Local Leads: 10/28/09

News you need to know.

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

KID GOT OFF BUS, NO PARENTS
On Monday, a kindergartner at Lyles-Crouch Traditional Academy got off a school bus after school one block from her home without an adult to pick her up. This is the second time this school year that a five-year-old has been allowed to get off a school bus without a parent or guardian to pick him/her up. Last Thursday night, Rodney Salinas made an impassioned speech at the Alexandria School Board meeting. He spoke about his five-year-old son getting off a bus in an unfamiliar neighborhood and wandering the streets, alone and frightened. “Strangers saw him crying and took him to an apartment building in Arlandria. Someone there called Mt. Vernon Community School and a secretary gave that person my wife’s cell phone number,” Salinas said. (Alexandrianews.org)

BOO TO THE SWINE FLU
Fear of the swine flu is no reason to be scared off of Halloween. Parents, children and neighbors can say "Boo!" to the flu this Saturday if they use some simple hygiene measures, public health experts said. (Richmond Times Dispatch)

MD TAX DEADBEATS
With the deadline for Maryland's tax amnesty program looming Friday, the state Comptroller's Office has received more than 3,000 applications worth $5.3 million in back taxes and interest from businesses and individuals. While that is less than the 6,200 applications and $7.3 million the office received in the same time period during the last tax amnesty in 2001, the current rate of participation is in line with what officials expected. With the recession and individuals and businesses likely having less cash to settle debts, the amount collected this time is expected to range from $5 million to $10 million, according to an analysis by the state Department of Legislative Services. (Gazette)  

GAS PRICES
Motorists who filled their tanks at local gas stations last week might have been shocked to see their totals rise well above what they were paying earlier in the month. (The Capital)
 
HALLOWEEN AND CEMETERIES
A historic preservation group is spending Halloween educating people about how to protect that famous terrain of ghosts and haunts -- the cemetery. The Zion Preservation Committee, the group responsible for renovating the exterior of the Zion church in Urbana , has arranged for a workshop on historic cemetery preservation. The workshop coincides with the committee's efforts to restore the cemetery at the former Episcopal church that dates back to 1802. (wtop.com)
 

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