Expanding Tyson’s Corner: Wow. There’s been a lot of regional planning news lately. First, local leaders met at a local planning gathering equipped with Lego blocks and maps trying to figure out how to accommodate 2 million more people in the area in the next 25 years.
Second, the Post reports on how Tyson’s Corner Center (where we snagged this image) is seeking to expand, transforming its regional shopping mall cluster into a giant built-up suburban downtown. The plan is being floated before Fairfax County officials in advance of the planned Orange Line metrorail spur from Falls Church into the Dulles Toll Road corridor.
But there’s trouble coming from the neighbors. From the Post:
“There? Oh my god!” said Adrienne Whyte of nearby McLean, who is active on planning issues, when told of the proposal. “We’d like to be able to drive from McLean to Vienna in less than a day.”
In other planning news, the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission has voted in favor of allowing the proposed Intercounty Connector to be built across parkland it oversees.
Bad News Bears: To highlight the difference between Maryland’s rural and more urban areas, the state House minority leader, who represents a Western Maryland district, has introduced a 
bill that would ship black bears to every county in the Free State. The W.Times reports that the legislator, George C. Edwards of Garrett County, is introducing the measure to prove a point: If you want to save the bears, you have to live with them.
“If these people want to tell us we have to live with the bears, they should be willing to accept the bears,” the Republican lawmaker said. “They can bring their charcoal grills and their bird feeders in every night. Fair is fair.”
Cigarettes, Candles May Have Sparked Georgetown Fire: Last year’s fire that killed a Georgetown University student in a Prospect Street rowhouse may not have been sparked by faulty wiring or a bad furnace. Investigators now believe that cigarettes or candles may have been to blame.
More Human Remains Found in ‘Georgetown’: More human remains have been discovered near the C&O Canal in “Georgetown,” the AP, via WJLA, reports. But if people would look at a map at the area where the remains were found — in the vicinity of Fletcher’s Boat House — it is a few miles upriver from Georgetown, directly downhill from the Palisades.
Briefly Noted: Lots of other news in the Post … At-Large City Councilmember Carol Schwartz, the city’s lone Republican official, is writing a letter to President Bush asking him to pay the $17.3 million the District spent on Inauguration security … Free cars and parking for WMATA managers and board members are being taken away … Whaaa? A smoking ban in Virginia is on the horizon? …
