The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-27)

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METRO

FRIDAY, MAY 27 , 2022. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/LOCAL EZ SU K B

THE REGION

Students walk out to call

for stricter gun-control

laws after the Texas

school shooting. B4

MARYLAND

The statewide diocese of

the Episcopal Church

awards $180,000 from its

reparations fund. B6

OBITUARIES

Actor Ray Liotta, best

known for his tough-guy

role in the mob drama

“Goodfellas,” was 67. B8

BY DAN MORSE

A 17-year-old accused of shoot-
ing and nearly killing a classmate
inside a bathroom at Maryland’s
Magruder High School will be
prosecuted in the adult court sys-
tem, a judge ruled Thursday while
rejecting the teen’s request for
transfer to the juvenile system.
The judge’s decision means that
Steven Alston Jr., who will turn 18
in August, faces a possible lengthy
sentence in the state’s adult prison
system if he is convicted. Had he
been moved to the state’s juvenile
system, Alston could have been
released within a year.
“Mr. Alston displayed very
adultlike behavior,” said Mont-
gomery Circuit Court Judge David
Boynton, describing what he said
was a planned, premeditated as-
sault. “Mr. Alston clearly poses a
danger to the community.”
Alston is accused of obtaining
handgun parts online, putting
them together for his own “ghost
SEE MAGRUDER ON B5

Md. school

shooting case

to stay in

adult court

Coronavirus monitor

CDC community transmission levels:

MAY 26

D.C. Medium

Maryland

Montgomery County Medium

Prince George’s County Medium

Frederick County Low

Howard County Medium

Charles County Medium

Anne Arundel County Medium

Virginia

Fairfax County Medium

Loudoun County Medium

Prince William County Medium

Arlington County Medium

Alexandria city Medium

Fauquier County Low

Levels can be low, medium or high and are determined

by looking at hospital beds in use, h ospital admissions,

and the total number of new coronavirus cases in an

area.

7-day average of new cases

MAY 19 MAY 26

D.C. 368332

Maryland 2,219 2,249

Virginia 3,0793,249

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

BY JENNA PORTNOY

Virginia public health officials

on Thursday reported the state’s

first presumed case of monkey-

pox, in a Northern Virginia wom-

an who had recently traveled to

an African country.

The case is among nine recent-

ly identified in seven states,

officials at the Centers for Dis-

ease Control and Prevention told

reporters Thursday morning.

The state lab identified the case,

and as of Thursday afternoon,

the Virginia Department of

Health was awaiting CDC confir-

mation.

The patient was not symptom-

atic and therefore not infectious

during travel, state officials said.

She did not require hospitaliza-

tion and is isolating at home. The

health department identified her

close contacts, who are primarily

health-care providers, and is

monitoring them.

State Health Commissioner

Colin M. Greene stressed that,

despite the national uptick, mon-

keypox is a very rare disease in

the United States and that the

Virginia patient does not pose a

public health risk.

“Transmission requires close

contact with someone with

symptomatic monkeypox, and

this virus has not shown the

ability to spread rapidly in the

general population,” he said.

Monkeypox is a rare but po-

tentially serious viral illness that

typically begins with flu-like

symptoms and swelling of the

lymph nodes and progresses to a

rash on the face and body, the

state said in a news release.

Symptoms generally appear sev-

en to 14 days after exposure and

usually clear up within two to

four weeks.

The first case in the United

States this year was identified

last week in Massachusetts, in a

resident who had recently trav-

eled to Canada, where cases are

also rising. Since then, cases

have been identified in Florida,

SEE MONKEYPOX ON B4

I n Va.,

1st case

of r are

disease

NINE REPORTS OF

MONKEYPOX IN U.S.

State officials say woman

had t raveled to Africa

BY KYLE SWENSON

Behind the refrigerator’s glass door,

Mark Bucher saw a single eight-ounce

bottle of Similac baby formula. It was

9:30 a.m. at the Glassmanor Commu-

nity Center in Prince George’s County.

The fridge had been filled once this

morning with formula, Bucher said,

and this was all that was left a few

hours later.

“These bottles individually are like

$4,” Bucher said as he propped open

the fridge door and began placing

bottles inside from a new Similac

24-pack. “It’s expensive. And if you

don’t have SNAP benefits, that’s $16 a

day to feed your kid, roughly speaking.

That’s stressful.” The Supplemental

Nutrition Assistance Program pro-

vides benefits to needy families to

purchase food.

Whatever anxieties typically hound

parents about their newborn’s eating

habits are probably now spiking to

scary new heights, in the Washington

region and beyond.

Product recalls and supply chain

delays have created an unprecedented

shortage in baby formula. Parents

have clamored for solutions. Manu-

SEE FORMULA ON B5

Charity helps fill formula breach

Feed the Fridge,

which stocks fresh

meals at pickup sites in

D.C.-area food deserts,

adds bottles for babies

at a time of great need

CRAIG HUDSON F OR THE WASHINGTON POST

BY LAURA VOZZELLA

richmond — House and Senate
negotiators working overtime on
the state budget announced a
deal Thursday that would pro-
vide $4 billion in tax cuts, boost
salaries for teachers and state
workers, and plow hefty sums
into affordable housing, school
construction, health and water
quality.
Their proposed budget bill,
which still needs approval from
the full House and Senate and
ultimately Gov. Glenn Youngkin
(R), would give the governor a
partial victory on the tax cuts he
vowed to deliver on the cam-
paign trail last year. It calls for
eliminating the 1.5 percent state
grocery tax, for instance, but
leaves in place the 1 percent levy
imposed by localities.
“The governor was briefed and
looks forward to seeing the final
language,” Youngkin spokes-
woman Macaulay Porter said.
House Appropriations Chair-
man Barry D. Knight (R-Virginia
Beach) and Senate Finance and
Appropriations Committee
Chairwoman Janet D. Howell
(D-Fairfax) portrayed the deal as
a true compromise — and hinted
that they hoped Youngkin would
not try to tinker with it too much
when it gets to his desk.
“We’ve taken our time getting
it right, and we think we’ve got it
right,” Knight said in a late-after-
noon briefing with reporters.
“We think this is the best budget
for the state, and we don’t think
SEE BUDGET ON B4

Va. budget

deal would

cut taxes

Compromise includes

raises for teachers,

no change to gas tax

BY KATHERINE SHAVER AND

LORI ARATANI

More Americans are expected
to travel for the Memorial Day
weekend than last year despite
record-high gasoline prices, costli-
er airfares, higher hotel rates and a
wave of covid infections — the
result of pent-up demand out-
stripping health concerns and es-
calating prices, industry experts
say.
Surveys show that gas prices
averaging up to $6 per gallon in
some parts of the country and

$4.60 nationwide — a 50 percent

jump from a year ago — have

caused some travelers to stick

closer to home. However, many

will seek less expensive hotels or

cut back on entertainment and

eating out to afford a getaway,

experts say.

“For these two years, we’ve

missed family gatherings, wed-

dings, bar mitzvahs, graduations

— all these things with friends and

family,” said Amir Eylon, presi-

dent of Longwoods International,

a travel and tourism market re-

search consulting firm. “Now that

the fear of covid among travelers

has significantly subsided — and

despite inflationary pressures —

folks are determined to get out

there.”

Nationwide, AAA predicts

39.2 million people — 8 percent

more than last year and 92 percent

of pre-pandemic levels — will trav-

el over the Memorial Day week-

end, the unofficial start of what it

expects to be a busy summer. Com-

pared with last year’s holiday

weekend, AAA expects a 4.6

p ercent increase in car travel, 25

percent growth in airplane trips

and a 200 percent jump in travel

by bus, train and cruise ship.

Meanwhile, the average ticket

price for the lowest airfare is $184,

up 6 percent compared to a year

ago. Midrange hotels are charging

an average $230 per night — 42

percent more — for their lowest

rate, according to AAA. Only daily

rental car prices are down, falling

16 percent from last year, when

vehicles were scarce.

D.C. residents are paying higher

gas costs than the national aver-

age — $4.84 per gallon — but are

still expected to jam Washington-

area roads.

Maryland officials advise hit-

ting the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to

Eastern Shore beaches in the early

morning or late evening. The

Maryland Transportation Author-

ity expects more than 330,000 ve-

SEE TRAVEL ON B10

Millions to travel for Memorial Day, despite record gas prices

Experts expect increase

in summer trips as

pandemic worries ease

“Mom. We’ve been

doing drills for this our

whole lives,” my 15-

year-old said when I

tested his mood after

the classroom massacre

in Texas this week.

“We know this stuff

happens,” he said,

barely containing an eyeroll before

slinging a backpack over his shoulder

and heading toward the metal

detector at his school entrance in

Georgetown, one of the wealthiest

enclaves in America.

There it is. We have stained a

generation of American children —

and their teachers alongside them —

with a grim acceptance and war-

weariness that is sickening.

Shame on us.

Yes, it’s the mass shootings that

make headlines, that made a

president gasp with grief and

frustration before TV cameras after

19 students and two beloved teachers

were killed by an 18-year-old in

Uvalde.

But these slaughters —

inconceivable in any part of the

world, even the places at war — are a

fraction of the ways in which we’ve

saturated our nation in blood.

All over social media, we have

parents and pundits coaching each

other on how to explain this to our

kids. Meanwhile, the kids aren’t

surprised at another shooting — we

are. We didn’t grow up with this, yet

we allowed this rat-a-tat, consistent

interaction with gun violence to be

part of our children’s lives.

Here’s a short list of gun-related

mailings, threats and deaths in our

region in May:

l Two men were shot at a children’s

flag football game in Manassas.

l A 16-year-old was arrested after

allegedly walking into a Manassas

mall wearing a ski mask and carrying

a gun.

l A 15-year-old boy fatally shot two

men in an apartment in Woodbridge.

l A 9-year-old girl was gunned

down while she played outside with

friends. There’s a gutting video of the

incident, where she screams “I can’t

SEE DVORAK ON B3

We have failed our children and teachers

Petula

Dvorak

DOUGAL BROWNLIE/GAZETTE/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Students today are all too familiar with active-shooter drills. Above,

students practice at Fountain Middle School in Fountain, Colo., in 2017.

Mark Bucher, co-owner of the D.C.-based Medium Rare restaurant group, restocks a refrigerator outside the

Glassmanor Community Center in Oxon Hill with free baby formula on Wednesday.

71

°

73

°

73

°

70

°

8 a.m. Noon 4 p.m. 8 p.m.

High today at

approx. 2 p.m.

74

°

Precip: 95%

Wind: S

8-16 mph