The following stories have been hand-selected by the Assignment Desk at News4:
NATIONAL MALL FUTURE
The latest vision of the Mall calls for removing the Capitol Reflecting Pool and the existing Sylvan Theater, according to a planning documents unveiled this week by the National Park Service. The D.C. War Memorial and its surrounding landscape would be restored, along with the dramatic, but weathered, sculpture of the Grant Memorial, near the reflecting pool and the west front of the U.S. Capitol. The reflecting pool could be replaced with another water feature as part of the plan; a multipurpose entertainment facility would be built on the site of the Sylvan Theater, south of the Washington Monument. There also would be more restrooms. These and other changes are envisioned in the Park Service's "preliminary preferred alternative," the latest chapter of a Mall plan that has been evolving for more than a year. It was posted on a Park Service Web site -- <http://nps.gov/nationalmallplan> -- this week for public comment. (Washington Post)
CHUNKS OF CONCRETE FALL OFF BRIDGE, QUITE A MESS
Softball-size pieces of concrete fell from the Glebe Road bridge over Route 50 early this morning in Arlington County. There were no injuries and no cars were hit, officials said. (Washington Post)
TEXT TIPS TO COPS
Tipsters who have crucial information about crimes in Prince George's County are now only a text message away from being able to submit tips to the police department's newly opened text messaging line.The department quietly rolled out the new feature in early February as a means of giving tipsters more options in submitting information on crimes. Coordinators of the program say it is anonymous and more discreet than phoning in tips because messages are encrypted. (Gazette)
SPOTSYLVANIA DOG MAULING LAWSUIT
A jury will begin deciding today how much money, if any, should be awarded the family of an 82-year-old Spotsylvania County woman mauled to death by pit bulls in 2005. Dorothy Sullivan's children maintain that the Spotsylvania Animal Control officers are at least partly to blame for her death. The family, represented by attorney Thomas Albro, filed the $5 million civil suit in 2007, alleging that the animal control officers were negligent in protecting Sullivan from the roaming dogs. A nine-person jury yesterday heard witnesses testify that Sullivan had called the Animal Control Office on several occasions to complain about aggressive dogs that would come on her property. (Fredersicksburg.com)
FREDERICK SCHOOL SUSPENSIONS
Black students in Frederick County are three times more likely to be suspended from school than their white peers, causing county school officials to question why and what they can do to reduce that number. "This is a reason for concern," said Daryl Boffman, a member of the Frederick County school board. "Sending a child home is not improving the educational situation for that child." Boffman was reacting to numbers that school officials released recently showing the disparity. Of white high school students in Frederick County, 9.2 percent were suspended in the 2007-2008 school year. During that same period, 27.5 percent of black high school students were suspended. (Gazette)
UNINSURED HEALTH CARE
Holy Cross Hospital opened a primary care health clinic in Gaithersburg last week designed to serve low-income uninsured county residents - and given the harsh economic climate, officials are preparing for more patients than expected. "The demand is always there," said Kevin Sexton, president and CEO. "I would have told you six months ago, absent a recession, there could be plenty of demand. Do I think that during a recession there may be more? Of course." (Gazette)
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Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
MANASSAS PARK ASSESSMENTS DECLINE
Manassas Park homeowners will see an average drop of 41 percent in their tax assessments when notices are mailed May 22. City Assessor Richard L. Sanderson said Tuesday night that the municipality's total tax base declined 31 percent from last year. Specifically, the total value of taxable property in Manassas Park went from $1.6 billion to $1.1 billion, Sanderson said."We lost half a billion dollars," he said. (Insidenova.com)
MARYLAND ELECTRICITY RATES
Two state Senate panels will hold a hearing Thursday on unforeseen jumps in electricity bills amid thousands of complaints from Maryland ratepayers already pinching pennies in a collapsing economy. Utility executives told the Public Service Commission last week that colder average temperatures this winter are the chief culprit in price spikes that have customers seeing bills up to six times higher than usual. The committees will meet at 8:30 a.m. in the Joint Hearing Room at the Department of Legislative Services Building in Annapolis. (The Independent)
RESTAURANT COPS LOOKING FOR...
It was shortly after 11 a.m. one June morning last year when a health-code inspector showed up at Café Monti and began rooting around the Duke Street restaurant. The unannounced inspection uncovered a number of problems, including spices stored on a tray with dead cockroaches, bread stored under lotions and rotting pieces of food on window shelves. In the basement of the Italian-Austrian restaurant, the inspector found tens of thousands of small dead insects — all over the floor, on storage boxes and behind the cooler unit. "We had some really bad violations," admitted Asif Hakim, manager of Cafe Monti. "But this is an old building, and the owner does not want to make changes. For us to really keep it clean, we would need to do a lot of renovation." (Alexandria Gazette Packet)
MORE TICKETS FOR THE ELTON JOHN BILLY JOEL CONCERT
Concert planners are trying to make up for technical glitches that prevented many fans from purchasing tickets last weekend for a show featuring Billy Joel and Elton John at Nationals Park. (Richmond Times Dispatch)