The following stories have been hand-selected by the Assignment Desk at News4:
POSSIBLE TOLL ROAD PRICE HIKE
You'll have to pay more at some toll booths in our region soon if planners get their way. But first, they want to hear from you.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority wants to raise prices on the Dulles Toll Road by 25 cents at both the main toll plaza and the ramps. The price hike would take effect next year, with additional 25 cent increases at the main toll plaza only in 2011 and 2012. The toll increases would help pay for toll road improvements, and construction of the Dulles rail line. Before the authority's Board of Directors votes yay or nay, three public hearings are planned: Monday, August 24 from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. Ashburn Elementary School 44062 Fincastle Drive, Ashburn, VA 20147. Thursday, September 3 from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m McLean High School 1633 Davidson Road, McLean, VA 22101. Wednesday, September 9 from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m South Lakes High School 11400 South Lakes Drive, Reston, VA 20191
(WTOP)
DC BROAD DAYLIGHT SHOOTING
At least five young people were shot Saturday evening when disputes apparently broke out after a community event in far Northeast Washington, according to police and witnesses. Rescue personnel put the number of wounded at seven. None of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening, but the flurry of gunfire about 5:30 p.m. near Minnesota Avenue and Grant Street sent people shouting and running through the neighborhood . A teenage witness said the incident apparently stemmed from rivalries between neighborhoods. "You got people around here that don't like each other," one 17-year-old who said she had been at the community event told a reporter.
(WASHINGTON POST)
MORE MARYLAND BUDGET CUTS
Gov. Martin O'Malley warned Saturday of reductions in state funding for police, health departments and community colleges as he spoke to local government officials who are expected to absorb $250 million in cuts. The Democratic governor, delivering his annual address at the summer conference of the Maryland Association of Counties, tried to cast allegiance with localities in what he characterized as a joint effort to confront recession-wrought deficits. But he provided few details on how the cuts would be allocated by county and program. "I know that none of you got into public service in order to dismantle your government," O'Malley said, after noting that he had trouble sleeping Friday night after a closed-door meeting with MACo board members who vented frustration about the budget situation. "You go into public service, whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, because you want to build things up, you want to make things better," O'Malley said. "This is all very hard on all of us."
(BALTIMORE SUN)
CLEANING UP OUR STATUES
The general sat motionless as the man with rubber gloves and tattooed legs gently brushed wax across his nose. Gen. George B. McClellan sat, as he has for a century, with clenched hand and stern visage, while technician Pavel Efremoff dabbed the gooey wax from a plastic tub and spread it over the Civil War figure's mustache and cheeks. The equestrian statue of McClellan, which has stood along Connecticut Avenue NW since 1907, had never had such lavish treatment from conservators, experts said. And the general, flawed in real life, has scarcely seen such kindness from historians. But this month, scaffolding was to come down from around the bronze McClellan. It was being unveiled as the latest of Washington's outdoor artworks to undergo rehabilitation.
(AP/EXAMINER.COM)
