pileofcrapola

Two small endangered monkeys died because a caretaker “overlooked” them and left them out in the cold at a zoo in central Louisiana, officials said.

The cotton-top tamarins, which weigh less than a pound, were left out in the cold last week at the Alexandria Zoological Park, city officials said. A third monkey survived the exposure.

The monkeys are among the smallest new-world monkeys. They’re black and white, with a fan of white hair atop the head. They need temperatures of 76 to 85 degrees. The high last Wednesday in Alexandria was in the 50s while the overnight low was in the teens.

It’s not clear exactly how the monkeys were overlooked or whether they had an outdoor “nest box” with a heating unit. City spokeswoman Cynthia Jardon wrote in an email Tuesday that she couldn’t provide details because of an ongoing investigation. The caretaker resigned Monday, she said.

The monkeys are critically endangered, with about 1,800 in captivity and about 6,000 in a small area of northwest Colombia, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Public Works Director David Gill said in a news release “this appears to have happened as a result of human error and not a system problem.”

Federal inspectors did not find any violations during the zoo’s 2012 or 2011 inspections, the latest available in an online database. Rob Vernon, spokesman for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, said the zoo is fully accredited.

Vernon said zoos are not required to report animal deaths immediately to either the USDA or the zoo association. He did not know whether the tamarins’ deaths had been reported to AZA.

“They do often notify us right away when an animal dies. Then we oftentimes will ask for a report if something seems unusual,” he said.

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Online:

Zoo: www.thealexandriazoo.com/

Cotton-topped tamarin care: http://www.csew.com/cottontop/enhusbandry/ench5.htm

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Two Albuquerque police officers were charged with murder Monday in the shooting death of a knife-wielding homeless man that led to violent protests and brought new scrutiny to the police department amid a federal investigation.

The decision to bring murder charges occurred at a time when police tactics are under intense review nationwide, fueled by the fatal shooting of an unarmed 18-year-old in Ferguson, Missouri, and the chokehold death of another unarmed man in New York City. Grand juries declined to charge officers in those cases, leading to large protests.

Acknowledging the frustration over the secrecy of the proceedings in those cases, the Albuquerque district attorney said she would bypass the grand jury process and instead present the murder case to a judge at a preliminary hearing that will be open to the public.

“Unlike Ferguson and unlike in New York City, we’re going to know. The public is going to have that information,” District Attorney Kari Brandenburg said.

Police said SWAT team member Dominique Perez and former detective Keith Sandy fatally shot James Boyd, a mentally ill homeless man who had frequent violent run-ins with law enforcement. Video from an officer’s helmet camera showed Boyd appearing to surrender when officers opened fire, but a defense lawyer characterized him as an unstable suspect who was “unpredictably and dangerously close to a defenseless officer while he was wielding two knives.”

“I’m looking forward … to the DA’s office presenting one single witness that says this is murder,” said Sam Bregman, a lawyer for Sandy.

The district attorney refused to provide specifics about the reasons for bringing the case, but said it was a lengthy and deliberate process involving several members of her staff.

Each officer faces a single count in the March death of the 38-year-old Boyd. The charges allow prosecutors to pursue either first-degree or second-degree murder against the officers.

Even before Boyd’s death, the U.S. Justice Department was investigating the use of force by Albuquerque police. The department recently signed an agreement to make changes after the government issued a harsh report. The agreement requires police to provide better training for officers and to dismantle troubled units.

Since 2010, Albuquerque police have been involved in 40 shootings — 27 of them deadly. After Boyd’s death, outrage over the trend grew and culminated with protests that included a demonstration where authorities fired tear gas and another that shut down a City Council meeting.

The criminal charges were the first Brandenburg has brought against officers in a shooting. She is in her fourth term as district attorney and is waging a fight with the Albuquerque Police Department over allegations that she committed bribery while intervening on behalf of her son in a burglary case.

Police believe she should be charged with bribery because, they say, she offered to pay a victim not to press charges. The attorney general’s office is handling the matter.

Brandenburg said the charges against police had nothing to with the agency’s investigation into her and that her office got the case long before the bribery claims came to light.

The next step in the case will be a preliminary hearing where a judge will decide whether the case can proceed. The officers have not been booked or arrested. That would not happen until a judge renders a decision at the preliminary hearing. A date has not been set.

Brandenburg has been criticized for her office’s decades-old practice of using grand juries to affirm prosecutors’ decisions that no probable cause existed to charge officers in shootings.

Under a revamped system, county prosecutors now decide whether there’s probable cause that a crime was committed and either take the case to a grand jury or opt to file a “criminal information” charge on their own.

Bregman said there is “not one shred” of evidence to support the case and insisted the officer had no criminal intent when he encountered Boyd. He said Sandy followed training procedures outlined by the police department.

Luis Robles, an attorney for Perez, said he was “confident that the facts will vindicate officer Perez’s actions in this case.”

The FBI is also investigating, but U.S. authorities have not said if the officers will face federal charges.

David Correia, a police critic and an American studies professor at the University of New Mexico, said he was pleased that Brandenburg finally brought charges against Albuquerque officers after years of pressure.

“This is the first time an independent agency is holding Albuquerque police accountable,” Correia said.

Police are legally empowered to use deadly force when appropriate, and a 1989 Supreme Court decision concluded that an officer’s use of force must be evaluated through the “perspective of a reasonable officer on scene rather than with the 20/20 vision of hindsight.”

Philip Matthew Stinson, a professor at Bowling Green State University in Ohio who studies police misconduct, found that local officers were charged in 41 cases with murder or manslaughter stemming from on-duty shootings between 2005 and 2011. By comparison, over the same period, police agencies reported more than 2,700 cases of justifiable homicide by law enforcement officers to the FBI, and that statistic is incomplete.

The figures suggest it’s difficult to get a conviction “because juries are so reluctant to second-guess an officer’s split-second decision,” Stinson said.

___

Associated Press Writer Sadie Gurman in Denver contributed to this report.

___

Follow Russell Contreras at http://twitter.com/russcontreras .

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Lawyers: 2 Albuquerque officers accused of killing homeless camper in March will face charges.

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WASHINGTON — Marion Barry’s son Christopher may be facing new legal trouble.

NBC4 reports Christopher Barry is accused of threatening a bank teller Tuesday Jan. 14  after she told him his account was overdrawn and he couldn’t take out any money.

Police say it happened at the PNC Bank on 7th Street Northwest, in Chinatown.

According to NBC4 Barry destroyed a surveillance camera by hurling a trash can over security glass after saying “I’m going to have someone waiting for you when you get off.”

The comment was followed by an expletive.

The 34-year-old is running for his father’s Ward 8 council seat.

In the past Christopher Barry has admitted to marijuana possession and in 2013 he was charged with DUI.

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WASHINGTON — When D.C. firefighters responded to Metro’s smoky tunnel near the L’Enfant Plaza Metro station Monday they may have been hampered by faulty communications.

One person was killed and scores of others were hurt when smoke filled a tunnel trapping passengers on a Virginia-bound Yellow line train.

A D.C. Fire Department source who was on the scene of the incident says signals from firefighters’ radios inside the tunnel failed to reach above ground.

The source says a first responder told the incident commander “radios aren’t working we’re going to have to rely on runners.”

Runners then scooted from the stalled train 800 feet inside the tunnel to the foot of the escalator inside the L’Enfant Plaza Metro station so their radio signals could be received above ground.

The source blames the problem on new digitally-trunked radios which he says are ineffective underground such as the smoky Metro tunnel.

D.C. Fire and EMS spokesman Tim Wilson confirms that there were some problems with the radios during Monday’s incident. But he insists the problem did not delay or hinder the emergency response.

“My understanding is that there were some radio issues and that they switched channels in order to communicate,” Wilson says, “the radios did not hamper our ability to respond.”

A second D.C. Fire Department source, who asks not to be named, says that there was interference with the radios being used by firefighters inside the tunnel and some testing is underway aimed at correcting the problem.

Wilson says the radio issues were not caused by new encryption technology now being used in D.C. Fire Department communications. The D.C. Fire Department began using encrypted radios in December. Tactical and EMS channels are now encrypted, preventing third parties from hearing the signal.

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Reston Now will now be featuring pets available for adoption as our Pets of the Week.

This week’s pet is Bandit, an older dog from Homeward Trails Animal Rescue who loves to ride in the car.

Little Bandit is an 8-year-old, adorable and active Lhasa Apso with the cutest little underbite!

His ideal family would be one that would love to spend time with him, taking him on lots of walks, car rides, and just hanging out with him and giving him lots of love.

Bandit thinks sitting in your lap and cuddling is the perfect way to spend the evening and he gets exercise by running circles around you. Literally!

Bandit simply loves to go for car rides so you can take him anywhere you go. He is a bit unsure around very young children, so an adult home or one with older children is ideal. If you will give him a wonderful home, Bandit will repay you by being your loving, loyal companion for life.

See more about Bandit on his Petfinder page.

Are you involved with a pet rescue group and would like to post a pet here? Contact us at news@restonnow.com. Send along a few paragraphs of info about the pet, 2-3 horizontally oriented photos and contact info for interested adopters.

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Earlier today, we told you how the original Taco Bell building in Downey, CA, now faces possible demolition after its most recent tenant left the place empty in December. We asked Taco Bell corporate for comment on the story and its response is apparently to start a social media campaign — though we’re not exactly sure to what end.

“This is a very special place in our history, and for the entire Taco Bell community,” a rep for Taco Bell HQ tells Consumerist. “For passionate Taco Bell fans who want to share their support, we encourage them to use #savetacobell in social media.”

The question is whether Taco Bell actually plans to do anything if people use this hashtag enough, or whether the company is just throwing up its hands and suggesting that this is a possible way people could preserve the building that company founder Glenn “Taco” Bell erected by himself with only the assistance of a stubborn burro named Justin in 1962. (We may have embellished on that part about the burro.)

So share the hashtag if you want. Or don’t. The world will probably continue to spin either way.

In one of those, “Someone has got to be jerking us around” bits of pretentious restaurant news, today we caught wind of a pop-up restaurant in Tokyo that has 60,000 people on a waiting list to eat things like dead-yet-still-wriggling-because-of-needle-in-brain langoustine covered in ants. What? We know. But really.

Gogo Lidz at Newsweek writes that not only did she snag a reservation for the five-week residency in Tokyo of Noma, a much-buzzed about Copenhagen restaurant pop-up, but she was “the very first customer seated for the very first meal on the very first day.”

She goes into great detail about the 14 courses on Chef René Redzepi’s menu, which reads like a litany of grossness that really makes us think this whole thing is a huge joke. Also, juice pairings are really big.

The first of 14 courses involves “a langoustine on a bed of ice, the tail shell peeled back to expose the raw flesh, which is speckled with large black ants.” YES, ANTS.

She bites the prawn, and the tentacles start moving, so she freaks out and asks the chef if it’s still alive. It’s dead, so she asks how.

“A needle to its brain. For three to four minutes after the langoustine is killed, it moves as if it were electric.”

And then there are the ants…

“I close my eyes and bite into the ant-y tail. It’s…delicious! Almost like lobster ice cream. With salted ant jimmies.”

It goes on: “citrus segments with tiny, pickled Okinawa chilies in a puddle of roasted kelp oil”; “shaved monkfish liver that’s frozen and served on lightly grilled toast”; “cuttlefish sliced into ribbons that mimic soba noodles” with “a bowl of pine broth and rose petals” to dip each noodle in and oh yes, “freshwater clams and wild kiwi paste on a sea kelp pastry shell.”

That one sounds particularly insane, as Lidz writes: “The staff is particularly proud of the clams. There are 45 per tart, and 13 people spent eight hours shucking them. The amazingly complex flavors linger, continually changing like one of Willy Wonka’s everlasting gobstoppers.”

There’s so much more in this that is real, but cannot be. Because ants. And that’s not even to mention the various juices paired with everything and a hacked apart duck.

All of the ants and other things are apparently pleasing to people, as Lidz writes “the guests leave the dining room happily swooning.”

One half of a Consumerist discussion between MBQ and #BossMeg went as follows, after yours truly expressed a willingness to try such a menu:
#BossMeg: You can go ahead and eat ants. I’m going to be over here trying to keep them out of my food
MBQ: I would love to try those ants. The twitching langoustine… eh.
#BossMeg: I would not eat ants. Honey is as far as I go.

How about you?

Take Our Poll

A Restaurant With a Waiting List of 60,000 [Newsweek]

If you drive past 7112 Firestone Blvd. in Downey you’ll see the shuttered remains of a restaurant called Seafood and Tacos Raul that seems like it may have been trying to ape look of an old-school Taco Bell. What a lot of people don’t know is that this building is the fountainhead from which flowed decades of gorditas, chimichangas, chalupas, and Dorito-shelled tacos — and now it faces an “imminent threat of demolition.”

The building — where Taco Bell founder Glenn Bell opened his first store in 1962 — has been without a tenant since December, and the Downey Patriot reports that local preservationists at the Downey Conservancy are concerned that the currently vacant state of the building puts it in peril.

“As there is no current plan for the building’s continued use, its status is considered to be endangered,” explains the Conservancy, which has reached out to Taco Bell HQ and has also contacted firms specializing in adaptive reuse.

The Conservancy is also suggesting that maybe it’s for the best to move the original Taco Bell to a new location within Downey, which is already home to the oldest McDonald’s restaurant in existence.

That eatery, only about an 8-minute drive from the Taco Bell site, was actually the third McDonald’s ever built.

Interestingly enough, there is a newer Taco Bell/Pizza Hut hybrid store that appears to be right down the street from the building where it all got started.

We’ve contacted Taco Bell’s corporate office and reps for parent company Yum! Brands to see if there is any statement regarding the potential demolition of this piece of fast food history. Will update if we hear back.

[via Eater.com]

A former Virginia Hospital Center employee has been sentenced to twelve years in prison for raping a patient.

Roy Anthony Jones, 31, was working as a CT scan technician on Jan. 13, 2014, when the crime happened. Prosecutors say he had sex with an unconscious 37-year-old woman who had been brought in for alcohol intoxication. When the woman came to, she remembered someone having sex with her after the CT scan and reported the incident to police.

Jones, a D.C. resident, pleaded guilty in July.

On Friday, a judge sentenced him to 12 years in prison followed by supervised probation.

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WASHINGTON — A puppy found close to death in Burtonsville, Maryland is recovering and police are looking for the person who abandoned him.

Now called Clark Kent, the tiny pit bull type pup is estimated to be 6 or 7 weeks old. When discovered in the parking lot in the 4200 block of Tazewell Terrace he was in a dirty crate, malnourished and having seizures.

Montgomery County Animal Services and Adoption Center took the pup in and veterinary doctors were able to save him. Once his health has fully recovered, Clark Kent will be up for adoption.

Police are investigating possible charges ranging from a misdemeanor to a felony for the person responsible.

Anyone who has information is asked to call the Montgomery County Department of Police’s tip line at 240-773-TIPS or send a text to 274637/CRIMES.

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We’re sure it’s probably very annoying to have a massive, sprawling estate in Florida, only to find that planes are daring to fly over it, like some kind of winged pest intent on disturbing your peace. At least, we’re sure that’s probably very annoying if you’re Donald Trump, who is suing Palm Beach County for $100 million, partly over those flights soaring above his sprawling Mar-a-Lago estate.

Heck, he’s even ticked off his own private jet has to fly over the place — can you imagine the annoyance?

CNNMoney reports that Trump is suing Palm Beach County in Florida for $100 million, accusing the county-run airport of routing air traffic over his mansion and private club on purpose.

He called out the airport director personally, alleging that he’s looking for revenge for a lawsuit Trump leveled at him 20 years ago to block him from expanding the airport. So if he can’t go by land…

“The county’s and [the airport director’s] efforts in this regard are both deliberate and malicious, and motivated by personal animosity towards Donald Trump,” reads the lawsuit. “[The airport director] is seeking revenge by attacking Mar-a-Lago from the air,” according to the lawsuit.

His lawyer points out that even the Trumpster is forced to fly his private set of wings over his own club.

Because the historic estate was built in 1927 (and not purchased by Trump until 1985), it predates the airport by a decade. It’s listed on the National Register of Historical Places and is “particularly susceptible to the corrosive bombardment” from jet aircraft.

“The overflights of Mar-a-Lago have caused a direct and substantial invasion of the property by excessive, unreasonable, unwarranted and uninvited noise, vibrations, fumes, pollution and residue, which cause direct physical damage to Mar-a-Lago,” reads the lawsuit.

This being Donald Trump, the lawsuit adds the claim that the mansion is “by far and away the most important historical structure in Palm Beach and one of the most important in Florida and, indeed, the United States.”

Donald Trump sues ‘malicious’ Palm Beach airport for $100 million [CNNMoney]

The halls of science fiction are filled with universal language translators — little ear gadgets that make everyone sound the same to everyone else, or floating screens rearranging letters before your eyes into something intelligible. While we haven’t reached a future of perfectly seamless translation yet, Google has update its Translate tool with some new tricks that might get us closer.

In a blog announcement today, Google highlights the two big updates: One that is designed to translate words spoken out loud and another that takes texts in images and interprets it in your chosen language.

The New York Times points out that the speaking tool appears to work better with short, clear sentences free of jargon, using the example of an English speaker talking into the phone’s microphone using Translate to ask for “chicken pizza” in Spanish. After a beat, the device repeats the English phrase in Spanish.

If a cashier were to then answer in Spanish, the app would detect it and translate the words back into English. Which might be an awkward execution in real life and would likely be affected in noisy surroundings, but sounds neat in theory.

After buying the company Word Lens last May, Google is now using the company’s technology in the Translate update: Users point their phones’ cameras at a sign or text and a translation overlaid on the screen pops up, “even if you don’t have an Internet or data connection,” Google says.

However, don’t try going to Kyzyl and translating signs from Tuvan into Farsi — the instant translation currently only works for translation from English to and from French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.

The update is for both Android and iOS Translate apps on mobile devices, and will be rolling out over the next few days, says Google, in what will mark the first time some features like camera mode and conversation mode are available for iOS users at all.

Hallo, hola, olá to the new, more powerful Google Translate app [Google Translate Blog]

Facebook is continuing to dip its toes into the real life world of emergencies and natural disasters with another new safety feature: Whenever the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children issues an AMBER Alert for a missing child, users in the targeted search area affected will automatically see that alert in their Facebook feeds.

Users can then share the alerts with friends to get the word out on the abducted child, in the hopes that someone along the line will have information that could be useful, Facebook’s Trust and Safety Manager Emily Vacher writes in a blog post.

If you’re worried about a flood of alerts, Facebook says it won’t be overwhelming: “some people may see a few each year and many people will likely get no alerts at all. The alerts will appear in News Feed, but will not trigger any notifications to a person’s phone,” the post explains.

People have already been using Facebook to that end for years, the social network says, citing cases where a user saw post or a photo in their news feed and took action to help bring the child home.

One such incident from 2014 saw an 11-year-old girl come home safely after the owner of a motel recognized her from an AMBER Alert shared by a friend on Facebook, the company says. She called the police and the child was found “unharmed.”

“We know the chances of finding a missing child increase when more people are on the lookout, especially in the critical first hours,” writes Vacher. “Our goal is to help get these alerts out quickly to the people who are in the best position to help.”

Introducing AMBER Alerts on Facebook [Facebook blog]

A ruling by the Supreme Court on Tuesday made it a little easier for consumers to back out of mortgages under the Truth In Lending Act when lenders fail to disclose full terms of the deal.

Reuters reports that the court found [PDF] homeowners only need to write a letter to the lender and not file a lawsuit in order to benefit from a provision in the Truth in Lending law that allows borrowers to rescind a mortgage.

Under the law, consumers can rescind a mortgage for up to three years after it was made if the lender does not notify them of various details about the loan including finance charges and interest rates.

Reuters reports that the provision is typically used by homeowners who are struggling to pay their mortgages.

Tuesday’s ruling was a victory for a Minnesota couple who borrowed $611,000 from Countrywide Home Loans in 2007 to refinance their mortgage.

The couple sent a letter to the lender outlining their intention to rescind the mortgage before the end of the three-year period. When Bank of America, which by that time owned Countrywide, said the request was invalid, the couple filed a lawsuit.

Lawyers for consumers tell Reuters that mortgage companies routinely violated the law in the years prior to the 2008 financial crisis, but lenders contend that a simple letter is not enough if the bank in question disputes the homeowners’ claim.

Justice Antonin Scalia wrote on behalf of the court on Tuesday that the language of the law “leaves no doubt that rescission is effected when the borrower notifies the creditor of his intention to rescind.”

The process for rescission has been a heavily disputed topic for courts. In fact, a lower-court’s decision in the Minnesota couple’s case sided with Countrywide. The Supreme Court’s ruling reverses the lower-courts decision.

Supreme Court rules for homeowners over mortgage dispute [Reuters]

Many shoppers like the ability to order something from a company online and then go to a bricks-and-mortar location to pick it up, perhaps to avoid delivery snafus or keep a present secret from a loved one. It’s convenient for customers (though not always faster than just shopping in store), and yet at the same time, it’s part of a well-laid trap to get more stuff in front of your face in the hopes that you’ll buy it.

The Washington Post‘s Sarah Halzack spoke with Macy’s chief omnichannel officer R.B. Harrison, who’s in charge of wooing customers with a shopping experience that has elements of both the digital and in-person type.

He says the increasingly popular option to “buy online, pick up in store” is a great time to create a sales opportunity as well as serve as a convenience for customers. There are a couple big advantages to that set-up, he explains.

“The most important is that we are getting that customer into the store. And that then becomes an opportunity for her to either, on her own buy something else, or in a really good situation, to use our selling skills and offer other alternatives,” says Halzack. “If a guy’s buying a dress shirt, you sell him ties. If you bought a KitchenAid mixer, how about the adapter so you can make pasta?”

It’s not like this is a secret, as anyone who’s ever been faced with a tempting array of items offered at the checkout to inspire spontaneous purchases knows. But there’s a big difference between a pack of gum and a nice tie — so how much more are people spending, usually?

“It gets footsteps into our stores,” Halzack says. “We experience, on average, increased sales. So, they buy $100 worth of stuff, on average, they leave with $120 to $125 worth of stuff. So it’s a very good transaction for us, and we get them to experience a Macy’s brand.”

From new mobile offerings to a potential off-price business, a look at what’s in store for Macy’s [Washington Post]

WASHINGTON — Meet Ollie, a 1-year-old hound mix from Alabama. This happy, exuberant boy loves life and wants to get the most out of every moment.

He would love an active human companion—perhaps with another friendly dog—to share adventures.  As a young, energetic dog, Ollie would thrive in a home with someone who can give him exercise and guidance.

He’s already learned to sit on command and is working on down. If you’re looking to up the wattage of your life, stop by the Washington Animal Rescue League and meet Ollie today.

About WARL: Founded in 1914, the Washington Animal Rescue League is the oldest animal shelter in Washington D.C. Its mission includes rescuing, rehabilitating and finding homes for animals who have no where else to go. The League also supports animals through affordable veterinary care, community outreach and education. Learn more about the Washington Animal Rescue League at www.warl.org.

—

If you are thinking of adding a furry friend to your family, check out these other great shelters in the area.

Maryland

Humane Society of Charles County

(301) 645-8181

71 Industrial Park Dr. PO Box 1015 Waldorf, Md. 20604

Humane Society of Charles County offers a low cost spay/neuter program to the public. Please call or visit our website for more information. The shelter is also looking for more foster parents to help its animals.

Prince George’s County Humane Society
(301) 262-5625
P.O. Box 925 Bowie, Md. 20718

Prince George’s County Humane Society is also looking for foster parents. For more information, contact the organization.

PAW – Partnership for Animal Welfare
(301) 572-4729
P.O. Box 1074 Greenbelt, Md. 20768

Paws Animal Kingdom
(301) 920-2318
P.O. Box 11531 Takoma Park, Md. 20912

Montgomery County Humane Society
(240) 773-5960
14645 Rothgeb Dr. Rockville, Md. 20850

The Animal Welfare League of Montgomery County
(301) 740-2511
12 Park Ave. Gaithersburg, Md. 20877

D.C.

Washington Humane Society
(202) 576-6664
1201 New York Ave. NE 20002

ASAP – Alliance for Stray Animals and People
(202) 331-1330
P.O. Box 65438 Washington, D.C. 20035-5438

Metropolitan Guinea Pig Rescue
(202) 575-2210
Approved applicants may attend monthly adoption meets that are usually held at the house of a volunteer in either Northern Virginia or Southern Maryland.

Lucky Dog Animal Rescue
(202) 741-5428
Lucky Dog is a foster home organization and does not run a dedicated housing facility.

Northern Virginia

A Forever Home
(703) 961-8690
A Forever-Home is a non-profit dog rescue group that operates in the Northern Virginia/Washington Metropolitan area.

Lab Rescue of L.R.C.P.
(301) 299-6756
Lab Rescue of the LRCP is a volunteer driven, non-profit organization that rescues, fosters and places homeless, abused, and/or abandoned Labrador Retrievers.

FOHA – Friends of Homeless Animals
(703) 385-0224
All visitors must speak to a Friends representative prior to receiving directions to their shelter location.

SPCA of Northern Virginia
P.O. Box 100220 Arlington, Va. 22210-3220

Animal Welfare League of Alexandria
(703) 746-4774
4101 Eisenhower Ave. Alexandria, Va. 22304

Animal Welfare League of Arlington
(703) 931-9241
2650 S. Arlington Mill Dr. Arlington, Va.

Lost Dog and Cat Rescue Foundation
(703) 295-3647
P.O. Box 223953 Chantilly, Va. 20153

HART – Homeless Animal Rescue Team
(703) 691-HART
P.O. Box 7261 Fairfax Station, Va. 22039-7261

King Street Cats Rescue and Adoption
(703) 231-7199
25 Dove St. Alexandria, Va. 22314

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While some hospitals work to assist patients in paying their unexpected and often expensive medical bills, other institutions have been known to employ aggressive tactics that harshly penalize patients who are unable to pay their medical debts. However, the adoption of new federal rules aims to change the way in which non-profit hospitals handle consumers and their debts.

The New York Times reports that under the new rules hospitals must offer discounts, free care or other financial assistance to certain impoverished patients before sending their bills to collections.

According to the requirements, which were issued by the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service, non-profit hospitals must try to determine whether a patient is eligible for assistance before they refer their case to a debt collector, send negative information to a credit agency, place a lien on a patient’s home, file a lawsuit or seek a court order to seize a patient’s earnings.

Under the rules, hospitals will generally be required to give consumers at least 120 day before taking “extraordinary collection actions.”

The rules apply only to non-profit hospitals that have or want tax-exempt status, which currently accounts for about 60% of hospitals across the country.

Hospitals earn tax-exemption by showing they are organized, operate for charitable purposes and provide “community benefits.”

Debt collection isn’t the only area of concern addressed by the rules, it also tackles unfair practices regarding billing.

According to the Times, for decades uninsured patients have been required to pay “list prices” for services that cost much less when billed to Medicaid, Medicare and private insurers.

Now patients eligible for financial assistance cannot be charged more than “the amounts generally billed” to people who have insurance through government programs or private carriers.

Hospitals must also establish and publicize a written policy stating who is eligible for financial assistance and how people can apply.

Additionally, the rules require each non-profit hospital to assess and address the health needs of its community at least once every three years.

Consumer advocates tell the Times that the new requirements could set an industry standard and eventually influence for-profit hospital.

“With these rules, it should be easier for low- and moderate-income people to get care without having to worry about a hospital or a bill collector hounding them for money they don’t have,” Jessica L. Curtis, a lawyer for national consumer group Community Catalyst, tells the Times.

Iowa Senator Charles Grassley, who has spearheaded investigations into the practices of non-profit hospitals, applauded the rules.

“The rules make clear that tax-exempt hospitals have to earn their tax exemption,” he says.

New Rules to Limit Tactics on Hospitals’ Fee Collections [The New York Times]

Every major holiday in the United States seems to have its own candy, which used to disappear from stores once that candy’s holiday was over. There are conversation hearts for Valentine’s Day, jelly beans and creme eggs for Easter, candy corn for Halloween, and candy canes for Christmas. Then the world went completely mad.

In recent years, we’ve seen more and more confusing candy holiday mashups on the shelves. It’s not enough that egg-themed Easter candy hits store shelves before our Christmas trees are down. No, instead we have Christmas-themed jelly beans and candy corn, and patriotic candy corn for patriotic holidays. Haven’t had enough jelly beans? Now Brach’s has jelly beans with words printed on them, like conversation hearts. They aren’t heart-shaped: they’re still bean-shaped, which is why I am going to call them Conversation Kidneys.

Did Brach’s stop there? They did not. You can also buy gummy conversation hearts with short messages molded in, which at least are shaped like cartoon hearts. This is an acceptable variant on conversation hearts.

Then, just as Pumpkin Spice and Caramel Apple became marketers’ “official” flavors of fall, the candy and cookie flavor of Valentine’s Day is red velvet. These are, naturally, available from Brach’s as candy corn, because no holiday is sacred and everything is better with red food dye added to it.

The appeal of seasonal candies should be their ephemeral nature: while gourmet jellybeans have made year-round jellybean availability normal now, that’s no excuse for bringing strawberry shortcake candy corn into existence.

(These pictures have been beamed straight into the rage center of my brain from The Impulsive Buy.)

We’ve been posting about cord-cutting, or ditching pay cable TV in favor of paid and free streaming video sites, for years now. However, products announced in the last year can better simulate the content available through cable. Sports, premium cable channels, and other things that were once cable-only are now available to cord-cutters. Yet making the switch doesn’t always make financial sense.

This calculator from Slate will help you to figure that out. After all, ditching cable isn’t as simple as calling up your cable company and canceling. (Your cable company also might make that part difficult.) If you want to keep watching similar video content, you need a way to beam streaming content into your TV. If you already have a newer game console, you can use that; otherwise, you’ll have to add in the cost of buying a device like a Fire TV, Roku, or Chromecast. Make sure that the services you’re interested in are compatible with the device you’ve purchased.

If part of what you enjoy about having cable is watching Law & Order reruns in real time or some sports, Sling TV from Dish Network was announced just a week ago, and can make that happen for you. You can subscribe to a variety of streaming services, from eclectic Netflix to your favorite sport’s own network to standalone HBO. However, these will each cost extra, and they will add up. Maybe you would subscribe to, say, MLB.tv to keep up with your favorite out-of-town team whether you had cable or not, so that doesn’t really count.

You might save money by cutting the cord…or you might discover a whole universe of streaming services that will keep you glued to the couch for longer.

Should You Cut the Cord? [Slate] (via Lifehacker)

Federal investigators have confirmed a connection between a California apple processing plant and a strain of listeria bacteria responsible for killing seven people and sickening more than 30 others, prompting the producer to recall an undetermined number of Gala and Granny Smith Apples from retailers.

Reuters reports that tests performed by Food and Drug Administration investigators on samples from the Bidart Bros. processing plant and apples the company supplied to retailers found a connection between the produce and two strains of Listeria monocytogenes responsible for the deadly listeria outbreak.

As a result, Bidart Bros. issued a voluntary recall of all shipments of Granny Smith and Gala apples sill available in the marketplace. The company says the last shipment was made on December 2.

“The results are devastating to the Bidart family,” Leonard Bidart, president Bidart Bros. says in a FDA notice. “As a family-owned grower operating in California since the 1930s, we place safety at the forefront of everything we do. Our hearts go out to all who have been impacted by the apple-related listeriosis outbreak.”

The company advises that consumers should not eat the Granny Smith and Gala apples being recalled by Bidart Bros. Affected apples can be sold under the brand names “Big B” and “Granny’s Best,” but could also be sold under other brand names or with no brand at all.

Consumers who are buying or have recently bought Granny Smith or Gala apples should ask their retailers if the apples were supplied by Bidart Bros., the company says.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, seven people have died and 32 were sickened as a result of an outbreak of listeriosis infections.

The CDC reports that a majority of the people infected by listeria fell ill after eating packaged, caramel-coated apples.

Three companies – Happy Apples, California Snack Foods and Merb’s Candies – have each announced recalls of commercially produced, prepackaged caramel apples since news of the contamination began in late December.

California apple plant linked to deadly listeria outbreak – FDA [Reuters]
Bidart Bros. Works with Federal and State Officials to Determine Source of Listeriosis-Associated Outbreak [FDA]

When employees at a South Carolina Home Depot heard that a regular customer of theirs had been the victim of a theft that left his family without Christmas gifts, they pitched in to do something they didn’t have to, replacing those stolen gifts and giving this family a belated but happy holiday.

Fox Carolina reports that the family had been visiting relatives in Florida and were heading back home with all their gifts in the car when someone broke into the vehicle and made off with all the good stuff.

“The baby’s diaper bag was gone,” says the mom. “All my bags, the kids’ suitcase too. And most importantly the kids’ gifts were gone.”

All that was left was a single suitcase and a pair of shoes.

After returning home, the dad, who owns his own carpentry business and shops at Home Depot just about every day, mentioned to some of his pals at the store what had happened.

Employees then contacted the family and said they wanted to help give the kids the Christmas they were supposed to have.

The Depot workers even included a note from Santa explaining why the hardware store was doing work that should have been done at the North Pole.

“All my elves are away on vacation during January, and I don’t have enough help to make the toys,” reads the note from Santa to the Home Depot staff. “I know you consider this family part of your Home Depot family and that I can count on you to give them a Christmas they deserve.”

The kids got their gifts, along with a present for the parents.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two members of the Tuskegee Airmen — the famed all-black squadron that flew in World War II — died on the same day. The men, lifelong friends who enlisted together, were 91.

Clarence E. Huntley Jr. and Joseph Shambrey died on Jan. 5 in their Los Angeles homes, relatives said Sunday.

Huntley and Shambrey enlisted in 1942. They were shipped overseas to Italy in 1944 with the 100th Fighter Squadron of the Army Air Force’s 332nd Fighter Group. As mechanics, they kept the combat planes flying.

Huntley serviced P-39, P-47 and P-51 aircraft, and as crew chief was responsible for the plane of the squadron commander, Capt. Andrew D. Turner, said Huntley’s nephew, Craig Huntly of Inglewood. “The life of his pilot was in his hands, and he took that very seriously,” his nephew said.

His concern led Turner to nickname him “Mother,” Huntly said.

In addition to facing danger, the Tuskegee Airmen faced racism.

Shambrey’s son, Tim Shambrey of Altadena, said his father recalled getting off a train in Alabama where a hospitality station was welcoming returning white troops with handshakes and free coffee.

“When he and his buddies came off, dressed in their uniforms, of course they didn’t get any congratulations” and were asked to pay for their coffee, Shambrey said.

They did so.

“The thing about those men is that they were very proud” and decided not to make a fuss, Shambrey said. “They were already used to so much discrimination.”

In later life, Shambrey didn’t talk much about his war service but he held barbecues that sometimes drew 150 people, including a lot of his old Army buddies, his son said.

Huntley also didn’t talk much with his family about the war, said his daughter, Shelia McGee of Los Angeles.

He told them: “I was doing what I was supposed to do, and that was to serve my country,” she said.

Shambrey was a National Guard combat engineer during the Korean War and later spent his career with the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation, his son said.

Huntley was a skycap for more than 60 years at airports in Burbank and Los Angeles, his daughter said.

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VICTORIA, Texas (AP) — The lawyer for a Texas police officer fired for using a stun gun on a 76-year-old man says there was “nothing unreasonable” about using that level of force during a traffic stop that was captured on dashboard camera video.

Former Victoria police officer Nathanial Robinson was terminated last week, less than a month after the video from his patrol car on Dec. 11 garnered international attention. Robinson plans to appeal his firing, attorney Greg Cagle told the Victoria Advocate in a story published Sunday (http://bit.ly/1FHB3AP ).

Cagle said Robinson, 23, acted constitutionally within the law. Robinson stopped Pete Vasquez for an expired vehicle inspection sticker, and video captured Robinson grabbing Vasquez’s arm and pushing him onto the police cruiser.

The footage didn’t show what happened between the two after falling on the ground. Cagle said Vasquez kicked the officer, and that the level of resistance was a basis for using the stun gun and arresting Vasquez.

“There’s nothing unreasonable at all about that level of force,” said Cagle, adding that Vasquez “wasn’t injured. He scratched his elbow and hurt his feelings, but those aren’t injuries in the constitutional sense.”

Victoria Police Chief Jeff Craig has said Robinson violated policies that included conduct and the use of force. He also personally apologized to Vasquez.

A criminal investigation into the traffic stop was completed by the Texas Rangers, who turned their findings over to local prosecutors for review.

Cagle is an attorney for the Texas Municipal Police Association. Kevin Lawrence, the group’s executive director, said it has become more common for administrators and politicians to not stand behind police officers.

“Why we’re not giving them more benefit of the doubt today, I don’t know,” Lawrence said. “I think it’s a very dangerous path we’re on.”

Robinson had been with Victoria police for 18 months.

“If you think he could have done it different or better, then that’s a training issue,” Cagle said. “I think he deserves his job back, and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”

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HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Five small earthquakes were recorded within a 5½-hour span in eastern Connecticut on Monday, including a 3.1-magnitude quake that was felt in parts of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, according to the Weston Observatory at Boston College and the U.S. Geological Survey.

The quakes followed two in the same area last week, including a 2.0-magnitude quake Thursday and a 0.4 magnitude Friday. All the quakes were centered near Danielson and in northern Plainfield.

Four of the quakes on Monday were within a 20-minute span starting just after 6:30 a.m., including the 3.1-magnitude quake that was felt in parts of Rhode Island, including Providence, and more than 60 miles away in Massachusetts in New Bedford and Framingham, scientists said. A 1.3-magnitude aftershock was recorded just after noon.

John Ebel, senior research scientist at the Western Observatory, said such a series of small earthquakes in the Northeast is not unusual. The eastern U.S. is in the middle of a tectonic plate that stretches from the West Coast to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and earthquakes are caused by pressure emanating from those two boundaries, he said.

In 2006 and 2007, a series of earthquakes hit around Bar Harbor, Maine, including a 4.2-magnitude quake, Ebel said.

Two small quakes also hit near Danielson on Nov. 9 and another small tremor near Danielson was recorded on Oct. 13, according to the New England Seismic Network, a partnership of area universities that includes Boston College.

There were reports of shaking in the area Monday, but no reports of major damage or injuries.

“At first I thought it was a snow plow, but there was no snow,” Darlene Gannon of Sterling, Connecticut, told The Bulletin of Norwich. “Then the breaking sound began, like a vehicle crashing through our stone wall. When I figured out that wasn’t the case, I thought maybe the garage had collapsed — a gazillion explanations went through my head.”

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WASHINGTON — Towering orange and yellow construction cranes have become a regular sight in D.C.’s skyline as the city continues adding apartments, retail and restaurants. But one of the most exciting developments in the District is happening underground.

About 20 feet below Connecticut Avenue in Dupont Circle, members of the nonprofit Arts Coalition for the Dupont Underground (ACDU) are gearing up for a project they’ve been working on for more than a decade: transforming 75,000 square feet of abandoned space into a usable public destination.

The current Dupont Underground has served a number of purposes in its 75 years. It was originally home to D.C.’s trolley trains in the 1940s. When the trolley and streetcar system was suspended in 1962, the underground space was used as a fallout shelter; then, in the ‘90s, it was transformed into an underground food court.

“That was a bad idea; it was badly implemented and it failed within less than a year,” says Braulio Agnese, who serves on the ACDU board of directors and is the organization’s communication consultant.

After the food court shut down, the entrances to the underground were left open for some time. BUt the city eventually boarded and locked the stairways after realizing the entrances were collecting trash and attracting squatters.

If you’ve walked around Dupont Circle, chances are you’ve seen at least one of the nine entrances to the underground (there’s one next to the Starbucks and one near the Books-A-Million) and didn’t give the rectangular concrete blocks a second thought.

“For the last 10 years, people have just had no idea what those things are. They think it might be Metro infrastructure. … There are lots of urban rumors about what they are,” says Agnese, who hopes residents soon associate those mysterious blocks with one of the city’s most dynamic and creative spaces.

Making Progress on the Platforms

In 2010, the city issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the use of the underground. After responding to and winning the RFP, ACDU was granted a five-and-a-half-year lease this past December for the space. Now, it’s time to get to work.

“I have the key in my pocket at all times,” Agnese says. 

Even though the lease for the Dupont Underground is for the full 75,000 square feet, Agnese says the initial plan is to focus only on one third of the space — the 23,000 square feet that occupies the east platform as well as some tunnel space. And while Agnese is eager to open the underground, he says ACDU is not rushing its plans.

“The space is unusual — has a lot of potential, but it’s difficult. And so we’re being very deliberate in our approach to understanding the space and its potential,” he says.

“Unusual” is the correct adjective to describe the space. It’s incredibly linear — just 30 feet at the widest point, where the trolley platforms once stood. While it may be difficult to envision the underground space being used for anything other than transit purposes, ACDU is looking past the limitations of the layout. It plans to use the underground’s uniqueness to its advantage; it plans on getting creative.

Agnese says little will be done to enhance the design of the former transit space. “It wasn’t created to be aesthetically pleasing; it was purely utilitarian, but you get this kind of vaulted, scalloped space,” he says.

“We could easily do dropped ceilings and dry wall on the walls to condition the space and bring the power and the plumbing and stuff like that, but then you lose the character of the space, and part of the reason we love this space is not just for its location beneath Dupont Circle, but the nature of the space, itself. It’s got this great industrial aspect that’s really kind of rare in the city. We want to be able to celebrate that as much as possible, going forward … so all of the design solutions will have to be as elegant and as minimal as possible.”

In addition to power and plumbing, the coalition needs to upgrade the underground to include fire escapes and address other safety concerns. Figuring out the layout of the underground wasn’t an easy task for ACDU. Because the space was once used as a fallout shelter, drawings and blueprints “are locked in Homeland Security files somewhere,” Agnese says. So it’s up to the ACDU to find the pipes, the electricity and the tunnel’s doors.

“There are a few unknowns, but no concerns in terms of structural integrity; there’s no asbestos down there or anything like that — it’s a concrete box,” Agnese says.

Construction costs are not coming from public funds, so ACDU is raising money for infrastructure improvements. Agnese says the improvements most likely won’t happen for three to six months, and in the meantime, the space may be used for one-off events.

Creating a Creative Space

After the initial construction, Agnese says ACDU wants to take its time before doing anything permanent in the underground. It wants to see how crowds work in the space, it wants to test out the types of events that work well underground, and ACDU wants to potentially take advantage of the tunnel’s acoustics and conduct sound projects in the underground. Really, anything could happen.

The point of studying the space, Agnese says, is so that after the initial lease, ACDU will have a model on which to pursue a long-term lease with the city.

“The space will pretty much be a black spot, blank slate, open as it is to try different things. We expect to do temporary structures, different kinds of partitions … but any kind of permanent build-out would not happen until later, when we hope to tackle the whole site or as much of it as possible.”

And while ACDU has not decided what to permanently do with the space, it’s clear Agnese has his eye on the arts.

“There’s a good arts scene in D.C., but it’s a little fractured. We’d like to become a hub for that kind of thing,” he says.

“It’s a space that offers potential. There are a lot of good galleries, but they have small footprints, and this offers a chance for them to explore maybe other opportunities and different kinds of installations and events and what not.”

He also thinks the underground could attract exhibitions that currently bypass the city.

“We want to be nimble and provocative and foster forward-thinking kinds of discussion, both with art and design.”

And while Agnese is open to the idea of adding permanent and/or commercial tenants to the underground, he says those plans are down the road.

“So that in addition to what we want to do on the cultural side, there are other things going on so that people are always coming to Dupont Circle and to the underground, for one reason or another.”

Regardless of its final purpose, Agnese says ACDC hopes the underground not only serves as a new and exciting space for tourists; he hopes it unites the city and the neighborhood, as well.

“We want somebody halfway around the world to learn about it and say, ‘Hey, I want to visit that.’ But we also want people in the city to be coming for various things — whether it’s an exhibit or a gallery talk or a theater performance or something.”

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Pentagon puts budget concerns ahead of Fort McClellan troops' welfare Washington Times Putting budget concerns ahead of troop welfare, a top Obama administration appointee declared to Congress that the Pentagon doesn't want to spend the money to alert hundreds of thousands of soldiers who served at a once-contaminated Army base that ... and more »

WASHINGTON — Last week, Washington re-learned the hard way that a snowstorm’s societal impact cannot be measured in inches. History has proven that it is not the biggest storms, but those that produce their heaviest snow during rush hours, that are the most disruptive to travel.

Forecasts called for hazardous weather during the Tuesday, January 6 morning commute. Still, the mid-morning burst of heavy snow left countless drivers idling in hours-long delays. Backups spilled into intersections, back-built onto ramps and became intertwined until the majority of the region’s road network had seized.

Similar transportation debacles in past Washington winters resulted from the same part and parcel — snow accumulation rates in excess of one inch per hour during peak travel periods. Curiously, all of the most recent of these wintry travel nightmares have occurred on Tuesdays or Wednesdays.

The Carmageddon Snowstorm of January 26, 2011

A snowstorm raced toward Washington from southwest to northeast on Wednesday, January 26, 2011. Heavy thundersleet and thundersnow overtook the region during the mid-afternoon. Federal workers were released two hours early, causing an early uptick in traffic volumes, coincident with the heaviest snowfall. Commuters reported sitting in traffic for over six hours. Some drivers were stranded on the George Washington Parkway into the early morning hours.

The Ice Storm of February 12, 2008

An afternoon drive through Northern Virginia on February 12, 2008 turned into an hours-long ordeal for thousands of commuters when roads began icing over. While freezing rain overspread a widespread portion of the metro area, the ice storm is widely remembered for the botched response by road crews on the Beltway near the Springfield Interchange.

The heaviest precipitation prompted the issuance of an ice storm warning in Northern Virginia when ice began accumulating rapidly on roads by early afternoon. Hundreds of accidents were reported on the Beltway, I-395 and I-95.

Surprise Nor’Easter of January 25, 2000

Early morning drivers on Tuesday, January 25, 2000 were ambushed by a surprise snowstorm. Although most schools had cancelled classes by the start of the rush hour, many people ventured onto the roads unaware that the forecast had drastically changed overnight. The storm, initially expected to veer south of Washington, took direct aim on the East Coast Megalopolis producing widespread snowfall during the mid-morning hours.

Surprise Snowstorm of March 9, 1999

The Tuesday, March 9, 1999 afternoon commute was a traumatic experience for many throughout Washington when a poorly-forecast storm quadrupled snowfall predictions. The storm dropped its heaviest snow at the height of the afternoon commute. Snowfall rates exceeded two inches per hour. Gridlock rippled throughout the city and suburbs as public schools and the federal government shut down early, sending torrents of students, parents and workers onto snow-packed roads.

The Veteran’s Day Snowstorm of November 12, 1987

Even 28 years isn’t long enough to erase the painful memories from the traffic nightmares on Veteran’s Day in 1987. Extreme backups formed when a surprise snowstorm with heavy thunder and lightning blindsided commuters during the afternoon. Snowfall rates over three inches per hour left countless drivers stranded on area highways — some spent the night in their vehicles.

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ARLINGTON, Va. – It was a test of sheer will. A Virginia man walked from Richmond to Arlington National Cemetery this weekend to honor and thank the military.

Victor Wise from Staunton, Virginia started his 100 mile journey on Friday morning at the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond. Sunday morning, just under 48  hours later, he reached his destination. “Pride. Joy. Humbled.  I mean, look out here. All these American flags, shouts of encouragement… It was a humbling experience,” he says.

Wise traveled up Route 1 carrying a 50 pound ruck. Co-workers, friends and strangers joined him along the way, including his yellow lab Kona. “I’m going to have to cut my shoes off my feet, to be honest with you. They’re in rough shape. I feel like I’m walking around on bricks right now. I’m looking forward to a long bath. I got about 6 hours of sleep Thursday night and haven’t been to bed since,” he says.

With tears in his eyes, he dedicated the effort to the troops.  “(It’s a) sense of pride in America. I just think that sometimes we forget the blessings we have and the people that give them to us and the families that sacrifice so much. They need to know that we appreciate them.”

Military service runs in his family, including his father, a former National Guard First Sergeant, who served in Iraq and Cuba.

He started the “Freedom Ruck” challenge last year and this year he raised nearly $5,000 for the Navy Seal Foundation. “It’s not really about the money, to be honest with you. The money obviously helps to take care of the soldiers who sacrifice so much. That’s a great part of it but the main concern, for me, is to say ‘thank you,’’ he says. “When you see them at the bar, buy them a beer. Or if you see them out at lunch, buy them lunch. Even if you see them at the airport, go up to them and thank them.”

He’s already thinking to next year, the third annual Freedom Ruck. “After this year, heck, why not?”

To donate to the Freedom Ruck and the Navy Seal Foundation, click here.

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Fairfax Animal Watch: Dog aims for treat, gets owner's lip instead Washington Post FAIRFAX CITY, West Drive, 10700 block, Dec. 28. A dog attempted to take a bite of ice cream that its owner was eating and accidentally bit him on the lip. The dog was quarantined. Among incidents reported by the Animal Control section of the Fairfax ...