Breakfast links: DC’s new police chief will be career Metropolitan Police official Robert Contee III
Image by Ted Eytan licensed under Creative Commons.
Mayor Bowser names a new DC police chief
Instead of conducting a nationwide search for the new DC police chief, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that career Metropolitan Police Department official Robert Contee III will head the city’s police force. (Mitch Ryals / City Paper)
Buttigieg denounces discriminatory highway construction
Secretary of Transportation nominee Pete Buttigieg condemned the practice of building highways through Black communities, saying the Biden administration will fund dismantling those highways and other inequitable policies while investing in transit. (Aaron Short / Streetsblog)
A new hospital will replace Alexandria’s Landmark Mall
Alexandria and Inova announced that Inova will be relocating their current hospital to the site of the empty Landmark Mall and investing $1 billion dollars into a new medical campus employing more than 2,000 healthcare workers. (Hannah Schuster / DCist)
Washington Gas fined for a fatal explosion
Washington Gas was ordered to pay $750,000 by the Maryland Public Service Commission for its role in a 2016 gas explosion that killed seven people and injured 70 more in Silver Spring. (Dan Schere / Bethesda Beat)
DC bike lane enforcement is up, but tickets are down
Last November, DC assigned more police officers to ticket people who block bike lanes, but ticketing is down 30% from last year, likely due to decreased overall ticketing and different traffic patterns during the pandemic. (Jordan Pascale / DCist)
Maryland, Virginia decline to join a regional emissions reduction program
DC and three states have signed on to the Transportation Climate Initiative Program, promising to reduce emissions and institute a cap and trade program. But Maryland and Virginia, like six other states, opted out despite pledging to join last year. (Bruce DePuyt / Maryland Matters)
A pedestrian was killed by a driver in Wheaton
Ricardo Estuardo Jimenez from Silver Spring was hit and killed by a driver while crossing Georgia Avenue on Tuesday morning. (Andrea Cambron / WTOP)
Outgoing DC councilmember will lobby for Washington Gas
Councilmember Brandon Todd will lobby for District utility Washington Gas after his term ends. Outgoing member David Grosso previously announced he will join lobbying firm Arent Fox, which lobbies the city. (Hannah Schuster / DCist)
What will local jurisdictions get from the COVID-19 relief bill?
The proposed relief bill doesn’t include any direct funding for states and localities, but it does include funds for Metro, over a billion dollars in rental assistance to DC, Maryland and Virginia, plus money for business relief. It will also give DC and Arlington land for the future Long Bridge rail project. (Meagan Flynn / Post)
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