Morning Roundup: Bills to Pay Edition

Posted by admin in DC Life on 11 5th, 2009 | no responses

Photo by cmoaknd Good morning, Washington. DCist is actually compiling the Roundup from Philadelphia this morning, where the streets are overflowing in grief after last night’s World Series loss. We didn’t spy any rowdy crowds or inappropriate displays of frustration after the game, but we don’t even want to think about what might have happened had something like the Cox cable outage in Virginia gone down up here. Congratulations to all the Yankees fans in the DCist commentariat. We’re looking ahead to the Nationals’ world championship that’s sure to be coming in 2037. Metro Faces Large Bill to Prevent More Outages: WMATA managed to get the rest of its electronic services back up and running before the evening rush hour on Wednesday, but what needs to be done to prevent something like this from happening again? Lena Sun follows up on this question in the Post , finding that Metro will need $14 million to replace two aging power units, one of which was responsible for yesterday’s outage and cannot be repaired. The second unit in question is just as old and is responsible for supplying power to the computers that operate the rail system. Here’s the real talk: ‘An interim fix is in place, but “there is anxiety” about it, Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said. “There are no other options at this moment.”‘ Does McDonnell Have a Mandate? Virginia

Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell (R) won Tuesday’s election by a whopping 17 points over opponent Creigh Deeds, along with helping to usher in a Republican sweep of the state’s highest offices. So does that mean he’s planning on operating as though he’s been handed a mandate? Pretending for a moment that Virginia’s single-term governor has much power to begin with, that question is receiving some mixed coverage. The Washington Post and the Associated Press attend the same press conference and reach opposite conclusions: the Post describes McDonnell as pledging to steer toward the center , while the AP ( via the WashTimes ) writes that McDonnell will be relying on a perceived mandate to transform his campaign proposals into law. Briefly Noted: Pedestrian struck by car in Southwest … Wanted D.C. man arrested after standoff with police in Northeast … Montgomery County police officer fatally strikes a pedestrian … Two tractor trailers collide on 1-495 … Man fatally burned in Md. gas station fire … NFL player gives $2 million to the University of Md. … Plane landing at Dulles damages wing, scaring passengers . This Day in DCist: Last year, District residents were partying in the streets until the wee hours of the morning after Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States.