It’s another nice day out there, Washington. Or, is it? Actually forecasters are calling for rain (but no wintry mix here) in the late part of the day, so bring your umbrella even though it doesn’t seem like you really need one right now. And while you’re searching the depths of your closet for one, consider this question: Now that the plans for a new Madame Tussauds wax museum in downtown Washington are officially coming together, would you consider paying the proposed $25 admission price to go there?

Army Knew of Hospital Conditions: Big story this morning from the Washington Post, who discovered that officials from Walter Reed Army Medical Center have known and heard complaints about the squalid conditions (also recently reported by WaPo in a series of articles) at the hospital for more than three years. Why has nothing been done? According to one hospital worker who spoke to reporters: “The bottom line is, people knew about it but the culture of the Army didn’t allow it to be addressed.”

Oil Spill at Daycare Center: It was around 2:30 p.m. yesterday when anyone signed up for Alert DC’s emergency emails or text messages first got wind of a rather strange story: ”
The 6100 block of Georgia Ave. NW going north and south bound is closed due to a oil spill in the basement of a day care center.” Upon seeing this, the DCist editorial staff let out a collective whaaa?? Whaddya mean, oil spill? And then the jokes started. We should all go clean off the little baby humans. Does Greenpeace change diapers? Maybe it’s baby oil! And so on and so forth. Luckily NBC4 has a story up that explains the rather strange events that led to the alert. Turns out a truck driver was making a heating oil delivery, and instead of hooking the hose up to the tank, he hooked it up to a pipe that leads directly into the basement of the Quickie Becky Child Care Den (what a name). No baby humans were covered in the slick mess, though the day-care center is expected to be closed for more clean up today.

Briefly Noted: John McCain officially joins the presidential race … Dulles rail plans to be kept secret … Firefighters rescue several from Southwest apt. fire

This Day in DCist: In 2006 we brought you the greatest concert review ever: the Stapptasm.

Photo by rachelmoon

Filed Under: alert, baby, Briefly Noted, Concert Review, concertreview, culture, dcist, downtown, dulles rail, events, fire, Georgia Ave, hospital, john mccain, Madame Tussauds, medical center, oil spill, people, photos, presidential race, race, rain, This Day, walter reed, walter reed army medical center, washington, washington post,