The following stories have been hand-selected by the Assignment Desk at News4:
DC CANDIDATE: SHUT DOWN THE BRIDGES
A candidate running for the District's non-voting delegate's seat in Congress has a drastic idea to get lawmakers focused on D.C. statehood. Doug Sloan recommends shutting down the commuter routes into the city. "If you really want to talk civil unrest, if you want to talk about shutting the city down and doing something that's really going to get Congress' attention, there's about six or seven bridges between D.C. and Virginia," Sloan said on The Politics Program With Mark Plotkin on WTOP Friday. "You take about 40 or 50 concrete Jersey barriers and you shut those bridges down for a day. You get those people's attention on Capitol Hill."
(WTOP)
GET YOUR PREAK ON
Calvin Borel isn't particularly comfortable playing the role of braggart. But Borel, even at age 43, is an excitable person, easily swept up by the surging tide that is history. And so minutes after the Kentucky Derby, when NBC shoved a microphone in his face, he boasted that he was going to do it. He was going to win the Triple Crown this year aboard Super Saver. He knows, now that the 135th running of the Preakness at Pimlico Race Course has arrived, that it's a prediction that rubbed some people the wrong way. But it's also the kind of statement there's no sense in retracting. The man who said it, in fact, is happy to own it. "I'm always confident in my horse," said Borel, who won the Preakness last year aboard Rachel Alexandra.
(BALTIMORE SUN)
FAIRFAX WANTS YOUR TRASH
Fairfax County is in need of trash -- and a lot of it. With collection of trash and recyclables in the county falling by about 15 percent over the past two years because of the economic slowdown, Fairfax has had to ramp up business at its massive waste-to-energy facility in Lorton by agreeing to take in all of the residential garbage collected in the District, to the tune of 200,000 tons a year.
The agreement, a revision of a previous contract that took effect this month, gives Fairfax and Covanta Energy, the private contractor that operates the county's waste plant, an additional $2.2 million-a-year revenue stream. Fairfax operates the largest waste-to-energy facility in Lorton by agreeing to take in all of the residential garbage collected in the District, to the tune of 200,000 tons a year. (WASHINGTON POST)
ALEXANDRIA DOG LAW PROPOSAL
Alexandria residents face a proposed law that would block dog owners from tying up their pets outside -- whether at home or on city streets -- for more than 60 minutes. The City Council introduced an ordinance that would limit the amount of time residents or visitors can tether a dog outdoors to one hour per day. That includes tying dogs up outside restaurants in Old Town -- a common practice during the summer. Violators would face misdemeanor charges and fines starting at $50, and the city's animal control officers would enforce the new tethering laws.
(WASHINGTON EXAMINER)
GW COMPUTER GLITCH
Incoming students from the class of 2014 were unable to access the first year housing website Friday, the date of the deadline to submit the application. GW Housing Programs extended the application period to Sunday, May 16 at 5 p.m. to make up for the technical difficulty. Director of GW Housing Programs Seth Weinshel said in an e-mail that the site was down due to a “technical glitch.” Information Technologies worked with the vendor of the site to allow it to reopen as quickly as possible, Weinshel added.
Weinshel said an e-mail was sent to all incoming students informing them of the problem and that the application had been extended. Andrew Kim, an incoming freshman from New Jersey, said although he had completed the application earlier in the week, he had decided to request a roommate at the last minute and panicked when he saw that the site was down.
“I called the housing services this morning to find out what was happening. Fortunately, the representative informed me of the extension. I just hope the housing application runs smoother in the future,” Kim said.
(THE GW HATCHET)
