Local Leads: 2/21/2010

News you need to know

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

NICE DAY FOR A PARADE
Firecrackers have been going off in China since Valentine's Day to celebrate the Chinese New Year. On Sunday, it'll be Washington, DC's turn.  You can ward off evil spirits and usher in the Year of the Tiger with lion and dragon dances and martial-arts displays, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., and see the mother of all firecrackers -- a five-story high firecracker -- get lit at 3:45 p.m.
(NBCWASHINGTON.COM)

VIRGINIA GAS TAX
Virginia's gas tax would rise based on increases in federal fuel efficiency standards under a bill that has passed the Senate.
The Senate voted 31-9 Friday to approve Sen. Emmett Hanger's proposal to adjust the fuel tax annually by the percentage increase in the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standard. The standard for 2011 requires 30.2 miles per gallon for cars. Revenue projections call for an increase to 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016.  Virginia's gas tax has remained at 17.5 cents per gallon for more than two decades. As cars become more fuel efficient, the state loses out on funds to build and pave roads.  The proposal will prove a tough sell in the GOP-controlled House, which traditionally blocks tax increases.  If passed, the first increase would be in April 2011.
(AP/WTOP)

MARYLAND WOMAN SELECTED TO LEAD NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People on Saturday announced the selection of its first new board leader in more than a decade.   Roslyn M. Brock, 44, the board’s current vice chairwoman, will become chairwoman of the board, taking the reins from Julian Bond, who last year, on the eve of the organization’s centennial celebration, announced his decision to step down. The 64-member board is the policymaking arm of the organization.  In being named vice chairwoman of the N.A.A.C.P. board at 35, Ms. Brock was the first woman and the youngest person to hold the position.
(NEW YORK TIMES)

SECURITY GUARD KILLED
A security guard working an overnight shift at the Bank of America building in downtown Baltimore was shot and killed early Saturday when police said he tried to quell a dispute over a woman that erupted between a friend and several other men who had just left a nightclub.  Police identified the guard as James Ball, 38. He had worked for Wackenhut, a private security company hired by the building's owners. He died at Maryland Shock Trauma Center shortly after being shot twice, at least once in the chest, according to police.  The shooting occurred a few minutes after 2 a.m. as patrons were leaving clubs scattered across downtown.
(BALTIMORE SUN)

TRASH PILING UP IN DC
D.C. officials have cleared much of the snow from recent back-to-back storms, but now there's a new problem piling up: trash.
Normally residents put the bags in government-issued cans in the alleys behind their homes. Currently, however, many trash cans are still stuck in snow banks. Some alleys, meanwhile, are still clogged with snow because they are too narrow for plows.
The city's Public Works Department says residents should put their trash in dark plastic bags — so they can be spotted in the snow — and place the bags directly on curbs.
(Washington Examiner)

NAKED INTRUDER
A woman and her children walked inside their Woodbridge home Thursday to find a naked man sitting in the living room.
The man, 19-year-old William Eduardo Avila, broke into the house in the 1700 block of Ivy Court through a rear glass door, said Prince William police spokeswoman Erika Hernandez.  When the woman and the teenagers saw Avila, they yelled at him, telling him to put his clothes back on, said Hernandez.  Avila did, and he was later found by police while walking away from the house, police said.  He is charged with indecent exposure, statutory burglary and taking indecent liberties with a minor.
(INSIDE NOVA.COM)
 

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