The following stories have been hand-selected by the Assignment Desk at News4:
FIRE HYDRANTS, NOT FOR FIRES
Insidenova.com: "There has been some public concern that fire hydrants in Occoquan Forest didn’t work Saturday as brush fires blazed through the neighborhood.The thing is, they were never meant to work as fire hydrants, said Prince William County fire and Rescue Battalion Chief Joe Robertson."
ROCK SNOT
Washington Post/AP: " Felt-soled fishing boots, of all things, are apparently the latest threat to local fish populations, prompting Maryland to ban the shoes in hopes of stopping an invasive form of algae -- appropriately dubbed "rock snot" for its resemblance to yellow-brown mucous -- from hurting pristine trout streams, the Associated Press reports. Maryland's Department of Natural Resources plans to prohibit wading with felt soles starting March 21 after discovering that "rock snot," or didymo -- a type of algae that coats riverbeds in thick mats -- thrives in the shoes' damp fibers and hitches a ride from one body of water to another."
SLOOP BETTY
Baltimore Sun: "Christopher and Jonathan Cook are too young to remember the glory days of local liquor, when the unmistakable perfume of Maryland rye wafted over parts of Baltimore, when the sturdy spirit enjoyed status as the real man's drink of the Chesapeake.Even so, the brothers, who grew up on the Eastern Shore, are the best hope of reviving Maryland's lost tradition."
