Bomb Scare Shuts Down Connecticut Ave.
D.C. police shut down a portion of Connecticut Avenue NW during the evening rush hour yesterday to investigate a suspicious package, authorities said.
A bystander called police just before 5 p.m. to report a briefcase lying next to a tree in the 2600 block, police said. Police shut down the block to traffic as bomb technicians examined the package and determined it contained clothes. They reopened the road about 6:55 p.m.
MARYLAND
Ex-Delegate Named to Elections Board
Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) has appointed former Democratic delegate Frank D. Boston Jr. to a seat on the state Board of Elections. Boston's appointment to the four-year term is effective immediately but will require confirmation of the state Senate. The process could be contentious because of Boston's history of bitter contests against incumbent senators.
Boston unsuccessfully sued to have his opponent removed from the ballot in a state Senate race six years ago. Two years ago, he unsuccessfully challenged another senator and finished third. Under election board rules, the open seat is reserved for a Democrat.
Light Fixture Caused Courthouse Fire
A fire that gutted the historic section of the Prince George's County Criminal Court Complex last week was caused by a light fixture in the attic, fire officials said yesterday.
Mark Brady, a county fire department spokesman, said investigators determined that the lighting system sparked the four-alarm blaze. He said the fire was ruled an accident.
The 123-year-old section of the court complex was largely vacant and undergoing renovations when the blaze broke out.
Pr. George's Deputy Injured in Crash
A Prince George's County sheriff's deputy sustained bruises yesterday afternoon after she and her partner were involved in a crash after they began to pursue a man accused of attempted murder.
The two had been watching a house in the 6700 block of Newport Street in the Landover Hills area when the suspect emerged and got into a vehicle with another man and fled.
Cpl. Mario Ellis, a sheriff's spokesman, said the deputies, whose names had not been released yesterday evening, chased the men for a few blocks and then crashed into their car near Buchanan Street and Glen Oak Road. He said the suspects, Jarrel Featherson, 22, and Vincent Cook, 20, bailed from their car. Shots were fired, but Ellis said it wasn't known who fired the shots. No one was hit by the gunfire.
Featherson and Cook were arrested at the scene by the deputies, Ellis said. Cook, of the 6700 block of Ellison Street in Landover Hills, was charged with first-degree assault on a deputy. Featherson, of the 6700 block of Newport Street, was charged in a warrant with attempted first-degree murder. Ellis said Featherson was wanted in an Oct. 12 near-fatal beating in Greenbelt.
VIRGINIA
Veteran Fairfax Officer to Be Deputy Chief
A 22-year police veteran who most recently headed the criminal investigations bureau of the Fairfax County police has been named one of the department's three deputy chiefs.
Lt. Col. Steve Sellers, 43, will head the administrative branch of the department, and Lt. Col. Suzanne Devlin will move from administration to the operations branch, filling the vacancy created when Lt. Col. David M. Rohrer became police chief in July. Lt. Col. Charles Peters remains head of the patrol branch.
Quote of the Day
"The sign might as well say, 'Welcome to the Ghetto.' . . . It doesn't send the right signal."
-- Yavocka D. Young, advisory neighborhood commissioner, referring to a memorial to homicide victims in Anacostia. -- Page B1
Staff writers Karlyn Barker, Manny Fernandez, Tom Jackman, Matthew Mosk, Jamie Stockwell and Del Quentin Wilber and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
