Watchout Foggy Bottom: Inspections of student off-campus housing are moving in the direction of George Washington University. The Post reports that the District is also asking students who fear that they are living in unsafe housing to let them know.
Transportation News: The Post has a lot of WMATA-related news this morning.
First, WMATA’s police agency is looking to incorporate Eastern-style philosopical training with Aristotlean rhetorical principles into its tactics to calm down unruly passengers. They’re calling it “verbal judo.” (Perhaps Master Yoda will be working as a station manager …) By the way, Montgomery County decided to drop charges against the pregnant woman WMATA police handcuffed for talking too loud on her cellphone.
Second, WMATA is taking action against personnel who didn’t respond to an alarm that signaled that the Mount Vernon Square-7th St. Convention Center station was flooding.
Third, the new escalator canopies (that went in as a pilot program at the L’Enfant Plaza, Virginia Square and Medical Center stations) are going to cost a lot more than originally thought, but WMATA’s board of directors has given tentative approval to build more.
Preparing for the Worst: The W.Times reports that a mass casualty drill in Maryland went well, saying that the “Washington area is better prepared to respond to a disaster, but that there is still room for improvement.”
RFK Money: The District is starting the bidding process to upgrade RFK Stadium for baseball. The chairman of the D.C. sports and entertainment commission tells the Post that “the clock is ticking … But we are confident we can get the stadium ready in time.”
Noted Briefly: In Virginia, someone was shot and killed, while another was stabbed, at a Tyson’s Corner shopping center. And further out in Loudoun County, students are up in arms over their school banning freak dancing.
