Local Leads: 3/27/2010

News you need to know

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

AGENT ZERO AVOIDS JAIL TIME
Suspended Washington Wizards star Gilbert Arenas has been sentenced to two years of supervised probation for bringing four handguns into the team's locker room last December.   D.C. Superior Court Judge Robert E. Morin on Friday also ordered Arenas to spend 30 days in a halfway house, perform 400 hours of community service and donate $5,000 to a victims of violent crime fund.
"You have demonstrated genuine remorse and you're basically a good person," Morin told Arenas.  

Before his sentencing, Arenas cried to the judge and apologized for the incident.
(WTOP)

STUDENT LOAN INFORMATION STOLEN
Personal data on 3.3 million people have been stolen from the company that guarantees student loans in Virginia and two other states, authorities said.   The theft occurred last weekend at the headquarters in St. Paul, Minn, of ECMC, which has been the designated federal student loan guaranty agency in Virginia since 1996.

The nonprofit company also guarantees loans in Oregon and Connecticut.   Information that was taken included names, addresses, birth dates and social security numbers, ECMC said Friday in a news release. It said no bank or other financial account information was taken.   "This is old-fashioned" theft, rather than any form of computer hacking, Paul Kelash, a spokesman for ECMC, said in an interview.
(WASHINGTON POST)

CHERRY BLOSSOM WEEKEND
The National Cherry Blossom Festival is kicking off with a day of family events at the National Building Museum.  The day begins at 10 a.m. Saturday and will feature musical performances, artists and activities at the museum for the fifth consecutive year.
The opening ceremony is scheduled for 4 p.m. and will feature a performance by the Washington Ballet and others. 

The blooming period for the trees is expected to run from Sunday through April 9. National Park Service horticulturist Robert DeFeo has predicted the peak blooming period will be April 1 to April 4.
(EXAMINER.COM)

ALLEGED PARTY CRASHERS ON HOUSEWIVES SHOW
Desiree Rogers no longer has a job, presidential gatecrasher Michaela Salahi does: She will be one of the new “Real Housewives of D.C.” Also in the works: a Salahis tell-all book.  When last the public saw Tareq and Michaele Salahi, they were refusing to answer questions from members of a House panel about how they got into President Barack Obama’s first State Dinner.

Today, The Daily Beast has confirmed from two sources that the so-called White House gatecrashers, whose prank ultimately cost presidential Social Secretary Desiree Rogers her job, are poised to take center stage once again as the most visible members of the upcoming Bravo series The Real Housewives of D.C. After one of the most visible reality-TV series auditions in history—yes, Bravo cameras were on hand as the Salahis arrived for that ill-fated White House event—the couple has now been fully embraced as the focal point of the series, expected to premiere in July.
(THE DAILY BEAST)

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