Photo by philliefan99.Good morning, Washington. Happy Car Free Day! The annual occasion, in which thousands pledge to get out of their cars and use alternative forms of transportation all day, means its time for the usual group of suggestions on reasons to ditch your wheels, although we didn’t see any suggesting that going car-free on a day when the sun is out to blind everyone driving east-west in the District is a good idea. Missed opportunity, alternative transit backers!
Violent Evening in D.C.: Three shootings took place in about a ninety minute span last night in the District. Around 8 p.m., police responded to the scene of a shooting near a bus stop on the 900 block of Southern Avenue SE. The victim police found upon arrival had died by the time they got there. Police then responded to two other non-fatal shootings — one on the 3300 block of 22nd Street SE around 9, the other on the 1800 block of I Street NE around 9:30.
Gray and Rhee To Meet Thursday: Not much more information than that, but the two polarizing figures will hold their long-anticipated sit-down tomorrow at noon inside Gray’s office at the Wilson Building. Meanwhile, members of the D.C. State Board of Education were stunned at the sudden email resignation of D.C. State Superintendent of Education Kerri L. Briggs last week. Briggs, who was appointed by Mayor Adrian Fenty, only gave 24 hours notice before quitting the post.
Supreme Court Denies Stay Of Virginia Woman’s Execution: It’s a near certainty that the the Old Dominion will execute its first woman in nearly 100 years after the Supreme Court denied a final appeal made by the attorneys of Teresa Lewis. Lewis was sentenced to death after she admitted planning the killings of her husband and son in 2002 to collect insurance money; appeals to halt the execution have been based on the claim that Lewis is mentally challenged. Lewis, who would be the first woman put to death in the United States since 2005, is scheduled to be executed on Thursday night by lethal injection.
This Morning’s Sign of the Apocalypse: LivingSocial, one of those group coupon sites, is selling tickets to this weekend’s Virgin Mobile Free Fest for $60 today. The tickets, as the title of the festival indicates, were initially free. LivingScalper, perhaps?
Briefly Noted: Metrorail ridership slightly up between April and June…Southbound I-270 to close twice early Thursday morning…Maryland and Metro want to make New Carrollton walkable…Authorities find body along CSX tracks near Second Street SW on Monday night…After winning 8-4 last night, the Nationals can’t lose 100 games this year! Progress, I guess…Eleanor Holmes Norton bill to transfer six National Park properties to D.C. hits House floor today…A fantastic report of precisely what happened with Twitter yesterday.
This Day in DCist: Last year, there was a taxi strike…well, kind of.
