The president’s presence at a national landmark amidst the Independence Day crowds is likely to upend existing security plans and logistics.
Dec 20, 2007
Morning Roundup: A Few More Fires Edition
Good morning, Washington. With the Christmas holiday looming, things are slowing down in workplaces around the region. Well, most workplaces, anyway — D.C.’s firefighters seem to be keeping plenty busy. Yesterday, of course, there was the fire at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Since then there’s been a two alarm fire at the Chinatown Red Roof Inn, and this impressive gathering of firefighters just south of Logan around 6 p.m. last night. Here’s hoping…
Dec 12, 2007
Morning Roundup: Prohibited Page Promiscuity Edition
Good morning, Washington. It turns out that House Pages don’t need lecherous congressmen’s help to make scandalous headlines: two have just gotten busted for inappropriate behavior in a House elevator. They’ve been dismissed, bringing the year’s total fired pages to five — two others were caught shoplifting, and one was booted for fighting. Needless to say, it looks like the program — the oversight of which has been in turmoil — will be getting…
Dec 10, 2007
Gay Man Attacked on Metro Friday Night
Last night, Fox 5 reported on an alarming attack of a gay man by six or seven men on the Metro. “Nathaniel,” as he’s referred to in the report, was riding alone on a train Friday night. As the doors closed at Metro Center, the group surrounded and beat Nathaniel, kicking him as he fell to the floor and yelling “faggot”. Nathaniel managed to get off the train at the Smithsonian station, and he ran…
Dec 10, 2007
Revisiting the Edmund Burke Monument
The Edmund Burke statue on Massachusetts Avenue and 11th Street NW is a perfect case for the Revisiting Series. Not only is the face on the bronze statue unfamiliar, but even if a passerby—vehicular or pedestrian—did somehow recognize Burke’s mug (or could catch a glimpse of the “BVRKE” on the base), they would still most likely be curious as to why one of history’s most vocal anti-revolutionaries has been immortalized in the capital city of…
Dec 06, 2007
D.C. Council Debates Tax Payout Signs
Remember those billboards that popped up in the 1980s that counted up the national debt, dollar by dollar? Pretty scary, huh? Well, District voting rights activists want something similar for their cause. Today the D.C. Council held a hearing on legislation that would allow the city to place two large LED billboards — one outside the John A. Wilson Building and the other outside the new Washington Nationals stadium — that would display the amount…
Dec 04, 2007
Why Washington Walks
A new report from the Brookings Institution shows that the D.C. metro area has the most “walkable places” per capita of any American city — one for every 264,000 people, beating out even New York City for walkability. Visiting Fellow Christopher B. Leinberger says that the Washington region could serve as the model for the direction the country’s other metro areas are heading over the next generation. The Associated Press already picked up on the…
Nov 30, 2007
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Display on the Mall
If you’re down on the National Mall this weekend and see, oh, 12,000 flags stuck in the ground, don’t be alarmed. The Federal Government hasn’t started an experimental flag farm, nor is the display an effort of the area’s squirrels to show their patriotism. The flags have been planted to represent the 12,000 members of the United States military who have been discharged under the practice of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The policy, which governs…
Nov 21, 2007
All of D.C. to Get a Raise … a Teeny, Tiny Raise
Black Friday, the be-all, end-all of go-crazy shopping days (well, not for those celebrating “Buy Nothing Day”), is less than two turkey-filled days away. But in our blind rush to leave a tithe at the alter of mass consumerism, we often lose our thrifty ways. Not to worry – for those of us with office jobs, that raise is right around the corner, coming soon to help ease those credit card bills come January. Right?…
