TOP STORIES: Teacher arrested for gun found in school parking lot

Welcome in at three o'clock. I'm Marina Morocco. Let's get you caught up on everything that happened over the weekend and into this week. At this hour, all Manassas Park City schools closed after a loaded handgun was found in a middle school parking lot. And just into the newsroom, police have now identified and taken into custody the person suspected of carrying that gun, Veronica Goutre. She is a Manassas Park High School art teacher. The gun found on the ground between two school vans this morning. Police say there is no threat to the school. The teacher being charged with possession of a firearm on school property. Officials say the decision to close schools was made out of an abundance of caution. Yes, so we hear about, you know, other events around the country. Like there was just a school shooting in Oregon within the last couple of weeks. So we think about, yes, it may be difficult to have a closure of our schools at the last minute. But we'd rather have our students spend one day at home than have students who don't go home from school that day. So we're always going to err on the side of caution when it comes to student safety. Former FBI agent Ken Gray joining us. And obviously, we saw the major part of the puzzle here, who this gun belonged to. And it sounds as though, Ken, this employee reported the discovery, according to Manassas, schools here promptly allowing officers to respond and begin the investigation. So potentially some sort of mistake or just bringing a gun that she should have been brought to a school property. Yeah, most schools have policies that nobody, including employees, can bring weapons into school grounds. Consequently, she's going to be looking at legal action against her. She was arrested for doing so. But fortunately, it turns out that this was not a threat against the school, that there was no threat to anybody there on the school. And an employee found the gun between two vans there early this morning. So at no time were any students at risk. Yeah, but obviously the what if always exists. And that now has to be accounted for in these charges, even if this person is in good standing, if the gun was properly concealed, if it was all legal to say. Right. But the fact that it was brought onto school property, there will be charges here. There's been such huge conversations we heard about the Oregon shooting there from the superintendent and obviously also arming teachers potentially to that effect. Is there any defense in saying, hey, I don't feel safe at school property. I have it as a just in case. How does that even go? So that's not a defense in itself. While some states have considered arming teachers, I don't believe that that's the case in Virginia. And if that were the case in Virginia, you would have to go through a process of qualifying with the weapon, legally having to have a permit for that weapon. This art teacher did not meet either of those conditions. So that's not a defense in this case. But weapons on school property, there's like, I think there's been 250 plus cases of that during the year already. And those do not involve anybody being shot. I think there's been like 24 cases of shootings at schools this year so far. But this is now another one of those cases where there was a gun incident at a school and will be added to the list. Yeah, certainly. Are the charges potentially aggravated because the gun, this firearm in question, was loaded? So I'm not familiar with Virginia law there. I can't say if the fact that it was a loaded gun makes a difference. But the fact that it was a gun, if she had a permit, losing a gun by itself is a problem. And losing a gun on school property is definitely a big problem. Yeah, I would imagine the same would go for law enforcement, right? A loaded gun that's a service weapon. If that to some degree is misplaced or lost, that's also an issue. Yes, absolutely. And that sometimes happens. And when it does happen, employees either get sworn officers either get fired or charged with that. Yeah. Okay. All right. We'll see what comes out of this art teacher and those charges she's now facing there in Manassas Park. Ken, thank you for the breakdown. Thank you. Topic number two here in D.C., where early voting started today. Residents now choosing a new generation of leadership for the city. Axios reporter Janae Dill joining us here. And I think, you know, Janae, people can say, well, it's early voting. But I think we know for the most part, like, where the executive is going to go for the mayor, et cetera. But still, there's big things on the ballot. Yeah, that's right. I mean, the biggest races in D.C. were kind of already settled in the Democratic primary. Janice Lewis George is expected to be the next mayor. Robert White, now council member, will likely succeed Eleanor Holmes Norton as D.C.'s delegate to Congress. And down the ballot, there are some other council races that are predicted to go the way everyone expects them. There is Initiative 86, though, that is a big fight heating up kind of in the last couple of weeks about banning foie gras in D.C. So their advocates want to ban foie gras. They believe it's cruel and unnecessary to put animals through, to put ducks through this sort of process where they've got to feed them, overfeed them to get this fatty liver that is a delicacy. On the other hand, Jose Andres and other chefs are now speaking out against it. And now voters are going to see, we're going to see what happens when voters take a look at this. Jose Andres saying, quote, let's ban beef and pork and chicken and also vegetables, too, because a study that says it may be it's indications of suffering. We have children hungry in the USA and the world. Let's end hunger and then we will talk. Strongly rebuking this initiative here. Where does polling stand? Have we seen kind of the numbers as to where the people stand on foie gras? I haven't seen any sort of legit polling that I can draw on. But something that's interesting is if voters approve this, it's kind of not a surprise because a lot of, you know, a lot of these ballot measures, people go into the ballot box and hit yes. But if they reject it, it'll be the first time in over 30 years that a D.C. ballot initiative was rejected. And some people I speak to who are going to vote no on it just say there are a lot of other issues to tackle right now instead of foie gras. But we're going to see what happens, of course. Yeah, I think that's what Jose Andres was trying to get at. What else are you all watching over at Axios for early voting and just the turnout here in general? What are things looking like? I got to say, you know, the big races have been set locally, but we're going to watch nationally with the midterms what happens, because the balance of Congress will determine how aggressively Republicans can go after the city still. And conversely, if Democrats win the House or if they even win the Senate, as some people are looking at, uh... that's a big deal for the District of Columbia and its relations with the federal government so there's a lot at stake nationally with the way congress uh... tilts at the end of uh... next week's midterms will tear point there's been a lot of action in congress that's been taken that relates to DC uh... because obviously uh... of its jurisdiction and so yes your point about the power matters for DC any talk of statehood I know that's always a big uh... potential for people are heading to the ballot box even though it's not on the ballot this this time around? Yeah, it's not on the ballot, but Robert White, who's going to be the next delegate, is going to swing districts in Virginia and Pennsylvania, and he's trying to canvas to unseat Republicans so that they can have some more supporters of statehood in Congress if Democrats do win. So the statehood fight is not really a live one right now, but advocates are still trying to make it an issue going forward. So we're going to see how many seats Democrats pick up. That's the big thing we're watching. Yeah, certainly the midterms will affect D.C. nationally as well. Janae, good to talk to you, and of course we'll keep your reporting at hand there with Axios. We appreciate it. Topic number three here is Maryland is with a fight over Maryland's congressional maps heating up with a rally this morning in Bowie. Former President Barack Obama urging voters to approve question three on the ballot, saying it would help counter Republican redistricting efforts in other states, but Republicans warn the measure could give Democrats an advantage and put the state's only Republican Congressman Andy Harris at risk. All this debate comes as the recent UMBC poll found 53 percent of voters oppose redistricting in Maryland. And Maryland voters will now have their final say come midterm election next week. Maryland Matters reporter Brian Sears here with us. I mean, that's clearly divided because I imagine the margin of error is about 3 percent, 53 percent, right down the middle here, Brian. It's going to come down potentially to turnout on this redistricting issue. I think it's going to come down to turnout. And it's also going to come down to how voters really see this issue. And look, it's, you know, in my experience, 26 years covering the Maryland Statehouse, very rarely do these ballot questions not succeed up and down the ballot, whether it's a statewide initiative or even a local initiative. But this one seems to be this seems to be one to watch. All right. So we're going to be watching this congressional district one here. What's Andy Harris saying to all of this? We saw the back and forth there with journalists a couple weeks ago, not very favorable to the case there. But regardless, what's coming out of this, especially out of that one district? Look, Andy Harris is very opposed to this. Interestingly enough, his opponent, Democrat Dan Schwartz, has also come out in opposition. That's no surprise. In the first congressional district, which is mostly rural on the eastern side of the Chesapeake Bay stretching to Ocean City, Most of that district is fairly opposed to it. And so that's going to be an area where I would expect that if this ballot measure were to pass into that area, it passes only very slimly. But this is a heavily Republican first congressional district. It probably doesn't fare well there. And then it's anybody's guess how this plays in the rest of the state. Where's Wes Moore, the governor, been spending most of his time? Because he's pretty much a shoo-in at this point for the election up against Dan Cox there. This is the issue that he wants to see voters vote on. Well, he was in Bowie today advocating for this. And interestingly enough, tomorrow he's doing a swing through western Maryland through some of the states out there in support of some Democrats in Hagerstown and also in Frederick County, Frederick County Executive Jessica Fitzwater, who is locked in a pretty tough fight out there. Much, much tougher than it probably should be, given the given the breakdown of her congressional I'm sorry, of her county. And that really seems to center around the issue of data centers. Yeah, data centers is the one thing that we across the board, right? I mean, obviously, we know what's going on in Virginia, but in Maryland, it's a huge talking point. And we've had council members here from Prince George's County. They, too, are facing a huge point of conversation as they have so much land that's now turning over back to the county. Where how do you make up that tax revenue? And that's heating up at the polls. What do you see voters? I mean, it sounds like right now the voters are anti-data center at large. Look, we know for a fact that that's true. Again, going back to the UMBC poll, especially among Democrats and unaffiliated, the numbers are approaching 90 percent opposition. And those questions really looked at both whether or not people were interested in having data centers in their area, but also if they were in favor of data centers anywhere in the state of Maryland. And again, those numbers run pretty much 85, 90 percent against among Democrats and unaffiliated voters. Yeah, a state that is largely blue, of course, with the pockets that are exception, especially that first congressional district. We'll see what happens next Tuesday. Good to talk to you, Brian. We appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Yeah, you got it. And, of course, check out that reporting there with Maryland Matters. We'll be right back here on the DMV Zone. Thank you. Turns on red lights at every signalized intersection in Old Town. That proposal up for a vote tonight as city officials look to improve pedestrian safety and prevent crashes involving people crossing the street. Alexandria Now reporter James Collum following up on this one. And this is something that we've seen most jurisdictions start to head that way. And it sounds like Old Town is trying to do the same. Yeah, the ability to turn right on a red light could be eliminated entirely in Old Town Marina. I'm sorry to say that a lot of stories that I've been writing lately have been about pedestrians being struck at busy intersections. sections and the Alexandria traffic and parking board is going to vote on a tonight on whether to install no turn on red signage at all signalized intersections in the Old Town Old Town North and the Braddock and Parker Gray neighborhoods and uh