Happy Saturday, D.C. It’s a big sports day today. This afternoon, the Nats look to get off the schnide against St. Louis, and later on, D.C. United takes on FC Dallas at RFK. There’s also the best excuse to drink mint juleps and eat bourbon-infused food all day: the Kentucky Derby. Obviously, though, there’s no bigger sporting event in the District today than Game 1 of the Capitals second-round series with the hated Pittsburgh Penguins, perhaps better dubbed The Epic Battle of Ovechkin and Crosby, Chapter 1. Opening faceoff is at 1:00 p.m. at the Verizon Center. If you’re trying to find a spare ticket, Craig’s got some options — some of them actually under a hundred bucks. Of course, you could be like us, find a nice couch and an big HD screen, and spend that coin on a cool beverage or two.
As of this posting, Metro is already reporting disruptions on the Red, Blue, and Yellow Lines; those of you about to head out the door might want to give yourself a little extra breathing room to get around.
In other news this morning:
>> Dr. Pierre Vigilance of the D.C. Department of Health was making the rounds this morning. Dr. Vigilance (a fantastic name, it has to be said) told NBC4 this morning that two George Washington freshmen — announced yesterday as the first probable cases of H1N1 in the District — “are both still doing pretty well,” adding that “they have [a] mild [strain of the] disease.” Elsewhere, a University of Maryland official called swine flu a “garden variety” of influenza.
>> Hector Hernandez, 21, pleaded guilty yesterday to a charge of second-degree murder in the shooting death of 14-year-old honors student Tai Lam. Hernandez — who is suspected of being an illegal immigrant and potentially a member of the MS-13 gang — was arrested in November after the shooting, in which he and others held the back door of the bus open and began raining gunshots shots on the interior. Hernandez is expected to receive a sentence of 15 to 45 years in prison.
>> An interesting strategy: Bethesda is using randomly placed, out of service parking meters in an attempt to divert change from the panhandler’s cup to charities which provide services for the homeless.
