You might have missed it between the hot dogs and the pool parties and enjoying the warm weather, but Saturday's Post ran a front page story on the sad afterthoughts of Maryland's Intercounty Connector — a neighborhood that is literally being split, run over, and wiped from the land it sits on. The Connector, a massive multi-billion dollar project, has at last begun construction just a few miles away, and the Post does it's part......

>> The D.C. Council unanimously approved a final agreement today to spend $79 million to help Specialty Hospitals of America to purchase Greater Southeast Community Hospital. [WaPo] >> Veranda, a new restaurant at 11th and P NW, is officially opening Wednesday and having a soft launch already. [renewshaw] >> Tonya Bell, the woman who was charged in the UNIFEST street festival car crash in Southeast last spring, pleaded guilty to multiple felony assault charges......

Today tens of thousands of District children return to school, leaving behind the late-morning starts, extended curfews and breaks at the public swimming pool that summer afforded them. And though the year will proceed as it usually does, they will be part of a school system that has seen drastic changes over the last few months. Now under mayoral control and led by new chancellor Michelle Rhee, the District's public schools have entered a new......

This week in Transit on Thursday, we pose a stunningly dramatic series of questions... Could Metro be Smartening up? Will you get hit by Virginia's new transportation fees and taxes? Is a road better than a rail? Will your Metro trip be delayed this weekend? Find out after the jump! Photo by Terecico......

Good morning, Washington. With the holiday behind us and temperatures closing in on 90, it now feels solidly like summer, huh? Well, we're glad to have the warm weather. What we're not as glad about is the spike in crime that usually accompanies it. After yesterday's relentlessly depressing conversation about race, gentrification and crime, we're kind of wishing for snow simply to stave off the bitter comment threads that a few bored hooligans can spawn.......

After talking about it (or not talking about it) for months on end, the Virginia Legislature has finally sent Governor Tim Kaine a package of transportation legislation. Now the question is, does he have the stomach to sign it? Also this week, a reality check for the Purple Line and ticked-off drivers take parking enforcement into their own hands. Photo by andertho......

You asked for it, Short Stuff! In addition to Metro's latest experiment with spring-loaded handles on overhead grab bars, it looks like Virginia reads DCist, we have yet another twist in the Tyson's Tunnel fiasco, and Maryland is talking transit but building highways. Photo by xaosDC......

Former Editor-in-Chief Ryan Avent writes a weekly column about neighborhood and development issues. "Has a second core emerged?" asked a Bureau of Labor Statistics report this week, drawing the metropolitan area's attention to the remarkable growth in business and professional employment in Virginia's Fairfax County. Headline after headline emphasized the county's new status as second pole in a newly bipolar metropolis, after we learned that Fairfax had pulled to within 100,000 jobs of the District......

With all the bad news surrounding Metro recently, it is sometimes tough to remember how much we rely on it. The D.C area has the third highest transit ridership in the country, behind San Francisco and New York, and more than a third of District residents commute on Metro. Possible fare increases, tragic accidents, late, crowded trains, and other gripes are legitimate, but all transit systems have problems. When it comes down to it, Metro......

We were a bit preoccupied by the accident on the Yellow Line yesterday, and are a day late with your weekly transit news and reviews. So here it is, all packaged in one tasty, bite-sized, morsel. This week: Could car-sharing be the Next Big Thing? Why are Fairfax County employees so scheisty? Big brother - coming to a road near you! Transit efforts renewed in Va., Md. Also, perhaps as an early present, Metro is......

It is an unfortunate reality for metro area residents that the transportation projects that can make or break their commute often live and die by the politicians who are elected to office. With Election 2006 dominating the news, here's a selection of transportation-related items from your friendly neighborhood candidates. Also, changes to Metro's weekend service. Photo by xtol7......

Perusing the Metro news this week, another poll suggesting that Northern Virginians might want to just cut themselves off from the rest of the state got us all excited. But we got a little bummed when we found out that Virginia's Great Tunnel Debate would end up pushing back the timeline of the Dulles Metro extension quite a bit. The possibility that Maryland might begin the Great Tunnel Debate 2.0 depressed us even more.......

Well the Democratic race for mayor is over, and the newly-annointed Adrian Fenty must now dive into the job and begin figuring out the details of his potential administration. Following the drop of a surprising mention for city administrator that could have significant influence on District transportation policies, we are looking forward to seeing what else shakes out of Fenty's brain in the lead up to the general election. Also this week, the power......

So it's been a while since we've run this feature because, well, there just hasn't been much transportation news over the past few weeks. Area lawmakers are on summer break and the city has more or less switched on the standard August cruise control. This week, however, brings us the demise of the Wilson Bridge and thoughts for the future of the Green Line. Photo by trentroche......

Listen Washington, we know this will be hard to be believe, but we really had intended not to beat this whole George Allen racial slur thing to death. Problem is, like a zombie dressed in body armor, this one is just awfully tough to kill. Now this morning the Associated Press has the word that President Bush has agreed to fundraise for Allen, even after the senator's sizable lead over his opponent Jim Webb was......

Politically, Maryland may be more blue than purple. However, when it comes to transit this election season, our neighbors to the north are turning a lovely shade of lavender. The Washington Post reports today that the Purple Line, the proposed transit link between New Carrollton and Bethesda, has emerged as a key issue in the Maryland gubernatorial race. Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, the Democratic candidate for governor, described the project as one of his top......

Hey there, D.C. It's another bright, sunny day in our fair city, with an expected high of 89 degrees. While it's certainly not as hot as it was earlier this month, we feel sure George Allen is feeling the heat this this morning, as he struggles to explain what was one of the most blogged-about topics on the Internet yesterday. Who else might be feeling the heat this morning? Anyone trying to sell their homes......

The Purple Line transit link between New Carrollton and Bethesda has been the subject of quite a few shenanigans lately. Last Friday, The Washington Post ran an editorial arguing that now that plans for the Intercounty Connector are finalized, the Purple Line must be the next priority. The following Thursday, we questioned just how committed to the Purple Line Maryland and the Ehrlich administration really are. However, neither piece offered quite as much insight into......

The Purple Line, a transit project that would link New Carrollton and Bethesda, is an idea that has been bandied about for years. As the Post noted last week, shifting growth patterns and economic trends make the need for just this kind of inter-burb transit even more urgent. For a while, Maryland seemed to have pushed the Purple Line off the table with the decision to support the multi-billion dollar Intercounty Connector instead. However, state......

This week in Transit on Thursday, we look at the future of the Virginia to Maryland commute, the Examiner's Purple Line, and another voice in the fight for Metro funding. Photo by DCist regular Grundlepuck......

Good morning, D.C. Thanks to everyone who joined us for Unbuckled last night — DC9 was packed for what we think was our best show yet. We had a great time, and we hope that you did, too. If you snapped some pictures while you were there, do us a favor and tag them on Flickr with unbuckled3 so that we can round 'em up in one place. Now that your concertgoing and drinking responsibilities......

Windfall City? Last week, we discussed a report from an Arlington County task force recommending that Crystal City undertake some significant improvements after the Defense Department moves thousands of its office workers out of the complex. Officials advocated a shift toward residential development and the destruction and replacement of some of the office buildings. Now it appears that such a strategy could yield a windfall for Arlington County. According to Economics Research Associates, which......

Continued strong growth in the Washington area appears to have established a consensus, among all but the most crotchety exurban lawmakers, that local jurisdictions need to be active in addressing current and future transit needs, even if that means acting autonomously (as opposed to attempting to tackle every transit problem regionally). Last week, Transit on Thursday discussed, once again, the trolley project making headway in Arlington County. Today, the Post has a story on how......

We know that Earth Day is still two days away, but today we focus on greening our transportation system in the D.C. Metro area. Over the next several decades, the D.C. metro area is expected to grow by 2 million new residents and add 1.6 million new jobs. How we decide to develop our transportation network to accommodate this growth will have a major impact on the region, shaping the urban landscape and quality......

Today's evening commute could be a wild one as around 180,000 demonstrators are expected to gather on the Mall this afternoon, many after marching through the downtown area from Meridian Hill Park. The National Day of Action for Immigrant Justice is expected to draw large crowds of supporters in cities across the nation (and has already begun to do so -- some 300,000 gathered yesterday in Dallas). The march through the city will begin around......

It must be great to be gay in Virginia these days, huh? Today we find that the march towards equality in our southern neighbor is taking a resounding step backwards, as the state Senate yesterday agreed to a November referendum that would amend the state constitution to ban gay marriages. It seems that traditional heterosexual unions weren't standing up to the corrupting beat of gay rights, thus threatening the state's delicately-woven social fabric and......

Back in November when we first reported on the idea of extending the Yellow Line beyond its terminus at the Mt. Vernon Square/Convention Center stop, we thought it a bit of a shot in the dark. After all, then WMATA Chief Richard White didn't seem to keen on the idea, stating, "Such an extension of service would be exceedingly expensive, both from an operating cost perspective, as well as from a capital cost perspective." But......

Whether you agree with highway expansion or not, the new Springfield Mixing Bowl interchange (where a worker was killed this weekend) and the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge under construction are impressive pieces of infrastructure considering the amount of concrete and engineering ingenuity that have gone into the projects. The Capital Beltway connecting the two chokepoints is slated for some major improvements as well, and one of the most controversial is how Virginia is planning......

Today will be mostly sunny earlier becoming partly cloudy, with highs around 80. Yes, folks - you read right - 80! The photo to the right was submitted to DCist Photos by Jim Tucker via Flickr. Spring is Here: For the Post's Fritz Hahn, this can only mean one thing: "Temperatures are climbing into the 70s. The sun sets after 7:30. It's time to move happy hour outside." With the city's plant life coming alive,......

Today will be mostly sunny in the morning and then become partly cloudy, breezy with highs in the 60s. This photo of the National Cathedral was taken yesterday. More Mercury At Cardozo: As we reported yesterday, more mercury has been found at Cardozo High School. It's unclear whether the chemical was newly placed, or a remnant from an earlier spill. Purple Line In Jeopardy? Advocates of a proposed rail line between Bethesda and Silver......