January 3, 2008
Morning Roundup: Bitter Pills Edition
Good morning, Washington. It really is freezing outside, people are dropping like flies from this terrible cold going around town, and over in Iowa, we hear there's some kind of a fake election going on that's going to dominate the news cycle all day. It could all be enough to get us down, but yet, we carry on ... until we read this story about an 11-year-old boy in Burke, VA who has been arrested on charges of breaking and entering and sexual assault. Eleven years old! Kid hasn't even gone through puberty yet. WTF?
Second Prisoner Escape in Two Months Ends in Fatal Shooting: The escape Wednesday of Kelvin Poke from Laurel Regional Hospital was the second in less than two months from the facility. Poke was eventually shot and killed by Prince George's County police while they pursued him. The Examiner says hospital employees are shaken up by this latest escape, and the AP reports that an investigation will be launched into prisoner handling outside prison walls by the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.
Needle Exchange to get $650,000: It's less than the $1 million Mayor Fenty initially pledged, but yesterday District officials announced the investment of $650,000 into needle exchange programs now that a federal ban on such spending has been lifted by Congress. The only pre-existing needle exchange group in the District, PreventionWorks!, will receive a $300,000 grant that is included in that figure.
Briefly Noted: The National Aquarium in D.C is having rent trouble ... Two treated for hypothermia after pond rescue ... Metro names a new Chief Safety Officer.
This Day in DCist: In 2007 we tried to cook and eat Eamonn's fish and chips at home, and in 2005 we were looking at that year's drop in homicides in the District.
Photo by jamietre
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I have warm memories of my first B&E. I was a lad of just 7 or 8 but wily enough to watch my friend punch the key code into his garage door opener. Soon afterward, my Garbage Pail Kids collection got substantially larger. Ah, youth.
(N.B.: Sexual assault is WRONG. I am taking a stand.)
I had no idea there was an aquarium in D.C.!!!
Sommer, or anyone else for that matter, do you have any idea what was going on in Shaw this morning? Did anyone else hear and see helicopters circling for seemingly forever this morning at about 4:30am. Probably around 8-9th and Florida. Kept me up all morning.
He had touched her inappropriately and fled when she saw him, police said.
So basically anyone who's ever been crammed into a DJ night frottage fest at the Black Cat is guilty of misdemeanor sexual battery. Great. I better get to work on that rosary.
I don't know, dbones. I was under the influence of Nyquil and didn't hear or see anything. I'll poke around.
That basement in the Hoover Building where the aquarium's at is a dank pit of dispair. I hope Norton gets them some cash so they can move to another area that isn't so stygian; it's like zoo reptile house only with worse lighting and a clammier climate. There are plenty of neighborhoods in DC that would want an attraction like an aquarium. Matter of fact, they should just gut MLK Library, caulk it, and turn it into a huge fishtank, or at least a catch-and-release pond for the homeless. After all, give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to kill and others will feed him for a lifetime.
@monkeyrotica: the national aquarium is in the commerce building.
The aquarium at the Reef is probably better than the National Aquarium.
DC1974: The Commerce Building is the Herbert C. Hoover Building. Or, the Hoobert Heaver Building if you're drunk in Federal Triangle and looking for a legal place to pee.
Insert obligatory comment about how the National Aquarium is a pit of despair and who the hell would go to an aquarium that's in an office building anyway? here.
The MLK Library/Aquarium/Homeless Empowerment Center.
The National Aquarium isn't that bad, it's small size makes it just right for a quick outing with an easily bored toddler and admission is about a third of what it is for the Aquarium in Baltimore.
Cranky,
You forgot needle exchange center.
The DC Aquarium web site does not exactly inspire confidence.
Seriously, has anyone in town NOT had this horrible, horrible cold? Everyone I know has come down with it, and I had it for a month.
@HCE, still transitioning from the stress season to the sick season, gimme a few days