The nation is still transfixed on the latest coming out of Blacksburg, especially the startling images and words that have come out of the package Cho Seung-Hui apparently sent to NBC News between his two shooting sprees. It’s also of course talking about the day’s two biggest stories coming out of Washington: The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the so-called partial-birth abortion ban, and the start of Congressional testimony by embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. It’s frankly tough to find the local headlines hidden between these enormous stories — given the gravity of all them, it’s even a question in our minds how we should balance local news vs. national on days like these. Below you’ll find your local headlines as usual, but we felt strongly we wanted to bring this up with you, our readers. Do you have an opinion about how much, if at all, DCist should address major national news stories? Let us know in the comments.
Voting Rights Bill to Come to a Vote Today: Yesterday we learned that the D.C. Voting Rights Act will return to the House floor today for a full vote, after Majority Leader Steny Hoyer placed it back on the Congressional calendar. We can’t find any other news source reporting this update yet, but we will link to them as soon as there are more details. What we can tell you right now is that the vote on what is now H.R. 1905 is scheduled for noon today, and if you’d like tickets, you need to stop by Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton’s office at Rayburn House Office Building 2136 before noon.
PG County to Keep Hospitals Open: The WaPo reports that Prince George’s officials agreed last night to bail out the county’s struggling hospital system and keep them running for 15 months, postponing a possible health care crisis across the Washington region. The fix should give county officials the time to negotiate with the state of Maryland on a long-term plan to fix the problems at Prince George’s Hospital Center in Cheverly and other facilities.
Briefly Noted: D.C. will pay $1.2 million to parents of fatal crash victims … Rash of robberies around Georgetown University reported … Man arrested for threatening Gaithersburg elementary school … Route 1 open again after double-shooting in Alexandria.
This Day in DCist: Last year we updated you on the heated church parking situation, and the year before that we went to great lengths to find out who the new Pope would be and report back to you.
Photo by philliefan_99