Ballou HS Rocks the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
Morning Roundup: Black Friday Edition
Photo of the Day: November 27, 2009
Caps Thankful for Varly in 2-0 Win
Thanks to This Week's Advertisers
Maybe we just have a short memory, but yesterday was the first day of the summer that felt oppressively awful in that distinctly D.C.-ish way. Apparently we weren't the only ones — NBC4 says that a bunch of kids from the National Student Leadership Council who were visiting Capitol Hill became sick from the heat, requiring treatment in a Senate office building (they're all fine). Today promises to be two degrees hotter.
Md. Teacher Sentenced For Bomb Threats: The Examiner brings closure to a strange story that began two years ago. In April Michelle Dohm was found guilty of writing threatening notes to some of her students, apparently in an odd bid for attention. She'll serve nine months in jail and another nine in home detention for the bizarre acts.
Alexandria Parts Ways With Superintendent: With all the dramatic developments surrounding D.C.'s school system, it's easy to forget about the more sedate controversy occurring in Alexandria. The Alexandria school board had voted not to renew Superintendent Rebecca Perry's contract, perhaps due to her 2004 drunken driving arrest. But the vote could still have been reversed. Well, not anymore. The AP via WTOP reports that their decision is now final: Perry's contract won't be renewed. Sentiment to get rid of Perry seems to be far from universal, as a perusal of these op-eds, columns and letters to the editor demonstrates.
Shooting Cats Is Mostly Not Funny: We don't mean to be insensitive — cruelty toward animals really isn't funny. But volunteer firefighter and part-time pastor Jonathan Powell's quickly-changing story sort of is: he initially told police that he shot his neighbor's cat's head off because it was scratching his car; later, he said that he thought it was a possum or raccoon; and later, that he didn't know how the cat died. The AP and NBC4 have all the sad, ludicrous details.
Briefly Noted: Home invasion in Mt. Pleasant leaves three shot, one fatally... Marlo deliveryman testifies about the cop accused of shooting him... YWCA residents complain of bedbugs, mold...
This Day In DCist: One year ago we were in the midst of Deluge '06, yet still found time to welcome the Washington Times' interns to the blogosphere. In 2005 we talked with Pat McGee.
Image posted to DCist Photos by Flickr user Samer Farha
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Update: the interns are blogging again this summer. Their tripe is still, well, tripe and funny in an "oh-my-god-no-no-no please stop writing so i can stop reading" kind of way.
- english major
It sounds like some of our national student leaders did a little drinkin' last night.
That pastor is a sick asshole.
This'll be the Summer of the Thugs once again if we don't see enough police presence in Mount Pleasant.
Not sure why the home invasion was identified as being in Mt. Pleasant. That apartment building is not in Mt. Pleasant, but north of Mt. Pleasant and Columbia Heights on the edge of Crestwood and Shepherd Park.
Baldino: I ended up using the Post writeup of the story, but I originally saw the story at a different news outlet -- NBC4, I think -- and they identified it as Mt. Pleasant. If that's inaccurate, I apologize; I'm not personally familiar with the street in question.
Thanks for the response. I have seen this story reported inaccurately in other stories as well, so it's easy to see how the error has been repeated.
I'll seize the opportunity the YWCA story presents to raise bedbug awareness. It's a growing problem in our area that's very difficult to resolve, desperately yucky to most people, and not at all limited to homeless shelters and low-income tenants. A lot of apartments in NYC are already affected, so they're beginning public discussion about ways to treat / contain the problem. In that spirit, I'll link to a very helpful NYC-based website called bedbugger.com, which, among other things, offers a registry for reporting infested buildings and hotels in other major cities. Here are the few reports listed for DC: http://bedbugregistry.com/directory/DC/?mode=&start=
Hopefully, adding reports to this list will help people avoid infested buildings (or buying Craigslist stuff from infested buildings) and hotels. Also, it seems like documentation is the first step in confronting a public health issue. I don't mean to overdramatize, but I'll do a lot to avoid ever having them again! When I have a chance, I'll add that infested apartment I rented briefly in sleepy McLean Gardens... in one of the buildings that is now marketed as upscale condos!
Ah, a truly helpful but gross mashup idea there. Bedbug incidence maps with Craigslist furniture ads.
What's next, rat sightings with ReMax homes for sale?
Bedbugs. *shudder* I dealt with them for 4 months two years ago when the apartment next to mine became infested and they travelled. It took that long to kill off all the buggers in my unit (theirs took longer from what I understand from the building manager). Sleepless nights when you wonder whether any little movement of the sheets is bugs crawling on you or not. It's a truly, truly horrific experience.
Attention home invasion robbers:
Some of us in Mt. Pleasant are armed, unconstitutional laws be damned. I will have no compunction about shooting you if you come into my home. I am not the only one. Continue this bullshit at your own peril.
(some guy's address)
Think that's the cat killer? Just saying.
Needless to say, we're not going to tolerate the posting of other people's personal information for the purposes of encouraging harassment -- particularly when it's speculative. The person who posted that should be ashamed.
And remember: we've got your IP. That doesn't let us know that much about you besides the fact that you're a Verizon subscriber, but if something happened to the guy whose information you posted, you can bet the authorities would put in the time to see who owned that address's DHCP lease when you posted the comment.
So: please don't be a jerk. The comment section is not intended to be used for forming online lynch mobs.