Region Digest

Va. man killed in dirt bike crash in Md.

FREDERICK, Md. (AP) — Authorities say a 31-year-old Virginia man died after a dirt bike crash near Frederick, Md.

Frederick County sheriff's deputies were called to the Frederick city watershed area Sunday evening and found that Joselino Munoz-Godoy of Manassas, Va., had crashed a Suzuki Colt motorbike into an embankment.

The sheriff's office says Munoz-Godoy, who was not wearing a helmet, was flown to Shock Trauma in Baltimore, where he was pronounced dead.

Man indicted in death of grandmother

BALTIMORE (AP) — State prosecutors say a Baltimore man has been indicted on first-degree murder charges in the burning death of his grandmother.

Thirty-year-old Tyrone Mason will be arraigned on Nov. 20.

According to court documents, Mason was at the home of his grandmother, 85-year-old Ethel Henderson, on March 8. Authorities say after Henderson refused to give Mason money, he sprayed her with shellac thinner and set her on fire.

Henderson died from her injuries on June 17.

Port of Baltimore sees some recovery

BALTIMORE (AP) — Port of Baltimore officials say automobile business there is starting to recover.

James White, the Executive Director of the Maryland Port Administration, says the bottom dropped out of the shipping business about a year ago, but the volume of ships is growing again.

He says they've seen ships returning to the port, though they aren't as full as they were in the beginning of 2008.

White says the number of cruises sailing from Baltimore is growing. He says there were 28 sailings last year and this year there are 79.

Former W.Va. official gets 1 year in prison

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A former West Virginia official in charge of reviewing and awarding contracts for asbestos and lead abatement projects has been sentenced to a year in prison.

Paul Prendergast, of Gaithersburg, Md., pleaded guilty in 2007 to violating the federal Travel Act by leaking confidential bidding information to a Maryland company.

Prendergast was sentenced last week by U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte, who also fined the 47-year-old $3,000.

In exchange for inside information, court documents say Prendergast received money and other benefits from the Maryland contractor, including three payments of $6,000, $2,500 and $2,500 between 2000 and 2003.

Prendergast was an occupational health and safety coordinator at the West Virginia Department of Administration from 1998 to March 2003.

NTSB to hold meeting on medevac crash

WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Transportation safety board will conduct a public board meeting on the fatal crash of a Maryland State Police medevac helicopter in 2008.

The meeting will take place Tuesday in the NTSB conference center in Washington.

Four of the five people on board the medevac helicopter were killed when it went down in District Heights, Md. on Sept. 27, 2008.

The NTSB will also discuss the Aug. 7, 2008 crash in Sherman, Texas, of a charter bus after a tire blew. Seventeen people were killed in that crash.

State proposes loosening limits on pets in parks

HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) — Maryland is proposing looser limits on pets in state parks.

The Department of Natural Resources began seeking public comment Monday on a proposed policy that would allow pets in the day-use areas of nearly all state parks during at least part of the year.

Pets are currently prohibited in the day-use areas of at least 18 of the more than 70 state parks and recreation areas.

The policy would open up such popular parks as Assateague and New Germany to pets, but some restrictions would remain.

Beaches at those parks would be off limits during the peak season from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

And at New Germany, pets would still be banned from trails during cross-country ski season.

Anti-abortion group closing Hagerstown center

HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) — The director of an anti-abortion pregnancy counseling center in Hagerstown says the weak economy is behind a decision to close the office, starting next week.

Bernadette Winslow of Birthright of Washington County says donations of diapers, formula and maternity clothes to the nonprofit, all-volunteer group have fallen while demand has increased.

The U.S. director of Birthright International said Monday it is sometimes hard to find enough volunteers to staff the centers.

The Toronto-based organization advises women on alternatives to abortion for dealing with unplanned pregnancies.

Teens flee Md. youth facility in stolen staff car

HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) — Maryland State Police have captured two teenagers who allegedly escaped from a youth facility after stealing an employee's SUV.

Police said the 15- and 16-year-olds were arrested around 11 a.m. Monday after fleeing the Meadow Mountain Youth Camp in Grantsville. The two are charged as juveniles.

Police say the boys stole a 2008 Pontiac Torrent SUV. Forty-five minutes later, police saw the SUV on I-68 heading toward Allegany County. On I-70, police deployed stop sticks and deflated the SUV's tires. Police said the youths bailed out of the car at a convenience store on Route 56.

Then police said they broke into a home where a Washington County deputy captured one. The other was caught outside the home.

Program offers commuters cash for carpooling

WASHINGTON (AP) — Commuters who drive alone on some of the most congested highways in the Washington region could earn $2 a day by carpooling to work.

Commuter Connections, a network of transportation groups coordinated by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, launched a three-month pilot program on Monday.

The program is open to commuters who currently drive alone on the Capital Beltway between Bethesda and Tysons Corner or between the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and Interstate 270 and on Interstate 395 from the District across the 14th Street bridge into Northern Virginia.

The program could be extended to other roads in the region if enough people sign up.