The following stories have been hand-selected by the Assignment Desk at News4:
RAIL SAFETY INSPECTORS NEARLY HIT BY TRAIN
A team of independent safety inspectors was nearly hit last month by a Metro train that appeared to be traveling at full speed and making no attempt to slow, as required by agency rules. (Washington Post)
YARD SALE THIEF PLEADS GUILTY
Renda Morrison was three doors away from her house in Severn when she was "dazed" by what she saw for sale in her neighbor's yard. "What did I say? 'Stop the car,' " Morrison recalled Tuesday, as her daughter nodded. The yard sale featured Morrison's belongings - items she was about to inventory for police after a burglary that so cleaned out her home even shelving had vanished. (Baltimore Sun)
K STREET FUTURE
The District wants to transform the center of K Street into a two-lane bus thoroughfare, while relegating all other traffic to three lanes on each side. The city had spent years mulling a major change to the high-profile artery to speed buses through the notoriously congested center of the city. This fall, officials looked at creating either a three-lane or two-lane bus transitway along a portion of the street. (Examiner)
SAVING HISTORY
For many people, 2009 is a year they want to forget. But for the country's top Civil War preservation outfit, the past year shines. Even as the nation confronted its worst economic straits since the Great Depression, the Civil War Preservation Trust posted its second-largest annual tally for battlefield land taken out of harm's way. (Fredericksburg.com)
ZAMBONI ADMIRERS
Seth Gomoljak's dream vehicle costs $85,000. It's 7 feet tall, 13 feet long, weighs five tons and tops out at 25 miles per hour — although 9 mph is its recommended cruising speed. "I'm a hockey fan, so I've always wanted to drive a Zamboni," said Gomoljak of College Park, referring to the large, lumbering machines that resurface ice rinks. "I see them at hockey games and think, ‘That should be me on there!'" (Gazette)
