D.C. councilman threatens Virginia baseball group

If Major League Baseball awards Northern Virginia the soon-to-move Montreal Expos instead of Washington, the team may not be able to use RFK Stadium as a temporary home as originally planned.

At a news conference Saturday at the Wilson building downtown, city Councilman Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) said the city could pass legislation banning a Virginia team from playing in RFK Stadium during its first year, The Washington Post reported.

“Given the dynamics of the process right now, that the District is hands-down the favorite to get this team, if Major League Baseball awards this team to Virginia against all logic, I think there’s going to be considerable anger in the District of Columbia … and there’s no telling what could happen,” Evans said.

At the press conference, District officials also released poll results indicating that Washington-area baseball fans support relocating the Expos to the capital over a rival site in nearby Loudoun County, Va., the Post reported.

Loudoun County Board Chairman Scott York (I-At Large) dismissed the statements and said the suburban environment of Northern Virginia is a better place for a team.

“The players would have an excellent family atmosphere, excellent schools, a low crime rate,” York told The Post.

Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig is expected to make a decision about relocation before the baseball season ends in October. Mark Tuohey, chairman of the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission, which sponsored the survey, told The Post he expects baseball’s relocation committee to submit a recommendation to Selig by the end of the week.

Area residents receive nearly 300 distracted driving tickets

Metropolitan Police officers issued more than 250 tickets to drivers using cellular phones during August, the first month of a law banning “distracted driving,” The Washington Times reported.

Additionally, police handed out 31 tickets to motorists who drank coffee, ate food or handled children and pets while driving. Each ticket carries a $100 fine.

Despite the tickets, MPD officials said enforcing the new law is not necessarily a focus of the department.

“(Distracted driving) is not our number one priority, but it is important,” MPD Capt. Kevin Keegan of the Traffic Safety Unit Told the Times. “We are not getting preoccupied with it … This is just another law that fits in among hundreds of traffic violations, though it is high on the list of items that would contribute to a crash.”Washington’s version of the law classifies distracted driving as any activity that diverts drivers’ attention from the road.

-compiled by Ryan Holeywell