The following stories are brought to you by the fine folks on the News4 assignment desk.
GET READY FOR GRIDLOCK!!!
The Nuclear Security Summit that will be held Monday and Tuesday is expected to impact everybody -- commuters, pedestrians and businesses -- both inside and outside of the District.
"We have never seen this many heads of state anywhere before in the history of the world. This is being called the largest collection of heads of state ever," says Lon Anderson, spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic. (WTOP)
PAY BY PHONE PARKING PILOT LAUNCHED IN DC
You can already pay for parking in some parts of D.C. via solar-powered credit card meters, and starting Monday, another pilot program launched by the District Department of Transportation will allow drivers to pay for parking by phone.
The pay by phone option is being offered at 700 parking spaces in three areas of the city: around Dupont Circle, Union Station, and downtown on K Street, I Street, and New York Avenue NW. Meters that offer the service will be marked with a green sticker like the one at right, which lists a location number specific to that space. (DCist)
METRO'S DEDICATED SCHOOL LINES IN TROUBLE?
Here's an item from my colleagues Michael Birnbaum and Jenna Johnson:
Buried within a long list of possible WMATA service cuts is the elimination of dedicated Metrobus service to 10 D.C. public schools. But a metro board member's office said Friday it was unlikely that those routes would actually be eliminated.
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Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
D.C. public schools do not have yellow school buses that take students to regular school programs, but WMATA serves some schools with special bus lines that are for students only. On the list of possible route cuts are the buses that serve Watkins Elementary and Peabody Elementary; Deal Middle and Sousa Middle; Anacostia High, Eastern High, McKinley High, Spingarn High and Wilson High; and Duke Ellington School of the Arts. (Washington Post)
ECONOMIST: REGION'S ECONOMY TO NEARLY DOUBLE IN NEXT 20 YEARS
The Washington area's economy will nearly double over the next 20 years, bringing in more than 1 million new jobs but also forcing local leaders to face tough questions about how to accommodate them, a new study predicts.
The District and its suburbs will see their gross regional product grow by more than 94 percent over the next two decades, George Mason University economist Stephen Fuller predicts in a new study by the 2030 Group, a nonprofit think tank founded by area businessmen. The study, released Thursday, predicts that the Washington area will be one of the nation's fastest-growing economies, behind Atlanta and Dallas-Fort Worth, through 2030.
(Washington Examiner)
