Tuesday, January 31, 2006; B03

THE REGION

After discussions with the Humane Society of the United States, Georgetown University has agreed to stop using eggs from caged hens for meals served in its student dining facilities. The school joins several universities across the country and in the region, including American University and George Washington University, that have eliminated or are phasing out the use of eggs from caged birds.

"Georgetown University is deeply concerned about animal welfare and consequently is proud of our switch to cage-free eggs," said Michael Basile, the university's director of food services.

The Humane Society says that 95 percent of eggs sold in the United States come from hens confined in wire "battery cages" that are so small the birds can't spread their wings or engage in perching, dust bathing and other natural behaviors.

A man who fell into a coma after he was punched in a fistfight outside an Adams Morgan bar Jan. 21 died from his injuries Sunday, D.C. police said yesterday.

Marc Ficarra, 34, who lived on Andrews Air Force Base, was pronounced dead at 12:46 p.m. at Washington Hospital Center. Results of an autopsy are pending.

Ficarra went into a coma after he was punched and his head hit the pavement, apparently while defending a woman who had exchanged words with a group of men.

The D.C. Board of Education announced yesterday that it will hold a special meeting tomorrow to vote on a resolution affirming its commitment to close underused schools.

Enrollment in the school system continues to drop, and independent studies have shown that the system is using about 10 million of its 16 million square feet of space. School Superintendent Clifford B. Janey has said that he will issue a list of proposed school closings in April when he releases a facilities master plan.

School board members said the resolution will be a general statement of support for cutting back on space. They said they wanted to take the action before the D.C. Council votes next month on a measure that would allocate an additional $1.5 billion to modernize schools. Council members have pressed the school board to reduce its inventory of buildings.

Attorneys for death row inmate Vernon Lee Evans Jr. petitioned Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) for clemency yesterday, arguing that a jury did not hear compelling evidence that Evans was not the man who pulled the trigger in the killings of two motel clerks in 1983.

Evans, 57, is scheduled to be executed during the week of Feb. 6 for the contract killings of Scott Piechowicz and his sister-in-law, Susan Kennedy in Pikesville. Evans insists in his petition that he was not the gunman. In the 51-page petition, Evans's attorneys argued that the sentencing jury did not hear that Evans experienced severe physical and emotional abuse as a child.

Montgomery County police were searching yesterday for Zodiac, a 7-year-old male llama that ran away from a Darnestown farm.

Police received calls Sunday night and yesterday morning about three llamas from the farm spotted near Route 28 and Quince Orchard Road. Two of them, Pokie and Riley, have since been recovered.

Police said they were concerned that the missing llama, which is four feet tall with a charcoal-gray coat and white feet, could be struck by a motorist. Llama sightings can be reported to the police non-emergency line, 301-279-8000.

Nearly four months late, Prince George's County Public Schools yesterday received a completed independent audit of the school system's financial statements for the fiscal year that ended in June.

School board member Robert O. Duncan (Laurel), who heads the board's committee on finance, audit and budget, said auditor BDO Seidman had certified the school system's fiscal 2005 books.

The audit, which was due Sept. 30, will be forwarded to state education officials. That will help Maryland's second-largest school system avoid state-imposed financial penalties. The previous year's audit was more than nine months late.

Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. today in most of Loudoun County and part of western Fairfax County for voters to choose a state senator for the 33rd District.

Loudoun Supervisor Mick Staton Jr. (R-Sugarland Run) faces lawyer and former supervisor Mark R. Herring (D) in the contest to replace former Sen. William C. Mims (R), who left the Senate to become the chief deputy state attorney general.

The winner of today's contest will waste no time joining the fray in Richmond, where the General Assembly is in session; the new senator is expected to take his oath and attend the session tomorrow.

A house in the Winchester area was severely damaged last night in an explosion that also damaged nearby houses and burned one man, authorities said.

The blast occurred about 8 p.m. in Stephens City, according to the Frederick County, Va., sheriff's office. The injured man, who apparently was an occupant of the house where the blast occurred, was flown to a burn center. His condition was not immediately known.

One neighbor said that the house where the blast apparently occurred was destroyed. "That house was gone," she said.

The sheriff's office in the county, about 60 miles west of Washington, said no cause had been determined. Two neighbors said they thought natural gas might have been involved. Tim Sargeant, a spokesman for Washington Gas, said his company found no evidence last night of underground gas leaks around the house.

"We send a lot of money home, and . . . we need a voice over there. We're investing in our home towns -- buying housing, building roads and other projects -- and we'd like to see a good mayor we can trust."

-- U.S. Salvadoran Chamber of Commerce President Andreas "Elmer" Arias, on an Arlington activist's bid to run his home town in El Salvador. -- A1

Compiled from reports by staff writers V. Dion Haynes, Karlyn Barker, Ernesto Londoño, Nick Anderson, Steven Ginsberg, Amy Gardner, Allan Lengel and Martin Weil and the Associated Press.