The following stories are brought to you by the fine folks on the News4 assignment desk.
NATIONAL AIRPORT METRO ON HOLIDAY
Those planning to take Metro to Reagan National Airport as part of their Labor Day weekend travel plans should reconsider. The airport station will be closed for maintenance this weekend. The Pentagon City and Crystal City stations on the Blue and Yellow lines also will be closed from 9:30 p.m. Friday until 5 a.m. Tuesday. This absurd scheduling decision will mean headaches and cab rides for Metro riders flying out of National after Friday evening or into National before Tuesday. Shuttle service will be in place, but riders should add 45 minutes to their expected travel times. (NBC Washington)
BIKE SECURITY FOR THE AGE OF IRONY
Spotted in Georgetown on Sunday afternoon...(click on the image to zoom in and read the handmade sign taped to it) We're not sure what to make of this--it looks like it could be a plant, or it could be someone just having their jollies. Perhaps the MPD are using a bit of reverse psychology, or it's someone's clever way to prevent their bike from being lifted? We're not sure. But I do know this much: it reminds me very much of the set-up for one of my all-time favorite Trigger Happy TV moments. (14th and You via DCist)
SAMOA SWITCHES SIDES IN DRIVING
The South Pacific island of Samoa will be the first nation in decades to switch traffic flow from one side of the road to another, though drivers predict chaos next week when they make the move. The prime minister said Monday a special Cabinet meeting had decided the switch to the left side will go ahead as planned, despite earlier protests where 30,000 marched through the streets. Around 500 people protested again Monday in the capital, Apia, saying drivers have not been properly prepared. The government wants to bring Samoa in line with driving customs in Australia and New Zealand, where steering wheels are on the right side of vehicles, to encourage some of the 170,000 expatriate Samoans living there to ship used cars back to relatives. (MSNBC)
CA WILDFIRE SMOKE REACHES DENVER
The smoke over Colorado — which has made the mountains west of Denver invisible from downtown Denver — has come directly from the massive 85,000-acre wildfire in Southern California, according to the National Weather Service. Although Denverites could barely see the gray outlines of the foothills immediately west of Golden and Lakewood this afternoon, the higher mountains had disappeared in a dirty white haze. Norv Larson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction, said a high-pressure system on the Arizona-New Mexico border has caused an airflow that is carrying the smoke in an easterly direction. (Denver Post)
