Photo by thisisbossi.Good morning, Washington. There’s plenty of post-quake news to get to, so let’s get started.
Schools Flip-Flop: Last night around 11 p.m., Mayor Vince Gray and D.C. Public Schools announced that most of the city’s schools, despite some damage to a few facilities, would be open today for the third day of the school year. But then at 5:40 this morning, the city reversed course, announcing that all of the city’s public schools would be closed today “to allow for a thorough assessment of school buildings.” (At least Prince George’s County announced that they were going to be shutting down their schools last night, giving parents there some notice.) We imagine the decision to abruptly change course on schools will be a hot topic at Mayor Gray’s 10 a.m. press conference.
Feds Aren’t Taking Any Chances: The federal government is taking its time to really check for damage to its facilities, closing several government buildings today and allowing workers to take unscheduled leave today. (That should come in handy for people who now have to stay home and watch their kids.) The National Park Service also found some cracks at the top of the Washington Monument, closing it to tourists — though it’s unclear whether or not those cracks were always there and just found now that the Park Service was really tlooking for them. On the surface, this seems like a bit much — but then again, taking one look at these images of the damage incurred at the National Cathedral makes it hard to blame them too much.
Metro Resumes Normal Service: As of 5 a.m. this morning, Metro was back to normal operations, running trains at full speed. The transit agency worked all night to inspect “106 miles of track, bridges, aerial structures and tunnels — along with parking decks and other structures — for any signs of structural impacts following yesterday’s 5.8 magnitude earthquake,” and came back clean. Metrobus and MetroAccess service have also returned to normal. Of course, just because Metro wasn’t affected by the quake doesn’t mean that this morning’s commute totally smooth.
Our Favorite Thing About The Earthquake So Far: From the Post’s report: “At the National Zoo, some of the animals — lemurs and gorillas — sensed the quake before it struck, and called out warnings, while howler monkeys howled and a komodo dragon ran for cover once it happened.”
Our Second Favorite Thing About The Earthquake So Far: Man, Facebook users are crazy.
Two Shot Near Shaw Skate Park: While everyone was focusing on trying to get home yesterday, gunshots rang out at the intersection of 11th Street and Rhode Island Avenue NW, drawing a large police response. According to police, two individuals were struck by bullets in the incident, both suffering non life-threatening wounds. Police are asking anyone who might have witnessed the gunfire to contact them at (202) 727-9099.
Briefly Noted: Mayor’s reaction to the quake: “What the heck’s wrong with this car?”…DDOT asks residents to call 311 if they see bridge or road damage…Local Virginia primary results…Also of note: the only gay member of the Virginia legislature heading to the state’s Senate…Seriously, California — lay off.
This Day in DCist: Last year, Dan Snyder was rumored to be getting into the newspaper biz, we tried to make the difference between Michael A. Brown and Michael D. Brown as clear as possible, and we looked back on the day Washington burned.
