Metro
In Brief

Saturday, December 24, 2005

THE REGION

Event Raises $7.8 Million for Homeless

The Fannie Mae Foundation, which sponsors the annual Help the Homeless Walkathon, said a record $7.8 million was raised through the event this year.

The Nov. 19 walkathon and related activities attracted about 110,000 participants. The money raised will go to 78 area groups that work with the homeless, the group said.

THE DISTRICT

12 Displaced by NW Rowhouse Fire

Twelve people, including six children, were displaced from a Northwest Washington rowhouse yesterday after fire swept through the two-story residence, the D.C. fire department said.

The blaze occurred about 1:30 p.m. in the 4800 block of Seventh Street NW, spokeswoman Kathryn Friedman said. No injuries were reported, but the second floor of the home was severely damaged.

"Firefighters assisted some of the occupants from second-story windows using ladders," Friedman said.

Friedman said the fire was caused by faulty wiring in a ceiling light fixture. She said damage was estimated at $50,000.

The Red Cross is providing the victims with assistance.

MARYLAND

1 Killed, 1 Wounded in Home Invasion

One man was shot to death and another was wounded in a home invasion in Prince George's County, police said.

The incident occurred about 8:40 p.m. in the 100 block of Ames Road in the Adelphi area, police said. Both victims were in the home when it was invaded.

The motive for the attack was unclear. Police said they were trying to determine whether gang members were involved.

Anne Arundel Water Advisory Is Lifted

Anne Arundel County officials lifted a water conservation advisory yesterday for residents of Arnold and Severna Park, noting that repairs are nearly complete to a section of concrete sewer pipe that failed last weekend.

The Dec. 17 collapse spilled an estimated 3 million gallons of sewage into an Arnold creek, the largest such spill in the county since the 1980s. An investigation pointed to corroded sections of a 30-year-old reinforced-concrete pipe near the Mill Creek pumping station.

Permanent repairs are complete on half the 100-foot section of collapsed pipe, and temporary pipe has been placed in the rest, making it possible to deactivate an emergency bypass system. Remaining repairs will be completed next week, officials said.

Drinking water was never threatened by the spill, officials said, and Mill Creek is expected to be safe for boating and swimming in the summer.

More School Construction Funds Urged

Several liberal advocacy groups have joined the two leading Democratic candidates for Maryland governor in calling for the state to spend $400 million on school construction next year.

"We appeal to Governor Ehrlich, in this holiday season, to finally do right by our children," said Tom Hucker, executive director of Progressive Maryland, which coordinated a conference call with reporters Thursday.

Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley's running mate for governor, Del. Anthony G. Brown (D-Prince George's), took part in the call, and Del. Charles E. Barkley (D-Montgomery) represented Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, O'Malley's rival for the Democratic nomination.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. proposed about $150 million for school construction last year. Henry Fawell, a spokesman, said that Ehrlich will make a "significant investment" next year but that it is too soon to disclose a figure.

Auto Mechanic Burned in Pr. George's Fire

An auto mechanic was burned over 40 percent of his body when a fire ignited at a Capitol Heights area auto body shop yesterday afternoon, according to the Prince George's County fire department.

The fire began at 3:30 p.m. at Moon's Auto Center, in the 4900 block of Marlboro Pike. The auto mechanic was working on a car with a gas leak when a light he was using came into contact with fuel, said Mark Brady, a department spokesman. He did not identify the mechanic.

Flames spread quickly, gutting the shop and destroying several cars. A firefighter whose hands were injured was taken to a hospital, Brady said.

War Crimes Case Linked to Md. Chemicals

A businessman who supplied chemicals manufactured in Baltimore to Saddam Hussein's government in Iraq, where they were used to poison thousands of people, was convicted in a Dutch court yesterday of war crimes and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Frans Van Anraat, 63, supplied the Iraqi regime with thiodiglycol, a key ingredient in the mustard gas used in attacks on Iranians and on ethnic Kurds in northern Iraq.

The court found him not guilty of genocide, saying the shipments predated mass killings.

Van Anraat, a Dutch national, was indicted in Baltimore on federal export and related charges in 1989, but he slipped away from investigators in Europe and disappeared into Iraq, where he lived for more than a decade.

The thiodiglycol was manufactured by Alcolac Inc. The company, which pleaded guilty in 1989 to knowingly violating export laws, has since been sold and restructured.

VIRGINIA

Plan to Save Air Base Gets Support

A task force advising Gov. Mark R. Warner (D) will support Virginia Beach's plan to restrict development around Oceana Naval Air Station in a bid to save the base's fighter jets.

The task force's leader, state Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle (R-Virginia Beach), said the city's plan represents a "huge and significant effort" to protect Oceana. The endorsement came Thursday.

The federal Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission had mandated development restrictions as a condition of keeping the fighter jets at the base.

On Tuesday, the City Council voted to ban development in accident-prone zones near the runways instead of condemning and buying 3,400 homes and businesses, as the commission had demanded. State legislators will consider the plan in the session that begins Jan. 11.

Virginia Beach will ask the General Assembly next month for permission to use eminent domain to condemn about 40 acres of vacant land in the crash zones to prevent development.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Where's the bridge?"

-- Anne Engblom, a toll collector at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, giving an example of one of the questions motorists ask. -- B1

Compiled from reports by Daniel de Vise, Allison Klein, Serge F. Kovaleski, Eric Rich, Jacqueline L. Salmon, John Wagner and Clarence Williams and the Associated Press.