The following stories have been hand-selected by the Assignment Desk at News4:
PYTHON LOOSE IN GAITHERSBURG
A 3-foot-long python is on the loose in Gaithersburg. Christian Pitillo of Gaithersburg was pet-sitting for a friend and noticed one of the animals, a golden Burmese python, had gotten out of its cage when he went to the apartment to feed it Friday, Pitillo said Monday. The snake was in a homemade cage that had weights on top but no latch, he said. The snake exited the apartment in Rosewood Condominiums on Streamside Drive through a sliding door that was cracked for the owner's cat, Pitillo said. The snake was last seen Thursday on Streamside Drive by neighbors, he said. (Gazette)
METROBUS DRIVER KIDNAPS PASSENGER
Transit agency officials say a bus operator got into an argument with a passenger and refused to let that passenger off the bus last Saturday. After Metro Transit Police responded and took statements on the matter, they determined that the driver of the bus wrongfully detained the passenger, arrested the driver and charged him with kidnapping. The July 25 episode unfolded on the D14 line to the Southern Avenue station in Prince George's County. (WTOP.COM)
DC TAX INCREASE
The D.C Council tentatively agreed to increase the sales, gas and cigarette taxes Wednesday after members determined that spending cuts alone would not resolve a projected $662 million budget shortfall over the next three years. The agreement followed hours of heated debate about how much District residents could afford to pay to spare some services from deep cuts. If approved Friday, when the council formally meets, the tax increases would raise about $50 million annually for the city as it struggles to respond to the national recession, which has caused property values to plummet and unemployment to rise. The proposal would increase the sales tax from 5.75 percent to 6 percent. The city's 20 cent-a-gallon gas tax would rise by 3.5 cents. (Washington Post)
PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY POLICE - $10 MILLION
Maryland jurisdictions will receive $23 million from a federal grant program to hire new police officers, Vice President Joe Biden announced Tuesday. The money, part of a $1 billion national fund set up under the federal stimulus plan, comes through the U.S. Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services program, known as COPS. Prince George's County received $10.6 million - the most funding in the state - to hire 50 officers, the maximum number allowed under the program. (Gazette)
HISTORIC CEMETERY RESTORATION
A volunteer association that has worked for decades to restore the cemetery hopes a system called ground penetrating radar, or GPR, will help Smith and other survivors. The GPR machine used at Woodlawn looks vaguely like a lawn mower and acts as a sort of navigation system, locating materials underground as an operator pushes it slowly across the grass. The machine sends radar waves underground and creates an image of what is below, and the image can be downloaded to a computer and analyzed. (Washington Post)
NSO TWEETS
The National Symphony Orchestra is trying an experiment. It's tweeting Beethoven's "Pastoral" Symphony, Thursday night at Wolf Trap. For a healthy portion of the classical music audience, Internet-related words such as "tweet" or "Twitter" cause parts of the brain to shut down. Deep breaths. Here's what will happen: The orchestra will use the micro-blogging site Twitter to send text messages of 140 characters or fewer from conductor Emil de Cou during the performance. (Example: "In my score Beethoven has printed Nightingale = flute Quail = oboe Cuckoo = clarinet -- a mini concerto for woodwind/birds.") (Washington Post)
5-STAR OCEAN CITY BEACH WATER
Maryland's Ocean City boasts one of the healthiest beaches in the U.S., according to the annual beachwater quality report by the Natural Resources Defense Council. The Worcester County beach is among a handful of the 200 most popular beaches studied across the U.S. that got a five-star rating, based on indicators of beachwater quality, monitoring frequency, and public notification of contamination. Ocean City received stars in all five categories: water quality for 2008 and over the last three years, its water quality testing frequency -- which is twice a week -- and its promptness of issuing advisories and posting closings and advisories online and at the beach. (Washington Business Journal)
