Metro Briefs

DISTRICT

Smithsonian starts frog rescue project

The Smithsonian Institution is leading an effort to combat the spread of a fungus that is killing frogs and other amphibians at an alarming rate.

The Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project, announced Monday at the National Zoological Park, includes eight zoos and research institutions.

Already, the chytrid fungus threatens to wipe out a third of the approximately 6,000 known amphibian species. Conservationists say 122 amphibian species are thought to have gone extinct in the past 30 years, primarily because of the fungus.

Scientists will focus on a swath of Panama where frogs are still healthy. They’re searching for ways to build frogs’ resistance to the fungus, using the animals’ natural bacteria.

MARYLAND

UPPER MARLBORO

Life in prison for robbery, rape

Travis Shepperson, 21, of Hyattsville, was sentenced Friday to life in prison for robbing and raping a woman at a cell phone store in Landover.

Shepperson walked into a cell phone store in Landover on May 5, 2008, and robbed the employee there of her cell phone and $100. Authorities said Shepperson then forced the employee to have sex with him more than once in the back of the store.

Police arrested Shepperson after tracking the cell phone signal to a parole and probation office in Hyattsville. When officers arrived, Shepperson was using the woman’s cell phone. DNA evidence connected Shepperson to the crimes.

HAGERSTOWN

Woman sentenced for standoff role

Rene L. Reynolds, 21, of Moncks Corner, S.C., was sentenced Monday in Washington County Circuit Court to six years in prison for her role in a two-day standoff with police at a Hancock motel in August.

Story Continues →