First thing up, we’d like to welcome the two newest -ist sites to our family circle. Bostonist and Seattlest, which should be up and running at full force today, will be in a beta testing period for the next few weeks.
Up in Boston, the MBTA will be introducing cellphone service to a few underground stations and now you can buy temporary naming rights for the FleetCenter (where the Democrats hosted last July’s Democratic National Convention). 
While you may have seen the “Go Red for Women” public service announcements in the metro, in Seattle, the Space Needle has been playing a role in raising awareness about heart disease in women. We think if the Washington Monument would have been used for the campaign, there could have been some politically related complaints.
So on to this morning’s news …
More Signs of the Housing Crunch: The Post reports that recipients of Habitat for Humanity housing are having a hard time keeping up with rising property taxes. “At least a dozen of the 47 Habitat homeowners in Northern Virginia pay more in property taxes and insurance than they do to pay off their mortgages,” the Post reports.
And in semi-related news, the Post also reports the results of a commuter survey it conducted. And no shocker here, D.C. area commuters spend a long time getting from point A to point B, especially in cars. Half of the region’s commuters, the Post reports, spend at least 30 minutes going from home to work/work to home each direction.
And this is possibly the best quote we’ve seen in a long time.
“If you see an ‘MD’ on the plate, you know that person is ‘Mentally Deficient.’ If you see a D.C. plate, you know that person has “Diminished Capacity,'” [61 year-old Robert] Halter said. And with vehicles with VA,’ “you know you’re dealing with a driver that is a ‘Vacuous …’ — I’ll let you guess the rest.”
Save the Snakehead?: A man in Utah has taken an interest in the infestation of the rapacious snakehead into the Potomac basin and believes that the hungry fish should be declared an endangered species. The Post quotes Alan Gardner, a GOP county commissioner from southwestern Utah:
“I thought, ‘Man, that’s something — a fish that can get out and move across dry land,'”
Briefly Noted: A woman died falling into an elevator shaft after trying to escape from a stuck car … Trouble in College Park! Students take to the streets and “riot” after the University of Maryland Terrapins affirmatively thrashed Duke’s Blue Devils in basketball. Fifteen revelers were arrested. … The W.Times reports that a “loophole” used to avoid automated traffic tickets in the District is being eliminated. …
