Local Leads: 11/4/08

News you need to know

The following stories have been hand-selected by the Assignment Desk at News4:

ELECTION DAY
Need to find out if you're registered to vote, where you should vote or where your polling place is located? (NBCWashington.com

VOTING PROBLEMS?
Voters reported long lines across the Washington region at 8 a.m., but lines dwindled in some parts of the area by 10 a.m. (NBCWashington.com)

ISLAMIC CENTER VANDALS
Montgomery County police are investigating why the Islamic Center of Maryland in Gaithersburg was hit with 30 paintball blasts over the weekend. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a national civil liberties group, has asked police to investigate if bias was involved. (Gazette Newspapers)

METRO SECURITY CAMERAS 
Metro is moving ahead with plans to install surveillance cameras outside a dozen high-crime Metro stations.
The DC government will pay $200,000 to install security cameras at the Rhode Island Avenue, Congress Heights, Deanwood, Minnesota Avenue, Fort Totten, Takoma, Brookland-CUA, Columbia Heights, Georgia Avenue-Petworth and Tenleytown stations. Fairfax County will pay $75,000 to have cameras installed at Vienna and Franconia-Springfield. Those stations have the most crime of any in Virginia. (AP/The Examiner)

CRAIGSLIST ASSAULT
Prince George's County police say they've charged a Capitol Heights man with assaulting a woman he met through a Web site. Investigators believe the woman met Wayne Graves through Craigslist and agreed to meet with him. Police say Graves assaulted the woman, leaving her extremely disoriented and incoherent. (NBCWashington.com
 
LOCAL TEEN DEAD
The note left at her Alexandria, Va., home Friday told her parents not to worry - she had run away and wanted to be free. But less than two days later, 16-year-old Annie McCann was found dead in an alley in the Perkins Homes public housing development in East Baltimore. Police are awaiting the results of an autopsy. McCann, an 11th-grader at West Potomac High School, was last seen about 6:45 a.m. Friday, her parents told police, and the note was discovered that evening.  In it, her father said, she indicated that she was traveling far away. He checked Washington-area airports and parking lots at area train and bus stations, hoping to find her vehicle, a white 2007 Volvo. Federal transportation and Amtrak officials checked area rail stations with no luck.  (Baltimore Sun

MARYLAND FORCLOSURE NUMBERS
Maryland's housing market may be reviving, with foreclosure rates down, sales of new homes up and inventory shrinking, according to the most recent statistics.  Improved year-over-year foreclosure numbers, combined with improved sales, have been Maryland's first indication of an improving housing market in several years, said Kenneth R.C. Wenhold, Washington regional director for Metrostudy, a Houston market data company.Wenhold said Maryland's housing trends often follow those of Northern Virginia, which has reduced its inventory by nearly half in the past five months in some counties.  (Gazette Newspapers

PROPOSED PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY BUDGET CUTS
For Prince William libraries, a 10 percent cut in fiscal 2010 funding would mean those requesting certain records may have to wait an extra day or two. But for police, that 10 percent cut means the abolition of Neighborhood Watch, crime prevention education and the entire bike patrol team.  Basic police response service drops even more at 20 percent, and all but the most essential of training and develop-ment are eliminated at 30 percent. The scenarios were part and parcel of Friday's daylong meeting of supervisors, staffers and departmental officials to discuss the county's economic outlook and take preliminary steps toward offsetting a projected fiscal 2010 shortfall of $82 million. The schools, meanwhile, face a $108 million gap for this same budget year. "We are not facing deficits in the current fiscal year," said Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart, R-at-large. "We are facing how to plan for the next fiscal year." (Insidenova.com)

FEDEX STADIUM CAR FIRES
A fire consumed seven cars and damaged an eighth in the parking lot of FedEx Field Monday night during the Redskins-Steelers game, leaving a handful of football fans looking for rides home, witnesses said. Ellen Face, 25, of Arlington, and her friends had arrived a little bit late to the game when they saw a massive blaze consuming what looked to be seven or eight cars in the middle of the parking lot of FedEx Field.  (Washington Post)

ELECTION DAY FREEBEES 
For dinner, the Daily Grill is offering free appetizers until well after the polls close.
Shane's Rib Shack  has free three-piece chicken tender meals for the first 300 voters at its two area locations.
California Tortilla will give you a coupon for a free taco. Krispy Kreme  has special patriotic donuts for everyone who flashes an "I Voted" sticker. Not to be outdone, Starbucks will give you a tall coffee if you just tell them you voted.
And, Ben & Jerry's has free scoops from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday for voters and non-voters alike.
Outside polling places in Germantown, Chick-Fil-A is passing out coupons for one free, eight nugget pack with the purchase of a drink and waffle fries. (NBCWashington.com/WTOP.COM)

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