Good morning, Washington. Today is my last day as your weekend editor. I have a new full-time job, and unfortunately I won’t have time for this awesome gig. I imagine you’ve always known what I only recently learned — that this group of readers is made up of some of the brightest people in and around the District.

You might have missed it between the hot dogs and the pool parties and enjoying the warm weather, but Saturday’s Post ran a front page story on the sad afterthoughts of Maryland’s Intercounty Connector — a neighborhood that is literally being split, run over, and wiped from the land it sits on. The Connector, a massive multi-billion dollar project, has at last begun construction just a few miles away, and the Post does it’s part…

>> A police officer from the Seventh District is claiming his commander ordered him to give special treatment to a member of Mayor Fenty’s staff who was caught talking on her cell phone while driving. [Examiner] >> “District Fire and Emergency Medical Services officials are investigating the death this morning of a recruit who became ill during training exercises yesterday.” [WaPo] >> AOL plans to cut 2,000 more jobs, including 750 from their Dulles offices….

How, oh how, do we reduce congestion? That is the one question that public officials, policy-makers, and commuters throughout the D.C. have been wrestling with for as long as we can remember. The answers proposed have reflected the diversity of the people asking the question: wider roads, more transit, denser housing, bike lanes, pedestrian-friendly streets, all of the above… You name it, and it’s been put on the table at one point or another….

Prince William County is earning itself quite a perplexing reputation. Last Friday, while most of us were recovering from turkey hangovers, the Washington Post reported that Prince William, whose representatives in the Virginia House of Delegates have been instrumental in defeating bills to help pay for Northern Virginia transit improvements, will consider a bill placing a one year moratorium on new home construction. According to county officials quoted in the Post story, the move would…

A splendid morning to you, dear District. Looks like it’ll be a nice sunny day, if a little chilly, with highs only reaching the mid-50s. It’s also that day where one should watch out for broken mirrors and black cats crossing paths: Friday the 13th. Whatever you do, watch out for mummies being sold on Ebay, too. D.C. Taxis May Become Metered: Yeah, you’ve heard that one before. There may be some truth to…

Is it us or does it seem like the folks in the Virginia House of Delegates have figured out how stop people from even thinking about how to solve the traffic mess in the D.C. suburbs and exurbs? Honestly, they kill new ideas so fast now, we can’t even call it news anymore. Our only hope is that when the next elections roll around, people remember why they are still idling in traffic. Unfortunately,…

The Purple Line transit link between New Carrollton and Bethesda has been the subject of quite a few shenanigans lately. Last Friday, The Washington Post ran an editorial arguing that now that plans for the Intercounty Connector are finalized, the Purple Line must be the next priority. The following Thursday, we questioned just how committed to the Purple Line Maryland and the Ehrlich administration really are. However, neither piece offered quite as much insight into…

The Purple Line, a transit project that would link New Carrollton and Bethesda, is an idea that has been bandied about for years. As the Post noted last week, shifting growth patterns and economic trends make the need for just this kind of inter-burb transit even more urgent. For a while, Maryland seemed to have pushed the Purple Line off the table with the decision to support the multi-billion dollar Intercounty Connector instead. However, state…

Today will be mostly sunny in the morning and then become partly cloudy, breezy with highs in the 60s. This photo of the National Cathedral was taken yesterday. More Mercury At Cardozo: As we reported yesterday, more mercury has been found at Cardozo High School. It’s unclear whether the chemical was newly placed, or a remnant from an earlier spill. Purple Line In Jeopardy? Advocates of a proposed rail line between Bethesda and Silver…