Local (to the DMV) News and Events

[China]

Washington Hebrew Congregation claims parents waived right to sue over sex abuse

 

The Washington Hebrew Congregation, which is being sued by parents over alleged sexual abuse in the synagogue’s preschool, says parents relinquished their ability to file a lawsuit when they signed waivers while enrolling their children, according to court documents.

 

In 2019, a group of parents filed a lawsuit against the reform synagogue in upper Northwest D.C., claiming administrators at Edlavitch-Tyser Early Childhood Center were negligent and ignored warning signs that a teacher was sexually abusing toddlers.

 

Recently, lawyers for the synagogue filed a motion for summary judgment, requesting the judge in D.C. Superior Court to make a ruling before a trial.

 

In documents supporting that request, lawyers for Washington Hebrew said parents gave up the right to sue when they signed enrollment waivers: “They agreed not to make any claim against WHC or sue WHC for any personal injury they or their minor may sustain as a result of participating in WHC programs when the injury resulted from negligent acts or omissions.”

In prior filings, the parents have called that assertion absurd.

 

“Sexual abuse is not a school activity,” wrote the attorneys for the parents. “Not a single Plaintiff parent who signed the release contemplated that it would cover injuries sustained as a result of their children being sexually abused by a trusted WHC employee.”

 

The lawsuit says 14 students were abused.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

'Werewolf killer' ordered to stay off social media after dating profile is found 4 years following slaying

 

A Virginia man who once suffered a psychiatric break and killed a merchant believing he was a werewolf was ordered to stay off social media Thursday after he appeared to gloss over his violent past in an online dating profile.

 

Pankaj Bhasin, who is free on conditional release after he spent three years in a mental health facility, recently had a Facebook dating profile that called himself "an easy going adventurer who believes in universal connection” who is “recently getting back from two years of travel," NBC Washington reported this week.

 

Alexandria Circuit Court Chief Judge Lisa Bondareff Kemler told Bhasin, 38, on Thursday to stay off social media as long as he's on conditional release. But he will be allowed to keep using LinkedIn as he looks for a job, NBC Washington reported. 

 

Back in the summer of 2018, Bhasin stabbed Bradford Jackson more than 50 times, leaving behind a gruesome scene inside Window Universe in Alexandria, police said.

 

Bhasin claimed he had suffered a psychiatric break when he killed Jackson, 65, a stranger he believed was a werewolf. After a mistrial, when jurors leaned toward acquittal, prosecutors agreed to a finding of not guilty by reason of insanity, leading to a three-year stint at a mental health facility.

 

Bhasin's recently uncovered dating profile unnerved Sarah Bryen, 37, a friend of Jackson's who flagged the social media presence to authorities.

 

"It's deceptive," Bryen told NBC News on Thursday. "I mean, when you meet someone online, you never know who you're going out on date with for the most part. It could be a guy who stabbed someone 53 times."

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

For Sale: Four bedrooms, two baths and one cousin

 

A house for sale in D.C. really caught our eye. Four bedrooms, two baths and a cousin. The $664,500 dollar home in Northwest comes with a guy living in it.

 

At first glance, the listing for a rowhouse 746 Newton Place in Columbia Heights looks like a pretty good deal.

 

It's not until you scroll down that you see the surprising detail: 

 

"Seller's Cousin live(s) in the house. Arrangements are being made to get him out of the property. He may prove tough to allow entry. It is buyer(s) responsibility to evict him if possible."

When we knocked on the door, there was no answer. And there's a no trespassing sign in the window.

 

Neighbors say the situation is even more complicated than suggested by the listing. They say the cousin is an elderly man with very few resources. If he's kicked out, they say he may end up out on the street.

 

Neighbors believe the older woman who owned the house passed away a year or two ago.

 

The realtor selling the home at first seemed eager to talk but then texted that he needed to talk to the sellers before speaking to the media.

 

When a Fairfax County home with a former housekeeper living in the basement sold for $800,000 earlier this year, it garnered worldwide attention.

 

Ayanna Smith, who bought a home in Northeast with a tenant inside in April, says dealing with a tenant who doesn't want to move can be a huge hassle.

 

"Financially, and just the amount of time we've spent trying to get this tenant out of our home," she said.

 

She gave the tenant a 90-day notice of eviction, then waited months to get a hearing before a judge. But she said the judge immediately tossed her complaint out because she didn't have a business license for the rowhouse she bought in Dakota Crossing.

 

She said a court worker accepted the court filing but didn't tell her she needed a business license. She said another clerk later told her they weren't allowed to provide "legal advice."

 

Smith said the city has set up a kind of Catch 22 for homebuyers. "In order to evict a tenant you have to have a business license. In order to get a business license, you have to have a home inspection. In order to get a home inspection, you need to get inside the home," she said. And a tenant might simply tell the new homeowner he or she can't come in.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

‘Have You Been F*cked by This’: Vandal Hits Washington Monument With Message About Being Shafted by Uncle Sam

 

 

A person was detained after they defaced the Washington Monument on Tuesday with a very, very specific question.

 

Someone splashed red paint across one side of the 168-year-old, 555-foot obelisk and also wrote, “Have you been ****ed by this? Gov says tough ****.”

 

 

Click on the link for the full article

[PleaseBlitz]

[China]

1 hour ago, PleaseBlitz said:

 

What am I missing?  Why are you posting a Metrorail system map?

[tshile]

I know like 2 weeks ago they said they’re shutting down two major lines (blue and another?) until may 2023? Or something?

[Forehead]

6 minutes ago, tshile said:

I know like 2 weeks ago they said they’re shutting down two major lines (blue and another?) until may 2023? Or something?

 

Yellow and Blue, six weeks and it has already started, everything south of the airport.

 

The May 2023 thing I think is referring to the yellow line bridge getting brought up to safer standards.

 

https://dcist.com/story/22/09/01/va-blue-yellow-line-shutdown-metro/

[PleaseBlitz]

54 minutes ago, China said:

 

What am I missing?  Why are you posting a Metrorail system map?

 

It's the new one with the entire Silver Line (and some station name changes).

 

https://dcist.com/story/22/09/23/new-metro-map-first-look/

 

[China]

DC deputy mayor 'on leave' after alleged assault incident outside gym

 

D.C. Deputy Mayor Christopher Geldart has been placed on leave after he was accused of assaulting a man outside of a Gold's Gym in Arlington, Virginia, police said.

 

The incident happened on Sunday and was officially reported to police on Monday, according to the Arlington Police Department.

 

Police said the incident started as a verbal dispute in the parking lot after Geldart, 38, opened his parked car door and struck the car the victim was entering. At some point, the dispute escalated and police said Geldart allegedly grabbed the victim by the throat.

 

As officers investigated the claims, they were able to develop a suspect description and the victim completed an official criminal complaint at the Office of the Magistrate.

 

A warrant for assault and battery was issued for Geldart and he was notified by phone of the warrant, police said.

 

They said Geldart turned himself in to Arlington Police Department and was later released on a summons.

[Cooked Crack]

 

[Renegade7]

Don't do drugs, kids...

 

 

 

[China]

Metro Says Silver Line Extension Ready to Open — But There Aren't Enough Trains

 

Metro says it is ready to open the next phase of the Silver Line to Dulles International Airport and Loudoun County, Virginia, in time for the busy Thanksgiving rush, but it doesn’t have enough trains to do so at this point.

 

Because Metro has not been permitted to return its full fleet of troubled 7000-series railcars to the tracks, opening 11 more miles of track on the Silver Line with the current number of trains in use would increase wait times and crowding and could lead to dangerous conditions.

 

When it opens, the extension will add six new stations: three more in Fairfax County and Metro's first-ever stations in Loudoun County, including that long-awaited stop at Dulles International Airport.

 

The opening of Phase 2 has been pushed back multiple times. While the exact opening date still hasn’t been announced yet, Metro previously said that it expects the extension to open in fall 2022. However, Metro General Manager Randy Clarke has said it will be vital to get more of the currently sidelined 7000-series cars back on the tracks.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[mcsluggo]

 

 

n/m

Edited October 20, 2022 by mcsluggo

[Cooked Crack]

 

[China]

Metro Wants To Fix ‘Ghost Bus’ Issue, Clear Car-Filled Bus Lanes

 

Have you ever felt gaslighted by a Metro bus?

 

For about a dozen years, riders have used Metro’s real-time busETA website (or other third-party apps that use Metro’s data like Google Maps, Transit, and Citymapper) to track the real-time location of a bus and help decide when to leave the house. The rise of smartphones has made it easier and more convenient to make a bus trip as efficient and short as possible.

 

But sometimes the data reports a bus is on its way or has arrived at the stop and it’s not there. Other times riders say that the buses show up on the apps and disappear halfway through the routes. On the busETA site, a blue bus logo is a bus on the route with real-time GPS enabled. Gray bus logos are scheduled buses, but they may or may actually be on the route.

 

“When busETA notes that bus location information is based on scheduled data, it could be for a few reasons: when a detour or roadblock results in a significant deviation from the bus’s normal route, when onboard GPS equipment fails, or when a trip is cut due to operator availability,” Metro said in a statement. “Often, these buses are not in service or are prevented from servicing all or some stops on a route, and Metro realizes how frustrating that is for our customers. At the direction of the General Manager, bus operations are working on a technical solution to ensure busETA only displays buses that are verifiably in service for customers by the end of this year.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

DC’s Museum of Illusions opens next month

 

D.C.’s newest museum is an illusion. Actually, it is dozens of them.

 

The Museum of Illusions will open Dec. 13 at CityCenterDC by the Gallery Place-Chinatown Metro.

 

The museum has more than 50 exhibits, many of them intended to be Instragramable, and some of them pay tribute to D.C.

 

The Reverse Room is an illusion that makes it seem you can hang upside down from a Metrorail car’s ceiling. There is a mosaic of Capitol Hill.

 

Other exhibits include the Ames Room, where guests appear to grow and shrink as they walk from one corner of the room to the next, and the Vortex Tunnel, that tricks your mind and body into thinking and feeling like the ground beneath is moving.

 

The for-profit museum admission price is $23.95. It is part of a rapidly growing chain.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Cooked Crack]

 

Edited November 28, 2022 by Cooked Crack

[purbeast]

^^^ That dude totally ****ed up my night.  We didn't get power back until like midnight.  Missed most of the Chiefs game and all of SNF.

[China]

 

[China]

Virginia lawmakers look at ways to detect high drivers

 

There are plenty of laws and regulations on the books related to how police are allowed to examine drivers for possibly being drunk, but the same cannot be said when it comes to checking on drivers for possibly being high on marijuana.

 

“We’re having a discussion to try and figure out what tools are available that might aid police,” said Virginia Sen. Scott Surovell.

 

It has become a popular topic for local lawmakers, especially since recreational marijuana has now been legalized in D.C. and Virginia.

 

Voters in Maryland said yes to legalizing it, starting in July 2023.

 

“Driving under the influence of marijuana is very difficult to detect,” said Surovell, a Democrat. “We’re going have to continue studying these things and looking at them carefully to ascertain whether any of them comport with our notions of due process.”

 

Lawmakers have talked about the possibility of implementing roadside saliva tests to detect marijuana, but a number of legal pitfalls may go along with something like that.

 

For example, while saliva tests can detect whether someone has consumed marijuana over the past 12 hours, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the person was intoxicated at the time of the test: If someone smoked marijuana 12 hours before being tested, the effects of the drug would have worn off by then.

 

“You can detect marijuana in somebody’s body well after they’re finished consuming and are no longer under the influence,” Surovell said. “These things present a whole different set of legal, constitutional and medical problems that we’re trying to muddle through.”

 

That’s why Surovell doesn’t think lawmakers will pass a bill just yet that would specifically call for roadside marijuana testing.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[PleaseBlitz]

Post cops outside of 7-11s and put them on alert for people who walk out with one of everything. 

[Renegade7]

D.C. votes to eliminate Metrobus fares in movement toward free transit

https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2022/12/06/dc-council-free-metrobus-vote/

[EmirOfShmo]

Here Are the 2022 Eater Awards Winners for D.C.

The breakout restaurant, design, bar, restaurateur, and brunch of the year

 

Today we announce the winners of the 2022 Eater Awards, celebrating the new restaurants that made a major impact on all 24 Eater cities since last fall.

Despite real ripple effects from the pandemic, from staffing shortages to supply chain setbacks, restaurants continue to show resiliency by opening under imperfect conditions. Establishments that made ambitious debuts in the past year — and proving their place in the already-competitive D.C. dining landscape — have set the stage for what the future of the industry looks like and how it operates.

 

https://dc.eater.com/2022/12/1/23487178/here-are-the-2022-eater-awards-winners-for-dc

[PleaseBlitz]

Eater has the weirdest lists.