DISTRICT
Council member wants restaurant to close
A D.C. Council member is calling for a 24-hour restaurant in Northwest to be shuttered after a shooting early yesterday at the business.
District police said an argument between two persons led to gunfire about 2:40 a.m. An unidentified man who was inside Joe’s Restaurant on Ninth Street Northwest was hit by gunfire and died at an area hospital. Police are checking surveillance video from a camera near the intersection of Ninth and T streets to see if it captured images of anything that could aid their investigation.
Jim Graham, Ward 1 Democrat, said the restaurant is “notorious and dangerous,” dating back to shootings and violence that have occurred there in the past. Mr. Graham said two men were wounded at the restaurant in March when it operated under a different name.
Mr. Graham is renewing his calls to have the restaurant permanently closed under the nuisance provisions of the District’s drug laws.
Pepco re-examines power surge damage
Pepco officials said they will again investigate claims filed by more than 100 residents of Southeast who said their appliances and other electronic equipment were damaged by power surges this month.
The incidents occurred June 2 and 12 when surges temporarily knocked out power in parts of Ward 7. The company initially said it would not consider the claims because the incidents were blamed on tree limbs downed by storms.
The residents have said the storms were not strong enough to knock down power lines. They have made damage claims for TVs, air conditioners and other equipment.
Pepco regional president, Thomas Graham, is now encouraging residents to resubmit their claims for consideration. Mr. Graham said the claims will be reevaluated on a case-by-case basis.
MARYLAND
ROCKVILLE
Woman killed by MARC train
A woman was hit and killed yesterday by a MARC train in Rockville.
Montgomery County fire and rescue officials said the woman was hit by the train at about 5:20 p.m. on the CSX tracks near Randolph Road.
The train had about 400 passengers aboard and was en route to Martinsburg, W.Va.
BALTIMORE
Teen gets 40 years for killing cabdriver
A Baltimore judge sentenced a 16-year-old yesterday to 40 years in prison for murdering a taxi driver last year.
State prosecutors said Damon Holmes received a 30-year sentence for second-degree murder and a 10-year term for using a handgun during a violent crime. He was also sentenced to serve 20 years for robbery with a deadly weapon at the same time.
He pleaded guilty in May to the crimes.
Last May, Holmes fatally shot Oumar Bah in a taxi. Mr. Bah had picked Holmes up on Northern Parkway before he was shot on McClean Boulevard. After the shooting, Holmes also took money from the cab.
VIRGINIA
State to get federal funds for BRAC effect
The Virginia Employment Commission will receive nearly $5 million in federal funding for workers and employers in Northern Virginia affected when thousands of jobs leave the area, Rep. James P. Moran announced yesterday.
About 22,000 jobs will leave the area by 2011 in the military’s Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) plan.
About 17,000 jobs and 4 million square feet of office space will leave Arlington County alone.
The money will come as a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor.
“BRAC hit Northern Virginia harder than virtually any other locality in the country,” said Mr. Moran, Virginia Democrat. “But our local economy is resilient and our communities are preparing in earnest for the coming transition. ”
CHRISTIANSBURG
Suspected killer sentenced for robbery
A man accused of killing a security guard and deputy sheriff after he escaped from jail was sentenced yesterday to 38 years in prison for attempted robbery.
William Morva, 25, was in the Montgomery County Jail awaiting trial on the robbery charges when he escaped after being taken to a hospital last August.
Circuit Judge Ray Grubbs imposed the 38-year sentence recommended by a jury that convicted Morva of seven charges in the attempted armed robbery of a Blacksburg business and attempts to steal from two others.
Morva is charged with capital murder in the shooting deaths of hospital security guard Derrick McFarland and Cpl. Eric Sutphin of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.
From wire dispatches and staff reports
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