Good Morning, Washington. Birds may finally be heading south for the winter now that overnight temperatures are dipping down towards freezing, but if you can believe it or not it’s actually looking like Wednesday is going to be warm again, with temperatures predicted to be back up in the 70s. Well, at least if it’s going to be tough to find a cab tomorrow, it’ll be pleasant enough to walk or bike. CapitalWeather.com points out that October 2007 will finish around 8 degrees above normal, making a serious new record of about 2 degrees warmer than the previous warmest October in history, in 1984.
Many D.C. Fire Stations Missing Smoke Detectors: A new report by the D.C. Inspector General shows unsafe and unhealthy conditions at nearly every D.C. fire station. Inspectors found broken smoke detectors, asbestos, broken windows, doors that didn’t lock, rodents, leaking roofs, clogged pipes, and broken toilets, heating and a/c systems. Meanwhile, of the four D.C. firefighters who were seriously injured in yesterday’s Northeast rowhouse fire, two are now in good condition and expected to go home today, one is in critical but stable condition, and the fourth is in a medically induced coma awaiting further evaluation and surgery.
Rhee Comes Under Fire: D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee is having a busy morning, to be sure. First she’s taking heat from community activists who are accusing the chancellor of intentionally filing her budget submission late in order to sidestep public involvement in its approval, which is required by law. Then she’s also dealing with a new report by Johns Hopkins University that classifies three D.C. public high schools, Ballou, Bell and Woodson, as “dropout factories.”
Briefly Noted: Juvenile detention facilities called for reform … How do the seats at the new baseball stadium compare? … Hispanic officials urge immigrant voters to get to polls.
This Day in DCist: In 2006 we said goodbye to Red Auerbach and came up with an excellent plan for leftover Halloween candy.
Photo by Pianoman75
