I was surprised to see a man as liberal as Matt Yglesias argue that expanding the size of the Metropolitan Police Department from its current 3,800 officers to the proposed 5,100 would effectively help decrease crime in the District. I suppose I rarely expect liberals to be on the side of such dramatic increases in police power, given that militarizing a city or country doesn’t often track well with pacifying it. Last week Matt claimed…

Happy Hot as Hell Tuesday, everyone. Yes, it’s going to 100 degrees today, with a heat index up around 110. The best advice is to stay inside whenever possible during what we like to call our Heat Emergency, but if you have to be outdoors, the National Weather Service advises drinking plenty of water, planning activities outside for the morning or evening and wearing loose, light-colored clothing and a hat. It’s unfortunate that the current…

Reader Matthew Yglesias responds to a recent piece we posted on crime in the city. Want to add your own voice to this debate? Email Opinionist. Should the District respond to its high crime rates and current purported “crime emergency” by hiring more cops as several City Council members are proposing? Calm heads like DCist’s Martin Austermuhle say no and they have the numbers to prove it. He points out that DC has traditionally had…

In the wake of this morning’s tragic events in London, the Department of Homeland Security has raised the terror level for mass transit to “orange.” We had already reported that authorities in D.C. are on high alert, with increased patrols in the Metro and a joint operations center up and running. The Post is reporting D.C. police with machine guns will be present at Metro stations and “other specialized units” like bomb squad are at…

Some residents on Capitol Hill are breathing a sign of relief now that the Route 96 and 97 metrobuses have been steered away from a temporary terror-related detour to a new fixed routing. The old 96 and 97 routings on First Street NE between the Russell and Dirksen Senate office buildings ended this summer when Washington’s terror alert level was elevated to Orange. First Street was closed to traffic and metrobuses used Third and Fourth…

Counterterrorism security efforts on Capitol Hill have been taken up a notch with Senate leaders along with the Capitol Police agreeing that closing First Street between the Russell and Dirksen Senate office buildings “indefinitely” is a smart move, Roll Call and the Post report. City leaders are livid, with the mayor’s spokesman saying: “This is not Beirut.” Mayor Anthony Williams told the Post the “nervous nellies in Congress” are overreacting. The Post says the Williams…

The Department of Homeland Security has named five buildings it believes could be targeted in a new wave terrorist attacks. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge says that credible information indicates that the headquarters for the World Bank and International Monetary Fund are targets. The buildings are adjacent to one another, just two blocks from the White House, on Pennsylvania Avenue at H Street, between 18th and 20th streets. The Post is reporting today that…