Students Stranded After School Abruptly Closes

Monday, May 6th, 2013, 11:44am

SILVER SPRING, Md., (WUSA) -- "This is actually the DVD portfolio I was working on."

Michael Liska was confident the classes at the American Career Institute were just what he needed t land a job in the digital media.

"The program was actually fast-paced, but it covered everything that I wanted to learn," Liska says.'

He worked hard, maintained a 4.0 GPA, and locked forward to graduating this August. But his dreams were crushed with one unexpected call.

"My teacher called me on Wednesday and he said the school is closed," he says.

It was January 9th of this year, when ACI posted a letter on the door that says they regrettably had to close the school for financial reasons.

Michael wondered what he had missed. After all, he was just in class the day before.

He says, "Basically I was pissed off."

Michael thought the $6,000 used to pay tuition at the Maryland trade school was a good investment in his future.

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Update: Possible Breakthrough in Sandy Spring "Farm Road" Controversy

Submitted by WUSA9 Web Staff

Friday, May 3rd, 2013, 9:41pm

Sandy Spring, Md. (WUSA9) -- A long-simmering David vs. Goliath conflict pitting the owners of properties in a traditional African-American enclave against the region's most powerful land use agency may be moving toward resolution.

The property owners, with the help of Sandy Spring activist Steve Kanstoroom have managed to obtain affidavits from more than 13 individuals promising not to fight the restoration of a right-of-way for landowners on an historic driveway known as "Farm Road."

"The affidavits are huge," Kanstoroom said.

SEE THE DOCUMENTS HERE: SAVESANDYSPRING.ORG

The road has been the subject of controversy since the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission wiped it off official maps in 2000 when it approved a nearby subdivision.

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Woman Sexually Assaulted While Walking On Lunch Break

Submitted by WUSA9 Web Staff

Friday, May 3rd, 2013, 5:25pm

SILVER SPRING, Md. (WUSA9) -- Montgomery County Police say an employee of a nearby shopping center in Silver Spring was sexually assaulted and are looking for her attacker.

It happened around 2:30 Thursday afternoon on Rogart Road near University Boulevard West in the Four Corners area.
The mother of the victim talked with our Surae Chinn.

WUSA9 has a policy of not identifying victims of sexual assaults and therefore we are not identifying the mother.

The mother says her 21-year-old daughter is scared and traumatized.

She says her daughter was on her lunch break and had left the shopping. She had stepped outside just behind the shopping center in a neighborhood where she encountered her attacker. She told police he lead her right into the backyard in between two homes and raped her at knife point.

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Backroom Deal?: Emails On Sandy Spring Road Dispute Called Inappropriate By Angry Councilmember

Submitted by WUSA9 Web Staff

Friday, May 3rd, 2013, 7:11am

SANDY SPRING, Md. (WUSA9) -- A recently revealed email chain between regional and state land use officials at the highest levels is being criticized by a Montgomery County Councilmember as "totally inappropriate."

"He went over the head of people who had made professional opinions and went to somebody at the highest level and said 'fix this for me'", said Councilmember Marc Elrich.

"That's not something you do in public. That's backroom," he said.

READ THE EMAILS HERE

Elrich made his comments after reviewing newly revealed 2007 emails between the office of Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission general counsel Adrian Gardner and Richard Hall, the O'Malley administration's cabinet secretary in charge of the Maryland Department of Planning.

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WUSA9 Towing Investigation Gets Refunds For Victims

Submitted by WUSA9 Web Staff

Wednesday, May 1st, 2013, 11:35pm

SILVER SPRING, Md. 9WUSA9) - A company that won't talk to WUSA9 sent a powerful message in the mail: a $173 refund check to one of dozens of illegal towing victims identified by a WUSA9 investigation.

We're you a victim? Tweet @russptacek or message Investigative Reporter Russ Ptacek on Facebook.

The undercover WUSA9 probe identified more than 50 illegal tows from a popular Silver Spring shopping center at Georgia Ave. and Colesville Rd.

"$173.63, so I got my $173 back," said towing victim Brie Jackson looking at the freshly issued check. "I should have never been charged."

Jackson, who works at a CBS station in South Carolina, alerted WUSA9 on Facebook after she was towed from Downtown Silver Spring while visiting relatives.

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WUSA9 Probe Sparks New Silver Spring Tow Warnings

Submitted by WUSA9 Web Staff

Saturday, April 27th, 2013, 8:23am

SILVER SPRING, Md. (WUSA9) -- Downtown Silver Spring officials say they suspended towing and initiated a still evolving signage change the moment a WUSA9 hidden camera investigation exposed an illegal towing operation there.

If you've been towed from a Downtown Silver Spring meter, contact Investigative Reporter Russ Ptacek by WUSA9 email, on Twitter or Facebook.

Near the intersection of Georgia Ave. and Colesville Rd. on a private road, the shopping center had been towing cars parked at private parking meters, but signs weren't large enough or clear enough to comply with county and Maryland regulations.

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Publisher, photographer probed over topless Kate photos

Submitted by WUSA9 Web Staff

Thursday, April 25th, 2013, 8:32pm

Publisher, photographer probed over topless Kate photos

PARIS (AP) - French prosecutors have placed the publisher and photographer of unauthorized topless snaps of Prince William's wife, Kate, under formal criminal investigation, they said Thursday.

Caroline Chassain, spokeswoman for the Nanterre prosecutor, said that Mondadori Magazines France and local photographer Valerie Suau were placed under investigation earlier this month over possible criminal exploitation of the images, which appeared in the French Closer magazine last September.

The photos showed the duchess of Cambridge relaxing at a private villa in Provence, in southern France, sometimes without her bikini top and, in one case, her suit bottom partially pulled down to apply sunscreen.

Chassain added that Suau's employer, local newspaper La Provence, was also placed under formal criminal investigation on Monday, but she did not elaborate.

The investigation will likely take months to complete.

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