The following stories are brought to you by the fine folks on the News4 assignment desk.
METRO TRACK PROBLEMS NOT ISOLATED
The train control system designed to prevent Metro crashes is malfunctioning across the railroad, suggesting that a technological failure at the heart of last month's fatal crash may be widespread, according to officials and documents. At least one-half dozen track circuits on four of the five lines of the transit system have failed to properly detect the presence of trains. The safe operation of a transit system requires that everyone know the location of trains at all times. (Washington Post)
BIG BEN ACCUSED OF SEX ASSAULT
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is denying accusations by a Nevada woman that he sexually assaulted her in a Lake Tahoe hotel last year. Roethlisberger has not been criminally charged in the case. Harrah's employee Andrea McNulty claims Roethlisberger asked her to fix the television in his room, then forced himself on her, according to the complaint filed last week in Nevada. His lawyer, David Cornwell, who has represented Donte' Stallworth and Reggie Bush, said Roethlisberger is innocent. (NBC Washington)
SORRY KIDS, GRANNY'S GOT TO GAMBLE
A Florida woman has been sentenced to 14 months of house arrest for leaving two grandchildren alone in a parked car while she went to play the slots. A Broward County judge also gave the 54-year-old woman three years' probation Monday. Authorities say the woman left the children in a car parked outside a Hallandale Beach casino in August 2008. The windows were down, but the air-conditioning was off. (MSNBC)
CIGS COST MAN $23 QUADRILLION
A New Hampshire man says he swiped his debit card at a gas station to buy a pack of cigarettes and was charged over 23 quadrillion dollars. Josh Muszynski checked his account online a few hours after the purchase and saw the 17-digit number — a stunning $23,148,855,308,184,500 (twenty-three quadrillion, one hundred forty-eight trillion, eight hundred fifty-five billion, three hundred eight million, one hundred eighty-four thousand, five hundred dollars). (AP/USA Today)
