Results tagged “dc”

The Obama administration will attempt to give the federal government control over safety regulations for the nation's subway and light-rail systems. You know who else controlled an entire nation's transit system? Mussolini. But he made the trains run on time! (Or did he?) At any rate, Obama's plan would expand the U.S DOT's control over airlines and Amtrak to every subway and light-rail system in the country, including the MTA. The proposal will be presented to Congress by the end of the year.

NYC had a government plane flying too close to Lower Manhattan buildings oops-y in April, and today, Washington D.C. had reports of a U.S. Coast Guard boat firing at another vessel on the Potomac River. Of course, the Coast Guard now says it was a training exercise and that no shots were actually fired, but it is September 11 when the nation is worried about terrible stuff happening so the incident caused the media to freak out, especially since, the Washington Post reports, "The incident occurred near the Memorial Bridge, at approximately the same time that President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama were laying a wreath at the Pentagon memorial, a short distance away."

If you were one of the 150,000 New Yorkers who tried and failed to nab one of the golden tickets to the Obama Inauguration distributed by Senator Chuck Schumer, consider yourself lucky. Schumer is now calling for an investigation into last Tuesday's utterly predictable clusterfuck, which left thousands languishing in lines far from the area where President Obama took his mangled oath of office. (Some were reduced to calling family at home and listening to Obama's address on TV via cell phone!) The Daily News obtained an e-mail sent to Schumer from one bitter ticket winner named Cathy Shannon, who writes, "I'm sorry I was a winner, as now I am a big loser. After waiting on line for 3-1/2 hours... I actually got to miss the event. It was disgraceful... The most disorganized event I ever attended in my life. Schumer says he "feels terrible" and promises he'll make it up to everyone in 2012!

Everyone is getting ready today's inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States, least of all the residents and visitors in Washington D.C. The Swearing In begins at 11:30 a.m.: Vice President-elect Joseph Biden will be sworn in around 11:46 a.m. and Obama will be sworn in ten minutes later, according to the NY Times' cool interactive graphic showing the events—and schedule—happening tomorrow.

The cold masses in DC for Barack Obama's inauguration will get a little treat from NYC tomorrow. The Daily News reports that a fifth-generation East Village bagel maker has been hard at work preparing 1 million bagels to hand out to folks, free of charge. Adam Rosner of Bagel Boss and 200 of his employees began the dough-making process last Thursday "at their 14 shops in Manhattan and on Long Island." Today they begin their journey to the nation's capital, riding down on 14 trucks, and tomorrow 50 employees and Young Dems will pass out the...day old bagels (beggars can't be choosers!), which will come in a variety ranging from honey whole wheat to sesame. As for the total bill, Rosner spent tens of thousands on the delicious donation, and told the paper that while he backs Obama now, he actually voted for McCain!

Shortly after President Bush called and congratulated President-elect Obama, throngs of people ended up outside the White House. DCist editor Sommer Mathis writes, "As we moved from U Street...and headed south to the White House, the celebration didn't slow down. Down 14th street to Thomas Circle, everyone hooted and hollered. They stood up through their sunroofs to cheer on passersby on the sidewalk. They danced. They played drums. They honked and honked and honked... At the White House, big crowds gathered on both sides of the compound to let the least popular president in U.S. history know they were glad to see him go. Spontaneous renditions of The Star-Spangled Banner and 'Nananana nananana hey hey hey goodbye,' broke out within the ebullient masses." (Photographs here.)

During the second part of his interview with the Republican ticket, NBC News anchor Brian Williams asked Sarah Palin to explain, "Who is a member of the elite?" Palin characterized them as, "Anyone who thinks that they're better than someone else." (Full transcript here) But then McCain chimed in, laughing, that he knew "where a lot of 'em live... in our nation's capital and New York City." The exchange starts at about four minutes in, after talk about Williams Ayers, the washed up terrorist McCain supposedly doesn't care about.

Yesterday the Sun broke news that Democratic Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver has a weird habit of traveling from New York City to Albany by flying through D.C., racking up frequent flier miles for himself while costing taxpayers $500 to $760 for his round-trip airfare. Today the defunct paper takes a Parthian shot at the politician, interviewing watchdog groups who say Silver's costly (but legal) commute is proof that the state legislature needs to revise its transportation policy. And Bill Hammond at the Daily News goes further, deriding the assemblyman for his excess. Hammond (who bears a striking resemblance to accounts receivable accountant Herbert Kornfeld), says, "If there's a costlier, less direct and more wasteful way for state government to do something, count on Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to find it...It's time to ground Air Sheldon."

State Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver has a funny way of traveling between his Manhattan district and Albany: through D.C.! Instead of taking Amtrak or driving like other representatives, Silver prefers commuting by plane with a stopover 200 miles in the wrong direction. Depending on the length of the layover, the trip can end up taking four hours—not including the time it takes to get to the airport and pass through security. (A drive to Albany averages two and a half hours, and the train takes roughly the same amount of time.) The Sun speculates that for Silver it's all about US Airways' frequent flier miles, which Silver gets to keep while taxpayers pay for the tickets (usually costing $500-$760 for round-trip).

The Supreme Court ruled that Washington D.C.'s ban on handgun ownership is unconstitutional; per the Times; the five of the court's nine justices found "the Constitution protects an individual’s right to have a gun, not just the right of the states to maintain militias."

Congressman Vito Fossella made two public appearances last night, one at a Gracie Mansion dinner for the NY Congressional delegation and another at a Conservative Party dinner in Staten Island. Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro felt Fossella's appearance meant the embattled representative would run for re-election, "It makes me think that he's a candidate. Why else would he bother?"

After his DWI arrest led to admitting an affair and a 3-year-old love child in Virginia, Representative Vito Fossella returned to Staten Island to rampant speculation of his imminent resignation.

Even though Representative Vito Fossella is apologetic and looking for forgiveness, there are still questions about the woman who picked Fossella up from the Alexandria, VA jail.

Representative Vito Fossella, who was arrested for a DWI outside of DC on Thursday, said, "This was an error in judgment. This mistake will not happen again."

Vito Fossella, the lone Republican Congressional representative from New York City, was arrested early yesterday morning for driving while impaired outside of Washington, D.C. Fossella, whose activities leading up to the arrest are not known (his day events included the NY Giants' visit to the White House), issued this statement:

"Last night I made an error in judgment. As a parent, I know that taking even one drink of alcohol before getting behind the wheel of a car is wrong. I apologize to my family and the constituents of the 13th Congressional District for embarrassing them, as well as myself."

Pope Benedict's trip the United States is already historic, but yesterday he did something that heightened the dramatic quotient of his journey: He privately met with five or six people who had been sexually abused by priests in the Boston area.

Pope Benedict XVI arrives at JFK Airport tomorrow, and the city is ready. Police will be checking subway train cars through his three-day stay, as well as using mobile radiation detection units and hand-held sensors to examine cars.

A man and three women were arrested by the feds for overseeing an intercontinental prostitution ring catering to the upper crust of New York, Miami, LA, and Europe.

The NYC-DC bus fare wars have a new player: Greyhound division BoltBus will be launching service on March 27 and has started to sell tickets for as low as $1 (plus a 50 cent booking fee).

Hillary Clinton's February flop continued today as voters in Virginia, Maryland and D.C. turned out for Barack Obama by nearly two-to-one margins (in D.C. he won by 75% to 24%). According to exit polls, Obama not only did well with young voters, blacks and independents but, surprisingly, with certain demographics Clinton's been counting on: senior citizens, women and blue collar voters. Polls suggest 49% of those who voted for Obama were white and voters over sixty backed Obama by 52%.