Summer heat is one of those story-in-a-pinch type themes, there for newspapers when the vacation months grow long and no cat has been recently rescued from a neighborhood tree. It’s hard to fault the Post for the attention today, though; after one of the mildest springs in recent memory, yesterday leaped to brain-boiling, shoe-sole-sizzling hot. Temperatures are predicted to moderate, back to around 80, after Thursday, but it’s clearly time to banish thoughts of a mild summer.
Helicopter Crashes Near Hospital Destination: A medical helicopter crashed on the grounds of the Armed Forces Retirement Home, yesterday, not far from the Washington Hospital Center, which regularly dispatches and receives medical emergency helicopters. At this point, it appears that three of the four passengers — the pilot and two medical personnel — were injured, but the patient involved, who was on his way to the Hospital Center with a life-threatening illness, has died. No one on the ground was harmed, and the cause of the crash is currently unknown.
News sources are reporting that the craft went down on a golf course at the Old Soldier’s Home campus, about a mile from the Washington Hospital Center complex which sits between North Capitol Street and Howard University in NW. Despite the proximity to its intended destination (and the difficulties just experienced with helicopter travel), the Post reports that, “The passengers were taken to Washington Hospital Center — two by helicopter and two by ambulance.”
Media Blitz after Mall Muggings: One of the safest areas of the city suffered three muggings and assaults last week, and the papers are filled with discussions of why this took place, why the police reacted so slowly, and how this might affect Washington’s tourism. The incidents seem to clearly be the work of one band of criminals, and we suspect the Mall remains a very safe place for locals and visitors alike to hang out, but it’s hard to understand why police didn’t immediately respond to a threat at one of Washington’s top tourist attractions.
Briefly Noted: D.C. group home abuse detailed…Arlington seeks to encourage local home-ownership for municipal workers…Ten Commandments monument appears across from Supreme Court.
This Day in DCist: We speculated on where Bob Woodward and Mark “Deep Throat” Felt met (which parking garage, exactly), and we discussed blog news, including the departure of Kelly Ann Collins and the debut of Talking Points Memo Cafe.
Picture taken by andertho.
