And a Mercedes.

Good morning, Washington. We hope you’re as excited as we are to read about how we’re going to have lower heating bills this winter, due to predictions of a mild winter ahead. Hooray! We think we’ll put that extra money towards a nice vacation. But hey, errr, wait a minute. Does this mean we’re not going to get any full snow days again this year? Noooooo!

Increase in Crime on Metro Slowing?: The Examiner reports that what has been a steady increase in crime committed on Metro since June looks to be slowing down. Of course you wouldn’t know that if you just glanced at their scary, misleading headline, but the facts of the story do indicate that an overall increase in crime on Metro over last year, which began in June and peaked with an 11 percent spike in August, has slowed down to a 4 percent increase in September. Transit Police blame some of the additional crime on increases in ridership during the summer tourist season, but credit themselves with the slowdown (as opposed to the natural decrease in ridership associated with the calendar). Hmm. One thing we definitely agree with: A call to hire 30 more Transit Police officers. Metro is one area where simply having more cops in uniforms on platforms and trains would likely do wonders to deter crime.

Gallaudet University Closed by Protesters: No need to show up for class today at the nation’s premier deaf university, as student protesters have managed to close campus by blocking six Gallaudet University entrances. The Post has more, describing how students are using both vehicles and their own bodies to prevent anyone from entering the Northeast D.C. campus. This latest development comes despite stories yesterday that students and protesters were close to reaching an agreement on the students’ demands — which include a launching a new presidential search (they oppose newly-selected university president Jane Fernandes for a number of reasons, including claims that she has an abrasive personality and that, despite being born deaf, she grew up speaking and only learned sign language in her 20s) and assurances that demonstrators will not be punished or ostracized for their activities.

Briefly Noted: D.C. Council hopes to entice more Hollywood productions to film in the city … PG County has no idea who’s behind 2-year arson string … Driver backs up over 6-year-old boy, leaving him critically injured.

This Day in DCist: In 2005 we introduced you to our fabulous DCist Maps feature and checked out Rice, and in 2004 we mentioned that we’re always running into Matthew Lesko around town.

Photo by Bsivad.

Filed Under: arson, Briefly Noted, crime, d.c. council, dcist, DCist Maps, film, Gallaudet University, gallaudetuniversity, hollywood, jane fernandes, maps, Matthew Lesko, metro, money, news, Northeast D, northeastd, pg county, pgcounty, photos, police, rice, running, snow, the city, the examiner, This Day, transit, university, washington,