DISTRICT BRIEFING

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

PAPAL VISIT

Tickets to Ballpark Mass To Go to 120 Area Dioceses

About 120 Catholic dioceses outside of the Archdiocese of Washington will receive 14,000 tickets to the Mass to be celebrated April 17 by Pope Benedict XVI at the Nationals ballpark.

Of those, the biggest share will go to the Diocese of Arlington, which will receive 6,000, archdiocese spokeswoman Susan Gibbs said yesterday. The Archdiocese of Baltimore will receive 2,500.

Gibbs said the Archdiocese of Washington, which controls the ticket distribution for the Mass, will announce the ticket allocation Friday to parishes that are part of the archdiocese.

Each parish will receive tickets based on the size of its Mass attendance and whether it has a school or significant religious education program, she said. Parish priests will decide how the tickets will be distributed.

-- Jacqueline L. Salmon

METROBUS

Onboard Altercation Leads To Stabbing and Arrest

Metro Transit Police arrested a 39-year-old District resident yesterday and charged him with assault with a dangerous weapon in connection with a stabbing on a Metrobus early Sunday, officials said.

James Moyler was arrested after an incident at 12:30 a.m. on Metrobus 2158, which was running the A46 route to Archives-Navy Memorial. Officials said Moyler and an 18-year-old man became involved in an altercation on the bus. Moyler allegedly stabbed the other man in the midsection.

The incident occurred in the 4500 block of Third Street SE, officials said. The Metrobus operator called Transit Police.

The victim was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening.

-- Lena H. Sun

NORTHWEST

Police Seek Public's Help In Identifying Dead Woman

D.C. police are seeking the public's help in identifying a woman whose body was found Thursday in a wooded area of Northwest Washington.

The body was found at 10:45 a.m. near 16th and Aspen streets NW, police said. The D.C. medical examiner's office has not ruled on a cause of death, but authorities said there are no apparent signs of foul play.

Police said the woman was wearing a heavy blue coat, dark-color shirt, gray pants, black shoes and black knit gloves. She also was carrying jewelry and other personal items, including a brown wallet on a chain.

Authorities urged anyone with information to call police at 202-727-9099.

-- Allison Klein