Photo by beno2015

Photo by beno2015

>> Plenty of people received a series of unexpected weather alert text messages on Wednesday night. How come? It’s part of an arrangement between the federal government and service providers to send out such weather alerts to customers whose phones have unwittingly been set up to receive them, reports the Examiner. Only the most severe weather alerts will be sent out, and customers can contact their service providers to be removed from the list of people that receive the alerts.

>> A massive transit center in Silver Spring is two years overdue and $80 million over budget, and now the Post reports that the contractor charged with building it is accusing Montgomery County has needlessly delayed progress on the center. There have been a number of flaws in the construction of the three-tier center in the heart of Silver Spring—it’ll handle buses, MARC trains and Metro—but the contractor is blaming county officials for how the center was designed and for not responding to its offers to fix problems. The center is expected to open in September.

>> A number of media outlets have filed a formal request to open up hearings related to the Chandra Levy case, reports WTOP. A D.C. judge has been holding hearing in recent months on the case, leading to speculation that a new trial could be called for Ingmar Guandique, the man convicted of killing her in 2002. The hearings have been open to the public but have been largely conducted from the bench, making it impossible for anyone to know what’s going on. The judge says that the hearings have been conducted as such for safety reasons.

Briefly Noted: D.C.’s health insurance exchange runs into some controversy … Religious groups in Maryland oppose organ donation law … D.C., Maryland facing trouble with Race to the Top education grants … D.C. police looking for man who tried to abduct a 16-year-old on way to school … DREAM Act fails in Virginia Senate.

This Day in DCist: On this day in 2012, we debated whether to call it McFEARson or McFURson Square and D.C. ranked highly on school breakfasts. In 2011, you could land in jail for being too loud in D.C.