Photo by erin_m” via DCist Flickr pool.
Rise and shine, Washington! It’s been nearly five years since I’ve done a Morning Roundup, the anchor DCist news post I first crafted back in October 2004 as a way to get through a lot of news in a hurry so I could get to work on time. My name is Michael Grass and I co-founded this blog with Rob Goodspeed, where we built the core team that developed the DCist community of contributors and readers. Now I’m back today and tomorrow to guest edit in Sommer’s absence. I’ve been also been subbing as Loose Lips Daily in recent days for the City Paper. I’ve been everywhere lately!
Now to the news …
Traffic-Snarling Water Main Fixed: That big water main break on New York Avenue at Montana Avenue in Ward 5 continued to cause headaches overnight, but as WJLA reports, a new pipe was installed around 1:30 a.m. and the roadway had been expected to be open in both directions by 6 a.m. (According to DDOTDC’s Twitter feed, all lanes have reopened.) The Post details how the rupture of the 79-year-old main caused a “hellish traffic mess throughout the day on a street that is a commuter’s purgatory on the best of days.” One nit-pick with this line, however: “During peak hours, traffic moves at a stop-and-go pace for more than three miles between Seventh Street NW and Interstate 295 east of the Anacostia River.” Hmmm … “Interstate 295” does not intersect Route 50. Here’s a backgrounder on the difference between DC-295 and Interstate 295!
Fenty, McDonnell and O’Malley to Gather for Chesapeake Summit: After decades of talk but little meaningful action to clean up the nation’s largest estuary, the District’s mayor and the governors of Virginia and Maryland are set to meet in Baltimore today to figure out steps each jurisdiction can take curb pollution heading into the Chesapeake Bay. As The Post reports, this comes on the heels of an Obama administration effort “in each of the six watershed states and the District come up with its own restrictions on farmers, developers, homeowners and others to curtail the flow of pollutants into the bay.”
Cuccinelli Skewered on Westboro Baptist Church Case Stance: Virginia’s conservative attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, is under intense fire by critics for not intervening in a case involving the Westboro Baptist Church protesting the funeral of a Marine killed in Iraq. Forty-eight other states have signed onto a lawsuit brought by a Maryland father whose son was killed and funeral protested because, according to the church, God is punishing the nation for defending “sodomite hypocrites.” As the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports, “Cuccinelli’s office chose not to file a brief because the case could set a precedent that could severely curtail certain valid exercises of free speech.”
Briefly Noted: Body discovered five miles downstream from fateful Potomac outing … Bank robbery suspect on the loose … D.C. woman charged with assaulting victim in Arlington lack-of-door-courtesy incident … Michaele Salahi goes after Examiner reporter who she says violated many “Codes of Virginia … Regional unemployment drops …
This Day in DCist: On this day in 2005, Martin told readers he could not come up with a “timely, witty, incisive and well-worded” Morning Roundup headline … In 2007, people were shocked by the car that mowed through Unifest on MLK Avenue … In 2008, D.C. was preparing for a naked bike ride … In 2009, Sommer showed us how Live Nation’s “No Service Fee Wednesday” really worked.
