Police-involved shootings on rise; D.C. to announce medical marijuana growers; McDonnell budget without Potomac funds; Md. lawmakers already filing General Assembly bills; D.C. Council sets I-gaming hearing; Va. General Assembly poised to scrap over K-12 funding; Wiz fans boo Kardashian’s ex, Humphries; Md. financier pitching infrastructure plan to Congress.
Police in the D.C. area have seen an uptick in the number of fatal shootings involving officers this year, saying officers increasingly are coming under attack. Prince George’s County police reported the most significant increase — eight fatal shootings, compared with one last year. The Metropolitan Police Department has a similar number — five people killed in police-involved shootings in the District of Columbia this year, compared with zero in 2010, reports Andrea Noble of The Washington Times.
The D.C. Department of Health is expected within the next few days to give its first indication of who qualifies to grow medical marijuana in the nation’s capital, a significant step in a program aimed at comforting the sick and dying that is more than a dozen years in the making, Tom Howell Jr. of The Times reports.
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell’s two-year, $85 billion budget blueprint does not include thousands in dues to a long-standing, multistate compact to clean and maintain the Potomac River, a move drawing fire from critics who say the relatively small outlay provides a substantial return for the commonwealth. The $151,500 in dues to the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin for the current year was stripped out during the 2011 General Assembly’s budget amendment process. Mr. McDonnell, a Republican, did not include the money for either of the next two years, David Sherfinski of The Times reports.
Maryland’s General Assembly won’t go into session for another two weeks, but some lawmakers are getting an early start on submitting legislation. Lawmakers had submitted 92 bills as of last week, with goals ranging from allowing table games at slots casinos to giving the Assembly voting power over toll increases, reports David Hill of The Times.
A key D.C. Council member has asked the city’s inspector general to testify at a hearing next month on the city’s first-in-the-nation efforts to offer online gambling through its lottery system. Council member Jack Evans, Ward 2 Democrat, has scheduled a hearing before his Committee on Finance and Revenue for Jan. 26 to get answers to the tough questions about the program now that the D.C. Lottery has held its meetings and will have generated a report for the council, Tom Howell Jr. of The Times reports.
The likely Virginia state budget fight will be over K-12 education when legislators return to Richmond next month. House and Senate Democrats — along with the state Democratic Party — are criticizing Gov. Bob McDonnell’s budget proposals. The Republican governor’s budget sets aside most of the education money for nonteaching expenses, according to The Times.
Fans of the Washington Wizards apparently are keeping up with the Kardashians. Otherwise, why would they have booed Kris Humphries so vociferously? Nets forward Humphries — whose short-lived marriage to Kim Kardashian was chronicled on reality TV — heard the loudest jeers during the introductions of the starting lineups for New Jersey’s season-opening game at the Wizards on Monday night. Once the game began, Humphries also heard it from the crowd whenever he touched the ball. Humphries and Kardashian split up 72 days after their wedding, which was shown on television, according to the Associated Press.
A Maryland financier who helped privatize the Seagirt Marine Terminal in 2009 is trying to sell Congress on an ambitious, $250 billion plan he says would modernize the nation’s crumbling infrastructure while creating millions of jobs. Christopher H. Lee, whose investment firm owns the company managing the terminal, is pressing lawmakers on Capitol Hill to create an independent board that would oversee billions of dollars in highway, airport and mass transit projects. His plan also calls for speeding government approval of those projects, according to the Baltimore Sun.
• Joseph Weber can be reached at jweber@washingtontimes.com.old.
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