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FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — Fairfax County officials have pulled a body out of a pond and are investigating what may have caused the death.

Police say the body was discovered Saturday in a pond near South Van Dorn Street near Kingstown Village Boulevard. Police say the body appeared to be an adult male.

Investigators say there were no obvious signs of trauma to the body. They are working to determine the identity.

The medical examiner’s office will determine the cause of death.

The post Police say body discovered in Fairfax County pond appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON — Friday, June 26, is Take Your Dog to Work Day, a brainchild of Pet Sitters International. We asked for photos from people (and dogs) who were taking part.

If you’ve brought your dog to work, take a picture and tweet it to us with #WTOP.

The post Photos: Take Your Dog to Work Day appeared first on WTOP.

Editor’s Note: The following video may be difficult to view and watch… WASHINGTON — The video made by the Humane Society International is hard to watch; dogs crammed into cages are prepared for the meat market as part of an annual dog meat festival in Yulin, China. Suddenly, one black and white dog is plucked from the cage with metal tongs, and his panicked cries pierce the air.

But instead of being headed to slaughter, “Little Ricky” has a different, and much brighter future ahead. Friday afternoon, he arrived at the Washington Animal Rescue League in Northwest Washington,  D.C.,  where he’s being evaluated and prepared for adoption.

Adam Parascandola, Director of Animal Protection and Crisis Response at HSI, says his colleague, Dr. Peter Li, first encountered “Little Ricky” in a slaughterhouse. “And in the slaughterhouse was  a large pen with quite a large number of dogs,” Parascandola says adding,  the little dog approached Li and kept nudging Li’s hand with his nose and Li decided right then and there he just couldn’t leave the dog behind.

https://t.co/9NhH6pz1Tx

— Kate Ryan (@KateRyanWTOP) June 26, 2015

Yulin’s dog meat festival has been criticized worldwide, and Parascandola says HSI wants to spotlight the treatment of the animals in the dog meat trade. Parascandola was asked about the cultural bias that seems evident: many westerners don’t think twice about eating lamb or veal, but are horrified by the notion of consuming canines.  Parascandola doesn’t dwell on the practice of eating dog meat,  but on what happens before the dogs reach the market.  “Whether you’re a vegan, a vegetarian or meat eater, it’s about being as humane as possible” and whether chickens, pigs,  cows or dogs are involved, he says.

Parascandola adds that “in Yulin, there’s an incredible amount of brutality” in the dog meat trade, and that’s where HSI is focused. In China, however,  the practice of eating dog meat isn’t universally accepted: there have been protests against the festival, as well as an increase in the number of people who keep dogs as companion animals.

For Little Ricky,  named for actor and animal activist Ricky Gervais, the outlook is bright. Parascandola says the little dog with his large triangular ears, and black and white markings, is gentle and trusting.

Bob Ramin, President and CEO of the Washington Animal Rescue League, says Little Ricky’s adjusting well to his new surroundings. “He’s wagging his tail, and looks perky. He’s going to be a great dog for somebody” then Ramin pauses for a second and adds, “He is a great dog, he’s going to be a great family member for somebody.”

The post From China’s dog meat industry to life as a companion animal appeared first on WTOP.

Can a shopping mall renovation revive a tired suburban community? Washington Post The patio-style restaurants at one of Northern Virginia's latest town-center experiments offer a view — for now — of a cracked, sun-baked parking lot. Shoppers at the Saturday farmer's market must stroll between parked cars in that same lot to peruse ... and more »

The ability to brake may be one of the most essential safety features of a vehicle. But part of that intricate system – specifically the automatic braking component – just isn’t working like it should for tens of thousands of newer Subaru vehicles.

Subaru notified [PDF] the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that it will recall about 72,000 model year 2015 Impreza, Crosstrek, Legacy, and Outback vehicles and model year 2016 WRX vehicles equipped with the Eyesight Driver Assist System.

According to the company, if the switch that activates the brake light fails, the automatic pre-collision braking component of the company’s driver-assist system will not function. This can cause the vehicle to not react to an obstacle in its path, increasing the risk of a crash.

The company says the brakes will work when the pedal is depressed and drivers are not affected if they don’t have the automatic system turned on.

Subaru says it is currently unaware of any injuries or accidents related to the issue.

Dealers will notify owners of affected vehicles and reprogram the driver assist system.

UPDATE: A spokeswoman for Delphi who was also in the car at the time of the previously reported “near miss” between her company’s car and a Google prototype says things didn’t go down quite like the story made it seem.

“I was there for the discussion with Reuters about automated vehicles,” she told Ars Technica. “The story was taken completely out of context when describing a type of complex driving scenario that can occur in the real world. Our expert provided an example of a lane change scenario that our car recently experienced which, coincidentally, was with one of the Google cars also on the road at that time. It wasn’t a ‘near miss’ as described in the Reuters story.”

She says it was just another normal situation any car could encounter — and things couldn’t have gone better.

“Our car did exactly what it was supposed to,” she says. “Our car saw the Google car move into the same lane as our car was planning to move into, but upon detecting that the lane was no longer open it decided to terminate the move and wait until it was clear again.”

A Google spokeswoman chimed in as well, telling Ars: “The headline here is that two self-driving cars did what they were supposed to do in an ordinary everyday driving scenario.”

—————–ORIGINAL STORY BELOW——————

Just yesterday, Google’s latest self-driving car models hit the streets of Mountain View, CA. But there have already been some bumps in the road, as a new report says a self-driving Google car had a near miss in traffic with another driverless vehicle this week.

An executive with Delphi Automotive PLC told Reuters that he was a passenger in a self-driving prototype from his company on Tuesday, when a Google driverless vehicle cut it off on the road. No contact was made between the two cars.

The director of Delphi’s Silicon Valley lab and global business director for the company’s automated driving program said he was in a prototype Audi Q5 crossover vehicle equipped with lasers, radar, cameras and special computer software, with a person at the wheel as backup. While the car was preparing to change lanes, he says a Google prototype — a Lexus RX400h crossover with similar technology — cut off the Audi, prompting it to cancel the lane change.

He says the Delphi car “took appropriate action.”

Google declined to comment.

This is likely the first such incident to have been reported between two self-driving cars, though Google issued a complete list of all incidents its driverless vehicles have gotten into with cars piloted by people since the company started testing the cars on the open road. In all of those collisions, the self-driving car was not at fault.

Two rival self-driving cars have close call in California [Reuters]

Cast your mind back to the mid to late 1980s and early 1990s… when you had a craving for that delicious Italian combination of carbs, sauce and cheese, you’d head straight to McDonald’s, right? No? Yeah, we’re with you on that one — who knew McDonald’s ever tried to grab a piece of the pizza pie? Tried, and ultimately, failed.

The folks over at Mental Floss dip into the halls of fast food history, uncovering a long lost tale of pizza failure. See, once upon a time, McDonald’s got a bit greedy, and tried to horn in on the dinner business market by adding pizza to the menu.

In 1986, tongues started to wag — McDonald’s had a plan to rival chains like Pizza Hut as well as independent pizza parlors. It wasn’t called McPizza, as one might think as that name was used for a calzone product Mickey D’s tested briefly in the 1980s.

Expanded testing started in 1989, with about 24 restaurants in Indiana and Kentucky participating. This move essentially started a war, as Pizza Hut was far from pleased with the new competition.

“Don’t make a McStake,” one Pizza Hut ad urged. The company called McDonald’s pies “McFrozen” dough, and started offering two-for-one deals to keep its customers happy.

Things weren’t going too well for McDonald’s pizza in any case: The quick-cook oven the company worked long and hard on meant major renovations for franchisees. And the drive-thru window? Forget about it — how are you supposed to shove a pizza through many older windows, which simply weren’t big enough. More renovations would have been required.

Even those locations that did remodel their kitchens and drive-thru windows weren’t faring great: It took too long to get the pizzas cooked and to customers, especially when the restaurants got busy. The pizzas were more expensive than rivals as well, which turned off customers who were used to spending much less elsewhere.

McDonald’s was determined, however, and had expanded the pizza option to almost 40% of its restaurants in the early 1990s. Then, like some fever dream you’d have after eating too much McDonald’s, the pizza experiment was quickly over, at least in America. Canada held on somewhat longer, but ultimately went the same way as U.S. restaurants and stopped serving pizza.

Some things are just not meant to be: Sushi and hangovers, peanut butter and French fries, and McDonald’s and pizza. But we can always look back, and wonder… what the heck were you thinking, McDonald’s?

The Short, Strange Life of McDonald’s Pizza [Mental Floss]

When you have a question about the price tag on a department store item, you should raise your concerns with store employees. You should not yell at them or curse them out, and you should definitely not become violent. A Macy’s customer in California was arrested after she allegedly did all of those things, then bit a loss prevention officer on the leg during a price dispute.

Local police say that the customer argued with a store manager over the price of an unnamed item, and became abusive even though she received a discount. It apparently wasn’t enough, and the angry shopper was asked to leave the store. She refused to go.

That’s when the loss prevention officers tried to “escort” her from the store, and she became angry and fought back. According to the police, the officer sustained “minor injuries” as the woman scratched at him and bit him on the leg.

Police arrested the woman for assault and battery when they arrived at the store.

Woman Bites Macy’s Employee Over Price Of Item In Newark Store, Police Say [KCBS]

While there are surely some tasty dairy-based alcoholic beverages out there, there’s just something about drinking boozy yogurt that seems a bit… off-putting. But hey, different strokes for different folks. For those who like mixing food with their drinks, there’s a yogurt liqueur out there just for you.

MarketWatch has the details on yogurt’s crossover from trendy food favorite to cocktail ingredient, from a Dutch-based spirits brand called Bols. As it turns out, the creamy alcoholic cocktail addition has been around for about two years in the United States, although it’s had limited success. Again, because a shelf-stable dairy booze sounds like it could be kind of gross.

“It doesn’t immediately sound like something you want to try,” admits Bols marketing director Jaron Berkhemer to MarketWatch.

But instead of ditching the idea, the company kept at it — and their efforts paid off: Florida bartending started using the liqueur in a piña colada instead of cream of coconut, resulting in a drink that’s lighter in calories than your usual cocktail. Added bonus: No blender required.

So what does it actually taste like? MarketWatch isn’t really a fan of drinking it alone, saying “it falls somewhere in that strange and scary zone between milk and water.” Blech.

That being said, including it in a cocktail transforms the liqueur, the MarketWatch team says.

“The yogurt liqueur does all the heavy lifting in terms of giving the drink a creamy consistency, but it doesn’t turn the cocktail into a ‘yogurt drink,’ either.”

This has given us a lot to think about.

You can now get your yogurt as a liqueur [MarketWatch]

Anyone who’s familiar with Jurassic Park knows that all the dinosaurs in the park were engineered to be female — this, to control the animals from making their own dino babies and overwhelming the humans. So then why did Hasbro rewrite the Jurassic Park canon by rebranding its Jurassic World dinosaur toys as males in product descriptions for its raptor toys?

It’s unclear, but dinosaur experts were up in arms over the decision to refer to the velociraptors as male in product descriptions for the toys, noted The Onion’s AV Club.

Dinosaur expert Dustin Growick, host of the YouTube series The Dinosaur Show, initiated a Care2 petition “to tell Hasbro to stop reinforcing silly and antiquated gender role stereotypes on children and stop gender swapping dinosaurs.”

He writes in the petition that the two Jurassic works “have inspired millions of children around the world—boys and girls alike—to be interested in dinosaurs, paleontology, and science. Just as many—if not more—of the biggest dinosaur enthusiasts are girls and women.”

It seems his efforts paid off: Reading the description now on Hasbro’s site, the dinosaurs have gone back to being females (bolding ours):

“Clever as ever, Jurassic World’s velociraptors are masterful hunters. And this awesome figure looks just like Velociraptor “Blue”! She’s ready to team up with her fellow Velociraptors (other figures sold separately) to hunt the ultimate predator! Her slashing claws and growling attack will destroy anything in her way. Let the hunt begin with your Velociraptor “Blue” figure!”

We reached out to Hasbro for comment on why the raptor toy was initially branded a male, and will update you if/when we hear back.

As if selfie sticks aren’t obnoxious enough when they go waving through the air, threatening to smack unsuspecting bystanders in the face, visitors at Disneyland had their roller coaster fun interrupted when their fellow passenger whipped out one of the extension devices in the middle of the ride.

Riders on Disney’s California Adventure’s California Screamin’ were likely in the mood for screaming yesterday, but not because the ride was so thrilling — because a passenger stuck out a selfie stick while the coaster was in progress, reports the OC Register.

Those gadgets are not allowed on attractions, a park spokeswoman said, adding that the ride was back up within an hour.

The OC Register cited passengers who Tweeted that the ride shut down at the top of the drop, and that the ride was evacuated.

Selfie sticks aren’t banned in general at the park, as they are at various museums like the Smithsonian and others around the world due to their propensity to annoy people, but visitors are told to keep them stowed away during rides.

Disney California Adventure roller coaster halted after person pulls out selfie stick [OC Register]

Joining retailers like Walmart and Amazon who pulled merchandise with images of the Confederate battle flag earlier this week and the country’s largest flagmaker, which has stopped selling the flag, Apple has reportedly yanked several Civil War games that include the rebel banner from its iTunes App Store.

CNN reports (warning: link contains video that autoplays) that the games started disappearing from the App Store early Thursday morning, with affected game developers getting a notice that their products were getting the boot.

The move comes after a 21-year-old man was accused last week of killing nine people at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. He was seen in online posts brandishing the battle flag, which, while revered by some in the South, to many others is seen as a symbol of hatred.

It is not in dispute that the Confederate battle flag — which was never the official flag of the Confederacy, but a flag flown in battle by General Robert E. Lee — was involved in the Civil War.

But Apple wrote in an email to game creators that their stuff had been pulled for containing “images of the Confederate Flag used in offensive and mean-spirited ways,” according to one of those affected, Andrew Mulholland of HexWar Games.

Apple wrote: “At this time, your app has been removed from the App Store. We encourage you to review your app concept and incorporate different content and features that are in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines.”

The email cited Apple’s Store review guidelines in the email: “Apps containing references or commentary about a religious, cultural or ethnic group that are defamatory, offensive, mean-spirited or likely to expose the targeted group to harm or violence will be rejected.”

Mulholland told site Pocketgamer that four of his company’s Civil War Games were taken from the App Store, with one other remaining up — Civil War: Bull Run 1861.

“It seems disappointing that they would remove it as they weren’t being used in an offensive way,” he told the site. “They were historical war games and hence it was the flag used at the time…. We’re in no way sympathetic to the use of the flag in an offensive way; we used it purely because historically that was the flag that was used at the time.”

He says HexWar will revise its games to replace those flags identified as offensive, and will use the official flag of the Confederacy used between 1861 and 1862, “as the one that’s considered offensive wasn’t introduced until late 1862.”

It could take a week to implement those changes, and possibly another two weeks before Apple reviews the revised games.

“Until Apple approves them, and hopefully they will, we are missing a significant part of our revenue from people who just want to play a historical strategy game,” he said.

Apple declined to comment to CNN.

Apple pulls Confederate flag-bearing Civil War games from App Store [CNN]
Apple pulls American Civil War games for displaying the Confederate flag in ‘offensive’ ways [Pocketgamer]

Patch.com

Manassas Man Arrested for Indecent Exposure Patch.com Prince William County police arrested a Manassas man on Sunday morning for indecent exposure near a construction site. Louis Michael Hahn,35, of 10195 Farragut Court in Manassas, was charged with indecent exposure and released on a $5,000 bond, ... and more »

Christopher Barry, son of the late DC mayor, ordered to spend 15 days in jail Washington Post Marion Christopher Barry, the son of the former D.C. mayor, was ordered to spend 15 days in jail for violating the terms of his probation after he was arrested for driving on a revoked license and flouting a court order not to drive. Barry, 34, is ...

Three dogs that had been set for slaughter at a meat farm in South Korea are now alive and well in Arlington, thanks to the Humane Society and the Animal Welfare League of Arlington.

The dogs first came to Arlington in January, part of a group of 23 that had been rescued by the Humane Society International and sent to D.C. area shelters. Now, two have been adopted and the other is still with AWLA, hoping to find a loving home soon.

AWLA provided an update on how the three are doing in their new environments.

Abi, a one-year-old female Corgi/Cattle Dog mix, was recently adopted by first time-dog owners Jackie and DJ Woodell. AWLA spokeswoman Kerry McKeel described Abi as “a beguiling blend of shy and wiley.”

Abi has also proven to be quite the escape artist; while at AWLA, McKeel said Abi would amuse herself by escaping through a weak spot in the fence of her enclosure and wandering the corridors. Abi’s new owners report that in her new home, she’s learned to unlatch her own crate and let herself out to explore.

All in all, “she’s pleasantly surprised everyone with her smooth transition to Easy Street,” said the Woodells.

Billy, a one-year-old Lhasa Apso/Poodle mix, was chipper and cuddly after coming to the shelter and was adopted within days.

Described as “a gregarious curly haired lapdog mix with a pronounced underbite and pleading eyes,” Billy was “well adjusted and ‘normal’ that he had us at the Animal Welfare League of Arlington convinced he was someone’s pet who’d been snatched off the street.”

Hope, a female Korean Jindo mix, is waiting to be adopted and currently living with a foster-guardian from K-9 Divine. McKeel said that Hope came to AWLA skittish and hyper vigilant, but seems to have found solace in companionship with the other dogs.

Hope spends her days at an off-leash daycare facility where she plays with the other dogs and goes home with Rachel Jones, her foster-guardian, at night. Jones reports that Hope has made great progress since living with her, and thinks she would make a wonderful pet for anyone willing to take the time to let her warm up to them.

Hope is available for adoption at AWLA’s website.

Photos courtesy Shelley Castle Photography

The post Korean Meat Farm Dogs Are Now in Arlington ‘Living the American Dream’ appeared first on WTOP.

Meet Custis, a 2-year-old Basset/Beagle mix who is searching for his forever home.

Here is what the folks at Homeward Trails Animal Rescue have to say about him:

Custis is a happy male Basset/Beagle mix who is only two years old. He is about 30 lbs. Custis is shy with new people but warms up quickly and bonds well to his human. He really loves dogs and his personality REALLY comes out when he gets to play with other dogs! He is a very sweet and quiet little guy who would love to find his forever home.

Custis will do better in a suburban environment with less city noise as he finds this stressful. He needs a patient person who is able to help him gain confidence.

Custis is in temporary boarding and needs a foster. Most importantly, he would love to find his forever home.

The adoption fee for this dog is $300. This fee INCLUDES spay/neuter and microchip. If the animal you are adopting is not already spayed/neutered, you will be required to sign a contract legally obligating you to have the animal altered. .

If you are interested in adopting this dog, please fill out our dog adoption questionnaire and e-mail it to LoisLHT@gmail.com. You can find the adoption questionnaire on Homeward Trails’ website.

If you and Custis are a match, let us know and we will put you in touch with our sponsor, Becky’s Pet Care, who will send you treats and $100 in Becky’s Bucks.

Want your pet to be considered for the Reston Pet of the Week?

Email news@Restonnow.com with a 2-3 paragraph bio and at least 3-4 horizontally-oriented photos of your pet.

Each week’s winner receives a sample of dog or cat treats from our sponsor, Becky’s Pet Care, along with $100 in Becky’s Bucks.

Becky’s Pet Care, the winner of three Angie’s List Super Service Awards and the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters’ 2013 Business of the Year, provides professional dog walking and pet sitting services in Reston and Northern Virginia.

The post Reston Pet of the Week: Custis appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON – Sure, the District’s bald eagles made news by nesting and raising families in the nation’s capital.

And Tom and Audrey, the Kent Island ospreys got some coverage for becoming foster parents to two young chicks.

But another raptor’s come to town to win your heart, and your sympathy.

A young, presumably male, kestrel – or sparrow hawk – the smallest member of the falcon family, was found wounded in the District. A resident called animal control, and the little raptor was raced over to City Wildlife and is under the care of veterinarian Mary Ashley Laine.

Laine says the patient has a broken leg.

“We splinted it, and are providing pain medication and are feeding it.” And that’s a good sign, says Laine, who explains when animals are stressed and uncomfortable they stop eating.

“This one has a great appetite, so we’re very pleased with that. It makes us very hopeful that he’ll continue to progress.”

City Wildlife has trained volunteers who assist in the care of animals brought in.

“And so far he’s doing wonderfully,” says Laine.

Laine says because he’s a bird of prey, being able to hunt is dependent on that leg’s ability to heal.

Once the fracture has healed the kestrel will need conditioning and some rehab to make sure he can fend for himself. Kestrels are common birds of prey, but Laine says their numbers have dwindled in the D.C. area. Kestrels at insects, lizards, small birds and mice.

City Wildlife takes in all types of wild animals: from caring for baby squirrels to fostering fledglings and possums. You may recall that City Wildlife assisted when a snowy owl was seriously injured and was found in McPherson Square.

WTOP’s Kate Ryan contributed to your report.

The post Injured kestrel rescued in D.C. appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A union leader says Metro bus drivers in the Washington area are frequently forced to urinate while on board the bus because there’s nowhere else to go.

Union official James Madaras made the surprising statement Wednesday during a National Transportation Safety Board hearing on a malfunction that killed a Metro subway passenger in January.

Madaras was responding to a hypothetical question about whether a driver would face discipline for urinating on a bus. He said, “Urinating on a bus is an issue that we deal with on a regular basis.”

Madras said the union is constantly battling with Metro about giving drivers time and facilities to relieve themselves. He said drivers shouldn’t be disciplined for urinating when they have no access to bathrooms, adding, “What are they supposed to do?”

The post Union official: Metro drivers forced to urinate on buses appeared first on WTOP.

Fairfax County Animal Watch Washington Post The following incident was reported by the Animal Control Division of the Fairfax County Police Department. For information, call 703-246-2253. Raccoon euthanized: Monarch Oak and Oak Hollow lanes, 6:35 p.m. June 10. An officer found a sick raccoon and ... and more »

DC Animal Watch Washington Post These cases were handled by the Washington Humane Society, which operates its shelter at 7319 Georgia Ave. NW, and the District's, at 1201 New York Ave. NE. For information or assistance, call 202-723-5730 or go to www.washhumane.org. Surprise ...

PotomacLocal.com

Celebrate America in style in Manassas July 4 PotomacLocal.com On Saturday, July 4, 2015, Celebrate America with the City of Manassas from 3 to 10 p.m. in Historic Downtown Manassas. The celebration begins with the Bicycle Decorating contest. At 5 p.m. visitors are invited to take part in a Watermelon-eating contest.

Police: Pizza Man Robbed, Carjacked Near Manassas Patch.com Juvenile suspect is arrested in search of area, but other suspect is at large, say Prince William County police. By Chris Gaudet (Patch Staff) June 24, 2015. Share. 0 Comments. Police: Pizza Man Robbed, Carjacked Near Manassas. Sign up for the Manassas ...

Joining retailers like Walmart, Amazon, eBay, Etsy and Sears in ditching products that feature the Confederate battle flag, the studio that holds the consumer license for images of the iconic car from The Dukes of Hazzard says it won’t sanction the manufacturing of any products that feature the flag known as the rebel banner.

Warners Bros. consumer licensing division has handed out licenses for plenty of products in the past for the Duke brothers’ General Lee car, but says now that the one licensee that still includes the rebel banner on toy cars won’t be allowed to do so.

“Warner Bros. Consumer Products has one licensee producing die-cast replicas and vehicle model kits featuring the General Lee with the confederate flag on its roof — as it was seen in the TV series,” a spokesman for the company told Vulture. “We have elected to cease the licensing of these product categories.”

There will still be plenty of merchandise out there featuring the General Lee, but those products come without the flag on the top. The one company affected in this case is Round 2, a model company out of Indiana.

This is a change for Warner Bros. consumer licensing — as recently as 2012, the division said it wouldn’t be pulling the flag from General Lee’s roof after rumors of such a plan surfaced.

“We were not and are not planning to change design of the General Lee on merchandise,” Warner Bros. said at the time.

The Controversy Over the Confederate Flag Has Reached Hazzard County [Vulture]

Between Uber, Lyft, Sidecar, ZipCar and Car2Go there’s no shortage of ride-sharing and car-sharing services out there to meet your specific needs. But having options is great, too, and with that in mind Ford announced the launch of its own car-sharing program that lets owners of its vehicle rent out their rides.

MLive reports that Peer-2-Peer Sharing, as the program is called, aims to help select owners of Ford vehicles offset their monthly payments, while helping others get around town for short periods of time.

“Consumers tell us they are interested in sharing the costs of vehicle ownership, and this program will help us understand how much that extends to customers who are financing a Ford vehicle,” David McClelland, Ford Credit vice president of marketing, said in a statement. “As most vehicles are parked and out of use much of the time, this can help us gauge our customers’ desires to pick up extra cash and keep their vehicles in use.”

Peer-2-Peer will start with about 14,000 recruited vehicle owners who financed their purchase through Ford Credit Company.

Under the program, which will launch in six U.S. cities and London, people can rent cars though the Getaround or easyCar Club website or app then collect the keys from the owner or a designated spot on the vehicle. Once done with the vehicle, users must return it to the same location.

Users of the program, both the owners and the renters, must first be screened and approved by the company.

Peer-2-Peer Car Sharing is part of Ford’s Smart Mobility plan which seeks to adapt transportation with changing technology such as mobility, autonomous driving and connectivity.

“My great-grandfather helped put the world on wheels so everyone could enjoy the benefits of mobility,” Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford said in a statement. “Our vision today is to expand that same thinking using advanced technology and new business models, and addressing the mobility challenges people face around the world.”

The new program will be available in Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco, CA; as well as Portland, OR, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

Ford launching car sharing program in six U.S. cities [MLive]

WASHINGTON — Freddie Gray died as a result of a “high-energy injury” — likely caused when the police van in which he was being transported suddenly decelerated, according to an autopsy report obtained by The Baltimore Sun Tuesday.

The injury, which is similar to those seen in shallow-water diving incidents, is being called a homicide because officers failed to follow safety procedures “through acts of omission,” The Sun reports.

Gray, 25, died April 19, a week after he suffered a severe spinal cord injury in police custody.

During his April 12 arrest, he was loaded into the van on his stomach and was not belted in while his wrists and ankles were shackled. The medical examiner surmised that he may have gotten to his feet and was thrown into the wall during the drive, The Sun reports.

Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby issued a statement Tuesday saying all six Baltimore police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray have pleaded not guilty.

The post Freddie Gray’s autopsy shows ‘high-energy injury’ appeared first on WTOP.

PotomacLocal.com

Tornado did hit Bristow, Manassas on Saturday PotomacLocal.com Potomac Local reached out to the National Weather Service, and a spokesman confirmed that the severe weather over the weekend was a tornado. Jim Lee from the National Weather Service provided a radar image of Manassas on Saturday at 7:40 p.m., ... Updates: Worst of storms move off, lingering flood threat overnightWashington Post (blog) all 147 news articles »

Washington Times

DC subway operator was told he couldn't return to platform Fredericksburg.com WASHINGTON — The operator of a Washington subway train that was forced to stop in a smoke-filled tunnel repeatedly asked for permission to return the train to the platform but was told to stay put as passengers coughed and choked, according to ... Metro Operator Was Told He Couldn't Return to Platform: DocsNBC4 Washington Transportation board to hold hearings on deadly Metro smoke incidentWTOP Operator of smoke-filled DC subway train was told repeatedly he couldn't ...Fox News all 96 news articles »

There are your amateur dine-and-dashers, and then there are the brothers in Cleveland who are accused of a dine-and-dashing spree through a half-dozen restaurants in three days. They allegedly rang up tabs of hundreds of dollars at each spot, then would casually go outside for a smoke and not come back for the check. Restaurant owners spread the word on social media, and were able to apprehend the pair.

The brothers picked out the finest items on the menu, as one does when they don’t plan on paying. “Top shelf champagne, foie grois, short ribs,” the chef-owner of one of their targets recounted to TV station WKYC.

The following day, they ran up three more big tabs at nice restaurants. The owner of the second restaurant hit on day one sent out an alert to other restaurant owners, and they were watching for the pair.

During lunch on Friday, one of the brothers appeared at a sixth restaurant for lunch, only 10 minutes after the owner saw the photo circulated on social media. The brothers used to work at that bar, and had actually been banned from the establishment earlier.

The owner pinned the diner down with his foot, which made for a fine photo op and a warning to other serial gourmands. “Next time just ask me for a sandwich. I’d be happy to help you out,” the owner who stomped on the dine-and-dasher told the TV station.

Social media helps bust serial dine-and-dasher [WKYC]