Man Stops Traffic at 17th and K to Demand $200 Million
Morning Roundup: Goodbye, Abe Edition
Judge Throws Out WTU Suit Over Teacher Layoffs
Vegetate to Close at the End of the Month
Morning Roundup: Rain Won't Go Away Edition
To be honest, Washington, it's taking everything we've got not to put up eight or nine posts today just indulging in our need to whine about how nasty hot it is outside. Apparently the humidity today and tomorrow is going to be so intense, it could feel like it's 105 degrees. Can we all agree that this is not OK? OK. Thanks. We'll move on to the headlines then, and by "move on" we don't of course mean that we'll be physically moving at all, because that might cause us all to pass out from heat exhaustion. Oh, and the National Weather Service has issued heat advisories until 8 p.m. in Maryland, in Northern Virginia all buses are free, and in D.C. the only change we've heard about so far is the traditional closing of the DMV Inspection Station at 1 p.m.
D.C. Fire Sergeant Resigns Under Pressure: A D.C. fire department sergeant who has been under criminal investigation for sexual misconduct has resigned. According to the Examiner, the sergeant is accused of exposing himself to a female EMS worker at the Engine 8 firehouse after she asked him for overtime.
International Car Theft Ring Busted in Maryland: Doesn't it seem like we're arresting an awful lot of internationally renowned criminals in the metro area lately? First there was that drug kingpin police found in a Silver Spring restaurant, and now Maryland officials broke up a major East Coast car-theft ring that ships luxury vehicles to West Africa and the Middle East. Nine people were arrested after a series of three raids across Prince George's, Howard and Montgomery counties.
Briefly Noted: Metro Transit Police called 'woefully inadequate' ... Federal judge declares Virginia rowdy-bar law unconstitutional ... Pentagon officials in trouble for violating ethics rules by helping a Christian group produce a fundraising video.
This Day in DCist: In 2006 we were aghast to discover ballot stuffing on the part of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities when it came to choosing which two statues we'd like to have placed in the Capitol's National Statuary Hall, and in 2004 we noted some tough talk from D.C. government regarding fighting to keep 15th St. open to traffic near the White House.
Photo by christaki
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
The worst training deficiency of Metro Police is one they face most often: crowd control.
When a train line is stopped, WMATA announces that a "bus bridge" can ferry passengers around the problem, and mobs congregate at bus stops above stations on either side of the blockage. Metro Police do not feel responsible for controlling these crowds, or just don't know how, and tempers flare.
While it is certainly fraudulent for WMATA to claim it can mobilize the number of drivers needed to shuttle patrons of 800-passenger trains on 40-passenger buses in a reasonable period of time, it is still the duty of Metro Police to keep order at the mobbed bus stops. WMATA must train officers to do this and punish those who will not.
Flowers in hanging containers are a total b*tch. This year my 3 window boxes are a total flop, despite attentive watering and trying to select plants with drought and heat tolerance. Past years I did good with wave petunias, vinca, and lantana, but this year nothing thrived, and the usually hardy pentunias all died off. Twice. I think I must have bought bad soil. If anybody has any tips to make mine look like this, I'm all ears.
No mention of Wone's wife making a public plea? Perhaps you're going to post on it individually, but I'm interested if anyone is aware of any developments. Has a consensus formed as to what most people think actually happened? So far this story reads like some sort of a Law and Order episode.
Metro either needs more police, or they need to scrap the department and simply pay DC police and MD and VA county departments to patrol the stations and trains. The former would be preferrable.
You simply don't see enough transit police on duty in the stations, and when you do, they are often doing things unrelated to public safety such as guarding the people who empty the farecard machines (that should be contracted to an armored car security company), hanging out in the manager's booth, or standing outside of the station.
Its worse with the busses, I've ridden Metro busses in DC, Arlington, and Maryland for 15 years and have never once seen a transit cop on a bus.
What an excellent photograph.
Anyone else notice the (I'm guessing here) art installation outside the K Street entrance to the Farragut North Metro? There were two "bodies," the torsos of which were wrapped in black garbage bags. One was propped up against a garbage can, and the other was sitting down on the sidewalk with its legs splayed. There were two guys with cameras filming the whole thing, one of whom was joking with the cop directing traffic, and most people walking by seemed totally oblivious. What was that all about?
My last comment seems to have been eaten, so hopefully this isn't a double post...
Did anyone else notice some kind of, I can only guess, art installation outside the K Street entrance to the Farragut North Metro? There were two "bodies" whose torsos were wrapped in black garbage bags, with just their legs and feet visible. One was propped up against a garbage can, and the other was sitting down on the sidewalk with its legs splayed. Two guys were filming the whole thing, one of whom was joking with a traffic cop, and most people walking by seemed totally oblivious to it. What was that all about?
Oops. Anyway, anyone have a clue as to what that was?