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WASHINGTON — Exactly 50 years ago today — March 10, 1965 — the movie musical masterpiece “The Sound of Music” made its Los Angeles premiere.

On Saturday, Elisabeth Von Trapp, the real-life granddaughter of Maria and Baron Von Trapp, will perform in Springfield, Virginia, in a private show at the Hunters Crossing Conference Center.

The set list will be eclectic.

“I usually say Bach to Broadway, Schubert to Sting and everything in between,” Von Trapp tells WTOP. “But it does include Rodgers and Hammerstein … I do know quite a few from ‘The Sound of Music,’ but I’m very careful what I select for my audience. … I pepper it in. … As a matter of fact, when I do sing my ‘Sound of Music’ songs, they are very much my own arrangement, and that’s the fun of it.”

Von Trapp has toured the globe, performing everywhere from Russia to Shanghai, Bethlehem to D.C., including shows at the Kennedy Center and National Cathedral.

She began performing at age 3, as the daughter of Werner von Trapp, depicted as the child Kurt in the movie. She has many fond childhood memories.

“I would never pass up the experience to go to visit my grandmother,” she says. “I always got so excited, because it was never dull. It was always a wonderful experience, and they had amazing life experiences that they shared.”

The 1965 film follows a woman (Julie Andrews) who leaves an Austrian convent to become a governess to the children of a naval officer widower (Christopher Plummer). But Von Trapp says her own grandmother was “very different” from Andrews.

“One of the first jobs I ever got was to work at my grandmother’s gift shop or tea room,” Von Trapp says. “People were standing in line to have their autograph from her, and this little boy waited for probably a half an hour with his mother getting very antsy. Finally, he was at the desk where my grandmother sat, and he looks up at her and he says, ‘You’re not Maria!’ … She looked at him and you could tell she was ready to scowl, and then she thought, ‘Nah, better not.'”

Still, she says, the essence of the character was very much her grandmother.

“What she embodies is this spirited, young woman … and she has courage, and she takes on this task and challenge and she meets it,” Von Trapp says. “She overcomes and she becomes even more who she should become, and that’s really the true essence of my grandmother’s life and story.”

Few films have seen such critical acclaim and popular success. The film won five Oscars, including Best Picture, and remains the third highest-grossing movie of all time, behind only “Gone With the Wind” (1939) and “Star Wars” (1977). It remains a pop-culture fixture, from Carrie Underwood performing in NBC’s “The Sound of Music Live!” to Lady Gaga performing at the 2015 Oscars.

“Twenty years ago when I was first being interviewed, there was a journalist that said there will never be a time where the name ‘Von Trapp’ wouldn’t sort of evoke this idea of ‘The Sound of Music,'” she says. “And it’s true.”

Still, Von Trapp speaks proudly of her sister, aunt and grandmother appearing as extras in the movie. You’ll see them in the background while Andrews sings “I Have Confidence.” Look for them below:

“My grandmother had a copy of that film, and she would play it for her guests every Friday night,” she says. “And if we came to visit on a Saturday and it was raining, my Aunt Hedwig would just make sure we were entertained, so she would play the movie for us. We couldn’t wait to see it over and over again.

“As a child, these fantasies of actually seeing these characters play your family story, what I think it did for me was to allow myself to truly understand that they were bigger than life.”

Hear the full interview with Elisabeth Von Trapp below:

The post ‘Sound of Music’ turns 50 as Von Trapp hits Va. appeared first on WTOP.

Tens of millions of American consumers have clauses in their credit card, checking account, student loan, and wireless phone contracts that take away their rights to sue those companies in a court of law, and more than 93% of these people have no idea they’ve had this right taken away from them. The companies involved are presumably quite happy about this lack of awareness, as it results in millions of dollars in savings that aren’t being passed on to you.

This is all according to a new report on arbitration from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which found, among other things:

• 53% of credit cards currently have arbitration clauses.

• Only 8% of banks and credit unions use the clauses, but those few institutions are so large that they represent 44% of all insured deposits.

• 92% of prepaid debit cards are subject to arbitration.

• 86% of the largest private student loan lenders include arbitration clauses in their contracts.

• 99% of payday loans in California and Texas include the restrictive clauses.

• 88% of wireless phone providers in the U.S., representing 99% of phones on the market, use arbitration.

• 75% of consumers don’t know whether their financial and credit accounts have arbitration clauses.

• Fewer than 7% of those with arbitration clauses understood that these few paragraphs of text take away their right to sue.

DIVIDE AND CONQUER

For those unfamiliar with arbitration it’s a process for resolving disputes outside of the legal system. Rather than have your case heard before a judge, a private arbitrator is responsible for the ultimate decision.

Even arbitration advocates have acknowledged that the process is often unbalanced in favor of the business that’s familiar with it.

Of greater concern for consumer advocates is the fact that most forced arbitration clauses include a ban on class actions, meaning that even if a substantial number of customers were harmed in exactly the same way, each of those customers would have to enter into arbitration on his/her own rather than joining together into a single complaint.

Because the rewards of an individual arbitration case are, at best, only a fraction of what they could be in a class action, it can be impossible to mount cases that require extensive research and resources.

In that way, some companies have been accused of using forced arbitration to get around federal laws; if the consumer can’t afford to prove her case, companies can keep on violating laws.

And according to the CFPB report, financial services companies rarely try to compel individual consumer complaints into arbitration, but when there is a potential for a class action involving multiple plaintiffs, it’s quite common to force the case into an arbitration process. The report found that when credit card companies faced class action claims, they turned to arbitration 65% of the time in order to prevent the joined complaints from being heard together.

SMALLER CASES, SMALLER REWARDS

In 2013, the Supreme Court gave credit card companies more of a reason to use arbitration clauses, with a divided SCOTUS ruling that these clauses could be used to preempt class-action lawsuits, even in cases where class actions are the only economically feasible way for the plaintiff to make its case.

The CFPB attempted to compare the awards for arbitration cases versus those able to pursue a claim in court. That’s not as easy as it sounds, given that many civil complaints end up being settled before trial and those settlements may not be part of the public record.

In 1,060 arbitration cases filed in 2010 and 2011, the total amount of damages awarded was less than $175,000 with another $190,000 in debt forbearance. During the same period of time, the few individual (i.e., non class-action) cases that were actually decided by a judge totaled around $1 million in awards.

Meanwhile, class actions are resulting in significantly larger awards than either arbitration or individual lawsuits. Over the five-year period studied by the CFPB, settlements in the Bureau’s relevant markets added up to $2.7 billion, covering a total of 160 million class members.

“Further, these figures do not include the potential value to consumers of class-action settlements requiring companies to change their behavior,” explains the Bureau.

SAVING MONEY FOR SOMEONE; BUT NOT YOU

One of the arguments used by proponents of arbitration is that it saves companies money by preempting expensive and lengthy class action litigation. But the CFPB’s analysis found no evidence that the existence of an arbitration clause had any impact on prices.

“Tens of millions of consumers are covered by arbitration clauses, but few know about them or understand their impact,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray in a statement. “Our study found that these arbitration clauses restrict consumer relief in disputes with financial companies by limiting class actions that provide millions of dollars in redress each year. Now that our study has been completed, we will consider what next steps are appropriate.”

Three people were hurt when a staircase collapsed, sending them plummeting into a 10 foot hole.

The incident happened around 6:45 p.m., outside a home on the 900 block of N. Madison Street, in the Dominion Hills neighborhood.

Three people — two adults and one child — suffered non-life-threatening injuries when the concrete staircase in front of the home collapsed under their feet and they fell into the hole. The Arlington County Fire Department technical rescue team extricated the victims and the two adults were transported to a local hospital.

Fox 5 has additional photos of the incident. The station reported that the victims were carrying groceries at the time of the collapse.

The post Three People Fall into Hole Under Collapsed Stairwell appeared first on WTOP.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union is siding with the Washington Redskins in a court battle over the team’s name.

The ACLU filed papers last week supporting the team’s position that canceling the Redskins trademark violates the team’s free-speech rights.

A federal panel ruled last year the trademark should be canceled, but the team is challenging that decision in federal court in Alexandria.

In its brief, the ACLU says it has joined others in calling on the Redskins to change their name because it is offensive. But they say the government cannot cancel the trademark simply because it finds the name disparaging.

On Monday, lawyers for the Native Americans who challenged the trademark said the ACLU should not be allowed to intervene in the case.

The post ACLU sides with Redskins, says trademark should be permitted appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON — NBC4 Washington and 103.5 FM WTOP are joining forces to create a powerful local news partnership for Washington-area viewers, radio listeners, and social media users. The partnership, which begins on March 25, combines the resources of two powerhouse news organizations and their award-winning journalists, in-depth content, and cutting-edge platforms.

The multi-platform initiative will provide comprehensive coverage of news, weather and traffic on television, on the radio, and on digital and mobile devices. In addition, NBC4 and WTOP will team up to cover breaking news in a collaborative way that is unprecedented in the Washington region.

NBC4’s Storm Team 4 meteorologists will provide forecasts every ten minutes on the eights on WTOP, which will also be featured on WTOP.com and on WTOP’s social properties. Reporters from both NBC4 and WTOP will be showcased on each other’s newscasts throughout the morning, daytime and night.

“The combined forces of two dynamic, cutting edge newsrooms working together on all platforms will be powerful,” said Jackie Bradford, President and General Manager of NBC4. “This partnership will serve people throughout the Washington area well by delivering them the most up-to-date local news, information and weather.”

WTOP Senior Vice President and General Manager Joel Oxley adds, “The Washington region is the most educated and information-hungry market in America. WTOP and NBC4 are committed to serving the needs of our community with timely, accurate news from the most trusted teams of journalists in the nation’s capital.”

The post NBC4 and WTOP announce new partnership appeared first on WTOP.

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A former instructor at the Navy’s “Top Gun” school has been convicted of child pornography charges.

Daniel Chase Harris of Virginia Beach was convicted by a federal jury in Norfolk on Monday.

Harris was a lieutenant in the Navy who was stationed at Naval Air Station Oceana. Prosecutors said Harris posed online as a teenage boy and would convince girls between 12 and 17 to send risque pictures of themselves.

Prosecutors say he then extorted the girls to send him more explicit images of themselves or he would post the images online or send them to family or friends. Prosecutors said there were nine victims in the case.

Harris faces a maximum penalty of life in prison when he’s sentenced in July.

The post Former ‘Top Gun’ instructor convicted of child pornography appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON — The record cold temperatures and seemingly omnipresent snow in the Washington, D.C. area caused plenty of misery, but also had an upside — minuscule tree pollen levels.

Now, with warming temperatures, is a “pollen vortex” likely?

“We have been so below average,” says Susan Kosisky, chief microbiologist for the U.S. Army Centralized Allergen Extract Lab, in Silver Spring. “Usually by this time we’ve seen some of our birches, our alder pollen, which is part of the birch family, maples, elms, and the cedar/cypress/juniper family.”

During frigid February, pollen was tough to come by, with a daily average under 1 grain per cubic meter of air, says Kosisky.

And the cold hasn’t let go until recently.

“For March, the daily average from 1998 to this year, we should be about 114 grains per cubic meter for pollen, and we were at 1-point-3 grains per cubic meter,” says Kosisky.

So, will the warmer weather cause an unusually high spike in tree pollen levels?

“As soon as it warms up, I expect the trees that have been much delayed or repressed, due to the cold and the snow, are going to start flowering,” says Kosisky. “We’ll probably see some of those elms, and maples, and birches, the cedar/cypress/juniper family members that we should have already seen by now, start to pollinate.”

Kosisky says last year’s very cold weather prompted some to be concerned about super-high counts — a so-called “pollen vortex.”

“And what we saw last year was really a very average year,” says Kosisky. “The counts were late, but they were pretty much average with respect to our peaks — in other words, we didn’t see that super-high count that I think a lot of folks were expecting.”

The Army began sampling pollen and mold spore aeroallergens in the 1980s, at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. In the late 80s, the lab was certified as a sampling center under the National Allergy Bureau, which is a section of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

In addition to its daily pollen count, the lab keeps nearly 300 allergen extracts in stock to create allergen immunizations for servicemembers around the world.

Kosisky says pollen counts are very weather-dependent, and trees react differently to weather factors, which makes it difficult to foresee whether the cold and snowy winter will mean a miserable spring and summer for allergy sufferers.

“It’s so hard to predict,” says Kosisky. “Last year we thought we would have this ‘pollen vortex’, but it didn’t pan out that way, so it might be an average year.”

The post After cold and snow, is ‘pollen vortex’ coming? appeared first on WTOP.

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Counterfeit currency operates on the “hot potato” principle. Like the children’s game, the last person caught with the object loses. Once you accept counterfeit cash–even if it’s from a financial institution–it’s yours. This made for a very disappointing birthday gift for a 14-year-old from his grandmother.

This whole mess was shared in the Albany Times Union this week. The grandmother withdrew $300 in $100 bills from her Citizens Bank branch for her grandson. She says that she sealed the cash in the envelope with his card before even leaving the bank branch. When he received this generous gift, he took it to his own credit union, SEFCU, to deposit it. That’s when he got the terrible news: his grandma was passing around funny money. Two of the three bills were fake, and the credit union confiscated them and called the Secret Service.

While this was probably all very exciting for the teen (Dude! Secret Service agents!) it was a bad experience for his grandmother. Not because the local agents treated her badly, but because her bank wouldn’t take responsibility for giving her fake cash. She’s been with Citizens Bank for 50 years, and she expected to be treated better than a random person who had cashed a check and received fake bills. Doesn’t a decades-long relationship count for something?

The bank, for its part, told columnist Chris Churchill in a statement that it has its own procedures to screen money for counterfeits before handing it out to customers. “We are not able to reimburse customers for currency that is suspected of being counterfeit without being able to inspect the bill in question ourselves,” a spokesperson explained. That makes sense. Don’t they have the Secret Service’s phone number handy, though?

Chris Churchill: Bank passes the buck on counterfeit bills [Times Union]

In this month’s Recall Roundup for non-edible items, fans and chandeliers might plummet from the ceiling, handlebars on kids’ bikes and amphibious vehicles for grown-ups fall apart, and cocktail glasses shatter for no reason. Also, there are 40,000 portable heaters out there that could spray hot oil on their owners at any time.

Babies & Kids
KTM Children’s Pajamas – Do not meet flammability standards.
Lazy One Children’s Pajamas and Robes – Do not meet flammability standard.
Dream on Me 2-in-1 Bassinet to Cradle – Frame supports can collapse, posing a suffocation hazard.
Mima Moon 3-In-1 High Chairs – Seat may come loose. No reported baby injuries.
PouchPop Baby Food Pouch Topper – Tube may come unattached from base, posing a choking hazard. There have been four reports of this happening, but no injuries.

Toys
LS Import Airplane and Butterfly Push Toys – Parts that fall off toys may pose a choking hazard. No reported injuries.
Tough Treadz Auto Carrier (Family Dollar) – Cars in auto carrier have sharp edges that may cut children.

Tools
Cosco Convertible Hand Trucks – Wheels may break and hurl pieces at people standing nearby. There have been 10 reports of this happening, and 4 reported injuries.
ZETA by Jackco Pocket Jump Starter – Battery may overheat and split apart and melt. 487 reported battery problems and two fires that caused property damage reported.
Kidde Disposable Plastic Fire Extinguishers – Devices fail to discharge fully. There have been 11 reported incidents.

Furniture
Brewmaster Ceiling Fans – Fans may become detached and fall. Two incidents reported, but no injuries.

Kitchen
Tommy Bahama Hula Girl Cocktail Shaker and Glass Sets – Glass may unexpectedly shatter. Five incidents reported, including one injury that required stitches.

Appliances
Dirt Devil Scorpion Turbo Tool – Fan may break and come out of the housing. Six units have had this problem.
Kenmore 24-inch electric ranges – Cooking surface and electric output may not meet correctly, causing an electric shock. No incidents reported.
Safe Step Walk-In Tubs – Heated seat may get stuck switched “on” and overheat.
i4 Series System Sensor combination carbon monoxide (CO)/smoke detectors – May not detect carbon monoxide, which is sort of the point.
Holmes Oil Filled Heaters – May spray hot oil on people and objects nearby. There have been 40 oil-spraying incidents reported, but no injuries.
Lifepro Portable Mini Space Heaters – Risk of electric shock. No reported incidents.

Decor
Aquarium Motion Lamps (Bits & Pieces) – May overheat, fire hazard. There have been eleven lamps reported overheating, and some sparking, but no fires.
Hayneedle Fiber Optic Lighted Christmas Trees – Motor that makes colors rotate can overheat. 20 incidents reported, but no fires.
Sea Gull Lighting Chandeliers – The part that attaches the chandelier to the ceiling mount can fail, causing the whole fixture to fall. No people have been injured, but there have been four reports of falling chandeliers causing $1,600 in property damage.

Vehicles
Quadski and Quadski XL Amphibious Vehicles – Handlebar may fail while driving. This happened three times during testing, injuring one of the testers.

Sports & Outdoors
Rapala StrikeMaster Lithium Lazer Ice Augers – Off switch may fail to work, when drills really should turn off. No reported injuries.
Flow 2014 Flite-series snowboard bindings – Bindings may come un-bound. 30 reported incidents, but no injuries to date.
2015 Scott Vanish Evo Bicycle Helmets – Do not meet CPSC standards for bicycle helmets.
Zipp 88 aluminum hubs for bicycle wheels – Flange ring may fail, causing wheel collapse. Two incidents, which resulted in cuts, bruises, and a concussion.
Marin Mountain Bikes Children’s Bicycles – Handlebars may come loose. No reported injuries.

We’re big fans of the Transportation Safety Administration’s hashtag-happy Instagram account, since we enjoy gawking at weaponry that people have tried to sneak on planes, from ammo-filled Bibles to throwing stars. Yet the TSA protected one traveler from a horrifying discovery at the end of her trip: her dog had stowed away in her suitcase, and she didn’t even know it.

My late dog would pull things out of my suitcase after I packed them, but this pup had a different plan to disrupt its owner’s travel. “While resolving a checked baggage alarm, an officer was shocked when he found a dog in the bag!” the TSA explains. It’s good to hear that a bag full of canine would set off some kind of alarm, since the dog could have suffocated inside the hard plastic suitcase. They tracked down the stowaway’s owner and reunited them. The TSA did not specify whether the traveler had to disrupt her plans to bring the dog home, or went along with its wishes and brought it along on the trip.

Ay, Chihuahua [Instagram]

Does the idea of a hard day at work cutting up cattle carcasses appeal to you? If not, you’re not alone: Despite the growing trend toward eating more local beef, there simply aren’t enough people going into the profession of butchering to meet the increased demand.

The Associated Press spoke to one butcher who’s been in the meat-processing business for 38 years slaughtering cattle, who says he can see why few people want to get into the profession these days.

“It’s killing cows. It’s blood and guts,” he explains. He runs a small company with his wife in Iowa, and his three kids don’t want to follow in his footsteps.

Across the country, thousands of butchers are getting closer to retirement, without enough younger butchers with small companies willing to take on the task. In Iowa, for example, there were 450 small meat processors. Now, there are 140 or fewer.

This means small farmers who are already trucking their cattle 50 or 100 miles to get the meat processed by butchering businesses have to pass those increased transportation costs onto retailers and then, consumers.

But as butchers age out of the profession, those farmers will have to look elsewhere to get their beef to stay “local.” As it stands right now, those small meat processors are overwhelmed with business, and can’t find enough workers to keep up.

“We’re booked like four to five months in advance,” said the owner of a butchering shop in Ohio. And “finding anyone to help to work is harder and harder.”

To be sure, there are some new shops opening up as the demand for specialty meat grows, but it’s not easy or cheap to do so, Lauren Gwin, a professor at Oregon State University who coordinates the Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network told the AP.

“It’s a complex business,” said Gwin, whose group’s goal is to overcome the issues facing the industry. “You have to know a lot of things to run a business like this.”

More want local beef, but fewer want tough job of cutting it [Associated Press]

Guests and staff at a luxury hotel in Stockholm found themselves at the whim of one erratic badger, whose aggressive stance kept anyone from either entering or leaving the place for some time this morning. Want to pick up your bags or go through those revolving doors? Nope. Much like his honey-loving cousin, hotel badger does not care what you want.

“A crazy or stressed-out badger is preventing the staff and clients at a major hotel from leaving their cars, and from picking up their bags,” the Stockholm police website said, via The Local.

Things got serious at the Radisson Blu around five a.m., when the badger decided no one was doing anything whatsoever involving those front doors on his watch, which lasted for 40 minutes until police decided to get involved.

“The stressed animal was refusing to leave the place. So the police called in the local wildlife services to settle the problem,” the police statement said.

By the time wildlife services arrived, however, the badger had somehow calmed itself down enough to leave the premises before it could be caught.

Badger puts Stockholm hotel in lockdown [The Local]

Anyone who’s ever had to clean up after an egging attack knows it’s no fun to wipe up a goopy mess of yolks, whites and cracked shells adorning your home or car. But one Cleveland house has had more than the usual isolated egging, as the target of about 100 incidents in the last year in a mysterious spate of attacks that have police stymied.

An 85-year-old man’s Cleveland-area home has suffered some bad damage, after a spate of egging attacks that started in March 2014 have continued on for a year, reports Cleveland.com. No one can figure out who is behind the attacks, which sometimes happen more than once a day.

“The accuracy is phenomenal,” the homeowner, who lives with his two adult children in Euclid, says. “Because almost every time when it’s nice weather and they launch five or six of these at a time, they almost invariably hit the front door.”

Several times a week, someone pelts the two-story home with eggs, always after dark, and usually in attacks that last about 10 minutes each time.

Police and the man think the eggs are being launched from a block or two away, meaning this is no quick drive-by from kids in a car. Though other homes nearby have been hit as a result, it doesn’t appear any neighbors have been targeted.

“Somebody is deeply, deeply angry at somebody in that household for some reason,” a Euclid police lieutenant says. His department has spent a year working on the case — even staking it out undercover, canvassing the neighborhood and sending the eggshells for testing. Investigators have also installed a surveillance camera on the house. All to no avail, so far.

Last year while an officer was taking a report at the house, a slew of eggs hit the house, with one hitting him in the foot.

“The man hours put into that investigation were huge and one of the reasons it’s so frustrating that we don’t have somebody right now that we can criminally charge,” the police lieutenant says. The culprit or culprits will ultimately face charges of felony vandalism and criminal damaging.

For now, the house’s siding on the front of the home is destroyed, crusted with dried egg residue that’s stripping off the paint. But while the homeowner used to clean up after each egging, it’s happening so often that he just can’t keep up. He’s going to wait to repair things if the eggings ever stop, because he says his insurance company is refusing to settle a claim until the guilty party is found.

Despite their frustrations over pouring hundreds of man hours into the case, police say they’re not giving up, bumping up the reward for information from $500 to $1,000.

“We’re not going to let it go,” the police rep says. “We’ll continue to put effort into it until we figure something out.”

More than 100 stealth egg attacks baffle one Euclid homeowner and police [Cleveland.com]

Is it every kid’s dream to go flying through the air, light as a bird, only to land safely on a soft surface? Perhaps. But that doesn’t mean that all of those inflatable bounce houses, castles, slides and other amusements are necessarily safe for children, and a federal agency is pointing to a rise in injuries on such attractions to make sure parents are aware of the risks.

In a new report from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the group says data from 2003 to 2013 shows there were an estimated 100,000 injuries related to the air-filled structures during that time, the kind with flexible fabric that stay inflated through continuous air flow from at least one blower.

The injuries kept climbing through that time period, from about 5,000 in 2003 to more than 17,000 in 2013, the CPSC’s report says.

“Parents and caregivers need to be aware that there can be serious incidents in backyard and community events with inflatables,” Patty Davis, a spokeswoman for the CPSC told USA Today. As the numbers go higher, the trend should be seen as a “wake up call for parents,” she added.

The kids getting injured the most are those between 4 and 15 (a rather large range) at 61% of the overall injuries from 2011 to 2013.

Adults aren’t totally safe, either — there were 12 deaths from 2003 to 2013 and half of those fatalities were adults.

While the CPSC continues to work on ways to “beef up” safety standards for these kinds of inflatables, the CPSC just wants parents to know what they’re dealing with. Some tips:

• Children should always be supervised, first and foremost.

• Follow manufacturer’s instructions for set-up carefully.

• Make sure it’s properly staked and anchored.

• If it’s super windy outside, don’t use ’em — maximum wind speed should be 15 to 25pmh.

• Keep kids away from gas generators and air pumps.

• Young children shouldn’t be inside the inflatable moon bounces with older kids.

• If it’s a public event, ask the company running the ride if they are licensed and experienced.

Moon bounce injuries on the rise, report finds [USA Today]

If you see a product tagged with a “sustainability leaders” badge on the Walmart website, you might think this is an indication that this item is more environmentally friendly than others. And you might be correct; but you might also be mistaken. Because the truth is that this badge has virtually nothing to do with the product being advertised.

In a piece for Grist.org, co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance Stacy Mitchell cites the example of this 150′ roll of bubble wrap that is tagged with the sustainability badge.

Given the availability of more sustainable and eco-friendly packaging options, it seems odd that this particular product, which doesn’t appear to be substantially different from other bubble wraps, would be singled out for this label.

But the key to that answer lies in the full wording of the badge: “made by Sustainability Leaders.” (That’s not a typo. The actual design of the badge has “made by” in lower case.) It’s not about the product, but about the company that makes the product.

And though there’s no indication on the product page of what the badge means, clicking on the “Global Responsibility” link at the bottom of the page, and then clicking on “Environmental Sustainability” and then clicking “Sustainability Leaders” will lead you to this page, where you will eventually get to this disclaimer:

“The Sustainability Leaders badge does not make representations about the environmental or social impact of an individual product, only that the manufacturer has scored well enough to earn a badge across all of the products they make in that category. For example, a television identified with a Sustainability Leaders badge indicates that the manufacturer has been identified as a Sustainability Leader among its peers in the television category for its sustainability management practices.”

So this doesn’t even mean that this unnamed TV manufacturer is making sustainable products. Just that it’s “sustainable practices” are among the best in the category of TV makers.

Companies earn the badge — which can be placed on all of their products — by periodically responding to a survey of questions regarding their practices. But the actual questions are not a matter of public record, so it’s impossible to say what factors are being considered to determine a manufacturer’s relative sustainability.

Walmart also doesn’t reveal the survey scores, so consumers don’t know whether that TV manufacturer is indeed running a sustainable business or is just the least environmentally unfriendly among its particular peer group.

There’s nothing wrong with cheerleading companies with sustainable business practices, but we question the decision to place these badges on all products from these companies without a clear disclosure that the particular item may not be any more sustainable than products from competitors, especially given the lack of transparency in the process for earning these badges.

Manassas man charged with animal cruelty after dog photo goes viral Inside NoVA A Manassas man was charged after a photo of him dragging his dogs, with weights tied around the dog's legs, was spread on social media. Posted: Thursday, March 5, 2015 8:30 pm | Updated: 8:31 pm, Thu Mar 5, 2015. Manassas man charged with animal ... Manassas police charge Fabian Santiago with animal crueltyPotomacLocal.com all 2 news articles »

Only days after a 60 Minutes report on the allegedly high formaldehyde levels in wood products sold by Lumber Liquidators, consumers have filed a potential class action against the company in federal court.

The complaint [PDF], filed today in a U.S. District Court in California, alleges that Lumber Liquidators violated federal and state laws by selling Chinese-manufactured laminated wood products containing formaldehyde at “levels known to pose serious health risks” and in excess of California limits.

The plaintiffs, a family from Santa Clarita, CA, who purchased flooring from Lumber Liquidators, acknowledge that formaldehyde can be safely used in the manufacture of laminated wood flooring, but only if used sparingly so that the chemical dissipates quickly.

But if an excess of formaldehyde is used, it can remain in the laminated wood and gradually be emitted over time. Prolonged, continued exposure to formaldehyde has been linked to numerous health problems ranging from nausea to increased cancer risk.

As shown in the 60 Minutes story, testing on the laminated wood Lumber Liquidated sourced from suppliers in China allegedly contained more formaldehyde than its domestically sourced laminates and similar products sold by competitors.

“Despite this discrepancy, Lumber Liquidators did not differentiate between its domestically manufactured floor laminates and those made in China,” reads the complaint, which points out that the company’s Chinese wood products were even labeled to indicate that they complied with the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB’s) strict formaldehyde emission standards.

“Lumber Liquidators has made false and misleading statements that its flooring products comply with CARB formaldehyde standards, and the even more stringent European formaldehyde standards,” continues the complaint. “Lumber Liquidators’ website falsely states, ‘we not only comply with laws-we exceed them.'”

The plaintiffs, who claim the Lumber Liquidators wood they purchased was falsely labeled as CARB compliant, are seeking to represent all California customers of the store who also purchased the Chinese-made laminated wood.

The suit alleges violation of the federal Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act, claiming the company “breached their warranties by manufacturing, selling and/or distributing flooring products with levels of formaldehyde that exceed the CARB standards, or by making affirmative representations regarding CARB compliance without knowledge of its truth.”

Lumber Liquidators is also accused of the California Business and Professions Code’s prohibitions against “unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business act or practice,” false advertising. Additionally, the plaintiffs allege that misrepresenting the CARB certification of the wood violates the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act.

The plaintiffs seek an injunction against Lumber Liquidators preventing them from selling wood that violates CARB standards, restitution for the expense of purchasing and installing the flooring in question, and unspecified damages.

In response to last weekend’s story, Lumber Liquidators issued a defense on its Facebook page, describing the company as “a leader in safety.”

“We comply with applicable regulations regarding our products, including California standards for formaldehyde emissions for composite wood products – the most stringent rules in the country — and take our commitment to safety even further by employing compliance personnel around the world and utilizing the latest in cutting-edge technology to provide our customers with top quality and high value flooring,” reads the statement, which claims that the news reports are being fueled by “a small group of short-selling investors who are working together for the sole purpose of making money by lowering our stock price.”

The company maintains that random third-party testing of its products shows the laminated wood to be “fully safe and compliant with California standards.”

“While we were unable to witness 60 Minutes’ testing methods and have still yet to see a test using validated methods that has come back as anything but completely safe, out of an abundance of caution, we are now reviewing our processes at these three mills,” concludes the statement. “We stand by every single plank of wood and laminate we sell all around the country and will continue to deliver the best product at the best price to our growing base of valued customers.”

A flexible spending account is a handy tool that lets you put aside pre-tax money for medical expenses that aren’t covered by insurance. It lowers your income tax bill and means that you have money set aside for dental care and contact lenses. The problem with FSAs is that money in the account disappears at the end of the year, which is not necessarily December 31. Starting in 2013, though, there has been a little-known exception to that.

You can’t carry over the entire balance from year to year, but you can carry over $500. That’s at least enough to keep you from rushing to get new glasses on December 28. A growing number of employers are switching over to the rollover model, even though employers get to keep any money in their employees’ FSAs at the end of the year. (Employers often contribute money to the accounts, so that isn’t as terrible an idea as it sounds like at first.)

One benefits administrator pointed out to Bloomberg that letting workers keep their FSA balances actually saves companies money, since using more money from the accounts cuts down on the employer’s portion of payroll taxes, too.

One Simple Thing Companies Could Do to Save Workers a Fortune in Taxes [Bloomberg]

Google officially jumped into the insurance business today with the launch of its car insurance comparison website in the United States.

The New York Times Bits Blog reports that Google introduced its car insurance shopping site Google Compare in California on Thursday.

The comparison site, which has already been operating in Britain, allows consumers to view the similarities and differences of national and local insurance providers.

“This represents the newest addition to a suite of Google Compare products designed to help people make confident, more informed financial decisions,” Google says in a statement.

According to Google, insurance shoppers can enter their information into the search engine, which then generates quotes for side-by-side comparison, much like travel sites do for hotels and flights.

So far, Google Compare, which will roll out to other states in coming months, has already signed up major insurers MetLife and Mercury Insurance and entered into partnerships with other comparison sites CoverHound and CompareNow.

Consumers can either purchase policies from the site online or by calling the insurance company directly. Google will receive a referral fee from the insurance company each time a policy is bought.

Google’s foray into the U.S. insurance market comes nearly a year after Walmart began offering a similar service.

Last April, the big box store teamed up with AutoInsurance.com to begin a comparison service that aims to help drivers buy and save on their auto insurance policies.

Google and Walmart just a few of the company that have delved into the insurance industry. The moves have resulted in considerable concern for U.S. insurance brokers, since the sites allow users to buy directly from insurers and eliminate the fees going to agents.

Google Introduces Long-Anticipated Insurance Shopping Site [New York Times Bits Blog]

Dunkin’ Donuts announced today that it’s planning to remove titanium dioxide, a whitening agent often used in toothpaste and sunscreen as well as other products, from all powdered sugar used on its doughnuts.

The move comes after pressure from an advocacy group that voiced concerns about nanoparticles, which are teeny tiny particles that can have different physical properties than their larger, macro counterparts.

The Food and Drug Administration says it “does not categorically judge all products containing nanomaterials or otherwise involving the application of nanotechnology as intrinsically benign or harmful.”

But critics have said not enough is known about the potential for health issues that could result from ingesting nanomaterials: A nonprofit group called As You Sow lobbies companies on environmental and social-responsibility issues, and had pressured Dunkin’ to remove titanium dioxide from its powdered sugar, dubbing the additive a nanoparticle.

While Dunkin’ has agreed to pull the ingredient, it disagrees with the group’s characterization of titanium dioxide as a nanoparticle.

“The ingredient used in our powdered donuts does not meet the definition of ‘nanoparticle’ as outlined under FDA guidance,”a Dunkin’ Brands spokeswoman said in a statement via CNBC. “Nevertheless, we began testing alternative formulations for this product in 2014 and we are in the process of rolling out a solution to the system that does not contain titanium dioxide.”

As You Sow says it will now withdraw a shareholder proposal that urged Dunkin’ to assess its use of nanomaterials on concerns that the particles are toxic when ingested.

Dunkin’ Donuts to remove nanomaterials from powdered doughnuts [MarketWatch]
Dunkin’ to ditch powdered sugar additive: Report [CNBC]

If you’ve always thought that shoe stores would be improved by replacing salespeople with drones, well, you’re going to have to wait a while before you can experience your dream. The technology apparently isn’t quite here yet. As a promotion for a new shoe line, Crocs has a store in Tokyo where customers tap on a pair of shoes on an iPad, and a green Crocs-branded drone fetches the item and brings it to them.

This sounds pretty cool, but reports from the press event are that it doesn’t work 100% of the time. The drone has to hook a clip that holds the shoes in pairs with a dangling magnet, and sometimes it fails to grab the shoes. Also, there’s the important flaw that the store space is just a shoe-fetching promotion: Engadget points out that shoppers have to actually buy the slip-on sneakers somewhere else.

While the FAA is still not keen on deliveries using unmanned aircraft, maybe shuttling items within a store or within a building is a fun and even useful application for drones. Just keep it away from reporters’ faces.

Here’s a video of one of the test runs last week:

Here’s a longer demonstration that’s more realistic:

Flying Norlin Project [Crocs] (via Engadget)

The marketer of popular “as-seen-on-TV” products such as Snuggies, Magic Mesh door covers and Perfect Brownie Pans must pay $8 million to resolve federal and state charges it deceived consumers with promises of buy-one-get-one-free promotions and then charged exorbitant fees for processing and handling, nearly doubling the cost of the products.

The Federal Trade Commission announced Thursday that Allstar Marketing Group, LLC, agreed to pay $7.5 million to the agency for restitution to consumers and $500,000 to the New York Attorney General’s Office for allegedly deceiving consumers about the cost of its products marketed through commercials.

According to the FTC complaint [PDF], since at least 1999, New York-based Allstar deceived consumers by failing to disclose additional fees associated with its frequent buy-one-get-one-free offers used to sell products such as Cat’s Meow, Roto Punch, Perfect Tortilla, Forever Comfy.

The FTC cites a recent commercial for the Magic Mesh door cover in which the narrator claims the company will “double the offer, just pay separate processing and handling fees.” The commercial goes on to describe the purchase as “two Magic Mesh curtains for $19,95, that’s less than $10 each.”

However, the FTC complaint alleges that the narrator never discloses that Allstar charges $7.95 in “processing and handling” fees for each Magic Mesh purchased.

Additionally, it is never disclosed that consumers can not decline the second free Magic Mesh curtain, meaning that the minimum processing and handling fee charged is actually $15.90, according to the complaint.

When the purchase is calculated after the fees are added, the price of the product jumps to $35.85, nearly double the advertised price.

In addition to deceptive commercials, the FTC claims that Allstar further deceived consumers when they initiated a purchase either by phone or online.

Consumers who called Allstar were often immediately instructed to enter their personal and billing information and subsequently charged for at least one set of products, before they were able to indicate how many products they wanted.

The FTC says that because the company’s sales pitch was often confusing, many consumers purchased more sets of the product than they actually wanted.

Once the initial sale was recorded, Allstar then attempted to upsell additional goods or services.

“As with Defendant’s main offer, the ordering process for the various upsell offers is deceptive and misleading, and the total cost associated with the upsells is not disclosed during the telephone call,” the complaint states.

For example, when ordering the Magic Mesh, consumers are promoted to use a keypad or say the number of “additional buy-one-get-one-free” sets, however, the cost of these products are never disclosed. There is no way for consumers to bypass this part of the ordering process, the FTC states.

In many instances, after the consumer completes the initial upsell portion of the call, they are transferred to a third-party for additional offers not related to Allstar’s products, which include discount shopping clubs and “free” Bahamas cruise.

According to the FTC complaint, at no point during the ordering process are consumers made aware of how many products they ordered or the total cost of their purchase. The company does not give consumers ordering over the phone a chance to confirm or edit their purchases.

“Defendant charges every consumer who enters billing information, even if those consumers abort the telephone call without completing their order,” the complaint states. “Consumers have complained that Defendant has charged them even after consumers have interrupted the telephone call by hanging up. These consumers never intended to complete a sale and would have had no way of canceling the transaction even if they had understood that Defendant was going to charge them.”

Consumers who made purchases online faced similarly deceptive and misleading processes.

When making a purchase of the Forever Comfy cushion online, consumers see a home page touting a “limited time web only special,” that includes a “free bonus (just pay separate processing and handling)” second cushion, and a “mystery gift,” all “for only $19.95 + P&H.”

The company only discloses the additional fees in fine print near the bottom of the ordering page.

“Defendant charges every consumer who enters billing information, even if those consumers abort the telephone call without completing their order,” the website fine print states. “Consumers have complained that Defendant has charged them even after consumers have interrupted the telephone call by hanging up. These consumers never intended to complete a sale and would have had no way of canceling the transaction even if they had understood that Defendant was going to charge them.”

As with the telephone orders, once consumers indicate the number of products they want to order and input their payment information, they are directed to a series of upsell offers.

“Defendant does not adequately disclose that consumers already have placed an order for the main offer by submitting their billing information,” the complaint states. “The only indication that consumers already have placed an order is a message near the top of the page, amongst larger font, that reads: ‘Because you ordered today, you also qualify for this special offer.'”

The FTC says that many consumers either do not see the alert or do not understand that it means they have already placed an order by submitting their billing information on the previous page.

As a result, many consumers once again select the number of “sets” they would like to purchase as part of the main offer, which results in Allstar at least doubling consumers’ orders.

Unlike the telephone orders, consumers do see a subtotal of their purchase online, however, they are unable to make any edits or cancel the transaction.

“Further, Defendant effectively discourages consumers from calling to change or cancel their orders by advising them that Defendant’s customer service will not have information on their order for twenty-four to forty-eight hours,” the FTC complaint states. “Some consumers have waited twenty-fours before calling Defendant’s customer service number to complain about an unauthorized order, only to be told that their order already has shipped.”

The FTC says that even if consumers were able to cancel their transaction, Allstar makes it nearly impossible to receive a full refund for products.

Although the company touts a “30-day money-back guarantee (less p&h), consumers have reported the company refused to issue refunds and directed consumer to return the unwanted products at their own expense.

According to the complaint, the FTC charges Allstar with two violations of the FTC Act, which prohibits unfair and deceptive acts or practice in or affecting commerce, and three violations of the Telemarketing Sales Rule, which prohibits abusive and deceptive telemarketing acts or practices.

Violations include:
• Billing consumers without their express informed consent;
• Failing to make adequate disclosures about the total number and cost of products before billing consumers;
• In connection with the up-selling of goods and services, violating the TSR by failing to disclose material information about the total cost of the products and that the purpose of the call is to sell goods or services ;
• During telemarketing, illegally billing consumers without first getting their consent.

In addition to providing $7.5 million for consumer refunds, the proposed settlement prohibits Allstar from failing to obtain consumers’ written consent before billing them for any product or service.

The company must also clearly and conspicuously disclose – before billing consumers – the total number of products they have ordered, all related fees and costs, and material conditions related to the products purchased.

In a separate, but related consent order, the New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced today that Allstar must pay $500,000 to the office for penalties, costs, and fees to settle charges of misleading and deceiving consumers.

“This agreement returns money to thousands of consumers in New York and across the nation who believed they were buying items at the price advertised on television, but ended up with extra merchandise and hidden fees they didn’t bargain for,” Attorney General Schneiderman said in a statement. “The settlement also brings much needed reforms to a major firm in the direct marketing industry. Those who use small print and hidden fees to inflate charges to unwitting consumers must be held accountable.”

Consumers who believe they may be entitled to a refund should notify the Attorney General’s office. Consumers can file a complaint online or obtain a complaint form at http://www.ag.ny.gov.

We’ve contacted reps for Allstar regarding this proposed settlement and will update the story if we hear anything back from the company.

Direct Marketer Agrees to Pay $8 Million for Deceiving Consumers [The Federal Trade Commission]
A.G. Schneiderman Announces $8 Million Agreement With Direct Marketer For Deceptive Practices That Resulted In Hidden Charges To Consumers Ordering Products Marketed On TV [NY Attorney General’s Office]

On the one hand, there is absolutely nothing wrong with a table for one for Valentine’s Day, or any day. On the other hand, restaurants want to fit as many patrons as they can on busy nights like Feb. 14. So is it wrong to boost a patron when the other half of her reservation can’t make it?

A Portland-area woman believes it is, reports KGW.com, and is suing a local eatery claiming staff told her to leave when her husband didn’t come to dinner with her on Valentine’s Day.

She says she and her husband had a reservation on the night of Feb. 14 at a local Italian restaurant, that was serving a five-course meal as a special holiday menu. But after eating a big lunch, the husband backed out. She decided to go have dinner by herself anyway.

In her lawsuit, she says that she started feeling uncomfortable as soon as she arrived. She claims she was seated after others coming in after her, and found it strange. She also says in the court documents that when was finally seated and told a waitress she was ready to order, she was instead asked to leave and give up her table.

But there are two sides to every story, and the owner of the restaurant tells it a bit differently to KGW, based in his staff’s accounts of how things went done.

According to the restaurant’s version, when the woman arrived alone, she didn’t tell staff that the other member of her party wouldn’t be coming. They assumed that meant her date was still on the way, so they gave her a glass of wine for her wait.

The owner says that when the place is serving special menus, the staff won’t usually seat patrons until everyone shows up, and that the tables are reserved for parties of at least two so the restaurant can sell every seat in the house.

When her date didn’t show up, she was finally seated at a table and given a second glass of wine. That’s when the waitress asked if her other person was going to be joining her, and she said that he wasn’t coming.

“At that time, because of that day – Valentine’s Day – the waitress said, ‘Sorry, you cannot take a table by yourself, you can either sit at the bar or outside,’ ” the owner says.

In her lawsuit, the customer says she didn’t feel like eating anymore.

“I was so hurt. I’ve never experienced this before here in Portland and I was crushed,” she said. “I even gave them away [sic] out by saying I will do take out and they told me they don’t do take out.”

To that point, the restaurant owner says that while takeout is usually allowed, it wasn’t available that night because of the five-course special. He claims that before a server could explain, the woman had left.

She’s now seeking $100,00 in damages and a public apology, “to make sure all business owners in N.E. Alberta know we are serious about our community,” according to the court documents.

The owner says he won’t accept those demands, but that he’d like to talk to the woman, who is welcome back at the restaurant.

“‘I am so sorry. It was in no way intentional. Please let me make up for it.’ That is what I would say if I could talk to her,” he told KGW.

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Woman sues Portland restaurant, demands public apology [KGW.com]

When I first the nest to live among strangers in a strange land/another state, I was surprised to hear people talking about eating “Samoas” and “Tagalongs” during Girl Scout cookie season. Once I realized they meant “Caramel deLites” and “Peanut Butter Patties,” I figured these weirdos just used different names for the same cookies. But the thing is — they aren’t the same cookies.

Though there are some of you who may already know that there are two different bakeries churning out Girl Scout cookies every year, many who have long found themselves on one side of the divide or the other will perhaps be interested to know that it’s not just a regional naming convention thing — each Girl Scout region chooses which bakery it wants to provide its cookies.

There’s ABC Bakers, owned by Interbake and based in Richmond, VA, which has been baking for the Girl Scouts since 1937; and then there’s Little Brownie Bakers, owned by Kellogg Co. and headquartered in Louisville, KY, a licensed baker for the Girl Scouts since 1974.

Thin Mints are the only cookie that keep their name across the two bakeries, but they, along with the rest of the cookie line, vary in taste and texture — among other things — between the two bakeries.

The Los Angeles Times has a great interactive graphic covering all the different textures and names between the two bakeries (as well as cost, calories, total fat, sugar, protein). There’s also a color-coded map by region so you can see where a Peanut Butter Sandwich is a Do-si-do, or you can plug in a city and see which kind of cookies are happening there.

For example, in Milwaukee, where I grew up, Caramel deLites have a higher cookie-to-caramel ratio and milkier chocolate, and are a smidge cheaper and more sugary. Whereas the Samoas in Seattle have more caramel and a darker chocolate coating, cost a few cents more per cookie and are a bit fattier and higher in calories.

If you’re thinking what I’m thinking, this all calls for a side-by-side taste test sometime in the very near future.

6 Girl Scout cookies you thought you were getting but aren’t [Los Angeles Times]

WASHINGTON — A 17-year-old Northern Virginia high school student is charged with helping recruit for the Islamic State.

Federal officials say the teen successfully helped a man not much older than himself make his way to Syria to fight for ISIS, The Washington Post reports.

The Washington Post reports on Friday FBI agents raided the Woodbridge townhouse where the teen lives with his family.

The boy goes to Prince William County’s Osbourn Park High School.

For now the boy is charged as a juvenile, but federal prosecutors are looking to move the case to an adult court.

The post Authorities: Woodbridge teen helps ISIS recruit appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON —   Retail shortages of the popular ice melting compound “Ice Melt” have homeowners turning to a variety of alternatives. Not all are effective and some are caustic to lawns, plants and even concrete surfaces. But there are useful materials to spread on ice to keep both feet on the ground while winter grinds on.

“Not kitty litter,” warns WTOP Garden Editor Mike McGrath.   Although kitty litter has been used for years on icy walkways and driveways, McGrath says it’s ineffective.

“It makes a huge mess,” he says, sometimes lingering in the yard for months and he argues that it provides poor traction.

“I was absolutely astounded at how poor choice it was. All it did was kind of absorb and kind of blow up,” McGrath says.

So what works?

“Clay sand, the kind of sand you would buy to fill a child’s sandbox. It provides excellent traction on top of the ice,” McGrath says.

“Nothing is safer or better or cheaper than sand. You can’t even complain that it’s expensive,” he says.

Unable to buy Ice Melt, some consumers have resorted to water softening salt, dehumidifier salt, even pickling salt, according to Jeff Smith, co-owner of Twins Ace Hardware in Fairfax.

“These things are very destructive to plantings and surfaces,” McGrath says. So is rock salt.

“Rock salt is devastatingly injurious to lawn grasses, many species of trees and shrubs,” McGrath says.

Effective against ice and safe for lawns and plantings are calcium, magnesium and potassium chlorides.

And just like highway crews pre-treat roadways. It’s a good idea to pre-treat walkways and drives with ice melting compounds before a wintry mix, including sleet and freezing rain.

“Go out before the event begins and all you have to do is a very light sprinkling, about one fourth of what you would use if ice already formed,” McGrath says.

The post Cat litter not an alternative to ‘Ice Melt’ appeared first on WTOP.

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer has suspended running back Shai McKenzie following his arrest in a sex case.

An arrest warrant filed in Montgomery County juvenile court shows the 19-year-old McKenzie was charged Monday with having consensual sex with and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Virginia Tech football spokesman Bryan Johnston said Wednesday that McKenzie has been suspended indefinitely from team-related activities.

McKenzie was the Hokies’ third-leading rusher with 269 yards as a freshman. He tore his right ACL against Western Michigan and sat out the rest of the season.

Christiansburg police said in a statement that McKenzie was released from the Montgomery County Jail on $5,000 bond. Court documents didn’t show whether McKenzie had an attorney.

Another Virginia Tech student also was charged in the case.

The post Virginia Tech suspends RB McKenzie after arrest in sex case appeared first on WTOP.

Prince William County crime report Washington Post These were among incidents reported by Prince William County police. For information, call 703-792-7245. MANASSAS AREA. ASSAULTS. Hilltop Dr., 11900 block, 10:20 p.m. Feb. 23. During an argument at a residence, a man assaulted a female ... and more »