Metro Briefs

MARYLAND

BALTIMORE

Phelps unhurt in car crash

Olympic gold medal winner Michael Phelps was involved in a two-car collision near downtown Baltimore on Thursday night, but he was not injured, police said.

Anthony Guglielmi, a police spokesman, said the accident occurred at the intersection of Biddle and Calvert streets about 9 p.m.

He said Mr. Phelps was interviewed by police and that alcohol was not a factor in the accident.

Mr. Phelps was driving a late-model Cadillac Escalade east on Biddle Street when it and a Honda Accord collided.

Mr. Guglielmi said the female driver of the Accord was “shaken up” and taken to a hospital as a precaution. There were two passengers in Mr. Phelps’ car; they were not injured.

BALTIMORE

Swine flu death sixth in state

Maryland health officials say the state’s sixth death associated with swine flu is an adult from the D.C. suburbs with underlying medical conditions.

The state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene didn’t release any other details about the person.

Maryland health officials say the department expects more flu-related deaths. They are urging people to take advantage of seasonal and swine flu vaccinations when they’re available.

BALTIMORE

Son charged $75,000 on dead parents’ cards

A pharmacist from Ocean City has pleaded guilty to spending $75,000 using his dead parents’ credit cards.

Federal prosecutors say Joel Swartz, 65, pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

His plea agreement states that over eight years, Swartz and his wife, Esther, used the credit accounts in his parents’ name to get credit from banks and financial institutions. The couple were indicted in January and arrested in February, but Mrs. Swartz has since died.

Prosecutors said the couple used credit cards and convenience checks to buy air travel, vacations, spa treatments and renovations at their two homes in Ocean City.

Swartz faces up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine at sentencing in October.

VIRGINIA

RICHMOND

Feds give $41 million for transportation

Virginia will receive more than $41 million in federal funding for transportation improvements.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Thursday. Since February, more than $4.2 billion in federal grants through the recovery act have been awarded for transportation improvements across the country.

The grants provide funding for buses, vans and other transit needs to the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission, the Greater Lynchburg Transit Co., Harrisonburg, Blacksburg and the Richmond area transit system. The state Department of Rail and Public Transit also is receiving funding through the recovery act.

RICHMOND

Official: Wythe settles housing complaint

Virginia’s attorney general said Thursday that Wythe County officials have agreed to drop efforts to block a group home for mentally disabled children.

Attorney General William C. Mims said the county’s Board of Supervisors settled a complaint brought by the Virginia Fair Housing Board. The housing board intervened after supervisors passed an ordinance derailing plans for a group home for up to eight children.

The state called the county’s action discriminatory and said it violated Virginia’s fair housing law. Mr. Mims says a consent order requires county officials to stop discriminating, publicly apologize and attend training on fair housing policies.

Scot Farthing, an attorney for the county, had no comment on the settlement.

ROANOKE

Defense says witness against ex-sheriff died

The owner of a cockfighting pit who would have been a prosecution witness against a former Virginia sheriff in his federal trial on racketeering and other charges has died.

A defense memorandum filed in U.S. District Court discloses the death of the owner of a pit in the Naked Creek section of Page County, but provides no details. The owner wasn’t identified.

The indictment against Daniel W. Presgraves says the sheriff told the pit owner he had nothing to worry about from authorities as long as he kept a low profile.

Mr. Presgraves’ attorneys contend the statement now is inadmissible.

Mr. Presgraves also faces charges of conspiracy, taking bribes in exchange for a promise not to interfere with a cockfighting ring and sexual assault and harassment of female employees.

Pretrial motions are scheduled for Friday in Roanoke.

LYNCHBURG

Gambler pleads guilty to fraud scheme

A Lynchburg man Thursday pleaded guilty to charges related to a Ponzi scheme that prosecutors said cost about 19 investors a total of more than $400,000.

U.S. Attorney Julia Dudley said Jeffery Thomas Tuggle, 45, pleaded guilty in federal court in Lynchburg on Thursday to charges of tax fraud, wire fraud and failing to file a tax return.

Ms. Dudley said Tuggle devised the scheme between 2004 and 2006 to finance his gambling habit.

She said he told investors he was working with a group of lawyers to provide their clients immediate funds based on legal claims, and promised returns of 30 percent to 40 percent.

Tuggle faces a maximum sentence of 27 years in prison and a $775,000 fine.

CHANTILLY

Pakistani reporter detained at Dulles

U.S. officials are holding for undisclosed reasons a Pakistani journalist who works for an American media outlet.

Rahman Bunairee, a reporter with Voice of America who has been targeted by Taliban militants, was detained Sunday at Washington Dulles International Airport by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Agency spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said she could not say why Mr. Bunairee is being detained because of confidentiality laws. A Voice of America spokeswoman did not immediately return calls for comment.

Taliban militants in northwestern Pakistan bombed Mr. Bunairee’s home on July 8, according to a July 9 story on Voice of America’s Web site. He was not home during the attack, and he told the news outlet that no one in the home was injured.

Bob Dietz with the Committee to Protect Journalists, who met with Mr. Bunairee in Pakistan last month, said Mr. Bunairee was coming to the United States to take a one-year position with Voice of America. He said he did not have any information about whether Mr. Bunairee sought political asylum when he got to the United States.

DISTRICT

Norton presses corps on munitions cleanup

D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton plans to visit the Army Corps of Engineers munitions cleanup that recently uncovered the World War I chemical agent mustard in Northwest’s Spring Valley neighborhood.

Mrs. Norton has been pressing the corps to continue working near American University until Congress confirms that the cleanup is complete. The corps has left the site twice since 1993, but had to return when more munitions were found.

Mrs. Norton said the digging must continue. She plans to visit the site next week. Corps officials thought they were nearing the end of the current excavation when a flask containing traces of the chemical was discovered.

Mrs. Norton met with the project commander Thursday and pledges to hold a public meeting next month.

Wasps sting visitors at Rock Creek Park

Authorities said nearly two dozen people, mostly children, suffered wasp stings at Rock Creek Park.

D.C. fire department spokesman Pete Piringer said officials responded to the Rock Creek Nature Center on Glover Road in Northwest about noon Thursday. Mr. Piringer said eight children and adults were evaluated for stings. Two children who were stung multiple times were taken to a hospital as a precaution.

A few hours later, Mr. Piringer said, crews responded again to the nature center after a report of another 16 children, ages 5 to 7, also stung by wasps. He said paramedics transported those children and two adults, but their injuries were not serious.

REGION

Weekend delays expected on Metro

Metro riders should expect delays on the Red and Orange lines this weekend because of track maintenance.

Red Line trains will not serve the Fort Totten station during the repairs. Trains will operate between Shady Grove and Brookland-CUA and between Glenmont and Takoma from 10 p.m. Friday to when the system closes Sunday. Officials said free shuttle buses will transport Red Line travelers between Brookland, Fort Totten and Takoma.

On the Orange Line, trains will share one track between the Vienna and West Falls Church stations from 8 p.m. Friday to closing Sunday.

Every other train traveling toward the Vienna station will end at West Falls Church on Saturday and Sunday. The trains will then return to the New Carrollton station.

Riders should add at least 30 minutes to their travel time.

From wire dispatches and staff reports.