Regional Digest

Federal prosecutors in the District were recused from the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph A. LaBar, a federal prosecutor in Philadelphia who handled the case, declined to comment Wednesday.

Tipps's attorney, Manuel J. Retureta, could not be reached Wednesday.

-- Del Quentin Wilber

Hundreds evacuated after gas line break

Authorities evacuated several hundred people from four office buildings in Northwest Washington and closed five blocks to traffic Wednesday after construction workers accidentally broke an underground natural gas pipeline.

The street closures, around Sixth and D streets NW near Verizon Center, were likely to slow traffic during the evening commute, officials said.

The workers broke the two-inch, high-pressure gas line about 2 p.m., said Pete Piringer, a spokesman for the D.C. fire department. He said the leaking gas prompted authorities to evacuate the office buildings at 515 and 601 D St. and 601 and 625 Indiana Ave. They also closed the 500 and 600 blocks of D and the 300, 400 and 500 blocks of Indiana, Piringer said.

After Washington Gas workers stopped the leak about 3 p.m., Piringer said, people were allowed to return to the buildings.

-- Paul Duggan

MetroAccess rider, 1 other hurt in crash

A MetroAccess vehicle was in an accident with another vehicle at 27th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue SE on Wednesday.

The accident occurred at 10:45 a.m. A passenger from the MetroAccess vehicle was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, Metro spokeswoman Angela Gates said. A passenger from the other vehicle was also taken to a hospital with unknown injuries, she said.

The MetroAccess driver is on unpaid administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation into the crash and was taken for drug and alcohol testing, Gates said.

-- Lena H. Sun