City State: Morning Roundup

THE FATHER OF A MAN WANTED IN THE OCTOBER FATAL BEATING of an American University professor says his son did not commit the crime and was not even in the Washington area at the time.

Carlos Rueda of El Paso, Texas, told The Washington Times that his son, Jorge Rueda Landeros, 41, flew into El Paso from Virginia on Sept. 15 and went on to California for an extended visit after that. “I don’t know how he could have killed her,” Mr. Rueda said, adding that his son now is living in Juarez, Mexico, with his wife.

Montgomery County police have obtained a warrant for Mr. Landeros’ arrest in connection with the death of Sue Ann Marcum. Her body was found in her Bethesda home on Oct. 25. A ward of the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services was caught driving Marcum’s stolen car and named as a suspect in the case, once thought to be a burglary gone awry, but police continue to refuse to discuss his role, if any, in the crime.

ZERO-TOLERANCE POLICIES IN SCHOOLS might be on the way out in the Washington area and elsewhere around the country, The Washington Post reports. “The shift is a quiet counterpoint to a long string of high-profile cases about severe punishments for childhood misjudgments. In recent months, a high school lacrosse player was suspended in Easton, Md., and led away in handcuffs for having a pocketknife in his gear bag that he said was for fixing lacrosse sticks. Earlier, a teenager in the Virginia community of Spotsylvania was expelled for blowing plastic pellets through a tube at classmates.” Fairfax, Prince George’s, Arlington and Montgomery counties and the District of Columbia are rethinking their policies. 

THE DISTRICT WON’T HAVE AN ALCOHOL BREATH-TEST PROGRAM until next spring, according to the Washington Examiner. Since the program was shut down in February because of unreliable equipment, officials have been using less reliable urine tests. “The urine tests have, however, yielded information breath tests cannot: 12 percent of drivers arrested for DUI in D.C. also test positive for the drug PCP,” the newspaper says.

NEIL A. STANLEY, ACTING DIRECTOR OF THE D.C. DEPARTMENT OF YOUTH REHABILITATION SERVICES, had a rocky confirmation hearing Thursday. It began when D.C. Council member Jim Graham delayed testimony for a private conversation with Mr. Stanley about an escape from the New Beginnings facility in April. And before the first witness had testified in Mr. Stanley’s favor, Council member Marion Barry announced he would vote against the nominee. “It’s not personal at all,” Mr. Barry said. “It’s just I have a commitment to try and help these young kids.” The Washington Times reported that more than 20 witnesses spoke at the hearing, many on behalf of Mr. Stanley.

MARYLAND TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION CHIEF RALIGN T. WELLS disavowed police efforts to restrict photography on or around MTA property in the wake of a report in the Baltimore Sun on Wednesday saying the American Civil Liberties Union planned to sue on behalf of two photographers ordered to stop photographing MTA trains. The follow-up story has Mr. Wells saying MTA officers were not properly representing agency policy when they ordered the photographers to stop taking pictures and video of light rail trains earlier this year. “Wells said he would apologize to the photographers and make sure that officers respect the First Amendment rights of photographers,” the Sun reports.

TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY RAY LAHOOD has directed airport officials and elected leaders to spend a month trying to reach a compromise in an ongoing dispute over a planned Metrorail station at Washington Dulles International Airport, The Washington Times reports.