The Washington Times

MARYLAND BALTIMORE Police injure shooting suspect A man shot two people in the city's Brooklyn neighborhood on Monday and was shot by officers, Baltimore police said. Officer Nicole Monroe, a police spokeswoman, said the man shot a man and a woman in the legs Monday afternoon at Ninth Street and Patapsco Avenue. Officer Monroe said officers arrived at the scene and chased the man before shooting ... Full Story »

CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. | A judge said Monday that he would rule by Jan. 15 on whether to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the families of two students slain in the mass shootings at Virginia Tech. After hearing arguments in Montgomery County, visiting Circuit Court Judge William Alexander said he was prepared to rule but wanted to announce his decision after spending the next month preparing a written ... Full Story »

More than a month before legislators gather in Richmond to open the General Assembly, they're already starting to legislate. Delegate Robert G. Marshall is listed as pre-filing seven bills, but that could be the tip of the iceberg. With the next session being held in an even-numbered year, delegates have no restrictions on the number of bills they can pre-file before the session starts. In 2008 ... Full Story »

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) -- Pakistani police Monday seized luggage and a cell phone from a hotel where three of five Americans arrested on suspicion of militant links stayed, while a court ruled the men cannot be deported until judges review the case. Police allege the young Americans intended to join militants in the northwest tribal areas and then travel to Afghanistan before their arrest last ... Full Story »

A D.C. deputy fire chief remains an employee of the District despite working as a county fire chief in Florida as part of an arrangement that will allow him to receive retirement benefits for five years that he otherwise would not be entitled to collect. Deputy Fire Chief Kenneth Ellerbe took a job as the chief of the Sarasota County, Fla., fire department in late July, according to reports from ... Full Story »

ANNAPOLIS | Sean Hagan's 84-year-old mother lives alone in Silver Spring, and as the victim of a common locksmithing scam, shows why Maryland recently started regulating locksmiths. He said she called a company listed in the Yellow Pages that advertised it was a "locally owned and operated" business. She was quoted a price to repair a deadbolt lock, but Mr. Hagan said the repairman charged ... Full Story »

STUARTS DRAFT, Va. | Almost a year after Virginia's puppy-mill bill became law - restricting the size of breeding operations and stiffening inspection and record-keeping practices - canine advocacy and breeding groups remain divided on its impact. Fueled by a Humane Society investigation into Virginia breeders, the state last year became the first to limit kennel operators to no more than 50 ... Full Story »

VIRGINIA BOWLING GREEN 3 arrested, 2 sought in double homicide Caroline County authorities said three people have been arrested for a 2007 double homicide, and they're looking for two others. India Smith, 24, of Chesterfield County; Levon Smith, 23, of Richmond; and Sheppard Thomas III, 29, of Richmond, are being held in jail without bond. Police are still looking for Kevin Coleman, 30, and ... Full Story »

Twenty-six operations put healthy kidneys into 13 desperately ill people: Doctors in the nation's capital just performed a record-setting kidney swap, part of a pioneering effort to expand transplants to patients who too often never qualify. "A whole new doorway of hope opened," said Tom Otten, a suburban St. Louis police officer who traveled halfway across the country to Georgetown University ... Full Story »

FORT WASHINGTON, Md. | Prince George's County police have arrested a Fort Washington man in the shooting death of his nephew. The slaying occurred shortly before 3 a.m. Sunday. Police responded to a report of a shooting on Loughran Road and found 28-year-old Stephan Osborne of Hyattsville suffering from a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Osborne's uncle, 46-year-old Kris Jones ... Full Story »

OAKLAND, Calif. | The Washington Redskins again went into the fourth quarter with a lead. Whether it was playing against JaMarcus Russell and the Oakland Raiders or their own resiliency, the Redskins were able to hold onto this lead and end a string of three straight fourth-quarter collapses. Jason Campbell threw two touchdown passes to give Washington the lead, Quinton Ganther extended it with ... Full Story »

BALTIMORE -- A white teenager charged in the unprovoked beating of an elderly black fisherman will have his case heard in juvenile court. A Baltimore judge ruled Friday that 16-year-old Emmanuel Miller should be tried as a juvenile after the youth's attorneys argued that their client did not participate in the beating of James Privott. The teenager was one of three people charged in the attack ... Full Story »

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel will light the National Menorah on Sunday afternoon in celebration of Hanukkah. The ceremony marks the 30th anniversary of the first National Menorah lighting in 1979. President Jimmy Carter attended that ceremony. Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Jewish Second Temple in Jerusalem in 164 B.C. after its desecration by the Syrian-Greeks. The ... Full Story »

Every Saturday, Randall Graham's son, Jordan, pulls him out of bed to hit the streets. Most Saturdays Mr. Graham is reluctant and tired, but the 9-year-old is persistent. Mr. Graham, 46, of Montgomery Village walks around outside the Shady Grove Metro Station taping fliers to posts, while Jordan paces the sidewalk asking bystanders to take notice of the printed messages. Jordan did not lose a ... Full Story »

The Trinidad neighborhood of Northeast Washington doesn't look much different than it did more than a year ago. Faded "Beware of Dog" signs sit crookedly in windows, decaying vacant buildings interrupt stretches of well-kept brick row houses, and the community's working-class residents still congregate on porches and sidewalks. But there's a quiet in the neighborhood now that wasn't here 14 ... Full Story »

MARYLAND UPPER MARLBORO Budget crisis bags county leaf removal A leaf-removal program has been discontinued in Prince George's County after 25 years because of budget cuts. Some county residents said they raked their leaves to the curb as they had for years and expected they would be vacuumed up by the county. But they were surprised to learn the leaf-removal program was cut. Susan Hubbard of ... Full Story »

RICHMOND | Corporate titans, well-connected lobbyists and staunch conservatives share Republican Gov.-elect Robert F. McDonnell's transition team with some Democrats. Some who now sit on McDonnell transition work groups even held senior positions in the administrations of Democratic governors present and past. The number of people advising the conservative Mr. McDonnell in 13 different policy ... Full Story »

Marines from the 4th Civil Affairs Group, based in Anacostia, return Friday from a seven-month deployment in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Family and friends bearing food and other refreshments began arriving at 1 p.m. for the upbeat gathering to welcome the detachment of about 35 Marines home at their reserve training center at Navy Annex Anacostia, in Washington. The ... Full Story »

RICHMOND | One week before Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, submits an austere budget to cope with a nearly $4 billion shortfall, he and Republican legislative leaders feuded Friday over whether to boost revenues or make drastic cuts. Five conservative legislative leaders sent Mr. Kaine a letter warning him not to end some tax breaks in the budget he proposes next week. To do so, they wrote, would be ... Full Story »

ABERDEEN, Md. | Facing a massive shortfall in funding and looming gridlock, Gov. Martin O'Malley voiced strong support Friday for more federal dollars toward Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) transportation projects in the state. At a news conference announcing that a highway project near Aberdeen Proving Ground was moving toward construction, Mr. O'Malley was confident that the shortfall in ... Full Story »

DISTRICT Equipment fires out at printing office A shredder used to process waste paper for recycling caused several small equipment fires at the U.S. Government Printing Office on Friday afternoon. D.C. fire department spokesman Pete Piringer said the Northwest building was evacuated as firefighters worked to control fires on the third and fifth floors and the loading dock. Mr. Piringer said the ... Full Story »

UPDATED: Muslim leaders said Friday the five American youths arrested in Pakistan for allegedly attempting to join the al Qaeda network were lured through the Internet into embracing terrorist ideology and that they will wage a cyber counterattack. "This is a wake-up call involving our youths — Muslims and Catholics," Imam Mahdi Bray said outside the Islamic Circle of North American Center, the ... Full Story »

The House passed a $1.1 trillion spending bill Thursday that gives the District of Columbia more control over such local issues as funding abortions and legalizing medical marijuana. The legislation, which passed 221-202, also would overturn a ban on local funding for D.C. needle-exchange programs and phase out the city's federally-funded school-vouchers program. The legislation also would lift ... Full Story »

Critics of a master plan that would guide development in Montgomery County's vast Gaithersburg West say a proposal by the Montgomery County Planning Board is misapplying "smart growth" language to garner support. "All the marketing rhetoric has made it look like one thing, but if you look closely, it is not at all what they're saying it is," said Donna Baron, founder and coordinator of the ... Full Story »

RICHMOND | Gov.-elect Robert F. McDonnell appointed Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling his administration's new jobs "czar" Thursday and made it a position in his Cabinet. The appointment makes good on a pledge Mr. McDonnell made during his campaign to broaden the minimal constitutional duties of the lieutenant governor into "chief jobs-creation officer," though not his pay of only $36,321 a year. "I'm going ... Full Story »