There was a quick-draw showdown on the dusty streets of the Senate Finance Committee yesterday, and Montana Senator Max Baucus came out swinging. Both Democratic proposals to create a government-run insurance plan were shot down by the committee, leaving saloon shutters flapping and the road wide open for Baucus to ride in with his plan by the end of the week.

And how does the committee chairman want to run this town? Like any good sheriff, he vies for the middle of the road: that is to say, nonprofit insurance cooperatives over the public option, and as an alternative to private companies. After all, no cowboy worth his salt will trust those private vigilantes...but neither will he tame the wild west.

And over in Foggy Bottom, the metro stop, in addition to a couple blocks of 23^rd street, was closed for several hours due to a “suspicious package.” As one GWU student put it, “[the package] was bouncing.”

If bouncy packages weren’t enough to worry about, the robbers have decided to take on the guise of D.C. businessmen—a mugger alert went out Monday on 16^th and K Street for a man wearing a black suit, black hat, white shirt, and carrying a briefcase. Maybe he had an interview later?

And finally, ABC7 reported that at the concert last night at the FedEx Field, “U2 fans” were concerned about the traffic, and a lot of “U2 fans” couldn’t get off work early. Sadly, the author didn’t realize that the 80,000 concertgoers were rushing to see the far superior unmentioned act, Muse. Any of these mythical U2 fans out there want to give a shout-out?

That's it for today—I think the swine got me, and there's no vaccine until the first week of October....

Photo by Freeparking, Creative Commons Attribution License

The renovations to the system will cost $177 million (only $80 million more than anticipated last summer!) and will take upwards of 4 years to complete, beginning in early 2010.  Among the important tasks of the renovation are:

• New escalators at the south entrance of Dupont Circle - Please, slow down this exit even more.  And give me an opportunity to walk up and down that ridiculously long escalator when it's not running.
• Upgrades to the air conditioning and ventilation - Does the Metro really need to be colder?  Maybe when the trains are filled to capacity, which will only worsen when the Red Line starts single-tracking to solve this issue.
• Rehabilitation of the Rockville and Shady Grove platforms - What does that even mean?  Re-grouting the tiles?  Adding a few benches?
• New staircases, escalators, and a canopy at Foggy Bottom - A canopy?  Really?  Get an umbrella.

The other planned maintenance seems more on track, if you'll forgive the pun.  Like an upgrade to the automatic train controls and track maintenance and fixing the tunnel ventilation and fire equipment.  Maybe those should be the primary focus.  Because it's always better to prevent train collisions than to prevent getting wet while entering the station.

The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) is advising motorists that the 2600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue, NW is closed to eastbound traffic because of a sinkhole. A square hole, approximately 4 feet by 4 feet, and 5 feet deep, has developed in the roadway near the bridge over Rock Creek (see attached photo).

DDOT crews are on the scene to make repairs. They are also working with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) to try and reopen a lane for eastbound traffic, but delays are likely and motorists are advised to take alternate routes if possible

Any readers got pics?

UPDATE, 5:35 P.M.: WUSA-TV has a photo.