The following stories are brought to you by the fine folks on the News4 assignment desk.
METRO EMPLOYEE THREATENS ARIZONA-LIKE SHOOTING
WTOP: "A disgruntled Metro operator says she is so fed up over shelling out more for health care, and not receiving a pay raise, that Arizona-style shootings could happen at her union hall.
The troubling account is detailed in a recent newsletter obtained by WTOP to members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 -- the union that represents the majority of Metro's train and bus operators.
The union and Metro are currently locked in a legal battle over pay and benefits."
MINORITIES ARE MAJORITY POPULATION IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY
Washington Post: "Minorities have become a majority in affluent Montgomery County for the first time, with Hispanics displacing blacks as the largest minority group, acording to a Washington Post analysis of census figures released Wednesday.
Barely 49 percent of the county's 972,000 residents are non-Hispanic whites, down from almost 60 percent in 2000 and 72 percent a decade before that. The number of Hispanics rose by about two-thirds, to 165,000. At 17 percent of the population, Hispanics are slightly more numerous than the county's non-Hispanic blacks."
LEGGETT WANTS PANHANDLING REGULATED
Gazette.net: "Rickey Garnes had been asking for spare change along Shady Grove Road for a little more than a year when he decided to try something different to encourage drivers to open their wallets.
Garnes, 55, strapped a trash bag to his chest and a bright yellow vest that reads, "Curb Patrol." Garnes, who is homeless, allows drivers to hand him their trash — or throw their empty cups and food wrappers into his bag.
"Sometimes they have cash. Sometimes they have trash. Sometimes it's both," he said. "But if I have to be out here, I might as well be doing something constructive.""
ARLINGTON HOTEL TAX PASSES HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE
ALRNow: "It looks like Arlington has a chance of getting its top legislative priority through Richmond, after all.
A House of Delegates Finance subcommittee approved Arlington’s hotel tax surcharge bill today. It’s expected to be taken up by the full committee on Monday.
The bill that was under consideration today was approved by the Democrat-controlled state Senate in January, under the leadership of Arlington’s Sen. Mary Margaret Whipple. A House version of the bill, introduced by Del. Bob Brink, failed to make it out of committee after being blocked by a key Republican."
