WEEK IN REVIEW

Aug. 10-16

Bay Bridge Crash Snarls TrafficDriver Reportedly Fell Asleep in Fatal Accident

Beachgoers and other motorists spent hours stuck in more than 10 miles of traffic on both sides of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge on Sunday in the aftermath of a crash that sent a tractor-trailer hurtling through a concrete Jersey wall and into the water below, killing its driver.

The three-vehicle crash, shortly before 4 a.m., also injured two women, officials said. The 19-year-old driver of one of the vehicles involved told The Washington Post in an interview from the hospital that she had fallen asleep at the wheel on the narrow span.

Leggett Eyes Disability NumbersBenefit Collection Rates Prompt Call for Reform

Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) called for an overhaul of the government's disability retirement program after an internal review found that a far greater percentage of the county's public safety retirees are collecting disability benefits than those in neighboring jurisdictions.

In the past eight years, 34 percent of Montgomery's police, fire, corrections and sheriff's department retirees received service-related disability payments, compared with 25 percent in Prince George's County, 4 percent in Howard County and 3 percent in Fairfax County, according to a nine-month examination.

Tysons Plan Could Go ForwardCritics Say Urban Makeover Will Backfire

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors could approve plans as early as next month that would allow developers to transform traffic-clogged Tysons Corner from suburb to city, but critics are growing in their opposition to a vision that they say will ruin Tysons and surrounding communities.

The Tysons Land Use Task Force has worked for more than three years on that vision, studying traffic, storm water, parking and transit with the goal of encouraging private redevelopment of Tysons Corner's sprawling business parks without overwhelming roads, sewage systems, schools and parks.

Critics say the task force is ignoring staff members and private consultants by contemplating much higher density limits than the infrastructure can handle. They also say the task force is moving too fast, before a final traffic analysis is complete and before George Mason University completes a study of how much the Tysons market is predicted to grow during the next 40 years.

Police Use GPS to Fight CrimeRights Advocates Say Devices Invade Privacy

Across the country -- and in some local jurisdictions -- police are using GPS devices to snare thieves, drug dealers, sexual predators and killers, often without a warrant or court order. Privacy advocates said tracking suspects electronically violates 14th Amendment rights protecting against unreasonable searches and seizures and is another step toward George Orwell's Big Brother society. Law enforcement officials, when they discuss the issue at all, said GPS is essentially the same as having an officer trail someone, just cheaper and more accurate.

Many analysts said that police will increasingly rely on GPS as an investigative tool and that the public will hear little about it. Most departments said they had never used the device. Arlington police said they have used the technology for three years, mostly to catch car thieves. Fairfax police have used GPS devices since 2003. Loudoun and Prince William counties, Alexandria and the Virginia State Police declined to say whether they use the tracking equipment.

D.C. Jobs Agency Director ResignsSummer Program Overran Budget by $31 Million

D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty forced the resignation of a top aide in charge of the city's troubled summer youth jobs program, saying the administration accepts "full responsibility" for the widespread problems that led to a $31 million cost overrun.

Summer Spencer, hired last year to be director of the Department of Employment Services, will leave her post at the close of the jobs program early next month, Fenty (D) said. The move came as the mayor released results of an internal investigation that found that the city was paying thousands of students who did not report to work, were fired or were ineligible. About 200 participants do not live in the city, and 104 are not within the 14- to 21-year-old age guidelines, including a few who are older than 50, the report says.