November 3rd, 2010 – 4:28pm
The Washington Examiner
By Emily Babay
The man accused of killing federal intern Chandra Levy told a former cellmate that he was responsible for her death, but denied sexually assaulting her, the cellmate testified Thursday.
“I killed that bitch, but I didn’t rape her,” Ingmar Guandique allegedly told cellmate Armando Morales at a Kentucky prison in 2006.
Morales’ testimony about his conversations with Guandique while the two were cellmates at Big Sandy prison is the most incriminating evidence thus far in Guandique’s murder trial in D.C. Superior Court.
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Read more: courts, Washington Examiner, writing
October 13th, 2010 – 4:31pm
The Washington Examiner
By Emily Babay
It’s a classic David and Goliath story: A white-shoe law firm staffed with hundreds of D.C.’s most-powerful lawyers has moved to shutter a hamburger eatery on the grounds that the lawyers didn’t like the aroma of cooking meat wafting into their offices.
So far, Goliath is winning.
D.C. Superior Court Judge John Mott ordered the restaurant, Rogue States on Connecticut Avenue near Dupont Circle, to shut down its grill this week. Neighboring law firm Steptoe & Johnson had sued the restaurant, saying the firm’s employees suffered nausea, watery eyes and headaches from Rogue States’ fumes.
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August 20th, 2010 – 4:36pm
The Washington Examiner
By Emily Babay
One year ago, Douglass Berg, of Reston, said goodbye to his son and daughter before they boarded a flight with his ex-wife on what was supposed to be a three-week visit to her native Japan. He has not seen the children since.
Stefanie Gardner, a native of Germany, traveled to that country with the two young sons she had been raising in Northern Virginia with her estranged husband, Gregory. Since then, she has refused to allow them to return. He accused her of kidnapping the boys, and a warrant for her arrest was issued in the United States. But a German court has awarded her sole custody.
For an increasing number of parents in the Washington area, child-bearing relationships with a foreign partner are deteriorating into charges of child abductions, and in many cases legal struggles in which the deck is stacked against Americans fighting the laws of another country.
Nationwide, the number of cases is rising dramatically. There were 1,135 international child abductions in fiscal 2009, according to State Department statistics. That’s nearly double the 642 cases reported in 2006.
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August 13th, 2010 – 5:45pm
The Washington Examiner
By Emily Babay
A former Leesburg resident was arrested in connection with stabbings that have killed five people and wounded 13 in three states, but police say the motive for the attacks is still unclear.
Elias Abuelazam, 33, was arrested at about 10 p.m. Wednesday at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as he attempted to board a flight to Tel Aviv.
He has been charged with one count of assault with intent to murder in Michigan, where police allege Abuelazam has killed five people and injured nine in the Flint area. Police say also say he stabbed three people in Leesburg and one in Toledo, Ohio, in early August.
Though charges have not yet been filed in Virginia, police can place Abuelazam and his vehicle “in the Northern Virginia area during the time of our assaults,” Leesburg Police Chief Joseph Price said Thursday.
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Read more: breaking news, crime, Washington Examiner, writing
June 29th, 2010 – 5:50pm
The Washington Examiner
By Emily Babay
It is “very probable” that the three men accused of covering up Robert Wone’s death conspired to mislead police, a D.C. judge ruled, but prosecutors still did not present enough evidence to warrant a conviction.
Superior Court Judge Lynn Leibovitz found Joseph Price, Dylan Ward and Victor Zaborsky not guilty of conspiracy and obstruction of justice Tuesday.
Price was also acquitted of tampering with evidence in connection with Wone’s Aug. 2, 2006, stabbing death in the trio’s Dupont Circle town house. Ward and Zaborsky had previously been acquitted of that charge.
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June 17th, 2010 – 5:52pm
The Washington Examiner
By Emily Babay
A convicted killer wanted for a parole violation. Two sex offenders who failed to register with authorities. A mugger on the run after violating probation.
Those are some of the “Most Wanted” fugitives that authorities took into custody over the past two years, thanks to readers of The Washington Examiner.
But of the 20 fugitives who were apprehended after having been profiled in The Examiner’s “Most Wanted” feature, nearly half are already out on the street. Six have been released, one is slated to be let go within weeks, and two others are out on bond awaiting trial.
The others are being held in various local, state and federal detention facilities.
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Read more: crime, enterprise, Washington Examiner, writing
August 10th, 2009 – 6:19pm
Omaha World-Herald
By Emily Babay
Just minutes after Mission for All Nations opened the doors to its food pantry Tuesday night, dozens of people filled the waiting room, eager to stock up on cereal, fruits and vegetables. Cars were double-parked outside the faith-based charity near South 21st and Q Streets.
And that, executive director Mary Anaya said, was a slow night.
The previous week — at the end of the month, when paychecks, unemployment benefits and food stamps run low — more than 400 people received food.
As the economy continues to lag, area food programs are seeing big increases in the number of people seeking help, forcing food banks and pantries to spend more money and be more aggressive in seeking donations and volunteers.
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July 29th, 2009 – 9:28pm
Omaha World-Herald
By Emily Babay
Outside the livestock pavilion at the Sarpy County Fairgrounds, Payton Holling’s hand slipped from the red rope holding his sheep. The 7-year-old’s wheelchair veered to the side.
Priscilla, a 1½-year-old ewe wearing a hot pink feather boa, started to saunter away.
Morgan Cox, a two-year veteran of a local sheep club, reined both back in.
“Priscilla, we lost him!” the 16-year-old said good-naturedly as she handed the Suffolk-Hampshire cross sheep’s rope back to Payton, who has Down syndrome and cerebral palsy.
Payton is a member of the True Buddy sheep club, a new program that pairs special-needs children with local 4-H’ers who show sheep.
The club has met every other week since mid-June. This week, at the Sarpy County Fair, its members will show the sheep they have learned to walk and care for.
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July 23rd, 2009 – 9:35pm
Omaha World-Herald
By Emily Babay
It’s a daily routine for many teens and young adults: open the laptop, log on to Facebook, send messages to friends.
And learn about their grandfather’s knee replacement and view a former teacher’s vacation pictures?
More adults are using social-networking Web sites such as Facebook to communicate with friends and family, marking Facebook’s shift from a place where college students interact with their peers to one that attracts a more mainstream audience.
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July 6th, 2009 – 9:44pm
Omaha World-Herald
By Emily Babay
At a pace of five or six titles a week, Lyla Thompson is steadily reading the books in her collection.
All 6,000 of them.
The Omaha woman is a lifelong reader and book collector. Since she retired in 1999, Thompson, 69, has pursued her passion with new enthusiasm; her reading hours resemble a full-time job.
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