Early Metro Opening Cost City $11.80 Per RiderAs we reported earlier this week, the District of Columbia arranged with Metro to open the rail system an hour earlier than normal this morning, at 4 a.m. instead of 5 a.m., in order to accommodate shoppers looking to be the first to arrive for early bird sales on "Black Friday." Metro spokesperson Lisa Farbstein emailed to let us know that 2,287 people rode Metro between 4 and 5 a.m. today, and that the cost to the city to pay Metro to open early was $27,000. That comes out to the District having paid $11.80 for each early bird rider. Given that today is also a tax-free holiday for shoppers in the District, that $27,000 is money the city won't make back in sales tax revenue, either.
Tax Free Shopping Week Starts FridayJust a reminder that the District of Columbia is having another sales tax holiday week starting at 12:01 a.m. this Friday, November 28, through midnight Sunday, December 7. Most clothing, shoes, and accessory items that are under $100 will be exempt from the District's 5.75 percent sales tax during this time. For a complete list of eligible items, click here.
Going to Miss the Inauguration? Try the RehearsalIf you won't be in D.C. for Barack Obama's inauguration on Jan. 20, you have a chance to at least get a sense of what you'll be missing earlier that month. The Post reported today that the official inaugural rehearsal date has been set for Jan. 11. The inauguration dress rehearsal, which features stand-ins for most of the VIPs, is done every year early in the morning on a Sunday before the inauguration. This year's rehearsal runs from 5:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. that morning, and will allow the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee to run through the program twice in a row. The rehearsal will be open to the public, so if you feel like getting up early that morning, head down to Pennsylvania Ave. to catch a preview of some of the bands that will be playing in the inaugural parade.
Manhole Explosion Cuts Power to DCist HQThere was a manhole explosion at 7th and P St NW this morning, which has caused a subsequent power outage in the surrounding area, from roughly 7th to 10th street along the Rhode Island Ave. corridor. This area includes DCist HQ, which, if you're a regular reader, you may quickly recognize as having a certain amount of poetic justice. DCist has made something of a cottage industry out of documenting the scourge of terrifying manhole mishaps. Not only did we manage to miss the chance to capture a photo of today's manhole explosion that happened right next door, but PEPCO currently has no estimated time for repairing power. The manholes have finally beaten us. These are dark days, my friends. UPDATE: This particular battle against the manholes appears to have been won by the humans. The power was back on in the affected area as of 2:15 p.m.
D.C. College Students May Not Gouge the Rest of AmericaNational Journal has been following the minutiae of the Obama transition on their impressively thorough Lost in Transition blog, and it is there that David Herbert reports that District college students are getting the shaft in terms of raking in the big inauguration-related bucks. Like all living, breathing D.C. residents, students at schools like GWU, American, Georgetown and Howard would love to receive a giant pile of Obamamoney by subletting out their dorm rooms around Jan. 20. Unfortunately, those same schools are cracking down on efforts to sublet by sending out mean, threatening, all-caps emails reminding students of the terms of their lease agreements. Poor D.C. college students. And more potential renters for the rest of us!
Wone Family Files Civil Suit; Ward Released The Post has the latest details on the Robert Wone murder case. The third roommate in the house where Wone was fatally stabbed two years ago, Dylan Ward, was finally extradited from Florida to the District yesterday, and has since been released pending trial on obstruction of justice charges. Like his co-defendents, Ward was forced to hand in his passport and wear an ankle monitoring bracelet. But the bigger news is that Wone's family has filed a wrongful death civil suit against all three men, based largely on the same obstruction charges they currently face. According the Post, the family's complaint alleges that the three men "conspired to thwart the investigation" into Wone's murder.
Police Activity on K StreetK Street NW is currently closed between 14th and 15th Streets in both directions due to a police investigation. Unconfirmed reports we've gotten so far suggest that there was a bank robbery at the PNC Bank at 14th and K. This would be the second daytime bank robbery in the middle of a busy workday in downtown D.C. in two days. Yesterday, the SunTrust on Dupont Circle was robbed at around 1 p.m. by a man claiming to be carrying a bomb in a duffel bag. This DCist editor was coincidentally making a withdrawal from the ATM outside the same SunTrust at about 1:10 p.m. yesterday, but was unaware anything had just happened at the bank other than noticing that a woman who tried to enter the branch found the door to be locked. The SunTrust robber got away, according to the Post. We'll update when we hear more about what happened today.
Water Main BreakapaloozaWASA is reporting three separate water main breaks this morning. Two of the breaks are in Glover Park, the first being an 8-inch water main on Observatory Place NW between Manor Place and Benton Street, the second being a 16-inch main just down the block from the other one, on the 3700 block of Manor Place NW. Approximately 65 homes were affected in this area while crews work to make repairs. The third break is at 16th and S Streets NW, causing northbound lanes on 16th Street from R to S to be closed while repairs are made. Southbound 16th Street lanes remain open.
It's a Girl! D.C. Welcomes Aerin FentyThe Reliable Source appears to have the scoop: Michelle Fenty, wife of D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, has given birth to a healthy baby girl this morning. The gossip column is reporting that Aerin Alexandra Fenty was born at 6:08 a.m. at an undisclosed hospital in the city. Mother and baby are reportedly both doing just fine. According to BabyNameWizard.com, Aerin is an alternate spelling of the name Erin, which is derived from the Irish word for Ireland.
Wone Murder Roommates Plead Not GuiltyThe Post reported over the weekend that Joseph Price and Victor Zaborsky pleaded not guilty on Friday to obstruction of justice charges related to the murder investigation of Robert Wone. Both men were released pending trial after agreeing to turn in their passports, undergo random drug testing and wear ankle monitoring bracelets. The third roommate living in the Swann Street NW home where Wone was killed, Dylan Ward, was previously ordered held in federal custody in Florida without bond pending extradition to the District of Columbia. All three men were indicted on obstruction charges in the case after prosecutors submitted evidence that they appear to have cleaned up the crime scene before police arrived.
Nickles on EMT Reinstatement: Not So FastNews broke on Friday that Selena Walker, driver of the ambulance carrying late New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum in 2006, would be brought back into the fold at the D.C. Fire and EMS Department. But the Post reports today that AG Peter Nickles is considering appealing the D.C. Superior Court decision to reinstate Walker to her post. Nickles should be feeling pressure to maintain the city's end of its civil settlement with the Rosenbaum family, which agreed to drop a $20 million suit in exchange for a continued commitment to improvement of the emergency response system. Second chances are great; but the reinstatement of one of the people that mistook Rosenbaum for a drunk, purposefully meandered in route to a different hospital than he requested, and even ran a personal errand while he was in the ambulance is probably not the best way to keep up with said agreement. Nickles should make a decision early next week.
Metro Inauguration Information Now OnlineSomething that we didn't quite fit into this morning's Inauguration roundup: Metro's complete Inaugural plans are now online. Metro management is expecting upwards of 2 million riders on Metrorail and Metrobus. So, understandably, there's a ton of information about WMATA's extensive planning for the weekend: expanded and alternate hours of operation on buses and rails, parking information (it's all free, and some people aren't happy about it), and various closures, stations and otherwise -- for instance, all bathrooms in Metrorail stations will be closed on Inauguration Day for security reasons.
Sasha and Malia to Sidwell FriendsThe AP is reporting that Sasha and Malia Obama will attend Sidwell Friends School in Ward 3, near Tenleytown. Our clever commenters speculated that that would be their choice, thanks to its security-friendly setting. It was also the Clintons' pick for Chelsea. Some will be disappointed that the Obamas didn't pick a public school, but they've chosen the option that's "the best fit for what their daughters need right now." The City Paper and ABC News blog Political Punch are both reporting on the choice.
Rosenbaum EMT ReinstatedWUSA has the scoop that Selena Walker, the EMT who drove New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum to the hospital, is going to be retrained and subsequently reinstated to the D.C. Fire & EMS Department. Walker was fired after she and her partner mistook Rosenbaum's symptoms for drunkeness instead of head trauma, and then decided to take him to Howard University Hospital instead of the closer Sibley Hospital so that Walker could make a stop at her own home. An inspector general's report also concluded Walker got lost driving the ambulance to Howard. Walker won an appeal of her termination on the grounds that the department waited longer than 90 days to fire her after the incident. Rosenbaum eventually died of his head injuries.
Shaw Gas Outage UpdateLooks like a lot of the homes currently without gas in Shaw are in for a long night. Alert DC just sent out an update that Emergency Management officials have set up a "warming center" at Kennedy Recreation Center (1407 7th Street NW), and reminding residents that if they are using space heaters, they should leave at least three feet of space around the heater to reduce the risk of a fire. Fire officials are also asking that if you smell an odor of natural gas, please call 9-1-1.
Fight at Anacostia High Sends Five to HospitalVia the Washington Post, news of a really bad fight at Anacostia High School in Southeast that sent five students to the hospital. Three students suffered "superficial cuts" during a knife fight, another was injured, and a fifth had an asthma attack. To top it all off, someone started a small fire just as the fight was ending, and then another group students got into a second fight after the entire school was cleared and led out onto the football field. What a terrible day for students at Anacostia High.
PG County Underestimates the Creativity of Teens Who Want to Smoke PotThe Washington Post went to the trouble of putting up an online poll of its readers this morning over whether they agree with a recent Prince George's County decision to ban the sale of single cigars. The County, you see, has decided to outlaw single cigar sales because teens are buying them in order to use the cigar paper to roll big-ass blunts. Blunts, spliffs, fatties and other jumbo-sized marijuana joints may be big in pop culture, but the notion that making it slightly more difficult to roll them (you can still buy 5-packs of the same cigars) will reduce the ability of anyone to get high is beyond laughable. What will PG County ban next? Apples? Empty soda cans? Light bulbs?
SNOWMG!It's not sticking at all and is so light it's difficult to photograph, but the first flurries of the season began to fall in D.C. during the lunch hour today. By no means a snowpocalypse, but bona fide snow nonetheless. Where I am on U Street, the flurries lasted for about eight minutes before the clouds rolled past and the sun came back. Did you see flakes where you are? Rest assured, we've put a call in to Davy DCist to see if this merits an appearance from him.
Obama Girls Touring Private SchoolsIf you were sure that the safe bet is that Sasha and Malia Obama will attend a private school when they move to Washington, it's looking more and more like you're right. The Reliable Source says that Michelle Obama took her girls on a tour yesterday of Georgetown Day School, and that they will visit the Sidwell Friends campus today. No word yet on whether they have scheduled visits for any other schools, including any DCPS or public charter schools.
SmarTrip Could Be Sold at CVS StoresWTOP and Infosnack are both reporting that Metro's Board of Directors will consider a proposal this week that would allow CVS to sell SmarTrip cards. CVS would sell the cards for $10 (they'd be preloaded with $5 on them), and at no cost to Metro. In exchange, CVS and Metro would come to a cross-promotional arrangement. Infosnack calls the move a "win-win for Metro, CVS and riders." We're all for making SmarTrip easier to buy at more and more locations, but feel compelled to question whether making any purchase at a CVS can honestly be associated with concepts like "ease" or "convenience." Perhaps Metro's board has never been to a CVS?
Snowflakes Possible This Evening!?!We're by no means ready to trot out our favorite cold weather word, but at 3:15 p.m., the Capital Weather Gang was still predicting a possibility for a light dusting of snow this evening. The key passage is here: "no significant accumulation expected in the metro area." You hear that, drivers? Keep your wits about you if the drops of water expected to start falling from the sky soon start turning into white fluffy flakes later on. Just take a few deep breaths and proceed with your evening commute without turning into a complete moron. Everything's gonna be all right.
Smithsonian To Host Historic Public MeetingBloomberg reported yesterday that the Smithsonian Institution's Board of Regents will host a momentous meeting Monday at the National Museum of Natural History at 1:30 p.m. It will be the first open public meeting with the organization's Board of Regents -- which is helmed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts, and includes Senators, Representatives, and private citizens -- since President James K. Polk established the Institution as a public trust in 1846. The topic of the meeting? Transparency and planning for the future in light of the recent scandals involving improper spending by numerous Smithsonian leaders. If you can't make it to the meeting tomorrow, the Smithsonian will be offering a webcast at it's official website.
Shooting At Tysons GalleriaWTOP is reporting that there was a shooting inside the Tysons Galleria II parking garage this afternoon around 1 p.m. There's no word on any injuries or arrests due to the shooting, but it does appear as if the police did draw fire on someone in responding to the scene.
UPDATE: An armed man brandished a weapon outside of Maggiano's Little Italy restaurant. When he failed to comply with police instructions, an officer shot the man. He is in serious condition. NBC4 is also reporting that the individual, who had been recently fired by Maggiano's, returned to the restaurant today and was "acting strangely," prompting employees to call police.
Metro Staying Open Late Sunday for 'Skins GameThe news out of the Redskins locker room may have fans worried, but at WMATA is doing its best to alleviate at least one of their concerns. Metro has announced that it will keep trains running until 1 a.m. on Sunday night so that folks attending the 'Skins vs. Cowboys game (and those of you just out at bars and friends' houses, for that matter) can make it home via public transit. Keep in mind the the Blue line and stations that connect other lines to the Blue will be packed in the aftermath of the game.
Prop 8 Protest Planned in D.C., Around the CountryIn the wake of the passage of Prop 8 in California, which revoked marriage rights from gays and lesbians in California, a series of nationwide protests are planned for Saturday, and protest-loving Washington, D.C. will of course see its own version. The Washington Prop 8 protest plans to meet at the Reflecting Pool in front of the U.S. Capitol at 1:30 p.m. The route of the march will then head down the National Mall and up 14th, eventually ending up at Lafayette Park. Those interested in participating are being encouraged to RSVP via Facebook. So far, over 3,000 people have said they will attend.
Circulator Definitely Coming to Adams MorganSo sayeth The Examiner, which has Ward 1 Council member and Metro board member Jim Graham confirming that the buses have already been ordered and are scheduled to arrive in March. The new Circulator route is intended to replace the 98 bus, the 25 cent shortbus link that connects U Street to 18th Street. The $1 Circulator will go much farther than the 98, and will include parts of K Street, U Street, up through Adams Morgan and Woodley Park as well as Columbia Heights - we'll be excited to check out an exact route map when it's ready. There's a public hearing set for Wednesday, Nov. 19 about canceling the 98 bus, at 600 5th Street NW at 6:30 p.m.
Previewing the ObamamobileA friend sent over this link to a New York Times story from a couple of weeks ago about what the new presidential limousine might look like. It's almost all speculation because this sort of info is well-guarded by the Secret Service, but they did score some photos of what appears to be a prototype of a pretty intense looking, truck-like Cadillac limo. President Bush has been riding around in his own Cadillac limo since 2005, but his looks like a sissy compared to this tank. We'll just have to wait and see if this is the conveyance President-Elect Obama ends up riding around in once he's sworn in. Also of note from this story: apparently being a "spy photographer" is a real job. Certainly sounds a lot cooler than "paparazzi."
WTOP Report Provokes Anger Among Area Cyclists
Goodbye Fixie, Hello Tweed!
Committee Approves Same-Sex Marriage Bill
Burger-pocalypse at BGR
D.C. Area Pedestrian Safety Could Be Worse
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Sports Business Journal writes that the Washington Capitals are launching a 
Last night, Alexander Semin chipped in two goals and three assists to blow out the Carolina Hurricanes at Raleigh and help the Capitals take sole posession of first place in the Southeast. With 15 games played, Semin leads the NHL in points (27), goals (13), and game winning goals (3). Often misconstrued as a "shoot-first" player, Semin is fourth in the NHL with 14 assists. Just as often considered a defensive liability, Semin currently leads the NHL in