Local Leads: 2/25/10

News you need to know

The following stories have been hand-selected by the Assignment Desk at News4:
 
RETIRE LIQUOR PERMITS?

Churches, neighborhoods and other groups may soon get the right to buy a liquor license just to keep it from being used. The proposed legislation, HB 570, would let any group or individual buy one of the Prince George's county's 187 liquor store licenses for the purpose of "extinguishing" the permit for selling beer, wine or liquor. Currently, liquor licenses can be sold, but they cannot be eliminated. County delegates are currently debating whether to support the bill, proposed by Del. Justin Ross (D-Dist. 22) of Greenbelt. A hearing was held Monday before the House Economic Matters committee. (Gazette)

COLLEGE PARK CRIME CAMS
College Park officials and police will soon have another crime-fighting tool at their disposal, thanks to a $500,000 state grant. The City Council voted 6-2 Tuesday to approve a 19-camera security system in the city's Old Town neighborhood, near downtown College Park. The cameras will be set up along College Avenue and Calvert and Knox roads to monitor the area and deter criminals. Easton-based security firm Avrio RMS Group could install them as soon as June 1. (Gazette)

FAIRFAX BURGLARY CHARGES DROPPED
A Fairfax County woman said she heard a loud noise in her house one morning in June, stepped outside her bathroom and came face-to-face with an unknown man walking up her stairs.  "Hello," she said to him. He turned and ran.  Five months later, the man, his wife and another man, all from New York City, were arrested and charged with burglarizing Fairfax and Loudoun homes owned by South Asians, specifically snatching pure gold pieces and ignoring other valuables. But the cases against two of the three defendants have been dismissed in Fairfax, and only the attempted burglary charge heard in Fairfax County General District Court on Wednesday remained. The case against Dagoberto Soto-Ramirez was sent to a Circuit Court grand jury by General District Court Judge Ian M. O'Flaherty.  (Washington Post)

DIVORCE OR NOT TO...
To get a marriage license in Maryland, a potential bride or groom must show identification and provide basic information such as name, birth date and address. Two or more days later, they can marry.  Getting a divorce is a bit more complicated. But Sen. Bobby Zirkin, D-Baltimore County, is trying to make it easier.  Zirkin is a lawyer who works with divorcing couples. He said the three bills he presented Wednesday to the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee are an effort to "modernize (Maryland's) laws of divorce." (wtop.com)

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