The following stories have been hand-selected by the Assignment Desk at News4:
Woodbridge Woman Bitten by Black Widow
InsideNoVa.com: "Margie Tompros said she didn’t used to be scared of spiders, but that’s all changed. She was recently bitten by a black widow and said now there’s a certain “ick factor” that kicks in when she encounters arachnids and insects. “I was always a tomboy and never afraid of bugs, but now I’m like, ‘Somebody get it!” she said. Tompros was bitten on Mother’s Day while she was placing flowers at her mother-in-law’s grave in Suitland, Md. The spider’s nest was in a pop-up vase at the grave site, and when Tompros stuck her hand inside the vase to clean it out, the spider struck."
Md. Mom Who Killed Son, Self Left Note about Debt
Washington Post : "Ben Barnhard finally had reason to be optimistic this summer: The 13-year-old shed more than 100 pounds at a rigorous weight-loss academy, a proud achievement for a boy who had endured classmates’ taunts about his obesity and who had sought solace in the quiet of his bedroom, with his pet black cat and the intricate origami designs he created. But one month before school was to start for the special-needs teen, his mother, psychiatrist Margaret Jensvold, shot him in the head, then killed herself. Officers found their bodies on Aug. 2 in the bedrooms of their home in Kensington, Md., an upper-middle class Washington suburb. They also found a note. “School — can’t deal with school system,” the letter began, Jensvold’s sister, Susan Slaughter, told The Associated Press."
Big Year for Bear Spotting in Loudoun
Local
Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
Loudoun Times: "Loudoun County has its share of animal sightings, but according to John Rohm of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, he’s received more calls of black bear sightings this year than previous years. Rohm says there have been multiple bear sightings, but there might only be about three to four bears in the area. The same bears are likely just roaming in different areas trying to find food. “It’s been a very active year, a little more active since I’ve been here,” Rohm says of being with the department since 2005."
