METRO
In Brief

Thursday, February 9, 2006

THE REGION

Metro Looking at Ways to Ease Crowding

Proposals to ease subway crowding and reduce underused bus routes are on the Metro board's agenda today.

Leaders of the region's transit authority are scheduled to look into possible changes to midday and weekend rail service. Ridership is up 19 percent during off-peak times and 24 percent on weekends, often resulting in passengers being packed into subways while equipment sits idle.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority proposes using six-car trains for nine months during fiscal 2007 instead of the current six months, at a cost of $2.2 million. By fiscal 2008, the longer trains would run year-round.

Metro is also considering running regular weekday train and bus service on four federal holidays, when many private-sector employees go to work: Veterans Day, Columbus Day, Presidents' Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Metro said rail ridership last Veterans Day was 70 percent of what it is on a regular weekday. On buses, it was 64 percent.

The budget committee will also look at saving $2.4 million by cutting nearly a dozen underused bus route and curtailing late-night service on almost three dozen. Some post-midnight runs carry a single passenger, Metro said.

Area Federal Workers Donate $57 Million

Area federal employees pledged $57.1 million through the Combined Federal Campaign during the fall fundraising drive, a 2.1 percent increase from the previous year, the CFC of the National Capital Area announced yesterday. Forty-seven percent of the federal workforce in the Washington area participated, the CFC said.

The number of participants rose slightly, to 167,500, while the average gift fell slightly, to $341 from $347 in 2004. The CFC of the National Capital Area is the nation's largest CFC. More than 300 CFCs are conducted across the country each fall.

The Combined Federal Campaign of Central Maryland said yesterday that it raised $6 million, a 5.3 percent increase from the previous year. The results vaulted the Central Maryland over the San Diego CFC to make it the nation's third-largest CFC.

MARYLAND

Wineries Say Ruling Threatens Existence

Maryland's 22 wineries can't sell directly to restaurants and liquor stores, the state comptroller's office has ruled, prompting complaints that the decision could force some out of business.

"It's a decision that could spell the end of the farm wine industry," said Kevin Atticks, executive director of the Maryland Wineries Association.

Bertero Basignani, owner of Basignani Vineyards in Baltimore County, said wholesalers aren't interested in wineries as small as his 3,500-case-a-year operation.

"It's going to put a big strain on me. I'm going to have to make a decision whether to continue," he said.

The comptroller's decision follows a Supreme Court decision last year that struck down state laws forbidding direct shipment of out-of-state wines to consumers if a state permits such shipments from in-state wineries. The wineries have until the end of next month to find distributors for their wines.

Prison Inmate's Murder Trial Moved

The murder trial of a Maryland prison inmate accused of strangling another inmate aboard a prison bus will be held in Worcester County Circuit Court, according to a court document filed yesterday.

The Baltimore County Circuit Court administrative judge signed the removal order for the first-degree murder trial of Kevin G. Johns Jr., 23. Johns is charged with killing Philip E. Parker Jr., 20, last February.

Prosecutors from Baltimore County, where Johns was indicted, will try the case before a Worcester County judge and jury.

Prosecutors have indicated that they will seek the death penalty for Johns. Defendants in Maryland capital cases have the right to be tried in another jurisdiction.

Parker, of Baltimore, was killed early Feb. 2, 2005, as a busload of inmates traveled from Hagerstown to Baltimore. The Division of Correction fired three of the five correctional officers who were on the bus and suspended a fourth for five days.

THE DISTRICT

Housing Trust Fund Gets $500,000 Gift

The Washington Area Housing Trust Fund, which offers loans at below-market interest rates to developers of both affordable multi-family rental and for-sale housing, received a half-million-dollar gift yesterday from Bank of America, bank and trust fund officials announced yesterday.

The regional trust fund has made $1.4 million in loans over the past three years to finance 850 units of affordable housing in D.C. and suburban Maryland and Virginia. Its operating costs are underwritten by 11 area local governments, and it also has received support from federal grants, the Fannie Mae Foundation and financial service company foundations.

VIRGINIA

Fairfax Deputy Schools Chief Leaving

Brad Draeger, deputy superintendent of Fairfax County public schools, has been hired as schools chief for Livingston Public Schools in New Jersey.

Draeger, who has been a Fairfax schools employee since 1979, started his career in the District as a music teacher at South Lakes High School. In Fairfax, he has worked as a high school principal, assistant superintendent for human resources and the school system's chief academic officer. He helped implement full-day kindergarten programs and worked to develop a program for young children with autism.

Annandale Man Dies From Injuries

An Annandale man who was struck by a car Friday evening on Little River Turnpike died yesterday from his injuries, Fairfax County police said.

Thomas Edward Hope, 48, of the 4200 block of Conally Street tried to cross the 7400 block of Little River Turnpike near Annandale Road shortly before 7:30 p.m. and was hit by a 2000 Lincoln Continental driven by a 56-year-old Silver Spring woman, Officer Beth Funston said.

Hope was taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital, where he died yesterday. Police do not believe alcohol or speed were factors in the crash, and no charges have been filed against the driver.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"I'm not worried about a thing, I have a philosophy. If you pray, why worry? If you worry, why pray?"

-- D.C. Council member Marion Barry, leaving court after an irritated federal judge postponed his sentencing in a tax case. -- Page B1

Compiled from reports by D'Vera Cohn, Maria Glod, Jacqueline L. Salmon and Tom Jackman and the Associated Press.