The Washington Post - 07.03.2020

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SATURDAy, MARCH 7 , 2020. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/REGIONAL eZ su B

relIgIon

some synagogues are

scaling back Purim

festivities over concerns

about coronavirus. B2

tHe DIStrIct

Mourners gathered to

celebrate the 14th

birthday of a boy who was

fatally shot in shaw. B3

oBItuArIeS

read about the lives of

residents of the d.c. area

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40 ° 47 ° 52 ° 45 ° obituaries

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

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BY PAUL DUGGAN

A Maryland woman who

pleaded guilty in a drunken-driv-

ing crash that killed six passen-

gers in her sport utility vehicle,

five of them children, was sen-

tenced Friday to 18 years in prison

at a packed court hearing freight-

ed with sorrow and raw anger.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” Domin-

ique R. Taylor, 33, whispered

through sobs at the defendant’s

table, as scores of grim-faced on-

lookers — loved ones of hers and

of the dead — listened in silence

in a Prince George’s County court-

room.

“I’m sorry,” s he kept saying, her

voice barely audible. “I’m sorry.”

Ta ylor, who pleaded guilty to

six counts of vehicular man-

slaughter, was sentenced for a

crash in Bowie that killed her two

see taylor on B6

Md. driver

sentenced

to 18 years

for 6 deaths

BY DANA HEDGPETH

Car pools and commuter buses

are a bit more common along a

stretch of Interstate 66 after some

drivers began paying tolls two

years ago during peak commut-

ing hours, according to a new

report.

The northern Virginia Trans-

portation Commission (nVTC)

conducted the study to determine

whether mass-transit ridership

and commuter behaviors have

changed along the 10 miles of I-66

inside the Beltway. The report

showed fewer vehicles are using

I-66 during the morning rush but

more people are moving through

the corridor.

The agency receives some of

the toll revenue collected along

the corridor, then uses that mon-

ey — a bout $15 million to $20 mil-

lion annually — t o support transit

options in the region. The report’s

findings were presented Thurs-

day to the commission’s board.

“We were pleasantly sur-

prised,” said Kate Mattice, execu-

tive director of the commission,

see toll on B6

I-66 study finds uptick in carpooling, commuter bus usage

JAHI cHIKwendIu/tHe wAsHIngton Post

the ramp from lee Highway onto Interstate 66 i n late 201 7, shortly after the toll system was instituted.

data shows fewer vehicles using I-66 during the morning rush but more people moving through.

A sprint to the finish for Virginia legislators

steVe Helber/AssocIAted Press

del. Marcus B. simon (d-Fairfax) speaks to House speaker eileen Filler-corn (d-Fairfax), center, and Majority leader charniele l. Herring (d-alexandria) on Friday.

BY TOM JACKMAN

A federal magistrate judge on

Friday gave the Justice Depart-

ment one week to hand over the

FBI’s investigative files to lawyers

for the family of Bijan Ghaisar,

who was shot and killed by two

U.s. Park Police officers in 2017.

During a hearing in federal

court in Alexandria, Va., the

judge r epeatedly rebuked a feder-

al attorney for delaying pretrial

discovery in the lawsuit against

the Park Police and rejected her

request to file motions on the

issue.

Ghaisar, 25, was shot and

killed by officers Lucas Vinyard

and Alejandro Amaya as he slow-

ly drove away from them in his

Jeep Grand Cherokee on nov. 17,

2017. He was unarmed, but had
      driven away from the officers in
      two previous stops minutes earli-
      er. The FBI took over investiga-
      tion of the case, and in november
      2019 the Justice Department
      ruled that no federal criminal
      civil rights charges would be filed
      against the officers.
      Ghaisar’s family sued the Park
      Police and the officers in 2018.
      The cases are currently separate,
      because the Park Police won a
      dismissal of the case on technical
      grounds and then were re-sued
      last year. Both cases are assigned
      to senior U.s. District Judge
      Claude M. Hilton, and some pre-
      trial matters are being heard by
      U.s. Magistrate Judge Ivan D.
      Davis.
      A scheduling order entered by
      Davis in the Park Police case in
      see gHaIsar on B2

Ghaisar

FBI files

ordered

released

Judge gives Justice Dept.

week to give up records

probing fatal shooting

wins.

Gov. Ralph northam (D) has

already signed 149 bills into law.

The measures and hundreds of

others that are on their way to his

desk will fundamentally trans-

form the former capital of the

Confederacy into a solidly blue

state — a place where gun laws

are tighter, LGBT and abortion

rights are more expansive, and

certain undocumented students

are eligible for in-state college

tuition.

on Friday, legislators worked

see legIslature on B4

BY LAURA VOZZELLA

AND GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER

richmond — Virginia’s House

and senate are barreling toward

the end of a historic legislative

session with hundreds of bills

outstanding and an impasse on

the state budget.

The General Assembly is

scheduled to adjourn its 60-day

session on saturday, the first in a

quarter-century with Democrats

in control of both chambers and

the executive Mansion.

But it appeared that the legis-

lature might not wrap up its work

on time, particularly when it

comes to approving a proposed

two-year, $135 billion budget.

Lawmakers negotiating the de-

tails missed a critical deadline

Thursday to have the spending

plan on their colleagues’ desks by

to pretend it was still Thursday.

That kept about 100 bills alive,

effectively extending the dead-

line to move them into confer-

ence.

“How much longer will we be

in Thursday?” sen. Ryan T. Mc-

Dougle (R-Hanover) asked sen-

ate Clerk susan Clarke schaar

late Friday afternoon. It w as not a

joke. With both chambers still at

work, schaar had no firm answer.

The senate ultimately adjourned

at 5:44 p.m., and the House a

short time later.

The frenzied ending could cast

a shadow on a session otherwise

bursting with big Democratic

the end of the day, which would

have given them 48 hours to

review the proposal before a sat-

urday vote. The plan was still

being hashed out in committee

late Friday afternoon.

The House and senate, plow-

ing through a mountain of other

legislation, called it quits at a bout

8:30 p.m. Thursday so that bud-

get negotiators could get back to

work. But instead of formally

adjourning for the day, the House

and senate called a 12-hour “re-

cess.”

The legislative trick allowed

lawmakers, who resumed the

floor session at 8:30 a.m. Friday,

HuNDREDs OF BILLs REMAIN OutstANDING

Frenzied ending could blot Democrats’ successes

Va. Democrats divided

House passes anti-gerrymandering

measure, despite objections. B4

Boost for clean energy

lawmakers pass legislation

mandating a shift by 2045. B4

BY OVETTA WIGGINS

The Maryland House of Dele-

gates on Friday night approved a

historic public schools reform

bill, which would be the first

major overhaul on education pol-

icy by a state since Massachusetts

— regarded as the nation’s gold

standard on public education —

approved legislation nearly three

decades ago.

The bill would set in place a

10-year plan to expand prekin-

dergarten; increase funding to

schools with a high percentage of

poor, special education or limit-

ed-english students; raise teach-

er pay and increase standards;

and add more programs to ensure

that students are prepared for

college and careers.

The House voted 96 to 41,

along partisan lines, after hours

of debate.

“We haven’t done anything

more significant for education in

the state of Maryland since we

created the Board of education in

the 1900s,” said Majority Leader

eric G. Luedtke (D-Montgomery).

“It addresses the problems we’ve

known about in our schools for

decades. We f inally have the polit-

ical will to do something about

see educatIon on B4

M d. House

passes bill

to overhaul

education

10-year plan to improve

schools would end up

costing $4 billion a year