So how did the Red Line metro crash death toll jump to nine last night then fall back to seven this morning and then back up to nine? Last night, City Desk reported that three news outlets—WUSA9, WTOP, and WJLA—had confirmed that nine had died in the crash. WTOP cited the D.C. Fire Department as its source. WJLA had cited Metro.

This morning, Fenty stated that the number of confirmed dead was actually seven. That number soon increased back up to nine.

At least one fire department official is trying to figure out how and why there was so much confusion. One reporter City Desk contacted speculates that it may have to do with just the gruesomeness of the scene.

Read More “Metro Crash Death Count: WTF” »

This morning, Attorney General Peter J. Nickles appeared on WTOP’s Politics Program with Mark Plotkin to discuss a variety of matters.

Mark Segraves, who also questioned Nickles, already posted an item about Nickles’ strong statements on Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry. Asked if not paying your taxes should disqualify a person from public office, Nickles said his “personal view” is that it should.

But what really caught the ear of LL is statement Nickles made about the DeOnte Rawlings case. Asked by Segraves about the Fenty administration’s commitment to transparency, Nickles raised the subject of the Washington Post’s in-depth investigation of the Rawlings case published last Sunday.

That article, by Cheryl W. Thompson, he says, contained an illegal leak. Nickles says the article names an individual who provided grand jury testimony indicating that Rawlings shot first at officers James Haskel and Anthony Clay.

Read More “Nickles on WTOP: I Will Hunt Down Leaker” »

No one knows where Mayor Adrian M. Fenty is today, Mark Segraves reports for WTOP:

A spokesperson for Fenty refused to say where the mayor is today, whether or not he’s in the country, or how long he will be gone….

D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray, who is second in the line of succession to the mayor and the second-highest ranking elected official in town, is in the dark.

“The Chairman was not informed. I am told the Mayor does not inform the Chairman when he is going out of town as a practice,” Gray’s spokesperson Doxie McCoy writes in an email to WTOP.

Mayor Fenty talked to WTOP about the controversy over his recent trip to Dubai. I’m sure LL will have a smart take on this. I’m just semi-shocked that Fenty claims to have no regrets over that trek in which the United Arab Emirates government shelled out $25,000 to the mayor. And he attended that tennis tournament in which an Israeli female player was barred. And when confronted about the trip, he claimed to have always wanted to go to Dubai.

Even more shocking, Fenty plans to keep his future trips secret:

“The mayor says while he does have more out-of-town trips planned, he will not release any details of those trips until after he returns — and only if required by law to do so.

‘I’m not going to tell you,’ Fenty tells WTOP.”

So much for transparency. Is this the kind of BS other big city mayor’s get themselves into? This controversy has been going on for weeks. Shouldn’t this tell us something about how Fenty handles his own screwups? How much longer will it take for Fenty to actually give a straight answer on this? LL asked Fenty about these issues some days ago and got some similiar stonewalling.

Jonathan Rees may or may not be dead, but the hate he spewed in the comment sections of various local sites is very much alive… and worse than ever. Most egregious case I’ve seen in awhile comes today on WTOP’s item about the 2-year-old triplets in critical condition after a horrendous MoCo fire. The Post’s coverage in this a.m.’s paper was pretty thorough. It’s a real tragedy. But not to some:

The dad’s DHS?!?!!!
and he has no smoke detectors?? what-da-ef? I feel so secure knowing a dad with no smoke detectors is watching my homeland. UnBelievAble.
by kckat @ 11:55am – Thu Dec 4th, 2008

Here’s another good one:

This family needs to prioritize.
To be a fly on the wall and listen to the discussion this family had must of been interesting. I wonder if it went something like this:
“Let’s not have smoke detectors, but let’s get a hot tub, and we’ll either wire it ourselves or bring in a guy standing on the corner to wire it. With the money that we save we can hire a nanny who will watch our triplets. Two working battery powered smoke detectors would probably cost us less than $30, but given the cost it will take to heat the hot tub, let’s wait.”
Must make some of us feel pretty safe that this Dad works for Homeland Security. Be afraid, be very afraid.
by John D. @ 7:56am – Thu Dec 4th, 2008

Or how about someone who derides a man who may lose three children because he has a nice house?

You forgot to mention
the house is probably worth a million. The man should be locked up for child negligence. Unforgivable.

by BAC @ 8:11am – Thu Dec 4th, 2008