local digest

THE DISTRICT

City restaurateur is found dead

The 38-year-old co-owner of a U Street corridor restaurant was found dead Monday night, and D.C. police think she might have been strangled.

Nora Amaya, who owned Coppi's Organic Restaurant with her brother, was found dead about 9 p.m. in a home in the 3600 block of 16th Street NW, police said. They said an autopsy would be conducted Tuesday, but detectives were handling the case as a possible homicide. Amaya managed the Italian restaurant at 1414 U St. NW, which she co-owned with her brother, Carlos.

-- Paul Duggan

Council restricts housing money

The D.C. Council voted 10 to 3 Tuesday to temporarily put restrictions on the flow of money between the Department of Parks and Recreation and the D.C. Housing Authority, a controversial arrangement brokered by the administration of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty that recently circumvented the council's oversight and approval of construction contracts.

Under the emergency legislation, the Office of the Chief Financial Officer will be prohibited for 90 days from transferring any funds that derive from the parks and recreation department's budget to the housing authority, an independent agency. The council must also receive written notification of any parks department transactions greater than $75,000, with the exception of salaries, during the 90-day period.

Council members Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4), Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) and Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), considered Fenty allies, dissented. But two members who often support Fenty's initiatives, David A. Catania (I-At Large) and Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), joined the majority after language was removed from the legislation that would have prohibited the housing authority from entering into any contract with the parks department. Catania said the provision was "overly broad."

-- Nikita Stewart