Morning Roundup: Early Spring Edition
Looking out our windows this morning was a disappointment, to say the least, but don't say we didn't try to warn you. Whatever "wintry mix" that did rain down on the metro area last night has left little trace of itself in the city proper, except slick roads. Freezing rain and ice in the suburbs has, however, prompted some late starts at schools in Fairfax, Howard, and Montgomery county. Not to mention the excitement that must no doubt be happening out on the Beltway and other major roadways leading in to the city. One place where it is really snowing today is Punxsutawney, PA, home of the famous Groundhog named Phil. This morning at sunrise, Phil didn't see his shadow, and proclaimed that Spring should be right around the corner.
Getting Tough on Violent Crime: That's the plan, says D.C. Police Chief Lanier. Violent criminals beware, because the ludicrously named "Operation MVP (Most Violent Persons)" is comin' to getcha! Under the new operation, police will be targeting certain neighborhoods each week, first identifyng the most dangerous people in each areas. Then special operations officers and U.S. Marshals will work together to capture the suspects, who will be interrogated to see if they have any information about related crimes before being sent to jail.
Getting Tough on Metro Crime: Another swaggering announcement on crime tactics, this time from the Metro transit authority, who say they have formed a special police unit to capture robbers who steal from Metro riders. Actually, the unit has been operational since late December, but Metro didn't tell anyone about it until yesterday, we're guessing because they had a few other things to worry about lately. The new Metro Mod Squad hopes to improve upon last year's increase in the number of robberies, which rose 6 percent last year, to 352, up from 332 robberies in 2005.
WaPo Shows Us How it's Done: We may have picked on our MSM breathren a little too hard yesterday, because the front page of the Metro section of this morning's Washington Post has the complete story behind the wacky events of Wednesday night's robbery/shooting/frying pan/police stand-off in the NE Captiol Hill neighborhood. They even have a photo of Gary Peterson in his kitchen, holding his frying pan. Of course, if every crime story in Northeast involved a frying pan, we bet they'd each be receiving quite a bit more attention from major news sources. So that's our solution to raising awareness about crime all over the city. Washingtonians, arm yourselves with cookware!
Briefly Noted: Pentagon 9-11 Memorial prototype released ... Wilson High students arrested in attack on teacher ... Fairfax bank robber arrested ... Virginia transportation deal falls apart.
This Day in DCist: Last year we wondered where then-mayoral candidate Vincent Orange got the money for his fancy sign, and the year before that we gave you our recipe for Falafel.
Photo by Eye Captain