Much of the problem is that Metro has a big backlog of maintenance. The agency pointed to the example of rail ties, the wooden cross bars on tracks that support the metal rails. The agency should replace about 12,000 of the 250,000 in the system each year, Troup said, but was replacing about 5,000 a year because of a lack of manpower, funding and adequate equipment. Now the agency has a backlog of 75,000 ties that need to be replaced.

You Line, I Line, We All Scream For Uline: Years ago, the Uline Arena was the place the Beatles chose for their first U.S. concert; these days, it's an empty husk of a building that's barely visible except from passing Metro trains. It might soon be a music museum, though. Architects at HKS are convening a summit to come up with design ideas; if they find one that's economically viable, the arena might one day come off the roster of vacant properties held by Douglas Development Corp. No word on whether Paul McCartney could be lured to play a set. +2

Wrath of Khan: Local boxer Lamont Peterson will have to beat Brit Amir Khan a second time if he wants to keep his belts. So says the World Boxing Association, which ordered a rematch of last year's fight at the Convention Center because of "multiple irregularities" in the refereeing and scoring of the bout. No reason to worry, though; as long as the rematch is held in D.C., Peterson should be fine. Uh, because of the strong crowd support, of course. -1

Track Marks: Going somewhere this holiday weekend? Don't be in a hurry. Metro has repair work planned for the Red, Orange, and Blue lines; virtually everyone who took the Red Line anywhere this week already knows how inconvenient single-tracking there can be. There won't be any trains between L'Enfant Plaza and Eastern Market, which means any tourists hoping to check out the Capitol will be hoofing it. (Or taking Uber?) -2

Tie One On: Business casual is the order of the day for the men at most D.C. law firms (even if suits and/or blue blazers are still de rigeur on the Hill). Which may be why an attorney based at WilmerHale, David Powers, has teamed up with a buddy to start a business that rents neckties: Why buy 'em if you almost never have to wear one? For $29.99 a month, you get the use of five fancy ties. If this isn't a sign the economy isn't actually improving, we're not sure what is. +1

Yesterday's Needle rating: 39 Today's score: 0 Friday bonus: +2 Martin Luther King Jr. weekend bonus: +2 Today's Needle rating: 43

On June 22, 2009, the deadliest crash in Metrorail's history occurred when two Red Line trains collided near the Fort Totten station, killing nine people and injuring dozens more.

The accident, and a subsequent National Transportation Safety Board investigation, offered a harsh assessment of Metro’s lax safety maintenance. That Monday just before 5 p.m., at the height of rush hour, a downtown-bound Red Line train leaving the Takoma station stopped temporarily on the tracks near the New Hampshire Avenue NE overpass. A second train, headed in the same direction, rammed into the rear of the stationary train at 55 mph, causing the last car of that train to break apart on impact.

(For a slideshow of photos of the accident and its aftermath, click here.)

Olga Bryant, a Walter Reed Army Medical Center employee, was a passenger on the first train. She told Washington City Paper at the scene that it had been stopped for about 10 minutes before the crash. For those who ride Metro long enough, such delays become routine. Brenda Payton, who was on the speeding train, told City Paper: "We just felt a big crunch and saw smoke and stuff. We got off the train as fast as we could." Fellow passenger Anastasia McKeown said: “You could tell we hit something that wasn't an animal." Crews had to cut some passengers out of the mangled cars and propped up steel ladders to help others escape the wreckage. (For a photo gallery of the emergency response, click here.)

Then-Mayor Adrian Fenty spoke at a press conference on June 23, confirming nine dead and 76 injured. “We want to express our condolences ... our hearts go out to the many loved ones,” Fenty said. “We are cooperating fully with WMATA. They will then cooperate fully with the NTSB."

Among the fatalities was train operator Jeanice McMillan, 42. Speculation grew in the aftermath of the crash that McMillan had been texting when the trains collided. WTOP confirmed with then-Metro General Manager John Catoe that the rumors were untrue. "We know where her cell phone was—it was not on her. It was in a backpack ... There's not one letter of evidence that our operator did anything to cause the accident,” Catoe said. He added that the train had braked for several hundred feet before the crash.

Among the eight other fatalities were LaVonda King, 23, owner of a new hair salon; Maj. Gen. David F. Wherley Jr., 62, a command pilot; and Veronica DuBose, 29, a nursing student.

The NTSB’s investigation into the June 2009 accident determined that the automatic train-control system had failed to detect the delayed train, The Washington Post reported.

NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman told the Post that D.C.’s Metrorail—the second-busiest in the country with about 200 million passenger trips a year—had “significant deficiencies in their safety culture.”

Hersman also accused Metro of ignoring the NTSB’s warnings—the most significant of which regarding its potentially malfunctioning track circuits and oldest cars dating back to the 1970s—for 15 years before the crash, according to the Associated Press. The NTSB made a series of new recommendations to Metro after the accident.

The previous most-deadliest crash in Metro’s history occurred in 1982, when an Orange Line train derailed near the Federal Triangle station due to an improperly aligned switch, killing three passengers.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery. For more of Montgomery's photos click here.

© 2011 Michael W. Hicks

Why Does Everybody Have a Bomb?: Rush hour is bad, but it's not quite bad enough that the appropriate response is to threaten to blow things up. A woman riding the Red Line this morning, however, apparently thought differently; authorities closed the system from Grosvenor to Shady Grove for two hours after she declared she had a bomb and announced that Metro had "killed [her] family." A few dozen people fled the train, jumping onto the tracks even though the electrified third rail was live. The bomb threat was a hoax (and the woman responsible has been involuntarily committed to a facility for mental health care). Unfortunately, it's likely to mean Metro doubles down on its security searches of passengers, nonetheless. -3

Put On Some Pants: As a general rule, it's probably a bad idea to pick on someone's attire if the person you're picking on is carrying a machine gun. But that appears to be what Capitol Police management have done; new rules prohibiting some cops on the Hill from wearing shorts, no matter how hot it gets, were reportedly motivated by concerns that the officers would look silly carrying automatic rifles without long pants. Considering most of the tourists walking past the cops are dressed as if they only begrudgingly got out of bed, maybe the new orders are targeted at the wrong people. -1

You Get A Car!: Not convinced the real estate market is still struggling? Maybe word that a home for sale in Bloomingdale comes with a BMW will convince you. The house is $459,000; the car is worth $40,000. The buyer will actually only get to drive it for two years, as the listing agents are paying for a lease—but by then, their ARM will be about to reset, too, and they'll have bigger problems. -1

Dial-a-Fare: When SmarTrip cards debuted on Metro in the late 1990s, it was already a bit behind; after all, New York's subway had similar cards that could also be used on buses (which Metro didn't add to the system until years later). Metro officials now may scrap it, instead allowing passengers to pay with their cell phones or credit cards directly. Which will be fine, except at the handful of stations where cell phone service remains spotty. Free ride, anyone? +1

Friday's Needle rating: 56 Today's score: -4 Today's Needle rating: 52

On Saturday, March 27, 1976, the subway opened to much fanfare, offering free rides to the more than 50,000 people who showed up to see what was considered at the time to be a transit system of the future. (Today's riders might be unaccustomed to all the Metro goodwill back then.)

It wasn't until March 29, a Monday, that the system started charging. According to Metro, nearly 20,000 people took a ride that day. Fares were collected through exact change; fare cards were introduced in 1977, and SmarTrip in 1999.

Because that first Red Line segment connected just five stations (the Gallery Place-Chinatown station didn't open for service until Dec. 15 that year, and New York Avenue-Florida Avenue-Gallaudet University station opened as an in-fill station in 2004), service only ran on weekdays, starting at 6 a.m. and concluding at 8 p.m. (This post originally said the line connected six stations.) When the Red Line opened, subway construction was already underway on other parts of the system that would eventually grow into the nation's second-busiest. The first segment of the Orange and Blue lines opened the next year, connecting the National Airport and Stadium-Armory stations via downtown Washington.

The rail system now encompasses more than 106 miles of track and 86 stations in the District, Maryland, and Virginia.

The most recent complaint about this issue comes, via Hollaback DC, from a woman who was catching the Red Line from Union Station. As usual, the concrete benches in the station were full (R.I.P. chivalry), and she searched for a spare piece of bench to sit on while she stuck out the 20-minute wait.

She was just sitting down next to a younger woman when she noticed a man she assumed to be homeless “oggleing” the both of them. She’d spotted him by the gates, and by the looks of things, she’d piqued his interest, and he’d decided to follow her down to the platform. Both women noticed the man’s hands repeatedly heading toward his, um, manly bits, and tried to ignore it, hoping against hope that he would stop.

No such luck. The man followed our storyteller onto her train and then, it happened:

“As he set down he stuck his hand in his pants and pulled himself out and I though eww he going to try to flash me; but no he had other intentions and he started to masturbate.”

Naturally, she immediately moved to the other side of the train, then fled to the next car when the train pulled into a station. The guy didn’t seem to care that he’d been spotted. When she switched trains at Chinatown, he stood up to watch her leave, his hands still lodged in his pants.

This isn’t the first time a Hollaback DC poster has complained about suffering this form of harassment on the Metro. Over the summer, another woman recounted an awful experience she suffered last February, when one of her fellow passengers apparently got all hot and bothered by the sight of her bundled up in her winter clothes.

Neither woman knew what to do—but who would, with something right out of Law and Order: SVU happening to you while you’re minding your own business?

Metro actually does have guidelines for this sort of thing, as City Desk reported last summer. Officials say customers caught in the sights of pervy riders, or other sketchy individuals, should either press the little red button on the train to report the incident to the operator, or to call the 24-hour Metro Transit Police hotline at (202) 962-2121.

Be safe out there.

Photo by hyku via Flickr/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

Meet the New Boss: For an ambitious young House Republican, overseeing the District isn't a terrible gig. You get to tell 600,000 people what to do, without fear of retribution from any voting members of Congress, and without alienating your constituents back home, who don't particularly care what the federal government's doing to a bunch of Washingtonians. Which means Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina could be a new star soon, as he was named today to head the subcommittee that watches D.C. affairs. He's no Jason Chaffetz, but who is? Gowdy's district is one of the most conservative in the Palmetto State, including Greenville and Spartanburg—two cities that don't have a whole lot in common with our own (Spartanburg has about 289,000 people, more than two-thirds of them white). Welcome, boss! -3

Obama Park: One surefire way to irritate Gowdy and the new Republican majority in Congress? Start naming things around town for President Obama. That seems to be what Councilmember Jim Graham has planned, as he reintroduced legislation today to name the park at 14th and Girard streets NW for the president. Graham first tried this in July 2009, a mere six months into Obama's term; then, it was technically illegal, thanks to a provision of the D.C. Code that bars naming things for living people. +1

Ex Post Facto: Don't be alarmed when you pick up Sunday's Kaplan Test Prep Supplement Washington Post. Much of which, if you're one of the dwindling number of locals who get home delivery service, will actually arrive on Saturday. The Post announced new features and formats for its Sunday sections today, including a tabloid-sized Style section that sounds an awful lot like another tabloid packed with information on pop culture and life in the District that you can find around town on Thursdays. But hey, if it means people are actually making money printing newspapers in Washington, we're all for it! +2

Gay Marriage Saved: The institution of same-sex marriage doesn't go back quite as long as the institution of opposite-sex marriage (or, as Carrie Prejean would put it, "opposite marriage"), but like all marriage these days, it, too, was under threat. The danger to D.C.'s same-sex marriages came from the Supreme Court. But fortunately, the court opted not to interfere with the District's marriage equality law today, refusing to take up an appeal by opponents of the law who sought to force a referendum on it. Score it as a rare win for basic fairness and justice. +3

Metro Back in Business: News that Metro's Red Line had trouble this morning shouldn't have surprised anyone; after all, there was an ice storm, and Metro is perfectly capable of having difficulty when it's warm and sunny. This time, an insulator burning on the tracks near Tenleytown slowed service, just in time for commuters arriving two hours later than usual to get stranded. By evening rush hour, things were working as normal again—which is to say, expect delays. -2

Yesterday's Needle rating: 51 Today's score: +1 Today's Needle rating: 52

The Sky is Falling!: Mark down today's date, Nov. 18, 2010, as one to remember. For it turns out that the latest absurd problem in the Metro system—the chunks of concrete falling from the ceiling onto a platform at the Farragut North stop on the Red Line—was not the transit agency's fault! District Department of Transportation workers jackhammering the street above were the culprits. However, the fact that Metro's entire online infrastructure died this morning? Yeah, that's on them. -3

Farewell, Wilbon: Raise your hand if Mike Wilbon's column was the first thing (or pretty damn close to it) you read in the Washington Post the morning after, oh, every major sporting event in the last several decades. That run is now over; Wilbon is leaving the paper for ESPN and ABC Sports, where the streets, compared to the ones that run through Newspaperville, are paved with gold. -2

The Beltway Will Kill You: File this under "Yet Another Reason Never to Venture Outside the District Line"—a new study indicates that more than half of drivers on the Beltway are talking on their phone, and that 47 percent more of them are texting while driving than last year. The study, the scientific validity of which we're not necessarily inclined to think is particularly high, was sponsored by the American Automobile Association. Which probably means the findings will soon be marshaled as an argument against red light cameras and bike lanes. -3

Virginia is for People Who Are Waiting for their Tax Refunds: Live in Virginia? Think you might be owed money by the federal government? As long as you're not expecting a check in connection with the brainwave-stealing beams the sinister black helicopters are directing at your head, you might be right. The IRS says it's got $2.3 million sitting around in tax refunds due Virginia residents who, for various postal reasons, didn't get their checks delivered. A little-known Virginia law, however, requires the recipients to use the money to purchase a concealed weapon. +2

Yesterday's Needle rating: 49 Today's score: -6 Today's Needle rating: 43

Power to the People: Frustrated by the frequent power outages that have plagued Howard Kurtz's home (and possibly yours, too)? Pepco has finally found a solution—spend $256 million trimming tree limbs. And voilà: a reliable supply of electricity. After, uh, a five-year wait to implement the plan. Potentially faster solution—go solar. -2

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs: Labor Department stats show D.C. posted the second-largest gain in employment in the nation last month. A total of 17,800 new jobs were added to D.C. payrolls in July; it was the biggest one-month gain in the District since the department started tracking the statistic in 1990. The biggest gainer? Michigan. Fenty administration rumored to be testing new slogan: "D.C.'s Economy—Almost as Dynamic As Michigan's!" +7

It's Not a Bug, It's a Feature: Elevators at Metro's Union Station stop will be out of service for three months as part of a $177 million Red Line rehab project. Unlike the system's many escalator outages, this one was announced in advance. Like the system's many escalator outages, it's still likely to prove inconvenient and irritating. -3

Socialist Schism in Mayor's Race: Trouble could be brewing among D.C. leftists if Vincent Gray wins the Sept. 14 primary—the rival D.C. Democratic Socialists of America and Socialist Workers Party have split over endorsements for the District's chief executive office. The DSA backed Gray; the SWP put up its own candidate, former Floridian Omari Musa. Presumably, if Adrian Fenty wins the nomination, both sides will unite behind a plan to exhume Leon Trotsky and run him. -2

Lost Highway Found: One of the most least pressing issues of our time is on the way to resolution, as District officials have started removing misplaced Route 29 highway markers from the Dupont Circle area. Soon the scourge of lost, interstate highway-phobic drivers wandering around New Hampshire Avenue on their way from Baltimore to Florida will be a thing of the past. +1

Yesterday's Needle rating: 41 Today's score: +1 Bonus points for Friday: +2 Today's Needle rating: 44

You Weren't Invited to Michelle Rhee's Wedding: "Glamorous" invitations have been going out by mail lately to the Sacramento social event of the year—the Labor Day weekend wedding of DCPS Chancellor Michelle Rhee and Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson. A big suburban real estate developer/Johnson supporter, Angelo K. Tsakopoulos, will host the reception. (Which may prove Rhee's buddy Adrian Fenty isn't the only capital city mayor who's got cronies.) School will have already started two weeks before the wedding; so much for the honeymoon! +3

Board of Elections and Ethics Still Missing One Member: The D.C. Council resisted voting on Mital Gandhi's nomination for a long time, but after today, he may wish they'd kept punting. The council sent Gandhi packing, in a 7-4 vote that means the three-member board may still only have two seats filled by the Sept. 14 primary—which sets up the prospect of a deadlock should any disputes about the election arise. Gandhi, meanwhile, didn't exactly take the news lying down, e-mailing councilmembers afterwards to rant at them. How's that for ethics? -4

Summer Jobs Program Won't Be Extended: After voting against Fenty's nominee to the BOEE, the D.C. Council moved on to voting against Fenty's proposal to extend the city's summer jobs program. This one was even less popular than Gandhi, losing on a 9-2 vote. The move means the District won't have to divert $4.3 million from federal poverty funds to pay for the summer jobs, but it probably mostly means the council wanted to show who was boss. Still, since the city hadn't solved the persistent problem of muggers targeting kids working for the program, Fenty can probably count on a bump in the crime stats. -3

Wale Rediscovers His Inner Seinfeld: Maybe it's all the minor, lame controversies he's endured this year (plus one medium- to major-sized one), or the initially sleepy sales of his major-label debut in 2009, but Wale's trying to recapture some of his blog-rap glory days. That means crafting a sequel to the release that made him D.C.'s Great Rap Hope, The Mixtape About Nothing. More About Nothing promises more of the same, which is actually quite something: If you can you find a working download of the tape, released for free today, you'll find Wale at his best and loosest. He'll be at Commonwealth tonight at 7 p.m. handing out 300 physical copies. +4

Metro Basically Plans to Take Labor Day Weekend Off: Feel like taking the Red line to the eastern side of Montgomery County over Labor Day weekend? Too bad! Metro announced more details today of a massive track work project that will close the Glenmont, Wheaton, Forest Glen, Silver Spring and Takoma stations from 10 p.m. Sept. 3 to 12 a.m. Sept. 6. Delays on that part of the system are so common, though, that riders may or may not even notice the difference between regular, inconsistent service and a total lack of it. -4

Yesterday's Needle rating: 49 Today's score: -4 Today's Needle rating: 45

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—"Linda Greene Resigns From Orange Campaign," "Summer Jobs Program Begins With Knives, Thefts"

Good Morning. Finally, someone has stepped up on one of the city's biggest issues. Councilmember Phil Mendelson has taken a big step in attempting to reform the troubled DYRS. He at least has proposed making some juvenile cases a lot more transparent. WaPo's Henri Cauvin reports: "Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), chairman of the public safety committee, is set to propose legislation this week that would make public the identity of any juvenile offender after a second serious crime. It would be a radical shift for a juvenile justice system grounded in rehabilitation, and it comes as Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D), Mendelson and others city leaders face election-year criticism over their handling of juvenile crime. Under Mendelson's proposal, after a juvenile is found involved in a second serious offense, the case — and all of the juvenile's previous arrests in the District — would become public. The list of qualifying 'serious' or 'dangerous' offenses is long, including assault, arson, robbery, sexual abuse and murder. The public record would include the charges filed by police and by prosecutors, and the disposition, including whether the juvenile was placed on probation with D.C. Superior Court Social Services or committed to the custody of the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services. 'It's about the community being able to get some information and the responsible government agencies having to answer for their actions,' Mendelson said." LL hopes that Mendo will add a clause which mandates throwing a little sunshine on the agency's own dealings. The public also has a right to know just how DYRS lets kids slip through the cracks. But LL is reserving judgment until he reads Colby King's take on the councilmember's proposal.

NICKLES VS. GRAY: The talk of among the local political nerds yesterday centered on AG Peter Nickles, aka Adrian Fenty's Troll Doll, declaring war on mayoral hopeful Vincent Gray during an interview with NewsTalk's Bruce DePuyt. He not only slammed Gray's tenure as head of DHS, but used the man's theme song to taunt him: "And so, this is a very important election. And I say, 'Let's get it on.' I say, 'Let's look at the record that the Fenty administration has had in the last three years, in these agencies, and what happened in 1991-1995. And keep in mind, as a result of those years, all of these agencies — CFSA, dealing with abused and neglected kids; Department of Mental Health, dealing with St. Elizabeth's and mentally-ill folks; DDS, mentally-retarded individuals, disabled individuals; DYRS, criminal justice — in all of those agencies, as a result of what the court was seeing in that administration, all the personnel, all the procurement powers of DHS were taken away from DHS, and each of those agencies was made a cabinet-level department with independent powers." Not that Nickles has had such a great track record managing the CFSA case, among others [see this must read on Nickles' federal court track record]. But anyway, can Gray please make Nickles a campaign issue?

WaPo's Mike DeBonis has the Gray campaign's response to Nickles turn as Fenty campaign flack: "Gray campaign spokeswoman Traci Hughes raised questions about whether it was appropriate for Nickles to address such a politically fraught issue. 'The last time I checked it was the attorney general's role to serve District residents and not to carry out Mayor Fenty's political attacks,' Hughes said Monday afternoon. She accused Nickles of 'campaigning effectively while he's on the clock' — a potential violation of legal restrictions on the political activities of government employees. Nickles defended his comments in part by saying he was "speaking out as a citizen" who had been involved in DHS cases.

AFTER THE JUMP—Judge to announce verdict in Wone case today, Fenty skips education debate, Fenty's inner circle questions whether the mayor even wants to win, a death on the Red Line, and more.

FENTY SKIPS OUT ON DEBATE: Mayor Fenty skipped out on yesterday's debate on education issues w/ Vincent Gray, what organizers had been calling the "Great Education Forum." WaPo's Nikita Stewart and Bill Turque report: "When Fenty failed to appear, organizers went to a town hall-style format that allowed Gray to engage the 100 or so audience members, who appeared to be mostly educators in their 20s and 30s. 'I'm delighted to be here, not necessarily delighted to be here by myself,' Gray said at the Naval Heritage Center in an apparent reference to Fenty. At the outset, Gray took a dig or two at Fenty, saying that the mayor might be in the lobby so 'he can pick up a few pointers.' Word from the Fenty campaign Monday was that the mayor had never "confirmed" that he would participate but that schedulers were prepping him while trying to come up with an alternative date. Campaign sources said that Fenty was obligated to attend other 'private campaign functions.' The group that organized the debate, the D.C. chapter of Young Education Professionals, told a different story about the event, which was announced June 8. The Fenty campaign did not contact the group to pull out until Sunday evening, said Kate Blosveren, the group's president. Gray was left with the floor to himself. As expected, he faulted Fenty and Rhee for a lack of transparency in their dealings with parents and other community stakeholders. 'I'd use the word opaque to describe how some of the decisions were made,' he said. 'The word 'public' in public education needs to be taken seriously.'" More coverage via DCist.

The Examiner's Bill Myers has people within the Fenty camp wondering if the mayor even wants to win reelection: "Mayor Adrian Fenty begged off a key education reform debate on Monday and some in his inner circle are privately wondering if he's as committed to retaining his office as he was to winning it....Longtime aides to Fenty say privately that the mounting criticism and stress of the campaign have made the mayor even more resistant to advice than usual. He has had to dip into his multimillion-dollar campaign funds to pay street workers, instead of mustering an army of volunteers to help him canvass, like in' 06."

SUMMER JOBS: WUSA's Bruce Johnson chronicles the chaos that was the first day of the mayor's summer jobs program–800 kids had to be turned away from a job site, three other kids are in deep trouble over knives and stolen goods at another site. More coverage via Fox5.

WONE VERDICT TODAY: After four years, one of the most closely covered murder mysteries in recent District history may finally come to some resolution. The Examiner reports: "Tuesday, one piece of the puzzle will get an answer: Did Joseph Price, Dylan Ward and Victor Zaborsky conspire to cover up the slaying? D.C. Superior Court Judge Lynn Leibovitz is set to rule Tuesday in the trial of the three men, accused of cleaning up the crime scene and misdirecting police after Wone's Aug. 2, 2006, death in their Dupont Circle town house. Wone was spending the night in their home at 1509 Swann St. NW when he was stabbed three times in the chest. The defendants maintain that an intruder killed Wone. Leibovitz has heard five weeks of testimony from dozens of witnesses. The defendants waived their right to a jury trial, making Leibovitz the sole arbitrator. All three men face charges of conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Ward, 40, and Zaborsky, 44, were acquitted of tampering with evidence, but that charge still stands against Price, 39. All three could face more than 30 years in prison if convicted." More coverage via Whomurderedrobertwone.com.

DISTRICT REVENUES: The city's CFO reports some not totally bad news on the revenue front, reports WBJ's Michael Neibauer: "The parade of bleak revenue estimates from D.C. Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi may have come to an end. The latest, released today, suggests no change from his February projection. This is good news. Not 'windfall' good, but good nevertheless. 'There are signs that both the U.S. and District economies are in recovery, but every indication is that the recovery is likely to be long and slow,' Gandhi wrote in a letter to Mayor Adrian Fenty and D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray. The estimate is a mixed bag of economic news. Individual income and sales taxes came in lower than expected, Gandhi said, but real property tax collections were better than anticipated and withholding collections have picked up. In the quarter ending in March, occupied office space rose 0.8 percent from the prior quarter and 1.8 percent from the prior year."

SUPREME COURT GUN CASE: You wanna know the impact of Heller v. D.C.? WaPo's Mike DeBonis says yesterday's Supreme Court decision is only the beginning: "The Supreme Court ruling Monday in McDonald v. City of Chicago places the District of Columbia at the vanguard of answering a new and crucial question: Just what kinds of gun regulations are constitutional in the United States? The McDonald decision has its roots, of course, in Heller v. District of Columbia, decided two years ago by the same 5-4 margin. That ruling struck down the city's blanket handgun ban after finding a constitutional 'right of law-abiding, responsible citizens to use arms in defense of hearth and home.' The court Monday, in holding that the Heller standard applies to state and local law, did not significantly modify it."

PARKING METERS: NC8 reports District residents are unsatisfied with meter replacements.

DEATH AT RED LINE STOP: A man was found dead on the tracks yesterday evening at the Grosvenor-Strathmore station, WTOP reports. More coverage via NBC4 . The Examiner's Kytja Weir reports: "A man was killed Monday evening when he jumped from a Metro station mezzanine onto the rail tracks, causing major delays on the Red Line during the peak of the evening commute and trapping riders on a train in 90-plus degree heat without air conditioning. The death occurred about 6:10 p.m. at the Grosvenor station, Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said. Preliminary reports indicate the man jumped from the upper platform onto the tracks, she said. The unidentified man was not hit by a train, she said, but died at the scene. The transit agency then needed to shut down power to that section of tracks for safety, she said, which in turn eliminated electricity to a train coming through the station. That shut off the air conditioning inside the train, angering the riders on the loaded train, who threatened to self-evacuate, she said. They were eventually taken into a rescue train. Metro had to close the station and turn back other trains, later reopening to allow trains to share a single track. The agency offered free shuttle buses to riders, but commuters faced significant delays because buses hold far fewer riders than trains."

MORE EVIDENCE THAT FENTY LOVES GO-GO: WaPo's Nikita Stewart captures Fenty celebrating his love of our homegrown sound.

MAYOR'S SCHEDULE: No public events.

D.C. COUNCIL'S SCHEDULE: Lots of Wilson Building activities including hearings on public safety and parks and rec.

In case you missed it: Potomac Gardens is the new Langston Terrace, Chucky's hanging around the District, the summer jobs program kicks off with knives and thefts and romantic woes are serious.

The weather may be the only good news for the day. Near Falls Church, Va., the body of 19-year-old Vanessa Pham, a resident, was found Sunday at 3:30 p.m., in her car, on a side road off Route 50 and Gallows Road. Fairfax County police say Pham was stabbed multiple times before her car—which was going the wrong way—hopped a curve and ended in a ditch. She'd left her home in Falls Church at 2:30 p.m. to visit friends—the rest is unclear, reports WaPo. Two missing Fairfax teens, Tiffany Ghani and Tram Hoang, last seen Friday, June 18 before sneaking out of Ghani's father's house, are still missing. Which is either a really eerie coincidence, or a sign of something worse.

A verdict is expected to be reached today in the Robert Wone conspiracy trial. The 2006 Dupont Circle murder of Wone has enthralled the District. Joseph R. Price, Victor J. Zaborsky, and Dylan M. Ward, all housemates at the time, are each charged with conspiracy, obstruction of justice and tampering with evidence. Judge Lynn Leibovitz acquitted Zaborsky and Ward of tampering with evidence, four and a half weeks into the trial.

The man who jumped from a Metro station mezzanine onto the tracks late yesterday evening at the Red Line's Grosvenor station died—the jump was apparently a suicide.

In other news: After 3 months of wrangling, the nurses at Washington Hospital Center voted overwhelmingly to reject the new contract offered. They're currently working without a contract. If hospital management is unwilling to work out a deal, the nurses are prepared to vote on a strike. Over at WaPo, our former colleague DeBonis reports D.C. gun suits could bring along an 'avalanche' of litigation.

"The Supreme Court ruling Monday in McDonald v. City of Chicago places the District of Columbia at the vanguard of answering a new and crucial question: Just what kinds of gun regulations are constitutional in the United States?"

Across the river, Virginia Attorney Ken Cuccinelli, says Supreme Court ruling will guide review of Virginia gun laws.

All right, everyone. That's all for this morning, I have to run to the gym—and then, in light of all the crime news above, purchase some Mace. Stay safe.