The Washington Times

UPDATED: Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine said Tuesday he will not intervene to stop the execution of John Allen Muhammad, meaning the D.C. sniper will be put to death as scheduled at 9 p.m. EST. Mr. Kaine, a Democrat, made the announcement in a news release that also stated he was satisfied the case had been reviewed by the courts. "Accordingly, I decline to intervene," Mr. Kaine said. Corrections ... Full Story »

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Gov. Tim Kaine denied clemency Tuesday for sniper John Allen Muhammad, clearing the way for him to be executed for the attacks that terrorized the nation's capital region for three weeks in 2002. Muhammad is set to die by injection Tuesday night at Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt. His attorneys had asked Kaine to commute his sentence to life in prison because ... Full Story »

EXCLUSIVE: Freshman Sen. Mark Warner, Virginia Democrat, said Tuesday that President Obama has misplayed his attempt to reform U.S. heath care by focusing on insurance coverage instead of explaining that the current system is headed toward a financial meltdown. "I wish the president would have started the debate by explaining to the American people that our current health care system is not ... Full Story »

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to stop the execution of D.C. sniper John Allen Muhammad, who is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Tuesday night seven years after he and his then-teenage accomplice terrorized the District, Maryland and Virginia. The court's decision exhausts Muhammad's legal options, leaving an unlikely last-minute intervention by Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine as his ... Full Story »

MARYLAND BALTIMORE Title company owner indicted in theft A Reisterstown man who owned title companies was arrested Monday on 24 charges involving felony theft. George Sybert Sr., 67, will be arraigned Dec. 10. The indictment against him was returned Wednesday. Prosecutors say Mr. Sybert owned and/or operated Maryland Title Co. in Baltimore. The thefts were from escrow accounts and were for more ... Full Story »

BALTIMORE | Critics of the federal government's draft plan to clean up the Chesapeake Bay said it lacked details, while federal officials emphasized they would let states continue successful programs to control pollution flowing into the watershed. The draft released Monday includes expanded regulation of large-scale animal farms and urban-suburban stormwater runoff, but leaves room for states ... Full Story »

The Supreme Court on Monday refused an eleventh-hour appeal to block the execution of John Allen Muhammad, mastermind of the 2002 Washington-area sniper attacks. Muhammad is scheduled to die by injection Tuesday in a Virginia prison for the Oct. 9, 2002, killing of Dean Harold Meyers at a Manassas, Va., gas station. Though the appeal was denied, Justice John Paul Stevens expressed concern about ... Full Story »

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two female lions fatally injured a wild deer that jumped into their enclosure at the National Zoo as dozens of visitors looked on. Zoo spokeswoman Pamela Baker-Masson says the deer may have entered the zoo from Rock Creek Park, where the zoo is located, on Sunday afternoon. Witness Rob Ephraim says the deer "ran between people" at the railing around the sunken enclosure, then ... Full Story »

DISTRICT Exhibit explores Africa in Mexico The Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum is hosting a traveling exhibit that explores a little known aspect of the African diaspora - its reach to Mexico. The exhibit, "The African Presence in Mexico: From Yanga to the Present," opens Sunday at the Southeast Washington museum. It was created by the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago and has ... Full Story »

RICHMOND | One-third of Virginia's watermen have offered to sell their licenses back to the state under a buyback program intended to ease pressure on the Chesapeake Bay crab. The bids, however, far exceed the $6.7 million in federal disaster aid bankrolling the buyback, meaning only a fraction of the watermen who bid will likely be leaving the water. The 665 bids received by a Nov. 1 deadline ... Full Story »

MANASSAS | Virginia prosecutor Paul B. Ebert knows how to land the big ones. His office is lined with pictures of his adventures on the water - an 800-pound blue marlin hooked off the coast of Australia, a 260-pound halibut, citations for tuna, and other trophies. But he's even more dangerous in the courtroom. Virginia's death row is lined with killers the Prince William County commonwealth's ... Full Story »

A 41-year-old Annandale man has died after being hit by two cars in quick succession, one of which drove away. Fairfax County police say the man, whose name is being withheld until his family is notified, died Saturday night. Police say the man was hit Friday night about 9 p.m. by a vehicle whose driver left the scene. The pedestrian was then hit by a second car, whose driver stayed. The victim ... Full Story »

RICHMOND -- An anticipated $600 million reduction in available revenue over the next six years is forcing the Commonwealth Transportation Board to scale back its projects. The board plans to seek public comments about essential rail, transit, transportation demand management, bicycle, pedestrian and highways projects through 2015. For the second year in a row, the board is having to rethink its ... Full Story »

Police are searching for two suspects in the slaying of a clerk during a robbery at a liquor store in Northwest Washington. Police said Rufina Hernandez was found with multiple gunshot wounds to the face and neck about 9 p.m. Saturday. The 51-year-old from Hyattsville was pronounced dead at a hospital. One of the suspects had a gun and collected cash from the store before shooting the clerk. The ... Full Story »

Ashley Jordan has lived with her college roommate for most of her life, so not much changed when she moved into a College Park condo with her brother Kyle last fall — except their housing costs got a whole lot cheaper. Miss Jordan's parents bought a $185,000 condo where the siblings could live while they attend the University of Maryland. They decided it was the financially smart thing to do ... Full Story »

MARYLAND BALTIMORE Woman pleads guilty to health care fraud Federal prosecutors say a Baltimore woman has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $237,000 from a health care benefits program. Nicole Stepney Turner, 34, entered the plea Thursday. She will be sentenced on Feb. 18. ANNAPOLIS Man acquitted in woman's shooting A Maryland man has been acquitted of charges he tried to erase a $400 drug ... Full Story »

Metropolitan Police have made an arrest in the Halloween-night fatal shooting of a 19-year-old Southeast man. Police on Friday charged Darrell Calvin Lee, 21, of Southeast Washington, with first-degree murder in connection with the killing of Ashton Hunter, 19. Last week, the city's Department of Youth Rehabilitative Services (DYRS) confirmed that Hunter was under the agency's supervision when ... Full Story »

It galled her to do it, but Sarah Dillon was desperate for answers, so she wrote letters to convicted snipers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo: If you murdered my son, please confess, she wrote. The Texas woman got no reply. "I've been waiting for answers for seven years," said Mrs. Dillon, who has taken to wearing a button that reads "Billy Gene Dillon is a very important person" as a ... Full Story »

MARYLAND ASPEN HILL Bus crash sends seven to hospital Seven people were taken to hospitals Friday after a car collided with a Montgomery County school bus in the Aspen Hill area. County fire department spokesman Capt. Oscar Garcia said the crash was reported about 3:30 p.m. at Layhill and Norbeck roads. Capt. Garcia said it was a front-end crash between a four-door Toyota Corolla and the bus ... Full Story »

The Army officer suspected in the shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, that left 13 people dead and dozens wounded had longtime ties to the D.C. area. Born in Arlington, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan grew up around Roanoke and attended college at Virginia Tech. He has relatives, including an aunt, several cousins and a brother, who have lived in the area. On Friday, his aunt's Falls Church home was ... Full Story »

Mildred Muhammad says if the police and others "had just listened" to her, the victims of the D.C. sniper might still be alive and ex-husband John Allen Muhammad would not be facing execution next week. "If they just would have listened, if they just would have put his name in the [National Crime Information Center], if he had been debriefed, if he had been counseled," she said, shaking her head ... Full Story »

Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine will resume teaching at the University of Richmond after his successor, Republican Robert F. McDonnell, takes the oath of office on Jan. 16. Mr. Kaine, a Democrat, announced Thursday that he has accepted a part-time teaching position at the university's school of law and the Jepson School of Leadership Studies. He previously taught a legal ethics class there from 1987 to ... Full Story »

Montgomery County officials Thursday night pledged a smoother morning commute after engineers fixed a glitch in the county's traffic control system that caused a mistiming of traffic lights and gridlock during the past two days' rush hours. County Executive Isiah Leggett reported a "breakthrough in the repair" to the central traffic signal computer that is supposed to switch the timing of ... Full Story »

DISTRICT Father sues city for wrongful death The biological father of one of two girls whose bodies were kept in their adopted mother's freezer in Maryland has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the District and the Board of Child Care of the United Methodist Church. The suit, filed Oct. 22 by Michael Muhammad of Temple Hills, seeks $75 million in damages. It says the D.C. government and ... Full Story »

RICHMOND | Some ache for revenge, others simply for justice. There is frustration, too, and defiance. For those wounded by the D.C. snipers and for the relatives of those killed, the emotions leading up to the execution of the mastermind behind the 2002 attacks vary as widely as those who found themselves in the cross hairs. John Allen Muhammad, 48, is set to die by injection in a Virginia ... Full Story »