Local Leads: 9/26/2009

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

JUST A DRILL
It may look like the real thing -- but it's only a drill.  As part of National Preparedness Month, there will be lots of emergency responders out and about this weekend.  Mock explosions, a simulated police chase and a bombing are just some of the drills that will take place over the weekend.  In Northern Virginia, the exercises start around 9 a.m. Saturday and will take place in Crystal City, Fairfax, near the Dulles Greenway and at the Rippon VRE station.  D.C. is not disclosing the drill locations until the exercises actually start.  "You really never know how folks are going to respond until they have an actual situation, so we're trying to make it as realistic as we possibly can," says Darrell Darnell, director of the city's emergency management agency.
(WTOP)

TAXI INDUSTRY INVOLVED IN BRIBERY PROBE
The arrest of a D.C. Council staffer Thursday on bribery charges has roots in a corruption investigation of the District's taxi industry that began more than a year ago, according to two law enforcement sources.  The arrest of a D.C. Council staffer Thursday on bribery charges has roots in a corruption investigation of the District's taxi industry that began more than a year ago, according to two law enforcement sources.  The sources said the probe included court-authorized wiretaps and the use of informants wearing recording devices. It is widespread and continuing and involves bribes in excess of $100,000, they said. The investigation became public Thursday when authorities arrested Ted G. Loza, 44, chief of staff to council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) on bribery charges.   A source familiar with the investigation and the city's taxi industry confirmed to news 4 that the probe extends beyond Losa into the taxi industry itself. The source told NBC4's Tom Sherwood that investigators were looking at "a pattern" of possible payoffs and favors beyond those mentioned in the Losa arrest and dating back for more than a year.
(NBC4/WASHINGTON POST)

TWO CHILDREN AND TWO ADULTS FOUND DEAD IN HOME
Maryland State Police found a man, a woman and two children dead of traumatic injuries about 5:30 p.m. Friday in a split-level house at the end of a block, officials said.  After determining they had four people and a family dog dead inside the home in the 300 block of Contour Road, police set up operations outside until they could obtain a warrant to search the premises.  "To be on the safe side, we advised the state police to secure a warrant before conducting a search for evidence," Frederick County State's Attorney Charlie Smith said.  "That's what we do in all cases involving deaths, no matter what it appears to be."  Police entered the residence at 9:40 p.m. and expected to be inside the house until the early morning hours today, state police spokesman Greg Shipley said.  "Troopers who were inside say it obviously was a murder scene," Shipley said. However, he added that troopers had determined there was "no further threat."
(FREDERICK NEWS-POST)

PRESIDENT OBAMA TO SPEAK AT BLACK CAUCUS
Rep. Marcia Fudge politely shushed the men and women gathered for her early evening fruit-and-cheese reception, one of the many offshoots of the busy annual conference being thrown this week by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.  The congresswoman from Ohio thanked them for their support. Then she brought up the issue that seemed to be on everyone's mind.  "Racism has reared its ugly head in our country," she said emphatically, "and we've already sent word to the president that we've got your back. We're here when you need us."  She may have meant it in a broader sense, but the support was reflected in a very concrete way, with the caucus flexing its political power in the censuring of Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) for heckling President Obama during a speech before Congress.  Fudge's comments -- which were met with applause and 'amens' -- highlighted two of the challenges facing the nation's premier group of black political leaders: batting down what they see as racism directed at the first African American president, and flexing the political power that has come with the growth in their numbers and their ascension in Congress.  For the first time, the Congressional Black Caucus has one of its own in the White House, and the Obama presidency and agenda have been an important subtext of the gathering of thousands of politically connected African Americans at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. So has the recent debate about the role racism has played in driving opposition to Obama's proposals.
(WASHINGTONPOST.COM)

BILLION DOLLAR TWITTER
Baltimore money manager T. Rowe Price Group is one of two new investors in social micro-blogging site Twitter Inc., which has lined up new financing.  Twitter's founders seem determined to raise it without a corporate parent. Twitter has lined up $100 million to finance its operations while founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone plot ways to make money off one of the Internet's most popular communications tools.  The investment values the 3-year-old company at $1 billion, even though it has yet to generate any meaningful revenue, let alone profits.  Twitter itself didn't provide specifics about the investment, saying only it involved a significant sum. A person with knowledge of the negotiations confirmed the amounts to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the parties had agreed not to announce the details.
(BALTIMORE SUN)