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Tuesday, February 9, 2010
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June 24, 2009 - (June 26th) Hindustani Vocal Performance This coming Friday night at 7, you can listen to a Hindustani classical vocal performance at the Gandhi Memorial Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Singer Mitali Banerjee Bhawmik will be accompanied by tabla or Indian drum. Her soothing voice and deeply spiritual performances invoke a musical tradition at least 900 years old.
(June 24th) The Arts Lawyer is In! Artomatic is hosting an Arts Legal Clinic tonight at 6 in Southeast D.C. If you're an artist with art related legal questions, you can get some answers from volunteer attorneys. At around the same time there's also a workshop on turning your art into a business. And of course, Artomatic is full of exhibits and performances by over a thousand local talents, it's open until 1am.
(June 23rd -- June 27th) Baba Jamal Koram is in Virginia at Wolftrap's Theatre in the Woods for children. He's there this morning at 11:15 and every morning through Saturday. The master story teller brings the African griot tradition alive for children and adults with music, history, and humor.
June 24, 2009 - The National Transportation Safety Board has finished most of the work they need to do at the scene of the Metro collision. The damaged cars have already been loaded on a flatbed train and taken to a secure location for further testing. An NTSB official says there are other tests her team would like to do on the train tracks, but they are working with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority on the timing of those tests. They would like to minimize impact that might have on commuters using Metro. There is no word yet from Metro on when that closed portion of the track will reopen.
Jonathan Wilson reports...
June 24, 2009 - In Maryland, graduation rates have stagnated during the last decade, and educators are looking for new ways to keep students in school. Education officials convened the Dropout Prevention Leadership Summit in Baltimore this week. Bill Rinehart is with the Maryland State Department of Education. He says reaching students while they are young is crucial.
Alexis Kenyon reports...
June 24, 2009 - Metro's fleet of train cars is aging, and although some experts say the older equipment probably didn't cause Monday's fatal accident, they do say it certainly contributed to making it worse. As recently as last September, Metro General Manager John Catoe bemoaned his aging fleet of train cars and requested money to replace them.
"Over time they will break down more and more, and while they will be safe, it will impact the performance of the system," he said.
Some of Metro's rail cars are almost 40 years old. That's a decade older than what's considered their useful life.
That's not uncommon, according to William Vantuono, editor in chief of Railway Age magazine. He says the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's safety record is typical compared to its peers. Vantuono says he doesn't believe Metro's aging cars caused the crash. He thinks the fact that passengers said they felt no braking before the impact means it was a system failure of some kind.
But he does believe the aging cars made the impact worse because they don't have so-called crush zones that absorb most of the impact and preserve the integrity of the passenger compartments. The issue of crash-worthiness is what the National Transportation Safety Board warned Metro about as early as 1996.
Sabri Ben-Achour reports...
June 24, 2009 - Metro officials are pushing back on reports that they haven't been concerned enough about the safety of their aging rail cars. Jim Graham, chairman of the Metro Board, says they've worked "relentlessly" and "aggressively" to replace an older model of rail cars long before Monday's accident. Graham says they've been working on getting funding, but it hasn't happened as yet. He says it costs approximately $3 million to replace one rail car, and there are about 300 such cars of that model currently being used in the Metro system.
John Catoe, head of Metro, says these rail cars were bought in the 1970's. Graham says the Board considered removing all the older rail cars after Monday's crash, but the disruptions would have been significant for commuters.
Kavitha Cardoza reports...
June 24, 2009 - The head of the union representing Metro train operators says grief counselors have been speaking to employees to help them get over the shock of the crash. Jackie Jeter, the Local 689 president, says she's heard from Metro employees who've been apprehensive after the accident, especially because they don't have answers about why or how it happened. Jeter says other D.C. departments have been contacted to provide staff for counseling. Jeter represents about 400 train operators.
Kavitha Cardoza reports...
June 24, 2009 - The names of the nine people killed in Monday's Metro crash have been released. They include Jeanice McMillan, the driver of one of the trains; Mary Doolittle; Dennis Hawkins; Lavonda King; Ana Fernandez; Veronica Dubose; Cameron Williams; and husband and wife David and Ann Wherley.
The National Transportation Safety Board is now in charge of investigating the crash.
Mayor Adrian Fenty shared his condolences with all families affected by the crash on Tuesday afternoon, as he read off the names of those killed. But he shared a personal connection with Maj. Gen. David Wherley, who was killed in the crash along with his wife. Wherley served as head of the D.C. National Guard for Fenty's first two years as mayor.
"He was as fine a public servant, and as dedicated to the United State of America and everything that is great about this country as anyone I have ever met," Fenty said.
NTSB investigator Debbie Hersman says the cause of the crash has yet to be determined. NTSB teams have collected lots of evidence, some of it conflicting.
Hersman says a depressed emergency brake button and the condition of the brake rotors suggests that the trains emergency braking system was deployed before the crash. But some passengers who were on the train have said they did not feel the train slow down.
Jonathan Wilson reports...
June 24, 2009 - The first responders who helped deal with the aftermath of Monday's Metro crash say the wounded survivors made their job easier. D.C. fire fighter Nicole Norris was one of the first emergency responders at the scene of Monday's crash. She marveled at the calm under pressure displayed not just by her colleagues but also by many of the victims themselves.
"Some of these victims sat there with life threatening injuries, some of them with partially amputated legs, partially amputated arms -- and they trusted us and believed that we were going to get them out," Norris said.
National Transportation Safety Board Investigators are still trying to figure out what caused the crash. They say officials say initial evidence suggests that Metro driver Jeanice McMillan tried to slow down before her train collided with a train stopped at Fort Totten station.
Nine people, including McMillan, were killed in the crash at least 70 more were injured.
Investigators are trying to determine why Metros Automatic Train Operation system did not prevent the collision as it is designed to do.
Jonathan Wilson reports...
June 24, 2009 - A new report from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations chews over a pattern of excessive speculation within the wheat market. Tonight, some 2,000 people are expected to converge on Freedom Plaza in what organizers call a "faith-inspired" appeal to pass health care reform this year.
Elizabeth Wynn Johnson reports...
June 24, 2009 - Fees on the Dulles Toll Road could double over the next three years to help pay for Metro's proposed rail extension to Dulles Airport in Northern Virginia. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority is proposing upping the toll every few months starting in January. It currently costs 75 cents for two-axle vehicles to drive through the main toll plaza and 50 cents at all on and off ramps. Under the proposal, the main toll would increase to $1.50 by 2012, while the ramp toll would go up to 75 cents.
The extension of Metrorail to Dulles and on into Loudoun County is expected to cost $5 billion. Higher tolls have been part of the plan to help raise money for the project, but some local officials tell the Washington Post they fear higher tolls could hurt development in the area and drive commuters away from the toll road.
Matt McCleskey has more...
June 24, 2009 - All 453 metro train operators have safety concerns, says the head of their union. Jackie Jeter, president of Local 689, says the Metro Board needs to make three changes immediately in order to ease worker concerns. They need to place aging rail cars currently being used in the center of the train, rather than at either end. She says train operators should be able to continue operating trains manually, instead of going back to automatic mode, until the federal investigation is completed. Third, Jeter says, train operators should be able to go slower if they feel it is necessary. Jeter says the Metro Board has not been responsive to the unions concerns about safety in the past. She declined to give specifics. When asked if any train operators had refused to work she replied, "Not Yet."
Kavitha Cardoza reports...
June 24, 2009 - Officials are identifying five of the victims killed in a subway train crash in Washington, D.C. Metro officials say that four passengers ranging in age from 23 to 64 were killed when a train barreling down the tracks hit a stopped train a day earlier. The operator of the train that was moving has been identified as Jeanice McMillan, 42, of Springfield, Va. The passengers who were killed were Mary Doolittle, 59, of Northwest Washington; Ana Fernandez, 40, of Hyattsville, Md.; Dennis Hawkins, 64, of Southeast Washington and Lavonda King, 23, of Northeast D.C. It was not immediately clear whether the passengers were on the train that was moving or the one that was stopped awaiting the train ahead of it to clear a station.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Wilson has more on the investigation....
June 24, 2009 - As part of our continuing series called "Conversations," reporter Michael Cottman discusses multiculturalism with David Anderson, senior pastor of Bridgeway Community Church in Columbia, Md. Anderson is also the author of "Multicultural Ministry: Finding Your Church's Unique Rhythm," in which he challenges Americans of all ethnic groups to move beyond their traditional comfort zones.
June 24, 2009 - Law enforcement officials from all over Maryland will come to Montgomery County today to learn about speed cameras. Other counties and municipalities in the state want speed cameras, but so far only Montgomery County and state highway construction zones have them.
Montgomery County Council president Phil Andrews says the cameras have been a success in his county. The cameras have always faced cynicism from those who believe they are nothing more than a way for the county to raise money. Speed cameras brought in close to $ 15 million to the county last fiscal year.
Matt Bush reports...
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