Morning Roundup: Fares and Fairs Edition

Welcome back to work, Washington. We don't know about you, but we spent an awfully long time in the sun this weekend consuming too much food at various street festivals, so forgive us if we're still groggily pondering Saturday's news in WaPo that the fare change about to be proposed by Metro General Manager John Catoe is an "average increase" of 45 cents. That kind of increase would theoretically raise the base fare of a Metro ride to $1.80, which certainly isn't out of line with our expectations, but of course Catoe and his managers aren't talking details until Thursday's board meeting. It's a relatively large increase, but probably not so large that customers won't be able to swallow it. Also of note: In an online Post chat where he laid out the reasoning behind the fare increases as being necessary to avoid cutting service, Catoe typed in all-caps: "WE WILL NOT RECOMMEND OVERALL CUTS TO SERVICE." Can we take this to mean late-night service is no longer in danger?

Ex-firefighter Who Reported Sex Ring Arrested: The former D.C. firefighter who told investigators about a sex ring being operated by fire department employees was arrested yesterday. Darryl Green, 42, was the man who recently exposed himself to a female emergency medical technician in the lounge area of Engine 8. Conversations between Green and officials during the course of the investigation led to the allegations of an active prostitution ring in the department, reports the Washington Times.

City Real Estate Deal Tied to Criminal Investor: The Examiner reports that the District has negotiated a $2.7 million deal between with a real estate investor who had been convicted of fraud. Members of the D.C. Council are expressing serious concern over the purchase of an apartment complex from John Spicer, who was convicted of fraud in 1989, that Mayor Fenty has pushed for in order to turn them into residences for the homeless. The Council is now investigating the purchase price agreed to by the city, which would constitute a nearly $1 million profit for Spicer, who bought the property less than a year ago for $1.88 million.

Briefly Noted: Man killed after being hit by SUV at 14th and K streets ... Suspicious package on Blue line train quickly found to be harmless ... Montgomery County police to run security drills in public ... Youth rehab agency found in contempt.

Photo by OffSeventh