DISTRICT
Ex-roommates freed from monitoring
Three men charged with obstructing justice in connection to the death of a well-known D.C. lawyer have been released from electronic monitoring.
A D.C. Superior court judge on Friday ordered that ankle bracelets and curfews be lifted for Joseph Price, Victor Zaborsky and Dylan Ward.
Police have said lawyer Robert Wone, 32, was drugged, sexually assaulted and stabbed in 2006 while spending the night in the Northwest town house the three defendants shared.
Judge Frederick H. Weisberg said the men are cooperating with authorities and he does not think they will be a flight risk.
However, prosecutors said they are seeking more indictments against the defendants on charges of tampering with evidence.
’Premier’ swim meet set for February
The 23rd annual Black History Invitational Swim Meet will be held Feb. 13-15 at the Takoma Aquatic Center, D.C. officials say.
The event - also known as “Make Your Mark!” - will be hosted by the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation and the United Black Fund Inc.
USA Swimming, the national governing body for the sport, calls the meet the “premier minority swim competition in the United States and in the world.”
The aquatic center is at 300 Van Buren St. NW. Those interested in volunteering should contact David Brooks at 202/498-2145 or by e-mail at david.brooks@dc.gov.
Top judge says furloughs illegal
Maryland’s top judge says state law prevents him from ordering fellow judges to take the furloughs he is ordering for other court employees.
Maryland Court of Appeals Chief Judge Robert M. Bell said the state constitution prohibits decreasing a judge’s salary. Judge Bell ordered furloughs of up to 24 hours of pay by mid-2009 for other state-funded court employees. He also ordered state courts to close Dec. 26 and Jan. 2, though the closings do not apply to court agencies funded by their respective counties or cities.
ANNAPOLIS
Budget chief urges schools cuts
Gov. Martin O’Malley’s budget chief reportedly is recommending cutting $37.9 million from a schools fund the governor promised to fully fund during his election campaign.
The Baltimore Sun reported Saturday that state Budget and Management Secretary T. Eloise Foster recommended slashing the $75.8 million Geographic Cost of Education Index fund by half in a letter to the governor Wednesday. State officials are looking for ways close a looming budget deficit.
The fund is designed to help offset expenses in districts that face the highest costs.
Former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican, never funded the program, relying on advice from the attorney general’s office that it was optional. Democrats criticized his position, and Mr. O’Malley, a Democrat, promised to fully fund the program, but has so far only funded 60 percent.
ROCKVILLE
County receives addition to park
The Montgomery County Planning Board has accepted a 5.8-acre addition to Rock Creek Regional Park in Derwood.
The land is a gift from Theressa Stadtman, a former biochemist with the National Institutes of Health.
Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission officials said the property features steep slopes, a stream and mature forest. It also has a modern movement house built in 1961 with about 1,000 azaleas planted by Mrs. Stadtman’s now-deceased husband, Earl Stadtman, who was also a biochemist at NIH. Theressa Stadtman will continue to live in the house.
The tract, next to Rock Creak Stream Valley Park along Mill Creek, was valued at more than $1 million in 2006.
Parks officials said the land will be named the Stadtman Preserve and will be permanently protected from development.
College Park open during furlough
The University of Maryland College Park will not shut down to accommodate a cost-saving, employee-furlough program, campus officials said over the weekend.
The unpaid leave for administrators, professors and others staffers at the flagship campus who make at least $30,000 was approved Dec. 12 by the Board of Regents. Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Democrat, ordered furloughs for state employees to help cut Maryland’s multimillion-dollar budget shortfall. The plan took effect Sunday and must be completed by June 2, 2009. The scaled plan requires those making less than $50,000 take off one day without pay and those making more than $90,00 take off five days.
VIRGINIA
RICHMOND
Temporary work takes a holiday
The Virginia Department of Transportation is opening lanes temporarily closed for construction or maintenance work on major roadways during the remainder of the Christmas season.
The lanes will open from noon on Christmas Eve until noon on Friday, then open against on Dec. 31 - New Year’s Eve - until Jan. 2.
Hours will vary in more heavily traveled parts of the state. In Northern Virginia, for example, construction and maintenance projects will be put on hold through the weekend following the holiday.
Long-term construction zones will remain in place.
Arrest made in death of woman, teen
A Christiansburg man was arrested and charged in the deaths of a woman and teenager.
Police said Jeffrey Lee Mills, 34, was arrested Saturday and charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Shelley Ann Wood, 35, and a 16-year-old girl.
Christiansburg Police Department Maj. Dalton Reid said there was a “domestic relationship” between the victims and the suspect but would not elaborate.
The bodies were found early Saturday at a Haymaker Street residence after Roanoke County Police received a call from a concerned resident.
Mr. Mills is being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail.
From wire dispatches and staff reports
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