Good morning, Washington. A crisp Friday was a blunt reminder that the official start of autumn is a little less than a week away. It’s about time for the ceremonious exchange of bare arms for soft sleeves as we head into a cloudy, cool and damp weekend.
>> The quirky H Street Festival is today from noon until 7 p.m., featuring Chinese dragon dancers, live music, performance art, a fashion show, a slew of kids activities, a ton of food, and much more. The festival means street closures. H Street NE will be closed to parking and car traffic between 8th and 14th Streets beginning at 7 a.m. and ending at 10 p.m. All connecting intersections except for 15th Street NE, will also be closed. The D.C. Circulator will run free shuttle service from the Eastern Market Metro Station to the festival from 11:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
>> As the AP points out, Hayden Panettiere was born in New York and lives in Los Angeles, but it’s the District that’s chosen to honor her locally. The actress has been, for several years now, an activist for D.C. statehood. So yesterday, Mayor Vince Gray did her a solid by proclaiming Friday as “Hayden Panettiere Day.” Panettiere said: “It doesn’t get much cooler than that. It’s a huge honor. We’ll continue just chipping away at the problem and trying to fix it.”
>> D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown insisted on Kojo Nnamdi Friday that he’s going to help lead the council to write a sweeping new ethics law.
>> The Virginia Historical Society has launched a database of slave names called Unknown No Longer, which has 1,500 names and uses searchable keywords such as name, gender, location, occupation and plantation. It includes slaves that had been taken out of Virginia by their owners.
>> Galileo III closes, and takes a dig at the Washington Post on the way out: “Yes it is true the owner [Corrado] Bonino has closed. Unfortunately the current economy and avalanche of negative articles [in the Post] did not assist in the matter,” the chef wrote via e-mail. “At this time, I ask for some courtesy by discontinuing the pursuit to get Roberto and allow me my privacy in moving forward in my life.”
>> Officer Jelani Prather of MPD’s Fifth District was killed in a crash on I-270 Friday. He was off duty when his car slammed into a tanker truck on the shoulder, apparently without braking.
>> Jacob Rainey, a talented prep quarterback at Woodberry Forest School in Virginia, has had part of his right leg amputated after “suffering an unusual injury during a scrimmage.” The junior was being recruited by several schools from major conferences.
>> The Washington Nationals lost 3-0 to the Florida Marlins Friday night.
>> Say hello to the Bob-O-Meter, Governor.
>> Mega-region!
>> The perils of sitting and standing.
