Local Leads: 11/8/08

News you need to know

By BRENDAN WILLIAMS-KIEF

Updated 8:30 AM EST, Sat, Nov 8, 2008

Print Email Share TWITTER FACEBOOK

The following stories have been hand-selected by the Assignment Desk at News4:

NO JAIL TIME FOR PARENTS OF STRANGLED TODDLER

The parents of a 2-year-old girl who strangled to death in a car seat won't have to go to prison. Charity Joy Demas, 33, and Timothy William Demas, 35, got suspended sentences yesterday following a hearing in Stafford County Circuit Court that lasted nearly four hours. Their daughter Ariana Demas died Oct. 10 of last year while strapped in a car seat inside her home in North Stafford. Judge J. Martin Bass called the child's death "completely and utterly tragic." (Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star)

GAINESVILLE: WE'VE GOT GAS... AND IT'S CHEAP

Falling gas prices have sparked something of a price war in Gainesville. At the Wawa on Lee Highway, the price for regular unleaded was $1.97 per gallon Friday - a price not seen in the D.C. region in years. Motorists found the same price at the 7-Eleven on Webb Drive. In all there were a total of five stations in the area that had gas below $2. AAA Mid-Atlantic said this is the largest one month decline in history. (Inside NoVa)

WOMAN INJURED BY AIRPLANE PROPELLER

A woman was severely injured Thursday evening when her arm was struck by the moving propeller of an airplane at Frederick Municipal Airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration and local police. (Frederick News-Post)

ARRESTS OF ILLEGALS JUMP

Arrests of illegal immigrants have increased about 50 percent over the past year in the District and Virginia because of greater funding, improved technology and better communication with police departments and correctional facilities, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says. During fiscal 2008, which ended Sept. 30, more than 3,100 illegal immigrants were arrested in the District and Virginia, compared with 2,055 last year, ICE's Office of Detention and Removal Operations said Thursday. The increase follows a national trend. About 221,000 illegals were arrested nationally during the past fiscal year, compared with 164,000 in fiscal 2007, a 35 percent increase. (Washington Times)

FAIRFAX TEEN'S DEATH LEAVES LOVED ONES WONDERING WHY

The two portraits seem almost irreconcilable. A smiling, artistic Fairfax County high school student who loved her family and her beagle, Breezy Max. A troubled 16-year-old girl, bent on finding personal freedom, who ran away from home on Halloween and was found dead two days later next to a dumpster at a seedy Baltimore housing complex. Annie McCann's family and friends are struggling with the conflicting images as they prepare for her funeral service today. More than a week after she left home, they are still wondering what happened. (Washington Post)