The Night Note: 10/27/09

News you need to know

By BRENDAN WILLIAMS-KIEF

Updated 6:16 PM EDT, Tue, Oct 27, 2009

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The following stories are brought to you by the fine folks on the News4 assignment desk.

VA STUDENTS CHARGED WITH REPORTING NEWS
Journalism is a profession that revels in its own puffed-up sense of danger. Sure, some reporters put themselves in harm's way in order to get a story, but for the most part, a job in journalism is as routine and mundane as any other office gig.

So, in one sense, 21-year-old Tim Chapman and 19-year-old Katie Hibson already have a leg up on most journalists. The top editor and reporter for The Breeze, the twice-weekly campus paper at James Madison University, were charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct for entering a dorm to interview students about a peeping Tom on the campus. (NBC Washington)

YEAH, IT WAS A BAD IDEA
Holding a training exercise near the Pentagon on Sept. 11 this year was ill-advised, but it did not violate Coast Guard policies, an internal review found.

The Coast Guard review, obtained by The Associated Press, looked into the events and actions that led to false news reports of gunshots on the Potomac River on the anniversary of the 2001 terror attacks. (AP/WTOP)

MURKY COFFEE OWNER CHARGED WITH TAX EVASION
Former Murky Coffee Owner Nicholas Cho has been arrested on tax fraud charges, according to the Voice of the Hill. Arrested may be too strong a word. He was arraigned last week; a judge then ordered him to get formally booked by D.C. Police on the charges stemming from his massive tax fraud case filed in D.C. Superior Court this past July. He had been charged with 82 counts of tax fraud. By the time he was charged, his tax problems had become well known.

Judging from a review of the court record, Cho’s real big problem: he can’t find a defense attorney. Cho wrote to the court on September 22 pleading for more time to get his legal team in place. (Washington City Paper)

COURTROOM FECES-THROWER GETS 31 YEARS IN JAIL
A man who sneaked a bag of his feces into a San Diego courtroom during his home-invasion robbery trial, smeared it on his lawyer and threw it at jurors has been sentenced to 31 years in prison.

Superior Court Judge Frank Brown on Monday sentenced Weusi McGowan for robbery, burglary and two assault charges stemming from the feces-flinging incident during his January trial. (MSNBC)