While the weather may be a little gray, there’s no winter weather advisory keeping D.C. residents inside. After a newsy Saturday night DCist has stories and analysis for Sunday morning reading.
>>Last night, a report that Joe Paterno, the ailing former Penn State football coach, had died, spread quickly across the Internet and social channels. The story was refuted by family members and shut down just as fast. Yes, Paterno is still alive, albeit in serious condition. Update: Paterno has died, his family announced about 10:30 a.m. The Washington Post, which last week published the first—and so far only known—interview with Paterno since his firing, has been quick to scold the media for moving too quickly on an unverified story.
>>Newt Gingrich won the South Carolina Republican primary yesterday, leading assumed front-runner Mitt Romney by 14 points with 88 percent of precincts in the state reporting. South Carolinians want a candidate who is both confrontational and smart. “What we need is someone who’s got some brains, and we need someone with some guts,” said Harold Wade, an 85-year-old resident as he left a polling place outside Charleston.
>>The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ transit team has been working with focus groups this weekend to find out their preferred ways of being charged for their commuting habits. Though measures such as toll-roads or commuting taxes may be the only way to clear up congested roads, reactions from the focus groups have not been positive.
>>Uniform changes are leaving some District firefighters without the proper winter weather attire.
>>Patricia Schultz, author of 1,000 Places to See Before You Die and producer of the accompanying show on Travel Channel will be speaking at Politics & Prose at 5 p.m. tonight.
