Morning Roundup: Foreign Edition

Photo by dinoanis

Good morning, Washington. The weather today isn't looking to be too bad, but it just might complicate the evening commute. Expect some rain and snow during the day, but don't hope for much more than that -- the District is only expecting a half-inch of snow.

Foreign-Born Population in Region Surges: Over the last five years the region's foreign-born population has grown by 20 percent, reports the Examiner, far outpacing every metropolitan area in the country spare Seattle and Houston. As of 2010, more than one in five of the region's 5.6 million residents were born outside the U.S., with 40 percent hailing from Latin America and 30 percent from Asia. Still, the African-born population grew fastest over the period -- it saw a 30 percent increase. The majority of those new residents settled in Montgomery County and Fairfax County, while the fewest chose the District. And why the uptick in foreign-born residents? A good local economy.

Prince George's County Council Backs Bag Fee: Another five-cent bag fee looks to be coming to a local jurisdiction. WJLA reports that the Prince George's County Council voted unanimously yesterday to support a bag fee much like those in the District and Montgomery County. The fee now needs the approval of Maryland's General Assembly before going into effect. Close to half of the Anacostia River, which has long been clogged with litter, resides within Prince George's County; the number of plastic bags found in the river dropped significantly after the District imposed its fee two years ago.

Jack Evans Hangs on to Dream of Bringing Redskins Back: Despite Councilmember Jack Evans' (D-Ward 2) self-proclaimed status as a fiscal hawk, he insists that the Washington Redskins will eventually play in the District again. The City Paper writes that Evans again floated the idea of bringing the team back during a community meeting this week, arguing that the District could tap an NFL fund used to help finance the construction of new stadiums. The only problem? There's nothing really wrong with FedEx Field that might encourage the league to lend the money, and even if it did, it wouldn't come close to covering the enture cost of a new stadium.

Briefly Noted: No more strip clubs in Ward 5! No, really ... D.C. GOP names new executive director ... Opening argument in trial of alleged University of Virginia killer scheduled for today ... Harriet Tubman comes to Madame Tussauds ... Gov. Martin O'Malley criticizes New Jersey counterpart for same-sex marriage vote proposal ... Ward 7 D.C. Council candidate wants speed camera removed.

This Day in DCist: On this day in 2011, the Fojol Brothers of Merlindia scored well in national food truck rankings and a proposed federal tax exemption for D.C. residents was not to be. In 2010, we started preparing for what would be between 10 and 20 inches worth of snow and Mayor Adrian Fenty's neighbors complained that his street had been cleared before others.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@dcist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Martin Austermuhle in News on February 8, 2012 9:00 AM 0 Comments

morning roundup

Comments [rss]

SockPuppet

Crap, and I forgot to pick up the ingredients for that bread, milk, and toilet paper chili.

PedanticMFr

♪♫Ward 5... You don't have to wear that dress tonight.♫♪

Guest

I think it would be a bad idea to ban strip-club casinos. Nothing better to take you mind off of your losses than tits and ass.

Pete_eats

Plus pole dancing is a physical activity. ~~Get Michelle on~~ Let's Move campaign and all that.

Kev29

it wouldn't come close to covering the enture cost of a new stadium.

Enture cost? That's one thing I didn't learn in econ class. Sounds serious.

ms_jlynn

I think Martin has adopted the Muryland accent.

slim_pickens

Also a ventriloquist's accent, coincidentally.

slim_pickens

Don't be scurred of McFurson Squr.

ms_last_minute

My econ professor didn't speak a whole lotta English, so it is enturely possible that I missed that one too.

Kev29

Well I guess that's what we need all those furrners for -- to drive our cabs, man our convenience stores, teach us econ and engineer our nuclear reactors. Generally do everything for us that doesn't involve Twitter or cupcakes.

Ollie Pooeater

We like to onshore occupy protests as well.

Pete_eats

Exactly.. and I understand many of the people in Mumbai already live in tents.
[all my stereotypes come from Slumdog Millionaire]

slim_pickens

Those red squiggly lines serve a purpose?

mensan98th

The chocolate's not bad.

papawest07

Comment deleted

papawest07

Tax revenue? It's not fair that PG gets all of the $$

Guest

Every time I see a photograph of people looking at a wax figure in Madame Tussauds I can't tell which one is the wax figure.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/...

papawest07

Easier solution...Ward 7 could just annex Fedex Field

ADrauglis

Eastward, HO!

JC

No hoes in Ward 7!

ADrauglis

NO WARD 7 IN WARD 8!

Ollie Pooeater

I'm not sure Ward 7 can annex Ward 9 legally. We'd have to check the charter.

Besides, that would disenfranchise all the people who currently vote in both Ward 9 and Ward 7.

Kev29

It would mess up our sexy new yearly murder total stats

dcissound

Also, why do Council members want the Skins back so much? Other than votes, it seems like a detriment to the city rather than a gain. There is so much they could be focusing on, but then that would actually be doing something difficult.

Ollie Pooeater

Free tickets for constituents and you get to blackmail the team by threatening to interfere with operations?

Seriously. DC screwed the pooch the first time. No one's going to trust the same group of actors again, anytime soon.

cminus

Well, Jack Evans has his constituent services fund buy him tickets to every Redskins game but finds the traffic getting out to Raljon annoying, so that explains his motivation in getting them somewhere closer. I don't know what the others' excuses are. Maybe drugs?

Kev29

Two words... Super. Bowl. Everyone is sucking India-no-place's popsicle right now after they successfully hosted a cold weather SB in a boring city.

mirrorballdc

Yes, just like Detroit five years ago, Minneapolis 20 years ago and Detroit again 30 years ago. (and look how great Detroit has turned out! I kid I kid.)

But of course, cold weather Super Bowls are soooo much better in NJ. Or will be in two years

dcissound

Which is funny because I just read an article (on slate I think) that the SB doesn't actually create any jobs and isn't a significant boon to the local economy.

This is probably just one of those things that some old men do like buying a red convertible to try and prove they are still relevant. Except instead of just hurting themselves and possibly embarrassing their wives, they are going to negatively impact the entire city.

Joan Arkham

Same as the Olympics, I guess, but on a smaller scale.

Kev29

The Olympics - now there's a boondoggle!

Kev29

Certainly there's a lot of vanity in it - and there's probably more status and glamor to gain for cities like Indy, Detroit or Tampa than DC, NY or LA. But there is clearly something beneficial if municipalities and titans of industry keep begging for these stadiums and events. NY/NJ is tripping over itself to get the SB, certainly as second tier wannabe Gothamites we should be groveling for it too.

Pete_eats

Nope.. I think it's mostly vanity.

Guest

Most of us fly in and fly out the same day.

ADrauglis

They're trying to find a way to spend that ~$240 million surplus without actually helping anyone.

Guest

What's with all the foreigners moving in. Do we really need that many new taxi drivers and 7-11 clerks?

copperreddc

For shame! So what I can't become president? Think I wanted to? No! That and many, many reasons are why I won't be president.

JC

What? No Swiss jokes?

knackers

OK, OK.

Q: How do you make a Swiss Roll?
A: Take him to the Matterhorn peak and push

knackers

As a foreign born resident™ I take offense at that remark. We bring color, vitality, and richness to this uptight, khakis-and-blazer city by wearing our foreign-sourced khakis-and-blazers, trying to impress the ladies (or gents) with our exotic accents, and complaining about the coffee. Now, would you like a bag with that?

PedanticMFr

Don't forget we help expand the local gene pool. Speaking of which, who wants to take a trip to Iceland?
http://thenextweb.com/shareabl...

mensan98th

One of these years, I'm going to do New Year's Eve in Reykjavik. It's supposed to be awesome.

PedanticMFr

I went a few years ago and have been dying to go back ever since. I highly recommend.

CJ_Scudworth

Your charming accents are the problem! I can't compete with that!

slim_pickens

And it definitely doesn't work that way when we use our American accents outside of the U.S.

knackers

I don't completely agree - we love our American cousins in Aus. These days the only two places that seem to be quite so charmed by the 'Stroin accent are the US and the Middle East, where everybody seems to have a cousin opening a dry-cleaners in Sydney.

CJ_Scudworth

What's a rhotic kinda guy got to do in this crazy mixed-up non-rhotic world?

Guest

That would be wicked hard.

http://www.hark.com/clips/nwwq...

slim_pickens

Be careful what you wish for; you could wake up tomorrow morning with a Boston accent.

Guest

I speak Canadian in Europe.

guestymcspanky

Rembrandt (from the Warriors) died of AIDS? Man, that's a downer. I almost forgot how much of a downer it was when actors died of AIDS.

slim_pickens

@guestymcspanky:disqus In barely related news, I recently learned that the Bloodhound Gang was discontinued due to Ricardo's death in 1986.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qHfm...

guestymcspanky

Speaking of Degrassi Junior High, you know what I was thinking the other day? Do you remember that punk rock Degrassi Junior High student who had a baby? Do you know how old that baby would be now? 24 years old. And if s/he followed in his/her mother's footsteps, that 24 year old could have a 12 year old child, and that child could conceivably be carrying a baby, which would make the original 12 year old mom a soon to be Degrassi Junior High great grandmother!

edit: sorry, internets say "Spike" was 14 when she had her baby, which would be 21/22 years old now. So Spike would only be the grandmother of a 7/8 year old. THAT'S STILL HORRIFYING!

SockPuppet

No! Don't do it Joey!

mirrorballdc

Excellent idea, eh.

http://media.thestar.topscms.c...

Kev29

I always speak AND dress like Degrassi Junior High students while traveling abroad.

http://cutprintreview.com/wp-c...

slim_pickens

A popular strategy. I make sure to watch old Family Ties and You Can't Do That on Television episodes to brush up before travelling.

Guest

Well I didn't mean you and I should have said something.

Modestproposal1

The premise behind that joke is so old it votes Republican and is confused by the internet.

D_Rez

Tubes! Tubes I tell you!

RJ

[comment moved to WTOP]

dcissound

In other news, a frothy mixture tore through the midwest hitting hard in Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri.

Guest

He is such a dick. I hope he wins the nomination because I will find my old rat-fucker friends from the 70s and destroy him.

cminus

I thought Santorum was Senator Man-on-Dog. Are you telling me he bangs rodents as well? How is that even possible?

Guest

No. My friends and I were the rat-fuckers. It didn't matter how low a deed was, we would do it. We raised questions of illegitimate children, gay affairs, nepotism, off-shore hidden accounts, etc. Of course this was in support of getting Nixon reelected, but I've grown since that time.

Pete_eats

Always knew you were such a CREEP.

Pete_eats

The Delegate from _eats appreciates the steadfast and faithful assistance in this problem and thanks his collegial colleague, the Gentleman from @Over_the_River:disqus

Guest

A colon : after the name @pete_eats:disqus not a period.

Guest

@pete_eats:disqus You can do it in an edit.

1. Use the @
2. Type the User Name
3. Follow the name (no space) with ":DISQUS" (no quotes of course)

Just type it in. (Number 3. has a colon : )

Pete_eats

DELETED!

Pete_eats

@joanarkham:DISQUS Then there are the pronounced acronyms from the fifties. Maybe you once bought gas at the Esso Station, owned by Standard Oil (S.O.), supplied by the Enjay Corp- originally S.O. of New Jersey (NJ).

slim_pickens

@JoanArkham:disqus I'm kinda into backronyms lately.
(Acronym -- Abbreviated Coded Rendition Of Name Yielding Meaning)

Joan Arkham

Was just discussing how that was pretty much the best acronym ever.

(Yes, Mr. Arkham and I discuss acronyms. It keeps the passion alive!)

Pete_eats

Did the R*t-f*ckers open for Archibald and the Coxsuckers or Saturday Night Massacre?

Modestproposal1

Headline on CNN website for a while last night was "Missouri: Show Me Santorum"

Guest

They really need to move on from having the Redskins physically inside the DC border. It really doesn't matter if they are here. Any economic benefit already comes from the word "Washington" in the team name.

ADrauglis

Football teams using the name of a city they don't play in are soooooo much better in New York

slim_pickens

And then there is the use of a region, leaving open the option to relocate to Bangor if necessary (it is).

mensan98th

And in 1933, the Marx Brothers, under their leader Rufus T. Firefly, established Freedonia.

vroomen

Jack Evans needs to shut the f*ck up for once and stop sharing his terrible ideas.

mirrorballdc

Seriously. That NFL stadium fund is nice and all, but I think the Niners got "only" $200 million from it, which is the max. Their new stadium will cost about $1 billion. About the same as the Dallas stadium. Knowing Danny Boy he'll want to outdo Jerry Jones and spend like $1.5 billion on new digs if/when he decide to make that move. Yeah. Good luck with that DC.