Apparently around two dozen people who’d spent time at the new Convention Facility at the National Harbor development in Prince George’s County fell ill yesterday, complaining of serious nausea. All of those who complained had attented a medical conference at the new facility operated my the Gaylord Hotel Group Convention Center at the National Harbor. There doesn’t seem to be another connecting thread between those who complained, but the health departments in Prince George’s County, and Arlington County (the illnesses were all discovered at National Airport) will be following up with all those affected.

Very peculiar!

February is rearing her ugly side again, and may leave an inch of snow on us today, starting in about an hour or so. So, because DC can’t handle more than a single flake without some sort of traffic casuality, get ready for a crappy evening rush.

DC Loses $250,000 in Emergency Radios

Apparently, the DC Government can only account for 73 of its 151 emergency radios, and given that some of the radios have turned up for sale in DC, it’s probably not a bad assumption that the other 78 (valued at over $3,000 apiece) are pretty much gone. So, next time there’s an emergency, look out for those other 78 people fucking with the EMT and Police crowd. That’ll just be awesome.

Goodbye Awakening

The Awakening is leaving DC today, being dug up from its home at Hains Point and moved to the National Harbor project (Warning, Annoying Music) in Prince George’s County. We’ve known this was coming, but it’s still jarring to think that it’s finally going. Thanks much to Christopher Dale for the use of his amazing long-exposure shot.

No More French in 9th Grade in DC

I know in my educational path, foreign language was an option as young as 7th grade. Apparently not in DC, where it’s not until 10th grade that you can take a foreign language. I’m no pedagogue, but I’m fairly sure that kinda screws over the students, no?

Good Checkout Automation

Do you, like I find automated glitches at Home Depot when you use the self check-out lines? Yet do you hate to wait in the regular lines?

Then this man is your savior.

He runs an automated checkout cart down the line of folks waiting to leave, tallying up your hardware buy while you are in line to pay. When done he gives you a card which you give to the cashier.

With that card, she then concentrates on getting your money, not ringing up your goods. Specialization & automation that speeds the line.

Don’t know about you, but I like this Home Depot automation.

Back at the beginning of April, I wondered Why Did Keith A. Washington Still Have a Gun?! when he threatened a real estate appraiser with a second police-issued gun after shooting two furniture delivery men, killing one, with his first police-issued gun, and trying to cover up the whole thing with a fake robbery call to PG police.

Keith “I’ll Spam Ya” Washington?

In the comments section, “Concerned Citizen” came to Washington’s defense with an unsubstantiated claim that

“Mr. King is not certified or licensed to do Home Appraisal it is speculated by authorities that he was merely trying to portray himself as a victim and colluded with others to sue Mr. Washington,

It also appears that the whole thing was fabricated by Mr. King……The attorney General of Md posted on their website the following information about Mr. King…..”

Now it seems that “Dave” posted the same rant on another site questioning Washington’s abuse of authority, resorting to personal attacks on the site owner who questioned “Dave” more than I.

Not to stop there, “Dave/Concerned Citizen” then apparently went to a third site that also calls him a danger to society. There, he was joined by “Susan” who claims to be his wife but just happens to have a uncanny similar use of too many periods:

Washington was jumped by them while his wife and daughter ran from their home screaming watching there husband and father being almost killed by two strangers…..My husband says that they had committed 4 or 5 previous burglaries before the encounter with Washington…….I that case Washington deserves a medal…how did people get it so wrong

Now I don’t know about you, but I smell blog spam. This “Dave/Concerned Citizen/Susan” sounds too much like a Keith A. Washington trying desperately to clear his name, one blog at a time.

I hope he has plenty of time to fulfill that Quixotic goal, from a gun-free jail cell.

Keith “I’ll Kill Ya” Washington

I cannot believe this! Keith A. Washington, the guy who shot two Marlo Furniture movers, killing Brandon D. Clark, did it again. He whipped out his police issued pistol and threatened a innocent home appraiser who knocked on his door last week.

Can we get a big “WTF!”? Why does this man still have a gun? A PG Country police issued gun no less!

Why does he have any gun on his person after the Marlo movers shooting? The guy is a crazed lunatic, a real a-hole and shouldn’t be in possession of a police issued anything, except a prison jumpsuit.

And yet here he is getting charged with first-degree assault, second-degree assault and use of a handgun during a violent crime with said government gun. Oh wait, not the first gun but a second gun. From the WashPost article:

Investigators confiscated Washington’s service weapon when he was placed on administrative leave after the January shooting. At some point, under standard police practices, he was issued another weapon. A source, who requested anonymity because the case is ongoing, said investigators think the gun involved Thursday was the newly issued service weapon.

Giving a guy under investigation for a double shooting & one death with a gun, a second gun, is “standard police practice” in PG Country? Will Police Chief Melvin C. High yet again give Washington his gun and badge back even after he took them and Washington’s police powers because of this second action?

Keith A. Washington is nuts & should be allowed a water pistol, much less an actual lethal weapon. I don’t even live near PG Country and I totally agree with the still shocked appraiser:

“Considering what happened to the guys from Marlo Furniture, I felt both terrified and grateful that I wasn’t killed,” King said.

Damn straight, Mr. King. And if you’re wondering just how f**ked up the scene was for Keith A. Washington to pull a gun, check out the account published in the Post after the jump.
(more…)

Dan Snyder has been a busy guy since his Redskins finished their dissapointing season. His name just keeps popping up in the news:

- Rumors of the Redskins building a new stadium on the RFK site (The Post) after 2008 have been gaining momentum, but The Wash. Times reports the team has denied any such interest citing their lease binds them to Raljon Landover until 2027. While it would be cool to have the Redskins back in The District, I don’t see how this move makes a whole lot of sense for anyone. FedEx Field is only 10 years old.

- Snyder has apparently gotten cold feet (Washington Biz Journal) about buying WGMS to expand his fledging Triple X/ESPN/Redskins/Red Zebra radio network to a frequency people can actually hear. WMGS may still dump classical though. Hat tip to DCRTV.

- Six Flags, under the control of Snyder, sold off a bunch of theme parks but not Wild World Adventure World Six Flags America.in P.G. County.

While this is interesting as the exploits of previous owner, Jack Kent Cooke. Whether it was owning the Chrysler Building or his ex-con Bolivian wife he always made for better gossip. A better team too. We miss you Squire.

Well, the weather advisories are out for today, and in essence, they say “Batten down the hatches, it’s about to get insane outside.” Specifically the text I received says: Please secure loose items and watch for flying debris. So, when you’re out this afternoon, don’t even bother with the umbrella unless it’s made of cast iron, it’ll just become a projectile in the storm. Thunderstorms, high winds, flying debris, it’s all part of the forecast for today.

Photo by flickr user littlerottenrobin under creative commons licence.

After dressing like they were still in training camp for the last season and a half, the Redskins ditched their white on white combination and wore their traditional burgundy pants again yesterday. The result: a 17-13 victory (The Post) of Carolina. QB Jason Campbell hit TE Chris Cooley for a 66 yard score late in the fourth quarter. Adding to the drama was Campbell actually getting to call the winning play — his helmet speaker went dead. The Skins raise their record to 4-7, while the Panthers fall to 6-5.

Tomorrow is election day across the greater DC area (and the rest of the US, too) and that means lots of running around town trying to get to your polling place to vote. If you can’t afford your own transportation, though, in Montgomery County and Prince George’s County, there’s a cab company coming to your rescue, as they’ll be giving free cab rides to your polling place and back starting at 10am tomorrow and concluding at 1pm so the cabbies can still make a day’s wages. While most of the cabbies cannot vote themselves, they’re still interested in making the process work. It’s all being coordinated through CASA Maryland, so give them a call if you’re interested in a ride to the polls tomorrow.

Perhaps if Wayan’s couch guest is still looking for a place to stay, he should take a gander at HotPads.com. HotPads appears to be a mash-up between google maps and wikipedia, offering a user-friendly at-a-glance look at available housing options inside the beltway.

Users can customize their search requirements by zip code, city, county or state, using a variety of variables. A quick Georgetown search turned up not a whole lot, whereas a quick search of my home zip code turned up two rental possibilities.

Looking for a roommate? You apparently can use that feature too, although it turned up zilch for me. This appears to be a great tool for relocation professionals who know naught about the new city they’ll call home. Doing a quick search of cities such as Seattle and Boston turned up a whole lot of useful information.

These three Notre Dame former college roommates moved to the D.C. area and created HotPads in early ‘05, relaunching the site last month. The best thing about HotPads? It’s totally free.

Between HotPads and The D.C. Crime Map newcomers to D.C. can learn much more about prospective neighbours before they even put down a deposit. Say ’sayonara’ to moving in sight unseen, suckers.