Good morning, Washington. The good news: it looks like we’ll get to hang on to this warm weather for a bit longer. The bad: well, look out your window. Today might be a good day to resign yourself to the lousy food court in the building, eat at your desk, and try to get your holiday shopping done. There are only three more days before those celebrating Christmas will need to pay Amazon for express shipping!
Pepco Proposes Price Increase: WTOP brings news of a potential increase in electricity rates for District residents. Pepco has apparently asked the city for approval of an eight percent price hike. I suppose it’s hard to complain in light of what Maryland residents faced earlier this year.
Area Gets Mixed Grades On Flu Preparedness: The Trust for America’s Health has just issued a new report ranking states’ levels of preparation for an avian flu pandemic, as the Post reports. So which side of the Potomac would be best for riding out a bird flu cataclysm? Looks like Virginia is the place to be: it finished near the top of the nationwide list, while Maryland and the District did relatively poorly. City officials are objecting to being compared to states, however. And the District did well when it came to the number of hospital beds that would be available for an emergency.
NIMBYism Hits Alexandria: A planned homeless shelter has run into objections from residents living near its proposed site. That’s hardly new for this or any other urban area. But in this case the stakes are a little higher than normal: as the Post reports, the proposed shelter would serve homeless individuals suffering from mental illnesses — individuals that conventional shelters aren’t equipped to help.
Briefly Noted: Trooper seriously injured in Maryland shootout… Mr. Fenty goes to the DCRA, visits with police… Great Falls mulls development… Inova Fairfax cancels liver transplant program… Sludge dumping into Potomac to cease…
This Day In DCist: One year ago the weather had us talking about fingerless gloves. Two years ago we were complaining about Dulles and spotting the Bush twins.
Image posted to DCist Photos by Flickr user cyaneyed
