It’s been almost 30 years since a mother was stabbed to death in her West Springfield, Virginia, home while her two year old daughter was in the next room. Friday, the man charged in the death of Robin Lawrence is expected to plead guilty.
It’s been almost 30 years since a mother was stabbed to death in her West Springfield, Virginia, home while her two year old daughter was in the next room. Friday, the man charged in the death of Robin Lawrence is expected to plead guilty.
Court records show 52-year-old Stephan Smerk is set for a Friday plea hearing in Fairfax County Circuit Court. Sources tell WTOP he is expected to plead guilty to first-degree murder.
Robin Lawrence’s body was discovered inside her home on the leafy cul-de-sac of Reseca Lane in the West Springfield area of the county on Nov. 20, 1994. Her husband was out of the country on a business trip and when he couldn’t reach her, he became worried and asked a family friend to check in.
The friend alerted police to the grisly scene, and found Lawrence’s unattended young daughter.
Detectives collected DNA evidence at the time and uploaded it to the national CODIS database of DNA profiles — but there were no matches, and the case eventually grew cold.
In 2019 police began working with Reston-based Parabon NanoLabs, a DNA technology company that has helped police departments in the D.C. area finally solve several other cold cases.
Parabon investigators and detectives also began searching online genealogical databases to build a family tree, which eventually led to Smerk, who was living in Niskayuna, New York.
In 1994, Smerk was an active duty Army soldier, based at what is now Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, near Arlington National Cemetery.
Fairfax County detectives Melissa Wallace and JD Long traveled the 400 miles to upstate New York.
When the detectives arrived at Smerk’s home, he was in his driveway taking the trash to the curb. He spoke to detectives and agreed to having them take a DNA sample at his home, according to Davis. The detectives left a business card with a cellphone number.
When detectives got back to their hotel, Smerk called them, and said he wanted to talk. Police say he confessed.
At the time of his arrest, in September 2023, Fairfax County police chief Kevin Davis said Smerk had “zero criminal history whatsoever.”
In April 2024, Fairfax County prosecutors played Smerk’s confession during a probable cause hearing. Smerk told detectives he didn’t know the victim, but was familiar with the neighborhood, since a friend lived next door.
“I knew that I was going to kill somebody; I did not know who I was going to kill,” he told police, according to News 4. As questioning continued, Smerk said, “You guys know what I did, I know what I did — I cut her up pretty good.”
Smerk’s public defender has previously said Smerk’s confession differs from details of the crime.
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District Dogs will pay $100,000 to D.C. and make improvements to safety and emergency response, after a 2023 flood left 10 dogs dead.
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District Dogs agrees to pay DC $100,000 and improve safety measures following deadly flood
District Dogs will pay $100,000 to D.C. and make improvements to safety and emergency response, after a 2023 flood left 10 dogs dead.
Under a settlement reached with D.C.’s Office of the Attorney General, District Dogs must keep the store at 680 Rhode Island Avenue in Northeast permanently closed. That location flooded three times in 2022 — before the 2023 flood.
In the settlement, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb said District Dogs misled customers about the safety of their dogs and “downplayed the flooding and mentioned specific measures that District Dogs was taking to prevent future flooding issues, representing to Consumers that dogs would be safe in District Dogs’ care.”
D.C. alleged District Dogs misrepresented that each dog in its care would enjoy a safe and healthy experience, told customers flood prevention measures were sufficient to keep dogs safe, and failed to implement adequate training, emergency and evacuation procedures.
The settlement said “District Dogs denies all of OAG’s allegations and claims, including that it has violated any consumer protection laws.”
In a statement provided to WTOP, a spokesperson for District Dogs said: “To bring this matter to an end, and to avoid the continued financial strain on our small business from an unnecessarily prolonged process, we agreed to settle this matter with one important condition – that the Attorney General’s Office agree as part of the settlement that there is no admission of wrongdoing by District Dogs whatsoever.”
On Aug. 14, 2023, 10 dogs died inside the pet day care and grooming facility following a torrential downpour. Water rose nearly six feet in the span of a few minutes, to the middle of doors on District Dogs, before one of the walls gave out, according to D.C. Fire and EMS supervisors on the scene.
As part of the settlement, District Dogs will be required to obtain risk management certification for its locations, to include emergency response and evacuations specific to each facility.
Some of the procedures include designating evacuation route assignments, rescue and medical duties, a clear checklist of sequential steps, as well as a system to account for each dog on site during emergencies. In addition, an alarm system would notify employees of an emergency situation.
According to the suit, filed in D.C. Superior Court, the dogs’ deaths were foreseeable and preventable, since the District Dogs location at 680 Rhode Island Avenue in Northeast had flooded repeatedly, including almost exactly one year before the 2023 flood.
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The Field of Screams Maryland at the Olney Boys and Girls Club has been a popular Halloween attraction. But Friday’s scheduled opening night has been canceled.
For over two decades, the popular Field of Screams Maryland at the Olney Boys and Girls Club has been hailed as a Hollywood-caliber haunted attraction.(Courtesy Steelhead Events)
For over two decades, the popular Field of Screams Maryland at the Olney Boys and Girls Club has been hailed as a Hollywood-caliber haunted attraction.(Courtesy Steelhead Events)
For over two decades, the popular Field of Screams Maryland at the Olney Boys and Girls Club has been hailed as a Hollywood-caliber haunted attraction. But Friday’s scheduled opening night has been canceled, amid a yearslong permit dispute with Montgomery County, WTOP has learned.
Brad Scott, executive director of the Olney Boys and Girls Club, told WTOP that Field of Screams, which in 2022 was ranked as the nation’s top haunted attraction by USA Today, is delaying the start of this year’s event as work continues to satisfy the county’s Department of Permitting Services.
“The community has been coming for 20 years now,” Scott said. “So, it’s a community event that I think people look forward to.”
The yearly event at the 40-acre Olney Boys and Girls Club, located on Olney-Laytonsville Road, is the major fundraiser for the club, which describes its mission as providing “children with safe after-school sports programs that emphasize physical and emotional development, build self-esteem and cultivate a lifelong interest in sports, health, and teamwork.”
As the festival’s popularity grew, the club handed over the day-to-day running of Field of Screams to Steelhead Events: “Steelhead operates the event under an annual lease that they have with the Olney Boys and Girls Club, and then the Olney Boys and Girls Club gets a substantial fundraising pledge as a result,” said Peter Ciferri, an attorney representing the club.
WTOP recently heard from two neighbors, who raised safety concerns about the event, and said it was funneling 2,000 cars nightly into a quiet neighborhood.
The neighbors expressed disappointment that the county had not taken stronger steps to enforce a 2021 abatement order from a District Court Judge and that Olney Boys and Girls Community Sports Association had failed to secure appropriate permits and certificates for structures along a haunted trail.
In explaining the layout at Field of Screams, Scott said, “There’s a haunted house at the entrance area, there’s bonfires, there’s concessions, there’s games.” The 4,000-square-foot haunted house, and a “slaughter house,” do have the required permits to operate, according to the county’s permitting department.
In addition, there are walk-through structures along a trail, that winds through the woods. “So, if it’s a butcher shop, you’re walking through a butcher shop-themed area, and that’s where people are jumping out and scaring you,” said Scott.
Steelhead Events communications director John Dixon said there are 60 trained scream actors, who follow strict guidance and training on safely interacting with visitors who are walking the trail, looking forward to being scared.
At approximately the same time that Scott assumed his role with OBGB, the club was required to replace trees that had been improperly cut down.
“The county was very understanding that it would have been unmanageable to take care of both things at one time, from a financial standpoint,” Scott said.
Since the 2021 ruling, regular status hearings have been held, to hear what steps were being taken to bring the structures into compliance. Earlier this month, on Sept. 17, a judge fined OBGB $2,000, and warned of a $5,000 fine at the next scheduled status hearing in December, if this year’s Field of Screams allows customers to use structures that are not in compliance.
Dixon said the process has been lengthy, saying the company needs to get approval from the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission: “We needed to know what MNCPPC was going to allow us to build before we could submit plans and permits to build them.”
The two neighbors who contacted WTOP wondered why the county allowed the event to be held in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Scott said he understands the concerns of the neighbors.
“We heard they wanted to talk, and we have asked them to have some conversations so we could try to resolve the issues that they have,” he said.
Is Field of Screams safe?
While Olney Boys and Girls Club and Steelhead Events work to bring the still-unpermitted structures along the trail into compliance with county code, on Thursday the Maryland Department of Labor Safety Inspection Unit issued a certificate of inspection, declaring the event to be safe from hazards. The state agency has jurisdictions over all amusements in Maryland, issuing safety inspections to to events such as fairs and Christmas light shows.
Dixon shared the just-received inspection certificates with WTOP: “They thoroughly inspected us in detail and approved our entire haunt today, including every structure on the trial. We are safe and inspected every year, hence our safety track record.”
“Given the rain this week and poor weather we are expecting Friday and soaking wet conditions, and our ongoing interest in collaborating with the County, we are excited to kick off our 2024 Field of Screams season the weekend of Oct. 3 and 4, and are holding off this weekend,” Dixon added.
The permitted haunted house, and slaughter house are ready to open, as are portions of the trail that do not run beneath structures, said Dixon, who said work is continuing to be able to “fully open” Field of Screams.
According to OBGC’s attorney Ciferri: “Our instructions to Steelhead were that they do not have authority to operate the event without proper permits and licenses. They are working on it, and if they are able to reach an agreement with the County, whereby the County and State authorities both agreed that limited aspects of the event had proper permits and licenses, and could be operated on a limited basis, then OBGC supports an event that runs in compliance with those approvals.”
Scott said Field of Screams “is tremendously important for a lot of different reasons,” including funding the OBGC scholarship program, providing seasonal employment and spurring the local economy. “People come into town from Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, and all over Maryland, and they buy gas, and come to restaurants to eat and go to the breweries.”
“We’re hopeful that we can kind of get things straightened out and resolved so that we can make it all work this year, but be in compliance and be safe,” said Scott.
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A Montgomery County judge denied a motion by convicted D.C. sniper Lee Boyd Malvo to vacate his six murder convictions in Maryland for the 2002 rampage, and indefinitely postponed a resentencing hearing.
A Montgomery County judge denied a motion by convicted D.C. sniper Lee Boyd Malvo to vacate his six murder convictions in Maryland for the 2002 rampage, and indefinitely postponed a resentencing hearing.
Malvo, who was 17 years old at the time of the shootings, was convicted of multiple counts of murder in Virginia and Maryland and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He has been in prison in Virginia, where he is serving four life sentences.
Since Malvo was initially sentenced, though, a series of Supreme Court rulings and changes in Maryland and Virginia law have severely limited or even abolished the ability to sentence minors to life in prison without parole.
In 2022, Maryland’s highest court ruled 4-3 that Malvo is entitled to a new sentencing hearing.
Malvo viewed the motions hearing via a video link from Virginia’s Keen Mountain Correctional Center.
As WTOP first reported, Malvo’s defense attorneys argued that since Montgomery County prosecutors have been unable to facilitate an agreement between Maryland’s and Virginia’s governors to transport him to the Rockville courthouse, he was entitled to vacate his sentences.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Judge Sharon Burrell read aloud a handwritten letter she had received from Malvo last week, in which he wrote he felt wedged between two immovable states, and felt he didn’t have anybody speaking for him.
Malvo told the judge if his Maryland charges were vacated, “If I am ever released, I am ready for a plea deal, without dragging it out any further. I don’t want victims’ families, or the wider community to have to endure another trial.”
However, Malvo’s recommendation was that he serve his Maryland sentences concurrently with his four Virginia life sentences. When he was originally sentenced in Montgomery County, his six life sentences were to be served consecutively.
Malvo’s attorney suggested Montgomery County prosecutors hadn’t vigorously attempted to have his client transferred to Maryland for resentencing. He chided Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy, saying he could “use your political connections to get someone’s ear, and I’m sure that message could get to Governor Moore,” who could contact Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Assistant State’s Attorney Seth Zucker told the judge that Virginia officials have repeatedly made clear “they don’t want to engage” with Maryland about allowing him to Rockville for a resentencing.
“Due to his violent criminal history, Governor Youngkin’s position is that Mr. Malvo should complete his Virginia sentence before being transferred to Maryland for resentencing,” Youngkin spokesperson Christian Martinez said in a statement.
After hearing two hours of arguments, judge Burrell denied the defense motion, saying “the court finds no basis to vacate the plea.”
“However, I don’t agree with prosecutors or the victims’ advocate that the court can order Mr. Malvo to be sentenced remotely,” Burrell said. “Mr. Malvo cannot be sentenced until after his Virginia sentence is served.”
Malvo was scheduled to be resentenced in December, but Burrell postponed his resentencing indefinitely.
Burrell said she would issue a detainer, wherein if Malvo were ever released or paroled from Virginia’s prisons, he would immediately be transferred to Montgomery County to be resentenced in person.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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A total of 70 dogs, 28 cats, two rabbits and two parakeets were seized from the homes of an animal rescue group in western Loudoun County after a monthslong investigation. Two group leaders were arrested and charged with animal cruelty.
Three members of a now-defunct Loudoun County, Virginia, animal rescue group have pleaded guilty to animal cruelty, after more than 100 animals were seized.
In June 2023, the leaders of the Luck of the Irish Animal Rescue in western Loudoun County were arrested after a monthslong investigation. A total of 70 dogs, 28 cats, two rabbits and two parakeets were seized from the homes of the group’s leaders Nicole Metz and Kimberly Hall.
Loudoun County Animal Services said the animals were kept in filthy conditions, and some were malnourished.
On Monday, Metz and Hall each pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty in circuit court as part of a plea agreement, which resulted in the dismissal of other similar charges. Hall’s son, Alex, also pleaded guilty to three counts.
The statutory maximum penalty in Virginia for each misdemeanor count is one year in jail.
Court records show two previous plea agreements had been rejected by two judges, who later recused themselves.
“Two prior plea agreements that were rejected included suspended jail time,” Metz’s defense attorney Edward Nuttall tells WTOP. “Both judges indicated they would need to hear more evidence before accepting a plea.”
Judge James Plowman will hear arguments and decide whether jail is appropriate when the three are sentenced Oct. 24.
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The HFStival will return to the District for the first time in 13 years on Saturday with a full day of alt-rock at Nationals Park.
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Popular music festival HFStival returns to DC
One of the D.C. area’s most popular music festivals — the HFStival — will return to the District for the first time in 13 years on Saturday with a full day of alt-rock at Nationals Park.
Back in the day, WHFS was the station that introduced D.C.-area music fans to artists, including Bruce Springsteen, Little Feat, Bonnie Raitt, NRBQ, Emmylou Harris, Tom Waits, Bob Marley, and many more.
Making use of the station’s call letters, the HFStival (pronounced H-F-S-tival) was launched by the alternative rock station in 1990. It ran every summer through 2006, moving from Lake Fairfax Park in Virginia, to the Equestrian Center in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, to RFK stadium until 2004, when it was moved to M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.
A smaller version of the festival was held at Merriweather Post Pavilion in 2010 and 2011.
“People used to look forward to it every year like it was Christmas or something,” said Seth Hurwitz, owner of I.M.P. Productions, who is promoting his first show at Nats Park. “We’re hoping to make it like that again.”
Headliners include The Postal Service and Death Cab For Cutie. Many of the bands in this year’s lineup played at earlier HFStivals at RFK Stadium, including Violent Femmes, Bush, and Incubus.
Garbage was originally scheduled to play at this year’s HFStival, but had to cancel in August, when singer Shirley Manson was injured. Liz Phair will perform.
Hurwitz said this year’s show will have some contrasts with shows at RFK.
“The zoo that used to be the HFStival, it used to be an Ironman triathlete thing to be there all day,” at the now-empty stadium in Southeast D.C., he said.
While “some people might remember that fondly, I don’t think, 20 years later, that that’s what you want to go do,” said Hurwitz, who believes fans will appreciate the creature comforts of this year’s festival. “The food is great at Nats Park — it’s a comfortable place to see a show.”
Longtime fans will probably experience the music differently in 2024. “When you’re young and you like to mosh, it’s not quite like that now — it’s going to be a more comfortable version of that,” Hurwitz predicted.
Over the years, Hurwitz has seen — and booked — many of the bands at his other venues, including 9:30 Club, The Anthem, and The Atlantis.
“Sometimes you’re afraid to go see a band you saw a long time again, and you think ‘Maybe they should quit.’ But we’ve picked the best of these bands that are still around,” Hurwitz said.
“Some of these bands, younger people may have never seen,” said Hurwitz, who is 66. “People our age — pardon me, Neal — would like to see them again.” (For the record, this reporter is a mere 65)
Saturday’s show will be the final performance for The Postal Service, which has spent the past two years co-headlining with Death Cab for Cutie, which both feature singer/songwriter Ben Gibbard.
“Those two acts played Merriweather Post (which I. M. P. operates), and sold out in a minute. Then they played two shows at The Anthem, so that was 27,000 tickets that blew out,” said Hurwitz.
It’s too soon to say whether the HFStival will become a yearly event, said Hurwitz.
“I’m gonna wait and see how this turns out, Saturday. I think it’s going to be great — we’re gonna give it a shot,” he said.
Here are the set times, as provided by I.M.P.:
12:00 PM – On-stage Radio DJ Reunion • 12:30 PM – LIT • 1:00 PM – Filter • 1:30 PM – Tonic • 2:10 PM – Violent Femmes • 3:00 PM – Girl Talk • 4:00 PM – Jimmy Eat World • 5:00 PM – Liz Phair • 6:00 PM – Bush • 7:20 PM – Incubus • 8:50 PM – Death Cab for Cutie • 9:50 PM – The Postal Service
Editor’s Note: Provides set times, and notes that Liz Phair will replace Garbage.
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In a WTOP exclusive, former Loudoun County Public Schools spokesman Wayde Byard is finally speaking on his own behalf, ahead of the release of his book “The Battle for Loudoun County.”
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Former Loudoun Co. schools spokesman Wayde Byard on indictment, culture wars
He spent 20 years as the spokesman for Loudoun County Public Schools and then found himself at the center of a national controversy — and a felony perjury trial — over the school system’s handling of two sexual assaults by the same student. Now, Wayde Byard, who was acquitted last year in his criminal trial, is finally speaking on his own behalf.
Byard’s perjury case was the sole felony count handed up from an eight-monthslong special grand jury probe commissioned by Attorney General Jason Miyares at the request of Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Byard was found not guilty by a Loudoun County jury in June 2023.
“I wanted people to know that a public school system would not cover up a rape or hide student misconduct or not cooperate with law enforcement,” said Byard.
In his book, Byard describes Loudoun County as “the wealthiest, most-educated locality in America. It’s diverse. It’s home to cutting-edge technology. It boasts one of the most-honored school systems in the country.”
He also said it’s home to “bigotry and cultural stupidity on an epic scale.”
“Loudoun is a template for how the Radical Right wants to reshape American politics, using a reasonable façade to push policies that were considered regressive a half-century ago,” he writes.
While the school system’s transgender policy would become the focus of much of the ensuing controversy, Byard said an earlier turning point came in June 2021 when then-Superintendent Scott Ziegler presented “Promise and Progress: Report on Equity 2021” to a work session of the school board. While no members of the media were present, this was the first time an LCPS superintendent highlighted the fact that white students were outnumbered in the school system.
“I think you can tap into people who are nervous about a school division or community going majority minority. There’s a lot of fears there — people think ‘I’ve lost my community,’” Byard opined.
Byard blamed what he calls “social media conspiracy theories” that exploited some honest mistakes made by the school system.
“That’s what people really want to think, is that somehow this big organization with 15,000 people, has this gigantic conspiracy going to poison the minds of the young,” said Byard. “And nothing could be further from the truth.”
The incident
In 2021, Loudoun County became the epicenter of a controversy that played out in the state governor’s race and even on a national level about how the school system handled two sexual assaults done by the same student — the first one in late May of that year in a bathroom at Stone Bridge High School.
The attack came at a time when the school system was considering a policy change to allow transgender students to use the restroom of their choice, and the perpetrator was wearing a skirt (or kilt) at the time.
Shortly afterward, the school board approved the policy allowing transgender students to use bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity.
Byard said local news organizations were willing participants in drawing outsized attention to future school board meetings.
“The news directors would say, ‘OK, Loudoun is the hot spot, so we’ve got to have a crew there,” said Byard. “What made Loudoun special is we had some political performance artists, some of whom came in from Fairfax and Prince William (counties), who wanted to make YouTube videos.”
Byard said mostly outside agitators were adept at getting attention: “They knew the news story would become ‘Parents go crazy at school board meeting, film at 11.’ And here’s a teaser, somebody shouting into a microphone, usually with a couple of bleeps.”
The controversy only grew when the male student was transferred to another high school, Broad Run High School, and sexually assaulted another student inside a classroom in October of 2021.
The boy was found responsible for both assaults, and sentenced to a residential treatment facility until he turned 18. In November 2023, when he turned 18, he was released.
In retrospect, Byard believes the aftermath of the sexual assaults was exacerbated, “because the adults in the room did not get together and communicate,” referring to the school system, the sheriff’s office, the commonwealth’s attorney’s office and juvenile services.
“I think, probably, the boy should have been in an alternative placement, but we didn’t know all the facts. We didn’t know a lot of the facts until two days before things got started, at which time we were at warp speed trying to get the school year started, and things got lost,” said Byard.
A report commissioned by the school system and later ordered released by a judge faulted the school system for not carrying out its own investigation and threat assessment of the student, instead relying on the sheriff’s office. The school board said at the time of the report’s release last September that it has taken “significant actions,” including policy changes since the 2021 assaults.
Indicted
During the 2021 governor election, Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin campaigned on a “parents first” platform — and won. The day he was sworn in, he issued an executive order authorizing an investigation into Loudoun County schools, saying, “School administrators withheld key details and knowingly lied to parents about the assaults.”
Newly elected Attorney General Jason Miyares added, “Loudoun County Public Schools covered up a sexual assault on school grounds for political gain.”
Asked about those statements, which implied premeditation and intent on the part of the school system, Byard said, “I think they’re false.”
“First of all, the student pleaded guilty before the governor was elected. Sentence was imposed before he was inaugurated. The system worked — albeit very imperfectly, the system worked,” he said.
The special grand jury empaneled by Miyares’ office worked for months, seeking to clarify who knew what, and when. Byard testified before the grand jury twice.
Ultimately, in December 2022, Byard was indicted on a felony perjury charge and former superintendent Ziegler was indicted on three misdemeanors. Ziegler, who was fired after the release of the special grand jury report, was convicted last September of a retaliatory firing of a teacher unrelated to the 2021 sexual assaults. However, the conviction was later thrown out and he is set to be retried next year. (Ziegler was acquitted on a second charge, and a third count was dropped.)
Byard recalls the moment in December 2022 when he was told by the school division’s attorney that he and the superintendent had been indicted and Byard was being suspended without pay.
“I was marched out of the building, in a friendly way,” Byard said. “We’d decided that if the building was staked out (by reporters), we didn’t want a perp walk. They took me out to my car. The personnel head was in tears, as she asked for my parking pass. And, I learned what the feeling of being alone was, at that moment.”
Shortly before trial, Byard and his attorney, Jennifer Leffler, were offered a plea bargain. “In my case, they said, we’ll do a misdemeanor of making a false statement, $100 fine, but we’re gonna wait two years to sentence you.”
The pair thought they had a solid defense, so rejected the offer. The case went ahead.
The trial
According to Byard, “My name was barely mentioned during my trial. I felt like a spectator at my own trial — they were trying the school division, through me, as a surrogate.”
When jurors got the case, they only deliberated a short while before informing Circuit Court Judge Douglas Fleming that they had reached a verdict.
“We were confident. I think when they came back in an hour, we felt we’d probably won because if they really had to agonize over the decision, we wouldn’t have gotten a verdict that quickly. I later found out that basically the trial was over after the first day — they did not follow the opening arguments,” made by prosecutors for Attorney General Miyares’ office.
When the court clerk unfolded the paper upon which the jury foreman wrote the verdict, it read “Not guilty.”
“You are free to go, sir,” said Judge Fleming after the verdict was read in court.
With his legal troubles behind him, a meeting was held with the school system’s interim superintendent, chief human resources officer and director of strategic communications, where the group decided Byard would no longer be the voice or face of LCPS.
“It was actually a relief. At that point, I couldn’t see going back out there because I’d be a distraction. If I were there for the opening of school, they’d say, ‘Well, fresh off his perjury trial, here he is,” he laughed.
The group agreed Byard would concentrate on writing projects until his retirement, in December 2023.
Today, after the national scrutiny, the political posturing and the claim that the Loudoun County Public School system was in crisis, what does Byard think is really important to the parents of Loudoun County school students.
“Safety is number one. Two, that my child is successful, that they get a diploma, that they have life skills, that they have a career path,” Byard said. “We did surveys, and 87% of the population is very pleased with the school division.”
At the height of tensions during school board meetings, Byard said the chief of staff asked him to compile how many people participated in school board meetings.
“We had about 40 regulars and 20 part-timers. So, we had 60 people out of a population of 400,000 that were very agitated, very angry, but were not representative of the population as a whole,” said Byard. “It’s a very small minority that’s vocal, and creates this illusion.”
Twenty-three years after almost 3,000 people were killed after terrorists hijacked passenger jets and purposefully crashed them, in the worst terrorist attack upon America, a growing number of firefighters weren’t born on Sept. 11, 2001. Today, they reflect on why they chose such a dangerous career.
Twenty-three years after almost 3,000 people were killed when terrorists hijacked passenger jets and purposefully crashed them in the worst attack on America in history, a growing number of firefighters reportedly weren’t born before Sept. 11, 2001.
At the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation’s annual 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb at the Rio shopping mall in Gaithersburg, Maryland, Chief Craig Lazar, of the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department, said the dreadful day in 2001 is always with him.
“We will never forget the events of that day — we will remember it like it was yesterday,” Lazar said. “But, many people weren’t even alive back then, even some of my own firefighters.”
Capt. Christopher Hallock was only 4 years old on that day: “So, of course, I don’t have many personal recollections of the incident, but it’s a chance to reflect on the loss of the 343 who died that day, serving the great city of New York.”
Why would they choose such a dangerous profession, knowing how many colleagues died that day?
“Firefighters are still needed,” Hallock said. “They’re needed across all cities in the United States.”
Firefighter Patrick Emad was in fourth grade on Sept. 11, 2001.
“I remember my mother picked me up from school — they let us out early. I didn’t realize the severity of what had happened, but I remember how distressed she was. It took me a couple years to truly realize what had gone down, and to be here, honoring all the people who gave their lives, is truly an honor to keep their names alive,” he said.
During the stair climb, hundreds of firefighters and volunteers climbed several stories of steps in a parking garage, took an elevator down, and climbed up 19 more times, representing the 110 stories NYFD firefighters scaled while trying to rescue victims in the World Trade Center.
Another participant, Arlene Soodack Cohen, lost her son, Montgomery County-based firefighter Sander Cohen, in another tragedy seven years ago.
“On Dec. 8, 2017, he stopped to help a pedestrian who had gotten out of his vehicle on I-270 south,” Cohen said. The two men were hit by two cars and both died.
“We’re all Americans,” Cohen said. “We, especially in public service, we feel every death, every time somebody’s hurt, it’s just something in our hearts, to help people.”
Cohen said she hopes young people will continue to explore ways to be involved in public service, either through volunteerism or becoming a first responder.
“Those of you who weren’t even born on 9/11, it’s important that you understand that this could happen again,” Cohen said. “And that there are people like you, and like me, who are willing to help — and to get ready.”
Cohen said it’s important to provide scholarships to help future first responders rescue the endangered, treat the injured and ensure the safety of the communities.
“We know it’s just a matter of when, not if,” she said. “See how you can volunteer, or maybe join, and learn how to help when we do have another tragedy.”
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Loudoun County’s historic courthouse, in Leesburg, Virginia, now bears the name of groundbreaking civil rights attorney Charles Hamilton Houston., whose arguments within its walls led to U.S. Supreme Court rulings, and more equitable education for area families.
A historic courthouse, in Leesburg, Virginia, now bears the name of groundbreaking civil rights attorney Charles Hamilton Houston. (Courtesy Loudoun County Government)
A historic courthouse, in Leesburg, Virginia, now bears the name of groundbreaking civil rights attorney Charles Hamilton Houston. (Courtesy Loudoun County Government)
Loudoun County’s historic courthouse, in Leesburg, Virginia, now bears the name of groundbreaking civil rights attorney Charles Hamilton Houston, whose arguments within its walls led to U.S. Supreme Court rulings, and more equitable education for area families.
After graduating from Harvard Law School, and eventually becoming dean of Howard University Law School, Houston became the first general counsel of the NAACP.
In 1933, inside the Loudoun County courthouse at the intersection of King and Market streets, Houston led an all-Black legal team in the defense of George Crawford, a Black man charged with murdering two white women in Middleburg.
The defense spared Crawford from a death sentence, and laid the groundwork for a Supreme Court ruling on the inherent bias in all-white juries.
Houston’s advocacy also challenged the notion of “separate but equal” schools and helped to end segregation in Virginia.
“He was the architect of change in Loudoun County,” said Loudoun NAACP president Michelle Thomas, in a renaming ceremony at the courthouse on Monday.
“Today we gather not to just rename a courthouse, but to celebrate a legacy that continues to guide us in our efforts towards justice and equality.”
In the 1930s, Southern states spent less than half of what was allotted for white students on education for Black students.
“He said the schools we have our Black children in are death traps,” said Thomas. “You built these schools, and if something happened, if a fire breaks out, they’d have no way to get out of the building.”
At the time, Thomas said Loudoun County leaders “were comfortable with it, and the community was comfortable with it. Charles Hamilton Houston came to disrupt racism, he came to dismantle inequality, and we’re all better for it.”
Houston did not live to see desegregation declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1954, in Brown v. Board of Education. He died in 1950 from a heart attack.
During the ceremony, Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chair Phyllis Randall said, “I think we are the greatest country on Earth, but I believe we get here through people who show us the things that we need to work on. Charles Hamilton Houston did that. He showed us our strength, but he showed us our flaws, and that is the most patriotic thing an American can do.”
Thomas said Houston’s work has enabled citizens to “have no fear of being able to show up as their individual selves, and for that, we are grateful. We’re not just naming a building, we are giving justice a name in Loudoun County.”
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The DNA of “shopping cart killer” suspect Anthony Eugene Robinson was found on the body of a D.C. woman, whose body was found in a shopping cart near Union Station in Sept. 2021, according to a Virginia prosecutor.
The DNA of “shopping cart killer” suspect Anthony Eugene Robinson was found on the body of a D.C. woman, whose body was found in a shopping cart near Union Station in Sept. 2021, according to a Virginia prosecutor.
Robinson is set to go on trial later this month in Harrisonburg for the murder of Tonita Lorice Smith. In January, he’ll stand trial for the death of Beth Redmon.
Defense attorney Louis Nagy had asked the court to preclude prosecutors from mentioning two killings in Fairfax County, and the Sonya Champ death in Northeast D.C., since Robinson is currently charged only in the Harrisonburg deaths of Smith and Redmon.
However, during a motions hearing Tuesday, Nagy told Circuit Court Judge Bruce Albertson that he had just learned that day that there’s been a D.C. arrest warrant out since 2022.
WTOP is seeking confirmation from prosecutors in D.C. that an arrest warrant in Champ’s death has been issued.
Rockingham County Commonwealth Attorney Marsha Garst argued that the presence of Robinson’s DNA on Champ’s body, as well as his alleged use of shopping carts to transport the bodies of victims showed a pattern that jurors should hear.
Champ’s body was discovered two months before Redmon and Smith’s bodies were found on Nov. 23, 2021, in an undeveloped lot within a short distance of each other.
Robinson has not been charged in Fairfax County in the deaths of two other victims — Stephanie Harrison, 48, of Redding, California, and Cheyenne Brown, 29, of Southeast D.C. Their remains were found in a plastic container near a shopping cart in a wooded area near the Moon Inn motel, in the Huntington area of the county.
Albertson agreed with Garst, ruling prosecutors in Harrisonburg will be able to call witnesses in the deaths of Harrison and Brown in Fairfax County, as well as Champ’s death in the District of Columbia.
If convicted of aggravated murder of more than one person within three years — a Class 1 felony — Robinson would face a mandatory life sentence.
Prosecutors can’t use ‘shopping cart killer’ nickname at trial
The judge granted a defense motion to forbid prosecutors and witnesses from using the terms “shopping cart killer” or “serial killer.”
In a late August motion, Nagy wrote Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis “deliberately, maliciously, with the intent to do irreparable harm” created labels for Robinson, in an attempt to stir up media attention for the case.
In addition, Nagy said, “The term ‘serial killer’ is a declaratory and conclusive statement which presupposed that the defendant is guilty of the crimes charged even though he has not yet been convicted of killing anyone in any jurisdiction.”
In 2022, when Nagy unsuccessfully argued for a gag order, a spokesman for Davis said: “While the defendant will enjoy the presumption of innocence, the Fairfax County Police Department stands by its criminal investigation and we look forward to presenting our findings in a court of law.”
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WTOP can take you on a behind-the-scenes tour of how United Airlines handles luggage for the 53,000 passengers that are flying in and out of Dulles International Airport this Labor Day weekend.
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Airport mystery: How do my bags end up where I am?
Ever wonder exactly how your checked baggage gets to your destination?
WTOP can take you on a behind-the-scenes tour of how United Airlines handles luggage for the 53,000 passengers flying in and out of Dulles International Airport this Labor Day weekend.
Jim Decker, United’s director of ramp operations at Dulles, started the tour near the ticket counter and kiosks, where travelers were printing out their boarding passes, then heading to the counter to drop off their checked luggage.
Decker said travelers can save up to 30 minutes of time at the airport by checking their bags through United’s new mobile app before arriving at the airport. And passengers can check the app’s bag tracker for time stamps at every point in the process.
Rather than printing a boarding pass at a kiosk, after answering several questions and presenting a credit card, followed by waiting in line to drop off bags at the ticket counter, passengers at Dulles who have checked their bags on the app can walk directly to a designated bag drop shortcut location.
Standing near a digital reader, Decker said, “You just take the QR code, stick it under, and it’ll generate where you’re going, how many bags you said you have. Then it’ll start printing out the bag tags. The person behind will help you put your tags on, verify they’re you, and they’ll go on this belt, right here.”
That’s the last time you’ll see your bags until you arrive where you’re flying.
But now, after scanning his badge at several doors, taking an elevator and walking through cinder block halls, Decker offers a demonstration and explanation of how approximately 10,000 bags will be handled on the Thursday before Labor Day.
“You just checked your bag, and put it on the belt,” Decker said. “Where did it go? That’s where we take over.”
Standing next to a fast-moving belt, where just-checked baggage is being carried, Decker said the first stop is for Transportation Security Administration screening, before continuing its trip on belts snaking beneath the lobby.
“Now it comes to us, and United takes over the bag so we can sort it,” Decker said. “We have 39 different chutes in our bag room. We have a chute for Des Moines, we have a chute for San Francisco, we have a chute for Frankfurt Boston, and all the different destinations.”
Within seconds, a bag headed for San Francisco noisily clattered into a chute. A ramp service employee — commonly known as a baggage handler — scans the luggage tag and places the bag in the large metal bin that will be eventually be towed to the plane.
Some of the bags are being sorted to travel to where the first flight is headed.
“Those are called ‘city bags,’ and then we have ‘transfer bags,’ because they’re going there to go somewhere else in the world,” he said.
As employees sort the bags, an eye is kept on the clock.
“Forty-five minutes before your departure time, someone will pick up your bags, or the carts, and take them out to the airplane, so the teams out there can start loading them to make sure we have an on-time departure,” he said.
Passengers on a plane, waiting to take off, are familiar with the sight of small baggage tugs, which pull the luggage from the bag room to the planes.
As the United flight is being prepared at the gate, employees transfer the bags to a belt loader, which carries the luggage into storage areas in the belly of the plane.
“On this 737, a narrow-bodied aircraft, we have two pits,” in the front and toward the back of the plane, he said. “It’s critical for a plane to fly with the weight balanced properly — it has more fuel-efficiency, and can get there faster.”
Employees who’ve climbed into the storage areas stack and secure it.
As each piece of luggage is moved to the belt loader, it’s scanned again, so crews and the passenger can know where a bag is at any given moment.
“We all know that when you land at your destination, you want your stuff with you,” Decker said. “It’s always a good feeling when you’re flying to know, ‘Hey, my bag is with me — when I get to Des Moines or Orlando, my bag is going to be there with me.’”
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An overnight string of smash and grab burglaries, has business owners in Glen Echo, Maryland, repairing damages, while continuing to serve their customers.
An overnight string of smash and grab burglaries, has business owners in Glen Echo, Maryland, repairing damages(WTOP/Neal Augenstein)
An overnight string of smash and grab burglaries, has business owners in Glen Echo, Maryland, repairing damages(WTOP/Neal Augenstein)
An overnight string of smash-and-grab burglaries has business owners in Glen Echo, Maryland, repairing damages while continuing to serve their customers.
Four businesses in the Glen Echo Shopping Center, along MacArthur Boulevard, were broken into early Tuesday morning, according to Montgomery County police.
A shattered glass door in front of a sushi restaurant served as visible evidence of what happened. A manager pointed to where a cash register, with money inside, was ripped from the counter.
A few doors down, a contractor was installing plywood over a large window at an Exxon gas station. The manager said nothing was stolen.
Bent security bars at a nearby pharmacy showed the unknown suspects were unable to enter or steal anything.
Less than an hour later, four miles away, police responded to a Brooks Brothers store on Wisconsin Avenue for the report of a commercial alarm. An unknown suspect forced his way in, stole property, then left.
Montgomery County police are investigating.
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Prosecutors say evidence of blood was found in the master bedroom and shower of the Manassas Park home shared by Mamta Kafle Bhatt, who’s been missing for over three weeks, and her husband, Naresh, who is charged with concealing her body.
Police activity is seen Aug. 22, 2024, at the home of 28-year-old Mamta Kafle Bhatt in Manassas Park after police named her husband, Naresh Bhatt, as a person of interest in her disappearance. (WTOP/Nick Iannelli)
Police activity is seen Aug. 22, 2024, at the home of 28-year-old Mamta Kafle Bhatt in Manassas Park after police named her husband, Naresh Bhatt, as a person of interest in her disappearance. (WTOP/Nick Iannelli)
Prosecutors say evidence of blood was found in the master bedroom and shower of the Manassas Park home shared by Mamta Kafle Bhatt, who’s been missing for over three weeks, and her husband, Naresh, who is charged with concealing her body.
During Friday’s arraignment, Prince William County Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Sarah Sami revealed new details about the case against Naresh Bhatt, who was charged Thursday. Mamta Kafle Bhatt, a 28-year-old mother and nurse at UVA Health Prince William Medical Center, has been missing since July 31.
In arguing why Naresh Bhatt should continue to be held without bond, Sami said after Mamta missed two days of work, Manassas Park police responded to the couple’s home for a welfare check. Naresh Bhatt declined to file a missing persons report, saying she was in New York visiting family.
“It’s important to note that Mamta has no family in the U.S.,” Sami said.
Over the next several days, her husband “made a number of inconsistent statements on her whereabouts,” including that she was visiting friends in Texas.
On July 30, Sami said Bhatt went to a Walmart in neighboring Loudoun County, “and bought a pack of three knives — two are unaccounted for.”
The next day, he returned to Loudoun County and bought cleaning materials, including Lysol and Febreze, according to Sami.
What investigators found in the home
On Aug. 21, Manassas Park detectives, assisted by the Prince William County Police Forensic Unit, executed a search warrant at the couple’s home.
In the master bedroom, using Bluestar Forensic technology, which allows the detection of blood traces at crime scenes, investigators found “poolings of blood and blood spatter,” Sami said.
The bed had been moved in front of a closet. Investigators found “a light pink puddle or stain that they believe is blood,” she said.
Similar evidence was found leading to the master bathroom, “as if something is being dragged.”
In the shower, “the whole floor of the shower lights up” when processed with the blood-trace technology. And, in the bathtub area, blood in caulking was visible to the naked eye,” Sami said.
After his wife was last seen, Sami said Naresh Bhatt “sold his Tesla to CarMax, his house appeared to be packed up, with a suitcase with clothing in it, and he and his 1-year-old’s passports were openly available in the bedroom” during the search.
Sami acknowledged that much of the evidence is circumstantial.
“We won’t know if it’s Mamta’s blood until it’s tested,” she said.
Defense attorney: ‘We have a media frenzy’ — but little evidence
Naresh Bhatt’s attorney told the judge there’s little in the current case to justify holding him without bond for a Class 6 felony — the least serious in Virginia.
Shalev Ben-Avraham, senior assistant public defender for the county, told Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court Judge Katherine McCollam prosecutors haven’t proffered any evidence of a crime.
“They think they have found blood? They have nothing to suggest he murdered her. He bought cleaning supplies? So what, I go to other counties to pick up things when I’m driving around,” said Ben-Avraham.
“We don’t have a murder or assault. We don’t know that she’s passed away. They think she’s missing, and we have a media frenzy,” said Ben-Avraham, who suggested Naresh Bhatt should turn over his passport, post a private bond and be subject to GPS monitoring until trial.
“I understand the optics, but they haven’t a shred of evidence,” to merit holding the husband without bond. That could change, “if they bring other charges tomorrow, but under this charge, he should be released,” said Ben-Avraham.
Judge McCollam said Naresh Bhatt would continue to be held until a bond hearing Monday. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 24.
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An evaluation showed Anthony Eugene Robinson wasn’t criminally insane when he allegedly killed and disposed of the bodies of two women in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
A shopping cart was found near the bodies of two women in Fairfax County. (Courtesy Fairfax County Police Department )
A shopping cart was found near the bodies of two women in Fairfax County. (Courtesy Fairfax County Police Department )
A long-awaited psychiatric evaluation showed “shopping cart killer” suspect Anthony Eugene Robinson wasn’t criminally insane when he allegedly killed and disposed of the bodies of two women in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Robinson is also suspected in two deaths in Fairfax County and one in D.C. — but hasn’t been charged in those cases.
Defense attorney Louis Nagy says the psychiatric evaluation, ordered by a Rockingham County Circuit Court judge, in 2022, “was not helpful,” as he considered an insanity defense.
On Sept. 23, Robinson is set to begin a five-day first-degree murder trial in the death of 39-year-old Tonita Smith, of Charlottesville. Early next year, he’ll face a similar trial in the death of Beth Redmon, 54, of Harrisonburg.
Robinson has not been charged in Fairfax County in the deaths of two other victims — Stephanie Harrison, 48, of Redding, California, and Cheyenne Brown, 29, of Southeast D.C. Their remains were found in a plastic container near a shopping cart in a wooded area near the Moon Inn motel, in the Huntington area of the county.
Investigators in D.C. continue to investigate whether Sonya Champ, whose remains were found in a shopping cart covered by a blanket in the District, may be the fifth victim of Robinson. First reported on WTOP, the woman’s body was found in the 200 block of F Street in Northeast D.C., a few blocks from Union Station.
In September 2022, prosecutors also added two counts of aggravated murder of more than one person within three years — a Class 1 felony — which carries a mandatory life sentence.
Defense: ‘Shopping cart killer’ and ‘serial killer’ nicknames are prejudicial
In a motion filed this week, Robinson’s attorney said Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis “deliberately, maliciously, with the intent to do irreparable harm” created labels for Robinson, in an attempt to stir up media attention for the case.
During the Dec. 17, 2021, news conference, “‘Shopping Cart Killer’ was first uttered by Davis less than 1 minute and 10 seconds into the press conference and was uttered even before the Defendant was identified by his actual name,” wrote Nagy.
In addition, Nagy said, “The term ‘serial killer’ is a declaratory and conclusive statement which presupposed that the defendant is guilty of the crimes charged even though he has not yet been convicted of killing anyone in any jurisdiction.”
The defense wants to bar prosecutors or witnesses from using either nickname in Robinson’s trials.
In another motion, the defense wants to prevent prosecutors and witnesses from discussing the Fairfax County or D.C. deaths, in the Harrisonburg trials, since Robinson has only been charged with the deaths of Smith and Redmon.
Police and prosecutors have said Robinson met most of the victims on dating apps.
WTOP is seeking comment from Fairfax County police about this week’s motion. In 2022, when Nagy unsuccessfully argued for a gag order, a spokesman for Chief Davis said. “While the defendant will enjoy the presumption of innocence, the Fairfax County Police Department stands by its criminal investigation and we look forward to presenting our findings in a court of law.”
Judge John Stanley Hart, the chief judge of the Harrisonburg/Rockingham General District Court, saw video evidence of Redmon and Smith each walking into Room 336 of the Howard Johnson motel in Harrisonburg with Robinson. Robinson, in each case, later left the room before dawn and retrieved a shopping cart. Soon after, the video also shows him dragging the cart out of the room, with body-sized items wrapped in sheets.
Robinson was living at the motel as part of his compensation for working in a nearby chicken processing plant.
A detective testified she saw the two bodies lying in a tree line within sight of the motel. The autopsies showed Redmon was found with a plastic bag over her head, and Smith’s arms were tied behind her back with “chunky black yarn.” A prosecutor showed the judge a photo and receipt of Robinson in the nearby Walmart, buying black yarn.
When he was arrested, Robinson told the police that each of the women had overdosed on a white pill. He said he dumped the bodies because he didn’t know what else to do.
Prosecutor Marsha Garsh said the murders were premeditated.
“He purposely secreted their bodies and let them rot,” she said. “He lured the women there. This was clearly a sado-sexual killing. He didn’t call 911; he used them for what he wanted, then left them rotting with the maggots.”
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What police are calling antisemitic graffiti was discovered at Congregation Beth El, in Bethesda, Maryland, two days after a similar discovery at a nearby elementary school.
Late Tuesday afternoon, Montgomery County police responded to the synagogue, located on Old Georgetown Road, less than a mile from Bethesda Elementary School.
“Responding officers found antisemitic graffiti on a vinyl sign,” police department spokeswoman Shiera Goff told WTOP.
Police aren’t specifying what words were used in the graffiti, and at this point, investigators don’t know whether the two events are related, Goff said.
“The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington is deeply disturbed by the discovery of antisemitic graffiti on a ‘We Support Israel’ sign outside Congregation Beth El of Montgomery County, just two days after similar hateful rhetoric was found at Bethesda Elementary School,” said the group, in a statement to WTOP.
The group said it is in “close contact with local law enforcement,” and encouraged others to speak out.
“We call on our community and allies to continue making it clear that antisemitism and hate speech have no place in Greater Washington,” according to the Jewish Federation statement.
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The District of Columbia’s Board of Elections has decided that voters should choose whether they want to institute ranked choice voting and open primary elections to independent voters.
The District of Columbia’s Board of Elections has decided that voters should choose whether they want to institute ranked choice voting and open primary elections to independent voters.
On Friday, the board went along with the recommendations of its executive director, Monica Evans, and approved Initiative 83, also known as the “Ranked Choice Voting and Open the Primary Elections to Independent Voters Act of 2024,” which would place the item on the November general election ballot.
BOE senior policy adviser Alice Miller, speaking on behalf of Evans, said more than 35,000 eligible signatures were received on petitions to put the issues on the ballot, far more than the 5% minimum of registered voters.
Under ranked choice voting, rather than the current process of casting a single vote, a voter can choose their favorite candidate, then rank back up choices second, third, fourth and fifth.
The measure would also allow independent voters to cast a ballot in a primary election. Currently, only registered Democrats and Republicans are allowed to vote in each of their party’s primaries.
In a statement, Lisa D.T. Rice, with the group Make All Votes Count DC — which advocated for ranked choice voting — thanked the Board of Elections for validating tens of thousands of D.C. voters’ signatures.
“These and many more D.C. voters have told us how Initiative 83 would finally give independents a vote in the primary, as well as allow all D.C. voters to use ranked choice voting to hold politicians accountable to a majority of voters,” said Rice.
BOE Chairman Gary Thompson said the agency doesn’t take a position on either issue.
“Take the issue to the voters. At the end of the day, it’s an initiative about how voters should vote,” Thompson said. “And who should decide how voters should vote, (but) the voters.”
Thompson said each side has “excellent and reasonable arguments” to take to the voters, whether they prefer to change voting procedures.
“Educate them,” Thompson said. “People have heard about this, but I think our voters have a long way to go before November to really hear out both sides.”
Thompson said he looks forward to hearing both sides of the argument on whether to implement ranked choice voting and allow independents to vote in primaries.
He said he too remains undecided “like probably a lot of people in D.C.”
The act will take effect after a 30-day period of Congressional review under the Home Rule Act, which allows the District government to pass local laws.
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The virus that causes COVID-19 has been spreading through Virginia wildlife, and Virginia Tech researchers say well-populated areas are likely where it spread from humans to animals.
The virus that causes COVID-19 has been spreading through Virginia wildlife, and Virginia Tech researchers say well-populated areas are likely where it spread from humans to animals.
While SARS-CoV-2 infections were previously identified in wildlife, primarily in white-tailed deer and feral mink, Virginia Tech researchers attempted to see whether the virus had spread to common backyard wildlife.
Researcher Carla Finkielstein, who is also director of the Virginia Tech Molecular Diagnostics Lab, said tracking the spread of the virus is important.
“The more we get vaccinated and protected, the higher the chances that the virus will try to find a new host,” Finkielstein said. “The virus is indifferent to whether its host walks on two legs or four — its primary objective is survival.”
The research team collected 798 nasal and oral swabs across Virginia from animals that were either live-trapped in the field and released, or were being treated in wildlife rehabilitation centers.
The team obtained 126 blood sample from six species. The study also identified two mice at the same site on the same day with the exact same variant, suggesting they either both got it from the same human, or one mouse infected the other.
Finkielstein said it’s not clear how the virus was transmitted from humans to wildlife.
“The most reasonable speculations are trash, food residues, wastewater,” she said. “Something that we humans infected, discarded or disposed of, and then the animals picked it up.”
When asked whether there was any indication that animals could also spread COVID to humans, she said, “We don’t have evidences of the other way around.”
The team will continue its research supported by a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, in part to understand how the virus’ presence in wildlife may influence the long-term maintenance of COVID in humans.
“We shouldn’t be afraid of wildlife or interacting with wildlife,” Finkielstein said. “We just need to be mindful of how we do this.”
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More than six years after two U.S. Park Police officers shot and killed unarmed driver Bijan Ghaisar in Fairfax County, the officers — who were cleared of any criminal wrongdoing — have now filed a federal lawsuit against the Interior Department.
More than six years after two U.S. Park Police officers shot and killed unarmed driver Bijan Ghaisar in Fairfax County, the officers — who were cleared of any criminal wrongdoing — have filed a federal lawsuit against the Interior Department.
The agency took steps to fire officers Lucas Vinyard and Alejandro Amaya in 2021, but the officers remain on paid administrative leave. Their lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in D.C., asks a judge to order the Interior Department to make a final determination, saying the officers are suffering “significant career and financial consequences, including damage to their reputation, loss of overtime pay, and the ongoing stress.”
In November 2017, Vinyard and Amaya followed 25-year-old Ghaisar’s Jeep Cherokee in a slow-speed chase down George Washington Parkway, after Ghaisar drove away from a fender-bender. The chase ended in the Fort Hunt neighborhood, where the officers fired 10 shots at Ghaisar.
In 2019, the Justice Department announced it would not pursue federal charges against the officers, saying it could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer willfully violated Ghaisar’s civil rights, and that it would not have been able to disprove the officers’ claims that they acted in self-defense.
In 2020, Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano secured manslaughter indictments against Vinyard and Amaya. However, in 2021, federal judge Claude Hilton dismissed the charges, saying there was no evidence that the officers acted with “malice, criminal intent, or any improper motivation,” and that the decision to shoot Ghaisar was “necessary and proper under the circumstances.”
In 2021, the officers were notified that the Interior Department planned to terminate their employment, but no further action has been taken, and the officers remain on leave.
The new lawsuit claims the Interior Department’s “unreasonable delay in issuing a final disciplinary action has damaged the Officers’ careers with the U.S. Park Police. It has caused them a loss of pay, promotion opportunities, career advancement, and has resulted in great stress and hardship.”
Vinyard’s attorneys, Daniel Crowley and Katelyn Clarke, and Amaya’s lawyer, Edward Wenger, say their clients are hamstrung in fighting their proposed removal because they can’t file an appeal or seek arbitration since a final decision has not been rendered.
WTOP is seeking comment from the Ghaisar family about the lawsuit.
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The Washington Aqueduct can now add copper sulfate to its water treatment process to prevent future problems when algae in the Potomac River threatens the main water source for the D.C. region.
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Washington Aqueduct gets OK to add antialgae chemical to protect drinking water
Three weeks after the lifting of a boil water advisory for all of D.C. and most of Arlington, Virginia, the Washington Aqueduct can now add a new chemical to its water treatment process to prevent future problems when algae in the Potomac River threatens the main water source for much of the region.
WTOP has learned the aqueduct, which is owned and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, has been granted permanent authority from the Environmental Protection Agency to add a chemical that will head off future problems with algae gumming up the drinking water treatment facility.
“On July 3, when we were in the middle of the algae issues, we got emergency temporary authorization from the EPA to use copper sulfate as an oxidizing agent,” said Rudy Chow, general manager of the Washington Aqueduct.
Since then, Chow said, the aqueduct has been granted permanent authorization from the agency to add the chemical to its treatment process to combat algae attacks.
The improvement is evident, even to the naked eye, Chow said while standing next to the aqueduct’s sedimentation basin, where water from the Potomac River sits before it enters the treatment plant to be filtered and sent out as drinking water.
“This is where solids, or turbidity, settles out, so we get clear water overflowing into our filters, so it can be filtered. And that’s where the finished water comes from,” Chow said. “During the July 3 event, the water coming over was pretty much all green, with a very strong, green color to it.”
At the time, Chow saw “floating algae mats on top of the sedimentation basin, which got washed into the filter building, thus clogging up the filters.”
“EPA appreciates the quick action taken by staff at the Washington Aqueduct the evening of July 3 to ensure safe drinking water was supplied to the residents of Washington DC and Arlington, Virginia,” said EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz in a statement.“With climate change, we are likely to see these kinds of problems with algae blooms more often, and EPA is committed to working with the Washington Aqueduct to ensure that this does not impair drinking water for District and Arlington residents.”
Chow said chemicals being added to the raw water as it flows into the Potomac River intakes is helping reduce the amount of algae floating in the sedimentation basin.
“We’re adding triple the amount of aluminum sulfate, which is a coagulant agent to help solids settle out,” Chow said. “On top of that, we’re adding copper sulfate as an oxidizer coming through at the headworks, so by the time it gets here to the sedimentation basin, it can settle out properly.”
Other water providers using the Potomac River as their main water source, including WSSC Water and Fairfax Water, have been able to weather this year’s algae bloom without affecting their drinking water output.
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Weeks after the Port of Baltimore’s shipping channel was fully reopened, in the wake of the March 26 collapse of the Key Bridge, leadership has changed for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District.
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Weeks after reopening Key Bridge channel, new leadership comes for US Army Corps of Engineers
Weeks after the Port of Baltimore’s shipping channel was fully reopened, in the wake of the March 26 collapse of the Key Bridge, leadership has changed for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
On Thursday, in a ceremony at the Washington Aqueduct in Northwest D.C., command of the Baltimore District of the Army Corps was transferred from Col. Estee Pinchasin, commander and district engineer for the past three years, to Col. Frank Pera.
One of Pinchasin’s last major missions began March 26, when the container ship Dali lost power and slammed into the Key Bridge, causing much of it to collapse into the Patapsco River and killing six road crew workers.
Other speakers Thursday praised Pinchasin for her leadership in the effort to clear hunks of concrete and steel, and fully reopen the federal channel to its 700-foot width and 50-foot depth within 11 weeks.
Pinchasin said the Army Corps was prepared for the challenge.
“ThatBaltimorechannelisourchannelthatwe’vebeenmaintainingforover100years,” Pinchasin told WTOP. “To work and solve this massive problem, while still addressing the human tragedy of that, that became the inspiration for the whole team, just working and pulling together.”
She said the Army Corps and other partner agencies “over communicated” in order to restore the channel so quickly.
After the ceremony, which was held on the lawn in front of the Washington Aqueduct, which went online in 1859 and is owned and operated by the USACE, Pinchasin said the change of command ceremony dates back to the 18th century.
“This is the traditional change of command, where commanders rotate every three years in the Baltimore District,” Pinchasin said. “My replacement, Col. Frank Pera, is an amazing leader.”
When asked if the USACE’s Key Bridge efforts will change with new leadership, Pinchasin said that would not be the case.
“It’s part of our secret sauce — you have a fresh perspective, fresh eyes … being able to take the team to new heights, improve in areas and take us forward,” she said.
In his remarks, Pera thanked Pinchasin as “a world class leader,” as she begins a new assignment at Fort Meade in Anne Arundel County.
Pera called the Baltimore District “hands down the best district in the Corps of Engineers,” likening it to an iceberg: “When you look below the surface, you’ll find that the history of the Baltimore District highlights an expansive commitment to service that’s almost as old as our nation.”
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