Breakfast links: Cameras on Metrorail trains were deliberately blocked
Inside a Metro rail car by Aimee Custis licensed under Creative Commons.
The Metro Safety Commission finds intentionally obstructed cameras
Sun visors inside an operator cab were used to intentionally block internal cameras, the Metrorail Safety Commission found after reviewing footage of a collision on a storage track. The commission is requiring Metro to draw up a visor policy, and will also ask for better communication and tracking of problems with rail conditions. (Max Smith / WTOP)
Over 5,000 housing units are coming to Crystal City area
Nine development projects are in the works for the neighborhood around Amazon HQ2 and will bring over 5,000 units of residential housing to the area, in addition to commercial and retail space, office space, a hotel, a woonerf and a new Metro entrance. (Nena Perry-Brown / Urban Turf)
Fairfax County is concerned about Silver Line concrete
The county board questioned a Fairfax DOT representative over safety measures on the Silver Line Phase II, especially over ongoing problems with concrete in the construction which has plagued the project for months. (Catherine Douglas Moran / Reston Now)
A solar panel farm in Culpeper County gets nixed
Cricket Solar pulled its project for a 380,000 solar panel installation in Culpeper County after a year of arguing with neighbors who wanted to preserve historic Civil War landmarks and nearby wetlands. Cricket says the growing cost, not the local opposition ultimately killed the project. (Hannah Natanson / Post)
Arlington County Board debates heat up
Independent challengers for board seats Audrey Clement and Arron O’Dell criticized tax breaks for Amazon over small businesses. Incumbent Democrats Christian Dorsey and Katie Cristol defended the subsidies as drivers of prosperity, and argued against using historic preservation as a tool to block development and in favor of ADUs. (Vernon Miles / ARL Now)
The DCAG calls out wage theft
The DC Attorney General put out a report saying that construction companies save 16% by illegally misclassifying workers as independent contractors instead of employees, meaning that they don’t pay overtime or benefits to their workers. (Ally Schweitzer / WAMU)
MoCo investigates a county officer’s relationship with a budgeting firm
The Ethics Commission is reviewing a business partnership between a budget software program Balancing Act and Chief Administrative Officer Andrew Kleine. The county began to use Balancing Act shortly after Kleine took office, but the company says that they no longer had any business relationship with him. (Dan Schere / Bethesda Beat)
Congressional Republicans want to investigate Jack Evans’ Metro scandal
Republicans Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows asked the House Oversight Committee to interview Evans and Metro Board staff over the ethics investigation into Evans that he and former board member Corbett Price may have tried to cover up. (Robert McCartney / Post)
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