Accidents happen. One way to compound the damage is to keep important information from the public—the very people who need the information most. You end up with what happened last night in DC—hundreds of passengers stranded without any idea what was happening. Passengers stuck in trains and stations for hours, hearing regular announcements about a “train experiencing mechanical difficulties” up ahead—not hearing what CNN and the Washington Post were reporting at the same time, about a massive collision that paralyzed the entire Metro system.
A revealing chronology of alerts in the Washington Post today. You…
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Horrific story from the evening commute here in DC. One Red Line Metrorail train slammed into another, plowing into it from behind with enough force to launch it up on top of the other train. The Washington Post is reporting at least 6 deaths and an estimated 70 injuries. The collision happened between two stations just south of the border between DC and Maryland. No idea yet what caused the accident.
But it’s already clear that as in most sizeable emergencies, regular people did the hardest work in…
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Thursday’s in-flight death of Continental Airlines pilot, Craig Lenell, may have been a surprise to passengers, but it’s not the first time a pilot has died in-flight. As recently as 2007, another Continental pilot died en route from Houston to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. An MSNBC list of other instances where pilots died or passed out in-flight is published here.
Lenell, who served 32 years as a Continental pilot, was 60 and apparently healthy (per FAA rules, commercial pilots over 40 are required to undergo twice-yearly physicals). He died of a heart attack. According to CNN, of…
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News outlets, including CNN, are identifying James von Brunn, 88, as the suspect in a shooting at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in DC. What appears to be his web site, which is getting swamped with traffic and may not work for long, portrays a man who is angry and anti-semitic, among other inadequate adjectives.
I am relieved to hear that the shooter was quickly disabled by security guards and is now at GW University Hospital, just around the corner from my office. It sounds like a security guard…
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A vivid snapshot of American life in 2009 in today’s New York Times. The piece, by Kevin Sack, details the complex calculations people in Rocky Mount, NC, have to make when filling their prescriptions during a recession. For example, take James S. Crawford, who arrived at the pharmacy just after being discharged for his 3rd heart attack:
“Mr. Crawford, 61, who makes do on $1,800 a month in Social Security and veterans’ benefits, decided he could afford only the heart, blood pressure and acid reflux pills. ‘If I can rob a bank,’…
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In case you missed it, Wal-Mart has agreed to a nearly $2 m payout with the Nassau County DA’s office to avoid charges in the tragic Black Friday trampling death of a worker.
The agreement included no admission of guilt by Wal-Mart, but it does exact a promise that the retailer will work with independent experts to implement a better crowd-management plan for post-Thanksgiving Day sales. Wal-Mart also agreed to set up a $400,000 victims’ compensation and remuneration fund and give $1.5 million to Nassau…
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Now the Senator from Louisiana is in an old-fashioned brawl with the White House over his hold on the nomination of Craig Fugate at FEMA, with the respective spokespeople sending hate messages back and forth across the playground, via reporters.
Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs called Vitter’s maneuver “political posturing”. Then Vitter’s office fired back that it had nothing to do with politics and everything to do with reforming FEMA…
Here’s Mike Allen’s take on the feud in Politico:
“I can assure you that this isn’t about politics,” Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) writes…
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An update on Sen. Vitter’s hold on FEMA nominee Craig Fugate. On Monday, Vitter, Fugate and the acting director of FEMA met to try to talk it out, but it seems Vitter is not done making his point.
Why does Vitter care so much about Grand Isle? That is the mystery. Grand Isle is a small fishing and recreational community located on a barrier island. A lovely but dangerous place. The kind of place that has been battered by hundreds of storms. The kind of place that will flood again.…
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