August 27, 2008
Morning Roundup: Bay Bridge, Beachgoers' Bane
Good morning, Washington. Did you catch Hillary's speech last night? If you didn't, spoiler alert!: she did not, in fact, encourage her imaginary armies of PUMA dead-enders to tear the Democratic Party to tiny, bloody shreds. During their post-speech analyses, cable news' legions of seemingly astonished commentators were able to hide their disappointment at this relatively unexciting development, but just barely.
Bay Bridge Traffic About to Get Worse: The Post has bad news for those of you headed to the beach this holiday weekend. Maryland transit officials have been evaluating the sidewalls of the Bay Bridge after August 10th's fatal accident, which ended with a tractor trailer plunging through the wall and into the water below, and they haven't liked what they've found. Apparently some of the reinforcing steel inside the sidewalls has rusted, and although this probably played no role in the accident it still needs to be fixed. As a result one lane of the eastbound span will be closed and the speed limit of the other lane reduced for the next ten weeks. Major delays are expected.
More Cuts From Summer Jobs Payroll: Two thousand more ineligible names have been removed from the District's summer youth job program, NBC4 reports. Throughout the summer the program has been plagued by cost overruns born of mismanagement. So although Mayor Fenty shrugged off these latest corrections as a normal part of the government payroll process, they'll no doubt be brought up during September's council hearing about where the jobs program went awry.
Surprise! More D.C. Government Tax Fraud: Jacqueline Wright has pleaded guilty to using her position in the D.C. tax office to create $184,000 worth of fake refund checks for her boyfriend, as WJLA reports. This apparently has nothing to do with the Harriette Walters tax scandal.
Briefly Noted: There was a robbery-related shooting two blocks east of Thomas Circle last night... Ballou put on lockdown for half-hour after teen is shot in knee near school... Dog attacks two children, one woman at Boys and Girls Club... More sex charges filed against Rockville soccer coach... Crime up 12% in Fairfax... Police release surveillance video of suspect in fatal shooting of 15 year-old boy... Md. delegate at DNC suffers stroke... Loudoun is now the nation's wealthiest county...
This Day In DCist: One year ago we spotted the mayor's impressive Blackberry collection.
Image posted to DCist Photos by Flickr user DMM
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You decide: is that duck perched and about to strike? Or is it "presenting" and ready to take one from monkeyE?
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PUMA my ass! Traveling pantsuit cougars, more like.
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Other local counties in the top 20 include the following:
Calvert County, Md. -- No. 6 ($95,134);
Arlington County, Va. -- No. 7 ($94,876);
Montgomery County -- No. 10 ($91,835);
Stafford County -- No. 12 ($87,629);
Prince William County -- No. 13 ($87,423);
Fauquier County -- No. 14 ($84,888);
Charles County -- No. 20 ($83,412).
With their property values bobbing in the crapper, I doubt Prince William will stay #13 for much longer. I'm really tempted to take a forclosure bus tour down there to see what I can get for $50k. I've been needing me a new swamp shack ever since Boss Hogg and Rosco P. Coaltrain done blowed up my still. Where are them Duke boys when I needs them?
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Oooh! Here's a reason for me to get a gun license: so I can shoot dogs that maul children. Kudos to you if you train your dog properly and it never bites anyone, but if my kids ever get bitten? That cujo's got a cap in its brain.
Stupid brings someone else's 90-lb mastiff-type dog to a boys & girls' club and then leaves it alone to escape and attack a crowd of children? Ugh, that's so many levels of wrong.
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It's quite refreshing to have Morning Roundup posted before 10 am. Makes my day so much more productive. Can we keep this up once Sommer gets back?
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"Jacqueline Wright has pleaded guilty to using her position in the D.C. tax office to create $184,000 worth of fake refund checks for her boyfriend"
This is starting to get petty. I mean, come on. They're gonna bust someone for a mere $184,000? Who amongst us hasn't taken a few hundred G in fake tax refunds? Jesus, even today on my way to work I took out $25k for walking around money. Are you gonna arrest me for that too? What a freakin police state, man.
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Reid, I think you'll find that Jesus financed most of his ministry with bogus tax refunds from the DC tax office.
Have a tax collector on your staff has longterm benefits.
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OMG—the shooting near thomas circle—they are on the lookout for 2 black males.
warning—the suspects are hatless—repeat—hatless!
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"OMG—the shooting near thomas circle—they are on the lookout for 2 black males."
I passed about 200 individuals matching that description on my walk home last night. Should I contact the MPD?
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I never did trust those two punk-ass kids from Good Burger. Take one look and tell me they don't belong in the thug jug.
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14thandYou, that means maybe it was the same two who did one shooting 100 times!!
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I was on Metro this morning, and there were lots of potential suspects. I was about to make a citizen's arrest of the entire train, but then I realized I needed to stop by the Post Office to mail my credit card bill. Foiled by MasterCard!
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I'm sure the police are working overtime on this "two black males" case. Even now, they've assembling an ingenious trap involving a large cardboard box, a twig, and some string. Unfortunately, they have yet to collect the $5 they need to purchase the five-piece order of chicken wings and mambo sauce they plan to use as bait. When will the Council show some leadership and provide the police the funding they need to keep us safe? More importantly, when will Phil "Dingleberry" Mendelson turn on the vent and see a doctor after he's used the bathroom? A healthy person shouldn't smell like that.
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PUMA my ass! Traveling pantsuit cougars, more like.
I remember when they opened for the Traveling Wilburys. Good times.
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You can get a map of one possible alt. route to Ocean City here.
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Hey, that description is better than deliberately leaving out one's race so as not to 'offend' anyone ... "the suspects were two people. Located on Earth"
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Pffft. Who cares about them? I'm more worried about the ones located under the Earth. And even they pale next to the Elder Gods who are not of this Earth. Shoggoth, Cthulhu, and their kin. Then there's the Thing Whose Name We Shall Not Utter who dwells deep within the bowels of Phil "Dingleberry" Mendelson and gives him his unique "pstench."
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You can get a map of one possible alt. route to Ocean City here.
Well I hope that folks in Baltimore use the around the Bay route, but it's still not really an option for Washingtonians. That's a long way north when you're going southeast.
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Well I hope that folks in Baltimore use the around the Bay route, but it's still not really an option for Washingtonians.
your other option is to spend three hours idling on 50 in annapolis. sweet.
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Exactly, miss bee ... depending on the length of the delays, a 150-mile detour could well get you to your destination faster! Sure, the extra miles and great for your gas budget or the environment, but neither are sitting idling in traffic for hours . . . In other words, this may not be a great option for DC area residents, but it's definitely an option.
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Man, and we were going to take a day trip Saturday. Any hope that getting to the bridge early will help? Like, 8 or 9 am?
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i apologize, make that FOUR hours of delay at the bay bridge this afternoon. and it's only thursday!