Good morning, Washington, and welcome back to your work week, now luxuriously located inside the world’s largest sauna. Temperatures reached a scorching 98 degrees over the weekend, tying a record set in 1999, but as you heard over and over again, it actually felt much hotter than that. The Capital Weather Gang says the oppressive heat will last for about the next 36 hours, and that it’s going to feel like it’s well over 100 degrees again today. A heat advisory has been extended until 8 p.m. Tuesday, and today and tomorrow are Code Red Air Quality Action Days, meaning buses in Northern Virginia and nearby Maryland suburbs are free, although WTOP found that there was some amount of miscommunication between Metro and the Metropolitan Council of Governments about today’s Code Red status for a short while this morning.
Trinidad Checkpoint Turns People Away: So how many drivers were refused admittance to the Trinidad neighborhood by D.C. police over the weekend? The Examiner says that “most vehicles checked were denied access to the neighborhood,” according to a count done by ACLU monitors, but what percentage above 50 and out of how many has yet to be released. The Post doesn’t even bother to get in to the numbers game except to count up the number of protesters that actually showed up (15). Naturally, the MPD is calling the first checkpoint of the new Neighborhood Safety Zone initiative a success, claiming that the effort helped to curb weekend violence in the Fifth District.
DDOT Road Construction Faces Budget Shortfall: Looks like the D.C. Department of Transportation’s road construction budget is expected to run a $3.1 million deficit in fiscal 2010 and a $180,000 deficit in fiscal 2011, unless new revenue sources can be found quickly. But Ward 1 D.C. Council memberJim Graham, who has oversight over transportation, said a gap of that size should be easily dealt with.
Briefly Noted: Tri-Community Public Charter School closes over poor academics … More freedom argued for John Hinckley … Suicide suspected in death of woman found in Potomac … Police investigate fatal accident involving stolen car.
Photo by Samer Farha
