Kate Jacobson

Published: Thu, May 16, 2013

Also tentatively approves $4.8 billion budget The Montgomery County Council voted to cut the county's energy tax 10 percent as lawmakers tentatively approved a $4.8 billion budget for fiscal 2014 that includes multimillion-dollar employee pay raises and increases in property taxes. The...

Andy Brownfield

Published: Thu, May 16, 2013

Governor signs gas tax bill to fund them ANNAPOLIS -- Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley on Thursday announced $1.2 billion in transportation projects as he signed into law a new gas tax to fund them. The projects include the proposed Purple and Red light rail lines in Montgomery and Prince...

Naomi Jagoda

Published: Thu, May 16, 2013

A Montgomery County man was arrested in Prince George's County after he shot a childhood friend, took off his clothes, climbed onto a firetruck while naked and was shot with a Taser by police, authorities said. Mohamed S. Bah, 24, was charged with attempted murder, assault and other offenses....

Naomi Jagoda

Updated: Thu, May 16, 2013

A 47-year-old man shot in his estranged wife and then took his own life in Prince George's County, police said. According to a preliminary investigation, Jason Taffe, of Silver Spring, went to the home of his 41-year-old estranged wife, Denise Taffe, in the 7700 block of Pinewood Drive in...

Kate Jacobson

Published: Wed, May 15, 2013

Property taxes are set to rise again in Montgomery County, after the County Council voted to support County Executive Ike Leggett's 1.8-cent increase per $100 of value. The average homeowner, with property valued at $460,000, will see an increase of $80 a year. This is the first time the...

Liz Essley

Updated: Tue, May 14, 2013

A Metro railcar at Silver Spring caught fire during Tuesday evening's rush hour, snarling Red Line commuters on their way home from work. Metro said no one was injured. Just before 6 p.m. the train offloaded its passengers one station before, at Takoma, but Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said he...

Scott McCabe

Published: Tue, May 14, 2013

A 21-year-old Montgomery County man has pleaded guilty to hunting down two brothers and running them down with a car, killing one of them. Fernando J. Valenzuela, of Damascus, pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree depraved heart murder in the death of Billie Jay Genies and first-degree...

Kate Jacobson

Published: Tue, May 14, 2013

The Montgomery County Council voted Tuesday to adopt more uniform policies regarding sick leave and overtime use after a report showed employee abuse of the payouts. County Executive Ike Leggett said he is already working to stomp out overtime abuse, as his staff determines how a uniformed...

Rachel Baye

Published: Tue, May 14, 2013

Students at Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg will get to keep their Advance Placement psychology exam scores, despite one student shooting a cellphone video at the testing site just before the exam started, officials said Tuesday. The video, which was posted to Twitter on May 6,...

Liz Essley

Published: Tue, May 14, 2013

More Washington-area residents are taking bus or rail, walking or telecommuting as a smaller percentage of commuters drive alone or even carpool, according to a new analysis from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. The share of workers relying on bus and rail to get to work...