The following stories have been hand-selected by the Assignment Desk at News4:
FIREFIGHTERS CUT NEGOTIATIONS
Montgomery County's firefighters union has broken off salary negotiations with the county government after at least four members of the County Council came out against a proposed ambulance fee to pay for fire expenses and supported an alternate proposal to use traffic camera revenues instead. Montgomery County Career Firefighters Association IAFF Local 1664 President John Sparks announced the termination of talks in a press release Friday afternoon.
(Montgomery Gazette)
IN INAUGURAL, ALL ANGLES COVERED
Law enforcement officials bracing for the largest crowds in inaugural history are preparing far-reaching security, thousands of video cameras, sharpshooters, air patrols-to safeguard President-elect Barack Obama's swearing-in. People attending the ceremony and parade on Jan. 20 can expect to be searched by machines, security personnel or both. Precautions will range from the routine, magnetometers like those used at airports, to countersnipers trained to hit a target the size of a teacup saucer from 1,000 yards away. Plus undercover officers, bomb sniffing dogs and air patrols. (AP/WTOP)
TEEN PROSTITUTES ARRESTED
Two women were charged with prostitution on Nov. 11 near Potomac Mills mall. Ashley Blackburn, 19, of 146 Potato Creek Road in The Rock, Ga., was charged with grand larceny and prostitution. Amanda Rene Coltey, 19, of 5721 Midland Drive in Charleston, W.Va., was charged with pandering, maintaining a bawdy place and prostitution. (Inside NoVa)
GYPSY MOTHS ARE COMING
It's not even winter, but the Frederick County Gypsy Moth Task Force is looking toward spring. The Maryland Department of Agriculture estimates that gypsy moth larvae will threaten between 15,000 and 20,000 acres of Frederick County forest this spring. The department expects to have enough money available to spray 25,000 acres statewide with an insecticide to kill the moth larvae. That means private landowners in Frederick County are likely to lose some spring foliage to the leaf-munching invasive insects. (Frederick News-Post)
