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ALEXANDRIA
The Alleged Hacker of Bush Emails Charged A hacker who U.S. authorities say accessed and distributed personal emails and photographs belonging to the family of former President George W. Bush was charged with several computer-related crimes from 2012-2014 in federal court in Alexandria on Thursday. Authorities allege Marcel Lehel Lazar, a 42-year-old Romanian national, hacked into the accounts of several highprofile people. (THE WASHINGTON POST) FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA.
Gun Rights Activist Adam Kokesh Convicted Controversial gun rights activist Adam Kokesh was convicted of drug and gun charges Thursday in a Fairfax County court. Kokesh entered an Alford plea to two felonies for possessing hallucinogenic mushrooms while possessing a gun. In an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt, but acknowledges prosecutors have enough evidence to obtain a conviction. Kokesh faces a maximum of 15 years in prison. (TWP) LOUDOUN COUNTY, VA.
Judge: No Gag Order In Va. Firearms Case Lawyers involved in an unusually highprofile firearms case in Loudoun County will not be barred from speaking publicly, a judge ruled Thursday. A defense attorney for Charles Severance, who is charged with felony firearm possession, had asked for a gag order during the case, arguing that a “media tempest” could taint the jury pool. Alexandria police have said they want to question him in the unsolved shooting deaths of three city residents. Severance has not been charged in those slayings and police have declined to name him as a suspect. (TWP) WASHINGTON
Juvenile Charged in Three Robbery Attempts D.C. police have charged a juvenile with using a shotgun in attempts to rob three people within 13 minutes Wednesday morning near Sherman Park Circle in Northwest. (TWP)
New School Boundaries Proposed The controversial citywide lottery for D.C. is scrapped Washington D.C. officials on Thursday put forth a new proposal for public school boundaries that would maintain a system of neighborhood schools while providing a way for children, particularly those who are disadvantaged, to gain access to schools outside their immediate communities. The proposal would redraw the city’s boundaries for elementary, middle and high schools in an effort to adjust for decades of school closures and demographic change that created a patchwork of overlapping attendance zones, leaving some schools overcrowded while others were underused. It also attempts to create a more coherent, consistent and predictable
Redrawing D.C. Public School Boundaries D.C. officials are proposing to redraw school boundaries for the year starting in fall 2015. To see an interactive map of the proposed boundaries, go to wapo.st/school-zones. (THE WASHINGTON POST ) AREA REASSIGNED:
To one of its present options
Elementary
About 3 in 10 elementary-aged students would be affected. Changes include a new Van Ness school south of Capitol Hill.
To a different school
Middle School
Van Ness would be a new school.
About half of students would see change in their school options. Most K-8 schools would convert to elementaries; three new schools would open.
Sources: Office of Deputy Mayor for Education, dme.dc.gov/boundaries
school system, part of an effort to keep the city’s families from fleeing to charter schools or the suburbs. Tens of thousands of children would see their attendance rights change if the proposal is adopted.
High School
Nearly 4 in 10 students would be affected. Wilson’s boundary draws back west of Rock Creek.
New North, N MacFarland and Center City will have new neighborhood schools.
C Cardozo, Roosevelt and Dunbar would swap swaths of attendance areas.
TED MELLNIK, KATIE PARK AND CRISTINA RIVERO (THE WASHINGTON POST)
A previous set of proposals released in April, which had considered replacing neighborhood schools — which students have a right to attend based on their home addresses — with lottery admis-
sions saw enormous resistance. But even with the most controversial elements of a policy change now off the table, the newest suggestion is likely to generate fierce debate. EMMA BROWN (THE WASHINGTON POST )
Medical Marijuana Access May Grow Washington D.C. Council members pressed forward with plans to broadly expand access to medical marijuana in the nation’s capital Thursday, drawing praise from residents suffering from an array of conditions that they say should qualify them for legal use of the plant. Under legislation that all 13 Council members have pledged to support, the bill would strike from D.C. law a narrow list of four conditions, including AIDS, that qualify residents to apply for legal purchase of marijuana. New guidelines would simply leave it up to physicians to
$100K
400
The approximate number of patients in D.C. approved so far for use of medical marijuana. Health Committee Chair Yvette Alexander said that the year-old program has yet to become the benefit to 645,000 city residents that lawmakers envisioned. (T WP)
decide whether a patient might benefit from prescribed marijuana. The push to loosen the medical marijuana program follows the council’s decision in March to eliminate all criminal penalties for possession of marijuana for personal use, replacing a potential one-
year jail term with a fine of just $25. (Smoking it in public could still draw a jail term of 60 days, similar to the penalty for public consumption of alcohol.) On paper, the proposed guidelines for marijuana prescriptionwriting would make the District’s program among the most liberal nationwide. However, several restrictions, such as automatic audits of doctors who prescribe to more than 250 people, and D.C. licensing of each plant used for legal cultivation, would keep the program far more regulated than in states such as California. A ARON C. DAVIS (THE WASHINGTON POST )
The amount that Snapchat agreed to pay Maryland to
settle a lawsuit over the mobile messaging app’s claim of “disappearing” messages, which Attorney General Doug Gansler said was deceptive because recipients can capture or copy them for later viewing and distribution. Gansler said that Snapchat also agreed to get consumers’ consent to collect and save contact information from electronic address books, but the company did not accept any liability in the settlement. (AP)
MATT McCLAIN (TWP)
In Brief
Test Week to Precede Silver Line Opening Washington Whenever Metro sets a date for opening the Silver Line, the start of passenger service will be preceded by a week of what the transit authority calls “simulated service.” During that week, no passengers will ride to or from the five new stations in Fairfax County. But it will be the first time riders on the Blue and Orange lines see some of the effects the new line will have on their service. ROBERT THOMSON (THE WASHINGTON POST)