The following stories have been hand-selected by the Assignment Desk at News4:
CARD GAMES TO PRINCE GEORGE'S?
Given the chance, the odds would be long that Prince George's County residents would approve a referendum to allow legalized card games at a financially troubled racetrack in the county. Religious leaders don't like it. Civic leaders aren't fond of it. (Baltimore Sun)
DC FIREHOUSE COULD BE UNSTAFFED
Mayor Adrian Fenty's 2011 budget calls for the District's hazardous materials unit to merge with an existing fire engine company, under a structure that would force the company to shut down during hazmat calls. Sixteen firefighters, four sergeants, three lieutenants and one captain staff the existing Fire and Emergency Medical Services hazardous materials unit 24 hours a day. Housed in Engine Company 12 at 2225 Fifth St. NE, the unit responded to 895 calls in 2009. (Examiner)
TEEN PUMMELED
13-year-old Stafford boy was pummeled Friday during what appeared to be an innocent game of catch, police said. Sheriff's Maj. David Decatur said several people were throwing a football about 7:45 p.m. on Via De Rosa Drive in Oak Ridge subdivision off Garrisonville Road. A 2001 gold four-door Daewoo Nubira with a missing hubcap passed by as the football was thrown across the street, over the suspect's car, Decatur said. (Fredericksburg.com)
BOGUS COP TRIES TO TAZE VICTIM
A man who identified himself as a police officer used a Taser to try and subdue a clerk at a check cashing store in the Manassas area Saturday morning. The clerk told police he was opening the business about 8:30 a.m. in the 10500 block of Lomond Drive when the man approached him, said he was a police officer and demanded to see some documents, said Prince William police spokeswoman Erika Hernandez. (insidenova.com)
BARN FIRE, LIVESTOCK KILLED
The Frederick County Fire Marshal's Office determined the spontaneous combustion of tightly compacted hay bales caused a barn fire Sunday in the 10200 block of Oak Hill Road. Marc McNeal, chief fire marshal at the Frederick County Division of Fire and Rescue Services, said a worker in the 75- by 400-foot barn was moving some hay bales when a fire began in the section of the barn housing them. (Frederick News Post)
BURGLAR GETS INTO BED
The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office is investigating two home burglaries that happened early April 5—one in which the burglar got in bed with the home’s resident. The burglaries happened in Sterling and Leesburg, Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Kraig Troxell said. In the first burglary, someone entered a home in the 100 block of Farmington Court in Sterling’s Sugarland Run at about 1:15 a.m. (Loudoun Times)
