The news today is as cheery as the weather is dreadful. These Zephyrian blasts that are pushing you and me around as we try to cross the District's long avenues? They are blowing in resumes, signing bonuses, and real estate speculators!
It's finally here. The dreadful 2009-2010 campaign of the Redskins, the one in which the team played poor football in spades and was exposed to more drama and controversy than any one should endure in a decade, is a mere 60 minutes of football away from ending. For many in the organization, this afternoon's matchup in San Diego could mean the end of their time in Washington; for some, that scenario is all-but-inevitable.
It seems like everywhere you look this week, the number ten was prominently on display. Decade retrospectives, getting in the habit of writing "10" on the end of date abbreviations, and so forth. Why not join the party? As the major power conferences begin their conference schedules, yours truly thought it a good idea to take a look back at the ten most important regional games of the season so far -- and the ten most important matchups to come. Let's get started with the games that were:
It was a real head-scratcher: in reporting the excellent news regarding 2009's rock bottom homicide totals, the Washington Post ran with a total of 140, while WTOP and the Associated Press settled on a final tally of 143. So what's the deal? The Post sheds some light on the discrepancy this morning: the final number was corrected after a staggering five people were killed in the final 29 hours of 2009, pushing the actual total number of homicides last year to 143. The final figure is still the lowest one-year total in D.C. since 1966. Here's hoping that District police can keep up their good work -- MPD closed 75 percent of last year's homicide cases -- considering this disturbing eruption of violence.
The District lost a significant curatorial voice at the turn of the year. In an email yesterday, Paul Roth announced that he left the Corcoran Gallery of Art on December 31, 2009, to take a position as the Executive Director of The Richard Avedon Foundation in New York. This news follows about a year after the extraordinary exhibit closed at the Corc, a show that examined a tight body of Avedon's work and showed the Corcoran at its best.
Spurs 97, Wizards 86: Yes, he played. But he didn't play very well. Gilbert Arenas, on a sore knee, did pitch in 24 points and an impressive bank shot from halfcourt. But he was also a -13 despite dishing eight assists, as the Wizards let a lead get away against San Antonio. Tim Duncan, in comparison, was his usual consistent self, hitting 60% from the floor. Meanwhile, Duncan's teammate Roger Mason, Jr. got hot, hitting every three he took. But it mostly felt like the Wizards just lost the plot -- 15 points in the fourth quarter as you're trying to protect a lead just isn't going to cut it in the NBA, especially against the cerebral Spurs. As you can imagine, the questions after the game were light on basketball content. This is the real bummer of this whole situation -- no matter how poorly or well (hey, it's possible) the Wizards play for the remainder of the season, the only thing anyone will want to ask about is Gilbert, the guns and -- when it eventually comes -- the consequences and their effect.
If you're been outside today, this will hardly come as a surprise: the National Weather Service has placed a wind advisory in effect for the D.C. region for the rest of the day. The advisory warns that wind gusts of up to 50 miles per hour will be rolling through the area until 4 a.m. tomorrow morning. Combine that with the currently below-freezing temperatures, and you'll get some rather frigid conditions, especially as the sun sets.
If you're like me and have an iPhone, you know that taking pictures with it is hardly a science, more just an oft-futile attempt to negate a large amount of blurry focus to come up with something passable. Which is probably why I find efforts like this from Colusite so refreshing -- it's one thing to come up with a good composition in natural light, but capturing it so well on an iPhone is another level of skill entirely. EXIF.
The AP has the dirt on a recently-released draft plan to restore the National Mall, including upgrades to bathrooms, grass, and landscaping. The result of a three-year process, the humongous draft plan offers three proposals for public consumption, including one which would remove the Capitol Reflecting Pool in order to create a dedicated plaza for civic events and protests. The National Park Service wants your opinion, too: public comment on the plans, which can be read here, will be open for ninety days. Meanwhile, the Examiner notes that 42 Metro stations will be getting a "thorough cleaning" in the next year and a half, including signage updates, a fresh coat of paint and refinishing on shelters and benches.
2009 was a real up-and-down year for the National Zoo. Aside from the massive, inevitable loss of our beloved Butterstick, 2009 also saw the Zoo lose an elderly sloth bear, two rare oryx, and Amazonian fish. Even Happy the Hippo hit the road with nary a goodbye.
Yesterday, I was mentally preparing myself to write about how Gilbert Arenas had gone and reneged on his ridiculous pledge to not to tweet until he got one million followers. Then, something much more controversial happened -- allegedly, of course.
Hello out there, Washington! It's a weekend of firsts. Obviously, we've reached the tasty cream filling of 2010's first three-day weekend. (Don't worry, there's another one right around the corner in a little over a fortnight.) You've appropriately nursed the year's first hangover, paid your first five cent bag fee, and cringed at one of the first terrifying crime story of the year.
There are few teams in the NFL more enigmatic than our Washington Redskins. Fresh off an impressive road victory in Oakland -- yeah, the Raiders are terrible, so what? -- the D.C. club put together an historically poor performance at home against the New York Giants. Two weeks after going toe-to-toe with the undefeated New Orleans Saints, the 'Skins had all sorts of trouble containing a depleted Giants pass rush, putting quarterback Jason Campbell in situations each more dangerous than the last. Three weeks after barely losing to Philadelphia in an entertaining shootout, the Sons of Washington got completely and totally blown out of the water in a game that featured what we and others considered the worst play call in league history.
WMATA is instituting numerous changes to Metrobus service today, including route and schedule alterations on several of the city's most popular lines. Larger changes of note include the D4 bus no longer serving Union Station, schedule changes for the 42 and 43 buses, increased rush hour service for the 90, 92, and 93 routes along U Street, and route alterations on the D1.
M.V. Jantzen makes Roy Lichtenstein's into a home. This Flickrer had the idea to shoot this sculpture with a snowy backdrop after the snowpocalypse. In his second go at it, he finds an unmistakably wintery composition. Lichtenstein would approve.
WTOP's Hank Silverberg reports that the flight schedule in and out of Reagan National Airport is returning to normalcy this morning after a pipe burst yesterday, flooding Terminal C. US Airways, which operates in the affected terminal, resumed flights at 10 a.m. -- but long lines and waits are to be expected due to the backlog created by the shutdown last night. Silverberg notes that it took a hundred people working through the night to clean up the mess caused by the flooding; all complicated by the fact that electricity to the terminal was shut off throughout the evening. Those flying in and out of DCA today -- especially on US Airways -- are encouraged to call (the US Airways hotline: 800-428-4322) and double-check on the status of potential delays.
Red Line service downtown is mostly back to full speed, but some minor residual delays are still in place after a man was struck by a train this morning at the Gallery Place-Chinatown station. Both Gallery Place's Red Line platforms and Judiciary Square station were closed for about an hour this morning, as investigators from Metro Transit Police surveyed the scene. Single-tracking then followed for approximately 30 minutes. All service has now been restored. The man was hit around 7:30 this morning by a train heading in the direction of Shady Grove. The unidentified man was transported to the hospital; there's no word yet on his condition, or whether he fell or placed himself in front of the train. Metro now says that the disruption has been totally cleared, but of course, one should probably still factor in a tiny bit of extra time if passing through the affected stations.
While you were scarfing down a turkey roll or playing with that new Wii, the Metropolitan Police Department had a busy 24 hours, mostly responding and investigating incredibly depressing incidences of extreme violence involving young people. Police began their Christmas by identifying the decomposing body of a teenager on the 3000 block of Stanton Road SE, and opening an investigation into his death. Then, thanks to a witness stepping forward and providing additional information, the police were able to arrest and charge Jobe Toby for the 1993 murder of a teenager, LeCedric Gaino, in Columbia Heights. Finally, officers responded to a Christmas morning shooting at 5401 4th Street NW in which three were wounded, including a twenty-one year-old man from Upper Marlboro who was killed. Disturbing crime, a D.C. Christmas tradition? Bah humbug, indeed.
No inquisitive mind, not even elocke, ever discovered what really happened at the Cadillac Motel that night. The body, the blood-splattered wood paneling, the weapon, the money -- a scene right out of the corridors of Satan's lair. Damn shame, too -- pretty little thing, she was. Someone with potential, with prospects. She didn't belong on this path, an asphalt stretch where the blackness of midnight envelops and quivers even the most stentorian of voices. She hardly stood a chance.
Well, not to Washington, they've all been here for some time now. But Vancouver, yes. Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin and Semyon Varlamov, all key pegs to D.C.'s lone sporting success story this year, will all head to the Great White North to play for the Russian national team in February's Winter Olympics. Plenty more Capitals are sure to be named to national teams between now and the deadline on January 1. The tournament takes place from February 16 through 28.
Good morning, Washington. Happy Boxing Day and Kwanzaa! You know, there's really nothing quite like when Christmas Day falls on a Friday, gifting you, me, and the region's previously snowpocalypse-hindered retailers valuable three-day weekends. The relaxation factor is off the charts; but the amount of legitimate local news hitting the wires is, well, less than plentiful. Besides, who wants to listen to such squawks when there's gifts to exchange and a blockbuster Robert Downey/Jude Law flick to take in? (Of course, if you're in the market for national news, there's no shortage of people trying to blow up planes and relapsing 1980s bad boys to keep you pacified.) Such silence on the Washingtonian current events front, combined with the last 24 hours of general malaise falling from the sky, is enough to send us back under the comforter. Here's hoping we can get back to some semblance of normalcy, come Monday.
CNN.com featured yesterday's snowball brouhaha on its home page, linking to ABC 7’s coverage of the incident. As if the negative coverage doesn’t threaten to be embarrassing enough for the District, the story -- headlined "Snowball Fight Takes a Turn for the Worse" -- paints a misguided picture of the day to say the least. According to WJLA and thus CNN, there was a “snowball fight-turned-unruly protest’ with “anti-war protesters dressed in anarchist garb” crashing the fight in their all black clothes, masks, and anti-war signs.”
Mayor Randy McClement of Frederick, Maryland, has asked drivers to move their parked cars off streets in order for city crews to perform curb-to-curb plowing, according to ABC 7. But where are they supposed to go in the meantime? There is free parking at the city garages until 6 a.m. Monday, but then drivers need to get to the city garages to retrieve their vehicles -- which is to say nothing of how they are supposed to get home from the garages. Nevertheless, the sooner the streets are plowed -- and plowed curb to curb -- the easier it will go for drivers. Maryland could see more drivers abandoning their autos, given how much snow is everywhere and how bad all Maryland drivers are. Yet as bad as the roads are in Maryland, it's no Springfield.
Check out these delightful scenes of the District. Of course, these shots were taken yesterday, before people put away the snow machines and pulled out the snow shovels, before levity turned into layovers. I think I'd like to stay in yesterday a little longer (except for the gun stuff).
In case you missed it on Friday, DCPS Chancellor Michelle Rhee turned down a potentially sizable performance-based bonus, according to a report from the Post's Bill Turque. Rhee also turned down a year-end check -- which can be as high as ten percent of her $275,000 annual salary -- last year. By refusing the money, Rhee definitely earns some political points in a time of tightening budgets. But she also avoids a potentially messy debate about whether or not her performance actually deserves a bonus: recent test scores have been promising and Rhee has done some big stuff this year, including releasing new teaching standards, launching a new DCPS website, and overseeing increased enrollment. But the Chancellor has had a rough year with regards to teacher layoffs and personal controversy. Of course, knowing that she's got six months of severance in the bank if Mayor Fenty (or anyone else) wants to replace her probably makes turning down bonuses a little bit easier for Rhee.
The weather might have you thinking that spring will never arrive, even though winter technically doesn't even start until tomorrow. (Yeah, it's a downer, man.) But better days will come, and this news will certainly help you visualize them: organizers for the 2010 National Cherry Blossom Festival announced that the festival will run from March 27 through April 11 next year. Our mental image of thousands of bursting cherry blossoms is impossible to cover with twenty inches of precipitation -- take that, snow gods!
It'll be a cold day in hell when the Congress passes progressive health care reform with a 60-vote supermajority. Wait, what?
It's no longer snowing outside DCist headquarters, and a hefty dose of sunshine is doing some good work -- but boy, is there still plenty of white stuff on the ground. An update for those of you who are looking forward to getting back to reality: getting around, locally and in the wider sense, will definitely still suck today, oh yes.
Well, most of what we recommended in last week's agenda for this weekend was canceled. Obviously, until the snow situation is under control we recommend calling ahead if you must hear some music. The agenda goes on its annual winter hiatus for the next couple weeks, but the following picks should tide you over until we return. Anyway, get out there and enjoy the snow!
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