Breakfast links: The wait is over

Report card

More than a year after the accident, NTSB has released the final report on last June’s Red Line crash.  There’s also a video reconstruction of the crash. (Sand Box John, Stephen Miller)  (Tip: Sand Box John)

Tea party in the USA

A Maine tea partier created copied-and-pasted (from a DC tea partier) a handy-dandy guide to visiting DC during the upcoming tea party gathering, including tips on how to avoid encountering immigrants and advice to stay away from the Green and Yellow Lines. Someone also made a humorous Google map of “safe” and “unsafe” areas for tea partiers. (DCist, David Alpert)  (Tip: David Alpert)

Maybe the Tea Party is right

Philadelphia is asking bloggers who have ads on their sites to get a $300 business license, and pay taxes on any profits, regardless how much they generate. This seems like a good example of government not optimizing around very small businesses, which it’s best to encourage. If permits are needed at all, cities will need to figure out more reasonable processes & costs for them. (Philadelphia City Paper, David Alpert, not)  (Tip: David Alpert)

And on the ninth day

Ever wonder what might happen when you shift massive numbers of people to a less space-efficient form of transportation? A giant 9-day traffic jam has developed in China, and some officials say it could last a whole month. Hopefully the response will be to reduce the numbers of cars instead of just building more lanes. (TIME, David Alpert)  (Tip: David Alpert)

Manhattan on the Potomac

After New York Magazine’s Grub Street speculates about DC’s becoming a “food city,” based on the fact that major New York serial restaurants are opening up in the District, New York’s culinary community continues to miss the mark in DC. More New York City-based restaurateurs are looking to the district, but stuck on Penn Quarter, Georgetown and downtown.  “The out-of-town guys don’t quite understand [other] neighborhoods…”  You could say that about more than New York foodies. (Grub Street, Washington Post, Erik W, Cavan)  (Tip: Cavan)

Improvements on track

A recently completed rail capacity improvement project on a section of Norfolk Southern’s Crescent Corridor between Manassas and Front Royal, Virginia will improve both freight and passenger rail service in the Commonwealth. The project was funded by jointly by NS and Virginia.  Norfolk Southern has also received $105 million in Federal TIGER grants for improvments elsewhere on the Crescent Corridor. (rtands.com, David C)  (Tip: David C)