Metro Briefs

DISTRICT

City places fifth in road-rage survey

City drivers are among the most likely motorists in the country to experience road rage, according to a recent survey.

The 2008 Driver’s Seat Road Rage Survey, commissioned by auto club AutoVantage, ranked the District fifth nationally in having the least-courteous drivers on its streets. The survey was conducted by telephone and focused on factors that lead to and define road rage in major metropolitan areas.

The city finished fifth in the survey for the second year in a row, while Baltimore finished fourth. Miami, Boston and New York made up the top three road-rage cities.

MARYLAND

FORT WASHINGTON

Bottle bombs explode at high school

Authorities said two homemade bombs containing toilet cleaner and tinfoil packed inside plastic bottles exploded at a Fort Washington high school yesterday. No one was injured.

Sgt. Mario Ellis, a spokesman for the Prince George’s County Sheriff’s Office, said two students were apprehended and are facing charges. Four of the bottle bombs were found inside the building, but only two exploded.

Friendly High School was evacuated for several hours while firefighters searched and ventilated the building. Sgt. Ellis said students waited outside until the school reopened about 12:30 p.m.

Authorities said a student set off a similar device last week at Crossland High School in Temple Hills, and that students probably learned how to make the bombs using instructions on the Internet.

BALTIMORE

Trial set in officer’s death

An Elkton woman accused of striking and killing a Maryland Transportation Authority Department police officer on New Year’s Eve pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s office said Kerri King entered the plea during an arraignment yesterday. A judge scheduled her trial for Aug. 4.

Miss King is charged with auto manslaughter, driving under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident.

Charging documents say Miss King owned the vehicle that struck and killed Officer Courtney Brooks, 40, while the officer was working a traffic detail on Interstate 95 in Baltimore. Miss King was arrested later at her home, after her vehicle was found in Cecil County.

Last month, Miss King was ordered to serve a year in jail in a separate case in Harford County.

CAMBRIDGE

Arson suspected at historical home

The State Fire Marshal’s office suspects arson in the weekend fire that heavily damaged the historical J. Benjamin Brown House here.

The damage is estimated at $500,000. The Cambridge Historic Preservation Commission is scheduled to meet today to consider whether to demolish or preserve the house.

The city will make a decision on whether to demolish the building after the commission makes its recommendations.

The four-alarm fire on High Street was reported about 4 a.m. Saturday. The home was built in 1790.

BEL AIR

Inmate blamed killing on ’evil force’

A psychiatrist said a two-time convicted killer talked about struggling with an “evil force” just five days before he is accused of killing again.

Dr. David Williamson testified Tuesday at the trial of Kevin Johns, 25, a prison inmate accused of strangling another inmate on a prison bus in February 2005.

Dr. Williamson said Johns told a psychologist he was considering discontinuing his therapy because he did not want to hurt her. Dr. Williamson quoted Johns as saying, “I like you. I don’t want to hurt you. But I don’t know what this thing can do.”

Dr. Williamson also testified Johns suffers from a schizo-affective disorder that creates mood swings and psychotic symptoms.

Johns has pleaded not guilty and not criminally responsible by reason of insanity.

TOWSON

Police name slain woman

Baltimore County police identified a 39-year-old local woman found dead at her home.

Police said a co-worker found Donna Rosemarie Campbell-Powell dead yesterday at her home in the 1600 block of Alston Road in the Thornleigh community. Police said she had suffered blunt-force trauma. Her body would be taken to the state medical examiner to determine a cause of death.

Police also said they have arrested a suspect, but the person has not been charged.

VIRGINIA

NORFOLK

State gets extra time to rebut study

Virginia officials will get additional days to rebut a Navy study that rejected moving an aircraft carrier and several other ships to Florida.

The Navy this week turned down a request by Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, to extend by 45 days a public comment period on a proposed overhaul of Florida’s Mayport Naval Station.

But Kaine spokesman Gordon Hickey said a 15-day extension granted instead still will allow the state to do more research into the study. Comments are due May 27.

Mayport’s lone carrier was decommissioned last year. The Navy has said ships moved to the Jacksonville-area base could come from any port, but Virginia officials think southeast Virginia is the likely choice.

GAINESVILLE

Driver charged in boy’s death

A Virginia man charged with driving under the influence when he struck a van, killing an 8-year-old boy, also has been charged with involuntary manslaughter.

Prince William County police spokeswoman Officer Erika Hernandez said Rodney Aaron Martin, 22, of Manassas, is being held without bond at the Manassas Adult Detention Center. He is scheduled to appear in court on June 13.

Officer Hernandez said Mr. Martin was driving a pickup truck when it drifted into a turn lane and rear-ended a van that was stopped at a light on Lee Highway and Somerset Crossing Drive on Sunday.

The boy, Joshua Adams, had been lying on a rear seat in the van and was thrown forward into the center console. He was seriously injured and was taken to a hospital where he died.

RICHMOND

Woman accused in bus-ticket scam

A former employee of Virginia Commonwealth University Health Systems has been indicted on charges she embezzled $800,000 by reselling at a discount bus tickets she had bought in bulk with university funds.

Charlotte M. Scott, 46, appeared yesterday in Richmond Circuit Court on seven counts of embezzlement.

Chief Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Matthew Geary said in court that the defendant had resold GRTC tickets for her profit for more than seven years, and VCU spokeswoman Pamela Lepley said she worked as a grants specialist in the health system from 1999 until she was fired in early March.

RICHMOND

Workers could face immigration charges

A federal grand jury will consider immigration-related criminal charges against two of the 33 workers arrested at the construction site for the new federal courthouse downtown last week.

Hugo Dominguez Cano, 33, is charged with re-entering the country after being deported in March 2006.

Juan Perez-Hernandez, 23, is charged with possessing a counterfeit alien-resident card. Both are from Mexico.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents took 29 men and four women into custody May 7. The workers’ native countries included Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Peru.

A judge sent the charges to a grand jury following a preliminary hearing in U.S. District court here Tuesday.

The two men are being held without bond, while the remaining 31 workers are being processed for deportation.

HARRISONBURG

Court dismisses case against 1-year-old

A court dismissed a case against a baby boy summoned to appear in court for an unpaid bill.

Richard White said he was shocked when he got a subpoena in the mail requiring his 1-year-old son, Jacy, to appear in Rockingham County General District Court next Tuesday over a $391 chiropractor bill.

Neither of Jacy’s parents was named in the lawsuit, which has been dismissed at the request of the plaintiff.

Shortly after his son’s birth in April 2007, Mr. White said he took Jacy to the chiropractor. He suspects that when the family moved, the office updated records for everyone but Jacy.

Mr. White said his insurance did not cover the $391 and only recently billed him — about the same time the residents of his former home forwarded the subpoena.

From wire dispatches and staff reports