Beginning today (Tuesday, February 21), Red Line customers will see more trains on the busiest days of the week. Trains will operate every 8 minutes all day on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, which have become Metro’s highest ridership days as the region recovers from the pandemic.
Last week Representative Jamie Raskin warned travelers who plan on traveling this Spring that processing times for are increasing for passport applications due to a seasonal increase in applications. Processing times are now up to 8-11 weeks for regular applications and 5-7 weeks for expedited applications. Rep. Raskin’s full message can be seen below:
”I’ve just been alerted that a seasonal increase in passport applications has increased processing times to 8-11 weeks for regular apps and 5-7 weeks for expedited apps. If you have travel plans, please submit your application ASAP.”
The Washington Commanders are looking to make a splash by potentially hiring the Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator, Eric Bieniemy, for the same position with the team. The Commanders announced today that they’ll be interviewing Bieniemy, who is coming off of a Super Bowl win against the Eagles last Sunday.
Per the announcement, “Bieniemy, who began his coaching career in 2001, has 15 years of experience working in the NFL with the Chiefs and Minnesota Vikings. He has also coached for the Colorado Buffaloes in two stints as well as three seasons with UCLA. Prior to being promoted to the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator in 2018, Bieniemy spent most of his coaching career working with running backs.
Last week we let you know that Dan Snyder was putting his Montgomery County home up for sale, for what would be a DMV record breaking $49 million if it sold for the asking price. Now, the home listing is available to browse on any real estate website. It is being listed by listed by Heather Corey and Michael Rankin of TTR Sotheby’s International Realty.
The home, located at 11900 River Rd., has five bedrooms and eight bathrooms spread across 30,000 SF. The French-style single family home sits on a lot size of just over 9.6 acres and is located in Potomac. It comes at a price of $1,633 per square foot, with an annual tax $192,631 (over $75k more than the $117,345 median household income in Montgomery County).
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) will debut a major, thought-provoking new exhibition, “Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures,” March 24, 2023. A highlight of the exhibition is the Black Panther hero costume worn by the late Chadwick Boseman. The Black Panther is the first superhero of African descent to appear in mainstream American comics, and the film itself is the first major cinematic production based on the character.
Per the press release: Investigating Afrofuturist expression through art, music, activism and more, this exhibition explores and reveals Afrofuturism’s historic and poignant engagement with African American history and popular culture. From the enslaved looking to the cosmos for freedom to popular sci-fi stories inspiring Black astronauts, to the musical influence of Sun Ra, OutKast, P-Funk and more, this exhibition covers the broad and impactful spectrum of Afrofuturism.
Metro is boosting mid-week service for customers who use the Blue, Orange and Blue Plus lines (info on Red line below) during the morning and evening rush hour periods. As announced just over a week ago, service on the three lines will increase to every 12 minutes instead of 15 minutes from 6 – 9 a.m. and 3 – 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. In the heart of the system, between Rosslyn and Stadium-Armory where the lines merge, trains will arrive at stations every four minutes.
Per WMATA: The service improvements are focused on the middle of the week, where ridership is growing the most. As ridership has evolved post-pandemic, peak period demand is increasing with the heaviest ridership concentrated on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. In focusing on the busiest times and days of the week, Metro is working differently to provide more targeted service on #YourMetro when and where it is needed. The improvements come as Metro continues to return more 7000-series trains, increasing the number of daily trains in service by more than 40 percent since July.
Last June Philz Coffee closed its Bethesda location, located at 7247 Woodmont Avenue in Bethesda. Philz Coffee opened its Bethesda location in December of 2018. At the time, DC Area locations in Adams Morgan, Navy Yard, and Ballston remaine open, but have since closed. On Tuesday, the company tweeted that it would be exiting the DC market:
“As we look to the future, we have made the difficult decision to exit the DC Metro market. We loved serving this community, but business conditions and our desire to provide the best possible experience to our customers led to our decision. Thank you all for the years of support.”
Montgomery County natives Brandy Louis Simms and George Johnson will start broadcasting their new radio show, ‘Sports Rap’, on Sunday, February 5th on Radio Arlington (WERA 96.7fm). Simms graduated from Newport Prep in Kensington Johnson is a graduate of Walter Johnson HS in Bethesda. Johnson has previously worked at Home Team Sports/Comcast SportsNet, while Simms is the manager former Sports Director at Montgomery Community Media’s “Cable News 21”.
The weekly show, ‘Sports Rap’, will air every Sunday at noon (12pm) and will primarily discuss local high school, college and professional sports along with other issues within the world of sports. Not a fan of sports? No worries, Simms tells us they’ll also talk about pop culture and comedy, music, movies, television, and more.
Update Jan. 22, 2022 — Due to poor weather conditions in the Wallops area, Rocket Lab’s first U.S. launch of the Electron rocket is now targeted for Tuesday, Jan. 24. Weather for Tuesday is 90% favorable for the 6-8 p.m. EST launch window.
Previous information: NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility will support the launch of Rocket Lab USA’s first Electron rocket from Virginia at 6 p.m. EST, Monday, Jan. 23. The 59-foot-tall Electron rocket will lift off from Launch Complex 2 at Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island. The mission, named “Virginia is for Launch Lovers,” will deploy radio frequency monitoring satellites for HawkEye 360.
Those who complete the Challenge will be eligible for a variety of prizes that will be available at their local library while supplies last. They will also be entered into a raffle for a chance to win two tickets to the Wizards’ home game on April 9 against the Houston Rockets. Register for the Wizards Winter Reading Challenge at: https://www.dcfamily.com/winter-reading-challenge or by visiting MCPL’s website or any of MCPL’s 21 locations.
Ellen Granberg, Ph.D., a visionary higher education leader with a record of bolstering teaching and research excellence across disciplines, supporting a diverse and inclusive community of students, faculty and staff, and collaborating with all stakeholders to drive transformative change and increase institutional prominence, has been named the 19th president of the George Washington University, the Board of Trustees announced Wednesday.
Granberg, a sociology scholar who is currently provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and was previously an academic leader at Clemson University, will become the first woman to serve as GW’s president when she takes the helm of the largest university in the nation’s capital on July 1.