The following stories are brought to you by the fine folks on the News4 assignment desk.
FREDERICKSBURG GM PLANT TO CLOSE
General Motors will close its plant in Spotsylvania County, its only manufacturing operation in Virginia, to cut costs as it operates under bankruptcy protection. Company spokesman John Raut said the Detroit automaker told workers Monday that the plant will close in December 2010 or sooner, depending on demand. The plant produces torque converter clutches for automatic transmissions. (AP/WTOP)
DC SHADOW SENATOR: YEAH, I DID IT.
Last Friday, Paul Strauss entered a guilty plea to his DUI charge in D.C. Superior Court. The guilty plea amounts to a swift change in tactics–some might suggest an erratic change—for the shadow senator. Strauss had maintained his innocence ever since his arrest on October 1, 2008. At a previous court hearing, his attorney successfully sought a delay for his trial until June; he had wanted the time to seek out an expert witness for his case. He had also previously rejected a plea offer. (Washington City Paper)
ANTI-SPEED CAM EFFORT FAILS
Organizers of a petition to put speed cameras in Maryland to a public vote failed to overcome their first bureaucratic hurdle after working furiously over the weekend to collect the necessary signatures before a midnight Sunday deadline, dooming the effort. Volunteers for the grass-roots group Maryland for Responsible Enforcement, which is circulating the petition, were required to collect 53,000 signatures by June 30. A third of those signatures had to be turned in to the Maryland Secretary of State's Office on Sunday night. (Washington Times)
SCIURUS CAROLINENIS PATRIOTUS
Squirrel. Thief. Patriot. A brazen squirrel has been grabbing small American flags placed in a Port Huron, Mich., cemetery and carrying them up to its nest, which now looks as if it's bedecked in bunting. Every Memorial Day, volunteers place the flags next to the graves of nearly 1,000 veterans buried at Mount Hope Cemetery about 55 miles northeast of Detroit. The flags were undisturbed during a Mass held Monday. (MSNBC)
