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Thursday, November 12, 2009
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July 06, 2009 - (June 26-August 8) ONE GOOD MAN Adventure Theatre presents You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown at Glen Echo Park in Maryland through August 8th. The musical, based on the "Peanuts" comic strip, follows Charlie Brown on an average day filled with wild optimism and soul-searching despair. This 1999 Broadway revival version got the blessing of Charles Schultz himself, and features a few of D.C.'s top actors and producers.
(July 7) ASPEN SANTA FE BALLET The Aspen Santa Fe Ballet is at Wolf Trap tomorrow night at 8:30. This elite dance troupe fuses classical good sense with Western ingenuity in delivering works by Twyla Tharp, William Forsythe and Jorma Elo.
(June 28-August 30) A MODERN AMERICAN A celebration of Baltimore artist Herman Maril's 100th birthday continues at The Walters Art Museum in Charm City through August 30th. The exhibit, An American Modernist, is full of wide swaths of color from Maril's bold palette, featuring paintings of seascapes, landscapes and still lifes created in Baltimore, Cape Cod and around the world.
Wolf Trap hosts the ballet July 7th in Vienna, Virginia.
Courtesy of: Aspen Santa Fe Ballet
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July 06, 2009 - One of the charms of Old Town Alexandria is its historic buildings, which is why many people are upset about the partial demolition of a structure in an alley behind the 200 block of King Street.
Known as a "flounder" because the single window at the top looks like the eye of a fish, Alexandria City officials are expecting an assessment of the building's value to determine whether the owner should be allowed to proceed with his plans.
Michael Pope reports...
July 06, 2009 - Those who attended 4th of July celebrations in the District were being monitored as part of a test of evacuation procedures. But some critics feel the tests' technology may pry too much into the public's privacy. Fast Forward is the name of the program launched by the city several years ago. It takes advantage of major public gatherings - like the 4th of July or the Presidential Inauguration - to test the District's emergency evacuation procedures. Like in previous years, Fast Forward re-timed street lights along several evacuation routes to increase the flow of traffic. But this year the plan went further: At intersections along these main boulevards advanced cameras were doing automated pedestrian counts, and blue tooth technology was tracking the movements of individual cell phones. Privacy advocates like the Electronic Frontier Foundation say these 'Intelligent Transportation Systems' fail to include technology that will also protect privacy, and they're weary that surveillance is such a key function of these monitoring systems.
Mana Rabiee reports...
July 06, 2009 - Diane Wiener is traveling between Judiciary Square and Gallery Place about an hour after the fireworks display. Her train is packed, but not any more than you'd expect on a typical weekday afternoon.
"I was real reluctant because of what happened with the accident," she says. "Not apprehensive about traveling, but just thinking there would be a real dearth of trains... [But so far] it's been great."
Metro spokesperson Steve Taubenkibel says the federal government's relaxing of some security measures was key to making things run smoothly this year. Usually the Smithsonian Station is closed on July 4th, and trains run on an altered scheduled to work around it. This year, Taubenkibel says the U.S. Park Police allowed Metro to keep the station open for the first time since 9/11.
"And because of that it really wasn't necessary for us to have to do this different type of schedule we do every July fourth," he says.
Taubenkibel says Metro also benefited from the National Transportation Safety Board's 11th-hour decision to allow the Takoma Station to stay open. Previously, it was closing at 10 p.m. every night for the NTSB's investigation into last month's train crash.
"Their personnel recognized the fact that July fourth was going to be on a Saturday and we really needed all our stations to be open," Taubenkibel says. "So the NTSB decided to stand down."
The Takoma station will resume closing early this week. David Schultz reports...
July 06, 2009 - Bethesda resident Sara Boyd chats with her friends near the first hole at Congressional Country Club. As a golf fan, she loves being able to see Tiger Woods just a few miles from her home. But she also loves all the out-of-town golf fans who've descended on Montgomery County this weekend.
"I hope they go spend all their money," she says, "And save my property taxes."
Wherever Woods competes, he brings along tens of thousands of spectators. Those spectators spend tens of millions of dollars on heavily taxed items such as alcohol and hotel rooms.
All this makes government officials like County Executive Ike Leggett very happy.
"Tiger Woods is a phenomenal draw," he says. "Whenever you have Tiger Woods involved and you ever have him actively engaged in this, it's a winner for the overall economy."
Leggett says the AT&T National typically brings around $40 million to Montgomery County every year - significant, considering Leggett is staring down a $375 million budget gap.
"What it does is it fills up hotels, it fills up restaurants," Leggett says. "Especially in the county where we have a subtle recession going on."
But Montgomery County won't benefit from the "Tiger effect" next year. The AT&T National is temporarily moving to Philadelphia as Congressional Country Club prepares to host the U.S. Open in 2011.
David Schultz reports...
July 06, 2009 - Less than 24 hours after Marion Barry's arrest, the mood outside the Anacostia Metro Station in Southeast D.C. is anything but ambivalent. Barry's constituents seem to have nothing but faith and support for their embattled Councilman following his arrest for allegedly stalking a woman. Many here believe the allegation is unfounded. And even if it did happen, they say, it doesn't change the many good things Marion Barry has done for their Ward throughout his career.
Mana Rabiee reports...
July 06, 2009 - A study by regional planners is linking the recession to higher levels of air pollution. The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments analyzed vehicle registration data taken after the economy plummeted to adjust air quality forecasts. A drop in new car sales means older vehicles with higher emissions are being driven longer. The Washington Post reports the study found that vehicles on Washington-area roads are an average of six months older than they were in 2005. Officials say the aging fleet could push the region close to violating its limits for traffic-related pollutants. The study says tailpipe emissions next year will be up to 7.5 percent higher than projected in previous forecasts. Some experts say the problem could become a national issue.
Patrick Madden reports...
July 06, 2009 - As Congress rolls back for what is certain to be a very busy July, Elizabeth Wynne Johnson focuses for a moment on one especially busy man: Sen. Chris Dodd.
July 06, 2009 - D.C. Councilman Marion Barry's latest run-in with the law could invite his detractors to challenge his position in Southeast Washington politics, but it wouldn't be the first time. Barry, whose career spans 30 years, has been called "D.C.'s Mayor for Life." But some local civic leaders privately bristle at his apparent strong hold over much of inner-city D.C. politics. Charles Wilson is president of the Historic Anacostia Block Association. He says he would run for Barry's seat on the city council but only if it were vacated first. That's how strong Barry's support is among constituents in the area.
Mana Rabiee reports...
July 06, 2009 - Higher toll rates have led to sparser traffic on the Dulles Greenway. But the 14-mile private toll road is generating more revenue than ever.
Daily weekday traffic on the Greenway fell nearly 8 percent over the first three months of this year, compared with the same months in 2008. The Washington Post reports the significant dip in traffic coincides with fee increases that took effect in January. It now costs $4 to drive on the Greenway during rush hour and $3.40 at all other times, up from $3.
Since the increase, average daily revenue has jumped 11.5 percent to more than $167,000.
Patrick Madden reports...
July 06, 2009 - An attorney for Marion Barry says hes confident a stalking charge against the councilman will be dropped. Attorney Fred Cooke says Barry vehemently denies stalking Donna Watts-Brighthaup, a former girlfriend and campaign volunteer. The councilman and Watts-Brighthaupt were traveling to Delaware's Rehoboth Beach on Saturday when the two decided to come back to D.C. Barry later went by Brighthaupts home in Anacostia. She wasn't there, and Barry began driving home. That's when he saw Brighthaupt in another car, and that's when Park Police say they arrested Barry after a woman flagged down an officer and said the driver of another car was stalking her. The veteran council member has had multiple brushes with the law over the years and is on probation for tax offenses. Barry's attorney, Fred Cooke, says the misdemeanor stalking charge has no merit. Barry will be in federal court Thursday to find out if the U.S. Attorney will file formal charges.
Patrick Madden reports...
July 06, 2009 - Metro and MARC stations in Montgomery County, Md., will be the focus of a security exercise Tuesday. More than 180 officers and K9 units from departments throughout the county will patrol in and around Metro stops and train stations. Some will be heavily armed and in full tactical gear. Lucille Bauer, with Montgomery County Police, says the exercises are to deter and detect terrorism. There is no intelligence, however, to suggest that any threat currently exists against the county's transit system.
Sabri Ben-Achour reports...
July 06, 2009 - Virginia State Police had a busy July 4th weekend, responding to 562 highway crashes that left 10 people dead. The 10 deaths for the Friday-to-Sunday reporting period match the same number of deaths over last year's four-day holiday weekend. State police said alcohol was a factor in four of the fatal crashes, and seven of the dead were not wearing safety belts. One death involved a bike rider. In addition to the highway crashes, state police also cited 7,390 motorists for speeding and 2,140 for reckless driving. One-hundred-twenty-nine suspected drunken drivers were also removed from the roads.
Meymo Lyons reports....
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