The following stories have been hand-selected by the Assignment Desk at News4:
CHILD SEXUAL ASSAULT
Montgomery County Police have charged a 20-year-old Herndon, Va., man with the Christmas Day rape of a 12-year-old in Gaithersburg who told police she met the man on the Internet. The rape occurred at 8:40 p.m. Dec. 25 in a parking lot at Strawberry Knoll Elementary School, said Montgomery County Police spokesman Cpl. Dan Friz. Online court records show that police charged Jose Pedro Claros of Glenbrook Woods Drive with second-degree rape and second-degree sexual offense on Dec. 30. (Gazette)
DUMFRIES NEEDS A LOAN
The town of Dumfries has raised its tax rate but still hasn't solved its financial problems. Without some sort of loan or line of credit, it could be about $42,000 in the red by April. "We are still trying to borrow funds. It still looks like it's necessary," said Dumfries Town Manager Kimberly Alexander.In October, the Dumfries Town Council raised its town tax rate to 35.3 cents per $100 assessed value. For Dumfries property owners, that meant a 96 percent increase in their December bills over what they paid in June of last year, when the rate was 18 cents per $100 of assessed value. (Insidenova.com)
BAG TAX COMING TO ANNAPOLIS?
Plastic bags just don't seem to go away.They flutter about in the wind, become ensnared in tree branches and drop into streams and creeks.And they're persistent in politics, too, with bag bans and taxes a perennial issue. This year is no different, with state legislators in Maryland and Virginia pushing a 5-cent tax on both plastic and paper shopping bags. (The Capital)
GAS PRICES UP
Although fewer people are driving these days because of the frigid temperatures across the country, the price of gasoline is red-hot again, and that’s bad news for motorists. American consumers are now spending nearly $1.025 billion each day on gasoline as the retail price of gasoline hits its highest level in 15 months, since October 25, 2008, according to the latest Daily Fuel Gauge Report from AAA. (Alexandrianews.org)
