Prosecutors Ask to Drop Charges in 9/11 Case;

Rubin said the D.C. Council approved a final department budget for fiscal year 2010 that was a $2.5 million reduction from what was proposed by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D).

-- Theola Labbé-DeBose

CRIME

D.C. Man Sentenced to Death for Killing Cellmate

A prisoner who was serving time for first-degree murder was sentenced to death row yesterday for the 2005 killing of his cellmate, a District native.

A Texas judge sentenced Joseph Ebron, 30, to death for fatally stabbing cellmate Keith Barnes in 2005. Ebron, of Southeast Washington, had been serving time at a federal prison in Beaumont following his conviction in a 1997 slaying. Barnes, of Southwest Washington, was serving time for a second-degree murder conviction in a 1996 case.

-- Keith L. Alexander

SOUTHEAST

Woman, 54, Is Killed in Two-Car Crash

A 54-year-old Southeast Washington woman was pronounced dead Monday from injuries she suffered in a crash Sunday night, D.C. police said yesterday.

Gail Benton of the 900 block of Wahler Place was traveling north in the 2700 block of South Capitol Street SE shortly after 11 p.m. when the car she was driving, a 2001 Chevrolet Malibu, was struck on the driver's side by a 1997 Ford Crown Victoria, police said. They said the Ford, traveling south on South Capitol, apparently went out of control and crossed the median strip seconds before the crash.

The driver of the Ford was hospitalized in stable condition, police said. The collision was under investigation yesterday.

-- Paul Duggan