonnell's road plans "bogus" and described him as in "denial" over the State's financial needs.
Mana Rabiee reports...
The Washington Post claims Deeds was the "only" candidate to provide a "common sense" approach to what was described as the "daunting crisis" of transportation funding.
Courtesy of: Deeds For Virginia Campaign
October 19, 2009 - The Accotink flows in Fairfax County, just a few hundred yards from the future site of toll lanes on the Capital Beltway.
Kris Unger with the Sierra Club says much of the dredged-up dirt from the Beltway construction project is draining into the creek. He points out a makeshift plastic fence, and the steady trickle of muddy water that's leaking through it.
"As you can see, it's already taking its own path through," he says. "The fence isn't serving any purpose. And you can see silty water going down into Accotink."
The cause of these increased silt deposits in the creek is clear, Unger says: thousands of trees were mowed down to make way for the Beltway project.
"When you open up an area, when you remove the trees and the vegetation that's been holding the dirt in place," Unger says, "That's when you start having these dramatic effects."
Unger is scheduled to meet with Virginia transportation officials on Thursday to discuss the issue.
David Schultz reports...
The plastic fence around this pile of dirt in Fairfax County, Virginia has failed and can no longer stop the dirt from draining into a nearby nature area during heavy rains.
Courtesy of: David Schultz
October 19, 2009 - Residents of Virginia can apply now for assistance with home heating bills, and county program administrators say they're expecting more applicants than ever this year.
Sandy Ovuka is a program manager for Fairfax County. She says if the demand for other county assistance programs this year suggests this winter could be a busy one.
"During the summer -- we run a cooling program for the energy assistance programs, and our applications increased from 600 to 900," Ovuka says.
The heating assistance program covers families at or below 130 percent of the poverty level. For a family of four, that means a monthly income of a little less than 2400 dollars.
Counties also have funds for crisis assistance in the winter. If your furnace breaks, and you qualify for the Crisis Assistance could help defray the costs of repairing the furnace or help pay a heating bill. The application period for Crisis Assistance start in November, and ends in March.
The deadline for home heating assistance applications is November 13.
Jonathan Wilson reports...
Residents of Virginia can apply now for assistance with home heating bills, and county program administrators say they're expecting more applicants than ever this year.
Courtesy of: www.flickr.com/Redvers
October 19, 2009 - Prosecutors in D.C. want to shut down a private social club for gay men. The club is known informally by its mostly anonymous customers as the 'Men's Party'.
It's been quietly operating for years out of a non-descript townhouse in the Logan Circle neighborhood of Northwest D.C. The death of a customer earlier this month, still under investigation, has brought police attention to the building and now the city wants to shut it down.
In a six-page legal filing, the D.C. Attorney General's office says the club is operating without a business license.
'Jimmy', who manages the Body Smith Personal gym next door and didn't want to give his full name, says he's known about the club's activities for years.
"No music, real quiet. As far as our relationship with them, they've never bothered us," says Jimmy.
The owners of the building have voluntarily shut down the Men's Party. A hearing in DC Superior Court is scheduled for later this month.
Mana Rabiee reports...
October 19, 2009 - The maximum speed limit on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge is about to change.
Now that construction has ended on the Wilson bridge, Virginia Department of Transportation officials say it's time to restore the maximum speed limit on that span back to 55 miles per hour.
Speed limits were reduced as a safety measure back in 2005 as construction was under way.
Since July 2008, V-DOT has been using a high-tech traffic system to implement variable speed limits. That pilot program was expanded to full-time use in May and is expected to continue as speed limits return to 55 .
VDOT officials have not said exactly when the speed limit will return to 55, but the variable speed limits are slated to end in 2010.
Elliott Francis reports...
October 19, 2009 - Workers at a nuclear processing plant in Ohio are starting their week uncertain about the future of their jobs. Their congresswoman says the Obama Administration, not the economy, is to blame.
Elizabeth Wynne Johnson reports...
October 19, 2009 - A new way to build affordable housing is now reality in Baltimore.
Abrinay Davis led tours of her new Habitat for Humanity home this weekend, just six weeks after the house showed up on a semi-truck.
"I actually watched them put the houses together as they dropped them from a crane and everything."
That's right. Davis's row house was hoisted into place with a crane. It was built in a factory, one of nine prefabricated homes that now sit side by side on a block in East Baltimore. Start to finish, construction took four months. Davis says some of her friends teased her about moving into a skinny modular home.
"I look at it like this. I'm just coming out of a one bedroom. So its not too small. My daughter has her own bedroom. I have my own bedroom. It's a blessing, we got more than what we wanted," says Davis.
This is the first time Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake has built modular homes. But it won't be the last. The cost is roughly the same as conventional construction.
Cathy Duchamp reports...
Abrinay Davis and her daughter Abreyona stand on the doorsteps of their new Habitat for Humanity modular row house.
Courtesy of: Cathy Duchamp
View more images from this gallery.
October 19, 2009 - A Republican lawyer is asking the Virginia State Board of Elections to levee fines on Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds.
Attorney Gary Byler says Creigh Deeds and allied Democratic organizations have taken millions of dollars from labor groups that either haven't registered with the state board of elections or haven't disclosed donors.
In a letter to the Board, Byler asks for an investigation into whether $3.7 million from the Democratic Governors Association and $1.1 million he claims are union donations comply with state laws.
Jonathan Wilson reports...
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