The following stories are brought to you by the fine folks on the News4 assignment desk.
MONK AND MANN PUNT ON JOB TRAINING CENTER
A decade ago, Art Monk and Charles Mann came to a neighborhood meeting in Anacostia and said they were going to open a job training center in one of the city’s neediest neighborhoods. They never followed through on that pledge. The former Redskins raised millions of dollars, both in federal grants and private donations, after saying they would locate the center at the old Carver Theatre building. The DC Government gave control of the property, at 2405 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE, to the Good Samaritan Foundation, a non-profit group fronted by Monk and Mann, in the belief that it would house the job training operation. (NBC Washington)
THE FUTURE OF AUTOS?
Renault SA plans to introduce 100,000 electric cars to Israel and Denmark by 2016 as Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn bucks the industry trend and focuses on battery-powered vehicles. The agreement with distributor Better Place will make Renault’s Fluence sedan the world’s first mass-market, zero- emission auto, Ghosn said today at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Carmakers including Toyota Motor Corp. are developing smaller, cheaper versions of road-proven gasoline-electric hybrids as their answer to global warming and high oil prices. Ghosn’s 4 billion-euro ($5.8 billion) bet on electric autos may pay off if he can produce a long-range, affordable model that renders hybrids and the internal combustion engine obsolete. (Bloomberg)
JON GOSSELIN DUMPS DOGS
Okay animal lovers, divorcing a spouse is one thing, but getting rid of your dogs is quite another. Jon Gosselin is sending his two German Shepherds back to the breeder as part of the fallout from his divorce from Kate. While the eight Gosselin children are staying in the family's Wernersville, PA home, their parents are splitting time there, trying to avoid disrupting the kids' lives but also not wanting to be around each other. Now, Shoka and Nala, the family dogs, are being discarded and Jon has been telling pals it's Kate's fault because she won't take care of them when he's not at the house. (Fox News)
FAKE COP TRIES TO ARREST MAYOR
A man impersonating an officer with a flashing red light in his car has been arrested after he pulled over the wrong driver — the mayor of Shreveport, La., police said. Police think the suspect was using the in-dash light to maneuver through traffic Monday night in northwest Louisiana. Shreveport Mayor Cedric Glover said he pulled over when the driver pulled up behind him, but that the man turned around and left as soon as he saw it was the mayor. (MSNBC)
