Free Republic

Metro is inspecting all of its defibrillators after one failed to work Monday when a 51-year-old rider suffered a fatal heart attack on the Yellow Line. The agency announced the news after The Washington Examiner started asking questions about the broken automated external defibrillator Thursday morning. Metro now says it plans to inspect all the defibrillators in its stations within 24 hours after determining the one at the Pentagon station had a dead battery. Metro has 46 defibrillators, meaning not every one of the 86 stations has one. The agency said Thursday it plans to add units at all remaining...

“[Expletive] the white man! [Expletive] the white man!” The man’s yells reverberated through the Metrorail car, breaking the quiet typical of an early-morning ride. I turned down the music on my iPhone. What was that? “[Expletive] the white man!” he screamed again. My fellow Blue Line riders and I looked around uneasily. I couldn’t see the man, but I did note that I seemed to be one of very few white men in the car. Still, I brushed it off. It’s not unusual to encounter crazy behavior while riding Metro. Rarely do things turn serious. As the train arrived at...

Ninety-seven percent of the bus and train operators at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority are black, with only six white women out of more than 3,000 drivers, according to Metro documents — a lack of diversity at one of the region’s largest employers that has led to an acknowledgment of failure in affirmative-action documents and spawned a series of lawsuits. The homogeneity, interviews with dozens of current and former Metro workers indicated, is a proxy to a clubby culture of favoritism in which merit has little to do with promotions, and accountability, such as noting safety violations, is a...

Does anyone know if the DC Metro system is experiencing a higher-than-normal degree of security? Family members of mine are visiting the Capitol, mostly traveling by Metro, and they've seen a noticeable number of both armed and (what appears to be) plainclothes security. They've mentioned their observations to a couple of locals, both of whom said the number of armed personnel seems unusual. We're not locals, so we don't have any standard to go by - does anyone in the area know if security has been stepped up, and why?

With the clock ticking on whether Northern Virginia’s two richest counties will go along with the next phase of extending Metrorail to Dulles International Airport, all eyes are on Loudoun County’s recently elected, all-Republican Board of Supervisors. If the vote were held today, elected officials and business leaders in Fairfax and Loudoun counties say they would not be surprised if Loudoun’s board opted out of the second phase of a $2.7 billion project that would extend the new Silver Line from Reston. Citing uncertainty over future ridership and potential costs, at least two members of Loudoun’s nine-member board have indicated...

In the heat of a US presidential election year, with Americans immune to the polarized and bitter nature of political discourse, it takes a lot to shock them, especially in Washington. But one ad at a DC Metro station -- which starts off criticizing Obama's health care reforms and ends up telling the president to "go to hell" -- goes beyond the pale, says Jim Moran, a Democratic congressman from Virginia. The advertisement is for "Sick and Sicker: When the Government Becomes Your Doctor," a documentary that interviews Canadian doctors and patients in the hope of showing how dangerous "Obamacare"...

<p>The first phase of the Dulles rail project — extending Metrorail service to Dulles Airport and Loudoun County — is scheduled for completion in December 2013. An important part of the project is underway in the Tysons Corner area.</p> <p>The Metrorail extension through Tysons Corner has burned through more than 70 percent of its contingency fund. With two years of construction remaining, the jurisdictions paying for the line — and Dulles Toll Road drivers — could be on the hook for millions in possible cost overruns, transportation experts say.</p>

A woman who allegedly made a bomb threat aboard a Red Line train Monday morning has been transported to a local hospital for a mental health evaluation, a Metro official said. Metro and emergency officials said there was no evidence that there was an explosive device, but the threat shut down rail service at Rockville Station. The station reopened about 9:45 a.m., according to reports from Metro. Trains were temporarily stopped between Shady Grove and Grosvenor. Shuttle bus service was established to transport passengers. Dan Stessel, a Metro spokesman, said a passenger made “a claim of a bomb threat” around...

A Pakistan-born computer engineer has been sentenced to 23 years in prison by a US court after he pleaded guilty to charges that he tried to assist suspected members of al-Qaeda in planning bombings at Metrorail stations in the Washington area. A resident of Virginia, Farooque Ahmed (35) pleaded guilty to the charges of attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organisation and collecting information to assist in planning an attack on a transit facility. He was arrested by the FBI on October 27, 2010. In a plea agreement, the defence and government jointly recommended a sentence of...

Some months ago it was reported here that - despite all the hallabalu arising from Congress’ recent mandate that AMTRAK allow passengers to transport unloaded guns in checked luggage - it’s generally NOT a crime under federal and most states’ laws to carry loaded handguns on AMTRAK trains. Now . . . WMATA has publicly acknowledged that gun carry on the DC Metro system is not banned, but merely governed by the laws of each of the 3 member jurisdictions: Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.

(CNN) -- A Virginia man has been accused of threatening to place pipe bombs along the Metro transportation system in Washington. According to a federal complaint, Awais Younis, who was arrested December 7, related his plans to someone on the social networking site Facebook. Younis, also identified as Sundullah Ghilzai, told an FBI complainant through Facebook how how to build a pipe bomb "and what type of shrapnel would cause the greatest amount of damage," according to federal authorities.

An Arlington man is accused of threatening to set off bombs around D.C., including in the Metro system, but was caught through messages he sent on Facebook before a plot was developed. Awais Younis, who also goes by Sundullah "Sunny" Ghilzai as well as Mohhanmed Khan, was charged in federal court in Alexandria with making threatening communications. Younis, who was born in Afghanistan, used Facebook to threaten to set off explosives, according to an affidavit for his arrest by Joseph Lesinski, a special agent with the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force. Authorities were tipped off to Younis by an unidentified...

A Virginia man has been arrested for allegedly trying to help Al Qaeda plan multiple bombings around the nation's capital, according to U.S. officials. Farooque Ahmed, 34, of Ashburn, Va., was arrested today by the FBI and charged with providing material support to terrorists and collecting information for a terrorist attack. “It’s chilling that a man from Ashburn is accused of casing rail stations with the goal of killing as many Metro riders as possible through simultaneous bomb attacks,” said Neil MacBride, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “Today’s arrest highlights ... our ability to find those...

A Virginia man has been arrested and indicted on charges he tried to help people he believed were al-Qaida operatives in planning to bomb subway stations in and around the nation's capital. The FBI says the public was never in danger because its agents were aware of the man's activities before the alleged planning took place and monitored him throughout. Farooque Ahmed, 34, a naturalized citizen born in Pakistan, was arrested Wednesday. He was indicted on charges of attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization, collecting information to assist in planning a terrorist attack on a transit...

Federal law enforcement authorities are investigating a nascent plot to carry out a series of terrorist bombings at stations in the Washington Metro system, according to intelligence and law enforcement sources. The investigation is focused on a naturalized U.S. citizen, originally from Pakistan, who became the target of an undercover sting operation, the sources said. An administration official said the man drew the attention of law enforcement officials by seeking to obtain unspecified materials. The planned attack was not imminent, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the matter remains under investigation.

The second part of Metrorail's extension from Falls Church to Dulles International Airport and Loudoun County could cost as much as $1.3 billion more than original estimates, which may mean higher rates for people who use the Dulles Toll Road. The new estimate was provided Wednesday to members of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which is overseeing construction. The first phase is costing $2.75 billion, the authority said. Early estimates had placed costs of the second phase in the same range. The new price range increases the cost by at least $690 million and potentially twice as much. The plan...

Metro plans to put bullhorns in rail stations and improve crowd-management techniques after rush-hour escalator breakdowns at Dupont Circle Station last week left hordes of customers struggling up broken, 130-foot escalators -- with some people forced to crawl over the handrail to avoid falling into a hole. Metro Transit Police Chief Michael Taborn told Metro's board of directors at a meeting Thursday that an investigation into the incident, which started with a report of smoke at the Q Street NW entrance, determined that there were failures in radio communications and that for a short time the station's only open entrance...

Supporters of a bill that would give federal regulators power to force transit agencies to make safety improvements are rallying around a ruling that the lack of federal oversight contributed to the fatal Metro crash in Washington last year. Supporters believe the National Transportation Safety Board's strong language favoring federal oversight will make it easier to convince lawmakers that it is needed nationwide. But Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., put a hold on the bill to keep it from being fast-tracked through Congress after Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., introduced it last week.

Pentagon alert notification just popped up. Pentagon Metro entrance closed. Quick search of twitter shows police with guns drawn. Possible suspicious package. Hmm, wasn't there an alert from the FBI earlier this week about terrorists trying to disrupt things with fake suspicous packages.

Chris Layman, a spokesman for the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, said the suspect walked up to the main entrance of the Pentagon at 6:40 p.m. and opened fire. He hit two officers, both of whom have injuries that are not life-threatening. The officers fired back, and the suspect was hit. His injuries are more serious. Layman declined to speculate on a motive.

Live local TV from DC; Two Pentagon police officers and a gunman are hospitalized after a shoot-out at the Metro station entrance to the Pentagon. Eyewitnesses say it started at 6:40pm. Pentagon Force Protection Agency says suspect walked up and wounded two officers. Despite their injuries, those officers fired back and wounded the suspect...EMT first responders rushed all three to local hospitals...news conference at 8:45pm. The Pentagon Metro station and Pentagon Transit Center have been reopened.

A gunman coolly drew a weapon from his pocket and opened fire at the teeming subway entrance to the Pentagon complex Thursday evening, wounding two police officers before being shot and critically wounded, officials said. Authorities said all three were taken to a hospital. Richard Keevill, chief of Pentagon police, said the two officers suffered grazing wounds that were not life-threatening. The suspect, identified as 36-year old John Patrick Bedell, allegedly walked up to a security checkpoint at the Pentagon in an apparent attempt to get inside the Defense Department headquarters, at about 6:40 p.m.

Nothing on the wires yet. No more news given than what I put in the headline.

A crowded Red Line Metro train heading from Farragut North toward Dupont Circle derailed Friday morning between the two stations, trapping 345 people underground for an hour and a half before they could be pulled to safety. The incident paralyzed the subway system and downtown street traffic on federal workers' first morning back after a snowbound week.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Two Metro workers were struck and killed by a maintenance truck on a track Tuesday, the latest in a string of fatalities since last year in the Washington area's transit system. The men were installing safety equipment on a track that was closed to regular service for the night when they were hit, Metro said. One worker died at the scene, a few blocks from the Rockville Metro Station, and the other on the way to a hospital. Both men were automatic train control technicians and the crash involved a large truck equipped to drive on the...

Brushing aside tradition, the Obama administration is pushing for federal authority to regulate the nation's subway and light commuter rail systems following last summer's subway crash in Washington, D.C., that left nine people dead. Next week, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will formally ask Congress to give his department authority to regulate and oversee those rail systems, a move that some Republicans on Capitol Hill worry is another alarming example of an ever-expanding federal government. "In this case, it sounds good, safety and enforcement over transit systems, but it may not be that effective," Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., told Fox News....

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — Officials say a Washington Metro subway train crashed into the back of another at a rail yard, injuring three workers. The Metro transit agency says injuries were minor and not life-threatening. No passengers were on board when the crash occurred at about 4:30 a.m. Sunday. Metro says a six-car train was returning to the West Falls Church Rail Yard in northern Virginia when it rear-ended a parked six-car train. Two workers were cleaning the parked train to get it ready for service.

Obama Proposes Federal Takeover Of Mass Transit White House Hopes For Federal Oversight Of Safety Regulations On All Local Subways, Light Rails In US Reporting Hazel Sanchez Who should run mass transportation? If the White House has its way, New York and other subway systems nationwide could be in for a federal safety takeover. It comes as a surprise to many straphangers. Unlike airplanes and highways, the nation's subways systems operate with no federal oversight. "That makes me uncomfortable to hear that," subway rider Rhonda Jordan said. "I do take the subway quite often." One City College transportation expert says...

By his own estimation, the Rev. Mark Batterson has preached about 1,000 sermons in his makeshift sanctuary at Union Station's Phoenix Theatres, where his congregation has met for the past 13 years. Last week's was one of the most difficult: In his remarks he told his congregation it would be the final service at their unconventional church. The train station's movie theater closed abruptly last week. Mr. Batterson said that for the past two years he had been hearing rumors the theater would close, but he had been assured they were not true. So it came as a shock when...

Is it just me, or are Muslims causing more and more problems in our country? Didn't we recently see numerous other Islamic terror plots stopped here in America? Because according to the Islamic apologist crowd, this would never happen here. Oh yea....lets cue the Muslim victim card. DC Security Scare Becomes Federal Case Documents: Man threatened to blow up NW DC Metro

"Muslim in Washington, DC: "I'm not scared to die! I will kill you! I will blow people up and the Metro!"" SNIPPET: ""Three blocks of Wisconsin Avenue Northwest were cleared of cars and pedestrians. Adjacent buildings and restaurants were evacuated..." "DC Security Scare Becomes Federal Case," by Bob Barnard for MyFoxDC, October 8 (thanks to Heidi): WASHINGTON, D.C. - A man who was arrested in a security scare in Northwest D.C. on Tuesday night threatened to blow up the Friendship Heights Metro station, according to a criminal complaint in the case. It was a chaotic scene Tuesday night in Friendship...

Metro Delivers Hundreds of Thousands to 9/12 Rally Posted September 15th, 2009 at 4.58pm in Ongoing Priorities. Much has been made over the attendance at the march and rally in DC on September 12. Reports varied, with many on the left clinging to an unofficial DC Fire Department estimate of 60,000 to 70,000. Some reports from overseas went as far as to say two million. However, one completely objective source of information is the number of people who rode Metro, Washington, DC’s mass transit subway system. Washington Metro measures and releases its ridership numbers and these numbers have been used...

Gov. Martin O'Malley is expected to endorse a light rail line over bus rapid transit with his announcement Tuesday that Maryland will pursue federal transit money to build a Purple Line linking Prince George's and Montgomery counties. His administration will apply for funding for the 16-mile line as well as a 14-mile Red Line through Baltimore, two long-awaited projects that have been in the planning stages for years. O'Malley has scheduled a whistle-stop train tour befitting both announcements: He'll hold an 8:30 a.m. press conference with state and local officials at the New Carrollton Metro Station,the proposed eastern terminus for...

A chaplain from Walter Reed. A doctor from Walter Reed. The owner of a new hair salon. An architect. On a Metro train, in one terrifying instant and its aftermath, their lives became forever intertwined. This is their story. He heard the familiar whine of a Metro train approaching the platform, and Tom Baker decided to run for it. The next train was scheduled to arrive at Takoma Station in two minutes, another in six minutes and yet another in 10. But it was the first Monday of summer, and Baker had left work early with a weightlifting routine to...

6/30/2009 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- A former commanding general of the Washington, D.C., National Guard who was killed June 22 in a subway accident along with his wife was remembered in a June 29 ceremony celebrating his life and accomplishments. Retired Maj. Gen. David Wherley and his wife, Ann, a mortgage banker, both 62, were returning from Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where they were learning how to counsel servicemembers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Their Metro train car collided with another train, killing nine people. It was a sudden event that shocked Guard members and civilians alike, and drawing...

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, June 26, 2009) -- Several Walter Reed Army Medical Center staffers survived the deadliest accident in Washington Metrorail's 33-year history Monday. Maj. David Bottoms, a Walter Reed chaplain and Col. Thomas Baker, chief of pathology, said they were both riding in the first car of the train that slammed into another stopped train during Monday's rush-hour commute home. "I was reading and listening to my iPod, and I noticed the front end of the car was buckling and it was coming toward us. It looked like a wave ... it stopped three seats in front of...

WASHINGTON, June 24, 2009 – A former commander of the District of Columbia National Guard and his wife were among the nine people killed in the June 22 collision of two Metro subway trains here, officials announced yesterday. Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. David F. Wherley Jr. and his wife, Ann, were among nine people killed in a train collision on Washington D.C.'s Metro subway system June 22, 2009. The general commanded the District of Columbia National Guard for five years. Photo courtesy of the District of Columbia National Guard   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Retired Air Force...

A key circuit on the train track near Monday's derailment in Washington, D.C., was apparently not operating as it should have been, raising the possibility that the Metro train that crashed into another one may not have known to slow down, accident investigators said today. Investigators tested six circuits between the two stations where the crash occurred. Five of those performed as expected, according to National Transportation Safety Board investigator Deborah Hersman. Such circuits let trains know how fast to go and provide them with information about whether there's another train up ahead. But one circuit showed what Hersman described...

Retired National Guard general among train victims Interactives/Galleries Washington Commuter Train Crash WASHINGTON (AP) -- The victims of the Metro train collision in Washington included the recently retired commanding general of the D.C. National Guard and his wife; two working moms; a retired teacher who was working as a substitute, and a woman who worked with nurses around the world. Here is what family members, co-workers and others had to say about them:

WASHINGTON – Investigators looking into the deadly crash of two Metro transit trains focused Tuesday on why a computerized system failed to halt an oncoming train, and why the train failed to stop even though the emergency brake was pressed. At the time of the crash, the train was also operating in automatic mode, meaning it was controlled primarily by computer. In that mode, the operator's main job is to open and close the doors and respond in case of an emergency. Debbie Hersman, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, said it was unclear if the emergency brake...

WASHINGTON - At least two people have died and several people are trapped and injured after a Metro Red Line train derailed and collided with another Metro train, officials say. The six-car train derailed and then collided with another train between the Takoma Park and Fort Totten stations around 5 p.m. Monday. The trains are "lodged on top of one another," D.C. Fire and EMS spokesman Alan Etter says.

WASHINGTON - Maj. Gen. David F. Wherley Jr., retired commanding general of the D.C. National Guard, and his wife, Ann, were among those killed in the collision of two Metro trains. *snip* especially during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. That time saw the changing of the D.C. National Guard from weekend warriors to Army troops performing the duties of enlisted soldiers in battle. Wherley worked on deployment and returning ceremonies for Guard troops, funding for tuition for Guard members, and after school activities conducted by the D.C. National Guard. *snip*

Last week I wrote that about the suppression of an EPA report identifying the locations of “high hazard” coal sludge sites. I questioned whether the federal government was giving another government entity favored treatment, in this case the TVA -- which was the source of the original massive spill. It appears this may have been so the case of the fatal subway crash in Washington DC. In a report in the Washington Post today, a NTSB Board member says Metro failed to heed the advice of federal regulators to either strengthen the cars or take them out of service. They...

As I reported earlier, back in March I noted that DC Metro train money was frozen by some banks caught up in the AIG crisis. This frozen money likely caused slowdowns in some maintenance...

CNN producer Vito Maggiolo saying "one train on top of each other."

WASHINGTON - Metro confirms two trains have collided on the Red Line between the Takoma and Fort Totten stations. It happened close to the Fort Totten station, a Metro spokesperson said. D.C. Fire and EMS spokesman Alan Etter said one train was on top of the other train. The number of injuries and the extent of the injuries could not be immediately confirmed. Mass casualty units were called to the scene.

This part happens all the time: A construction crew putting up an office building in the heart of Tysons Corner a few years ago hit a fiber optic cable no one knew was there. This part doesn't: Within moments, three black sport-utility vehicles drove up, a half-dozen men in suits jumped out and one said, "You just hit our line." Whose line, you may ask? The guys in suits didn't say, recalled Aaron Georgelas, whose company, the Georgelas Group, was developing the Greensboro Corporate Center on Spring Hill Road. But Georgelas assumed that he was dealing with the federal government...

WASHINGTON - D.C. police say McGruff the crime dog, who urges children to "take a bite out of crime," became a victim Saturday when a bus driver punched him in the face as he handed fliers to children. The popular crime-fighting dog has been around since 1980 as a cartoon character and as a furry mascot known by children and parents alike. Police say the Metro bus driver, 38-year-old Shawn Brim, climbed off the bus at the corner of 14th Street and Spring Street, adjusted both sideview mirrors and then swung at Officer Tyrone Hardy, who was dressed as McGruff....

McGruff never saw this one coming. McGruff the Crime Dog, the stern but beloved police mascot who teaches kids how to stop crime before it happens, became a victim himself this weekend when a Metro bus driver punched him in the face as a stunned group of children watched, authorities said. McGruff, a.k.a. D.C. police officer Tyrone Hardy, was passing out flyers to children at the corner of 14th Street and Spring Road in Northwest Washington around 2:30 p.m. Saturday when a Metro bus pulled up to the curb. The bus driver, 38-year-old Shawn Brim, climbed out of the bus,...

<p>Metro officials say someone fell onto the subway tracks at a downtown station and was struck by a train, prompting officials to close two stations and turn around some trains.</p> <p>Metro spokesman Doug Karas said Tuesday the Gallery Place station on the Red Line was closed after the accident and trains were turning around at Judiciary Square and Farragut North.</p>