Local Leads: 3/2/09

News you need to know

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

SNOW BLANKETS THE REGION
A significant winter storm shuttered schools, disrupted train and bus service, and left thousands of people without power in the Washington area this morning, as hundreds of plows struggled to clear between 3 and 12 inches of snow from roads throughout the region. The federal government offered workers the options of unscheduled leave and arriving up to two hours late without penalty, and some local governments also told employees they could use liberal leave because of the storm, which blanketed the region but hit Southern Maryland the hardest. (Washington Post/Loudoun Extra)

SNOW AND POWER OUTAGES
As the snow begins to clear the Northern Virginia area, it leaves power outages and slush on the roads. Just before 10 a.m. Dominion Virginia Power reported at least 500 customers in Prince William County without power, partially due to a downed tree.
(Potomac News)

AMTRAK TRAIN STUCK
The snow has turned an Amtrak ride into a marathon for 140 passengers heading from Washington toward Newport News, Va.
Amtrak tells WTOP Northeast Regional Train 99 left Washington's Union Station on time, at 5 p.m. Sunday. The train, which began its trip in Boston was delayed for hours north of Richmond, after a CSX train derailed Sunday.  When it got going again there were several problems with switches as the snow storm gained strength. (WTOP.COM

SHOVELING CAN BE A STRAIN ON THE HEART
It may not look like a lot to shovel out there, but that white stuff may be surprisingly heavy. And getting rid of it will surely be taxing to Marylanders, who haven't had much of anything to shovel for three years. Especially for the sedentary among us, doctors say, tackling heavy snow with only a shovel and grim determination can put a potentially fatal strain on the heart. (Baltimore Sun)

MONTGOMERY COUNTY EXECUTIVE INJURED IN ACCIDENT
Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett is at home recuperating Monday morning after sustaining minor injuries when the vehicle he was riding in was struck by an alleged drunken driver Sunday night, according to a county spokesman and police.
Leggett (D), his wife Catherine and his security officer and driver, Samantha Horwitz, were headed to his home in Burtonsville around 10:20 p.m. when the driver of a Ford pickup truck hit the county SUV at the intersection of routes 29 and 198, spokesman Patrick K. Lacefield said. (Gazette)

PAPER OUT, PLASTIC IN
For one part of the paper-vs.-plastic debate, Washington County Public Schools has chosen a side.  Paper is out and plastic is in — for milk containers.  The switch, which took effect about a month ago, lets the school system recycle more, said Jeffrey Proulx, the school system’s supervisor of food and nutrition services.  (Herald Mail

FREDERICK FERTILIZER THEFT
Frederick police are investigating the theft of 8,000 pounds of fertilizer from a farm supply store. The fertilizer went missing from the Southern States store in the 500 block of East South Street some time Saturday night or early Sunday, police said. A store representative told police that 6,000 pounds of "19-19-19" fertilizer and 2,000 pounds of urea were missing. The fertilizer is packaged primarily in 50-pound bags with red and blue Southern States logos. (Frederick News Post)

LIGHTING UP A STOGIE IN MARYLAND MAY COST YOU!    
"CAUTION, you are about to enter the government shakedown zone." That is the message that pops up when cigar lovers visit the website for Davidus Cigars, a retail chain headquartered in Monrovia with local stores in Frederick and Urbana. Davidus owner David Castro became concerned this year when he spotted a state bill that would increase the tax on cigars from 15 percent to 90 percent of the manufacturer's price. "I was outraged," Castro said. "It was like somebody walking into your home and telling you that they were going to confiscate everything that you own." He set up a web alert and is urging his customers to contact their lawmakers.  HB 951, sponsored by Delegate James Hubbard, D-Prince George's, and Sen. Verna Jones, D-Baltimore City, would increase tobacco, alcohol and payroll taxes to fund a broad effort to increase health insurance coverage. (Frederick News Post

STINKY BUG INVASION
They seem to turn up everywhere in a home. Climbing the door molding of the bathroom, navigating the crevice between couch back and cushion. Pull out a seldom used pair of pants and one might fall out, likely dead. Stink bugs have long been a part of the local ecosystem, but in recent months and years their presence has gone from occasional to seemingly perpetual. That’s because a species imported from Asia that first turned up in Pennsylvania in 2000 has no natural predators and has boomed in population, say local naturalists. It is the brown marmorated stink bug — or Halyomorpha halys, its scientific name — and it likely caught a ride on cargo shipped to the United States sometime in the late 1990s, said Debbie Ricigliano, a horticulture consultant with the University of Maryland’s Home and Garden Information Center. (Potomac Almanac)

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