The Morning Buzz

Photo by Flickr user karpov the wrecked train

Happy Friday, everybody! Got big plans for the weekend? No idea where to watch the Super Bowl? We have some suggestions, from a bar guide to restaurant Super Bowl menu specials. 

One thing to note this weekend—the Chinese New Year Parade, which we mentioned in our weekend picks, will be closing down some streets near the Verizon Center this Sunday. Here's a list of the closures. 

We never thought that Virginia would ever, ever get a smoking ban like Maryland and DC have done, but it seems like it's at least a possibility now. DCist points us to a report that a Virginia Senate committee has passed legislation that would forbid smoking in restaurants and most public spaces. 

Most reports about security around Obama have said that it's some of the highest-level security in the world—but the Post has this piece on how some VIPs who received tickets to meet with Obama during inauguration barely had to undergo any background checks. In fact: "One of the three said ticket checks were so lax that no one noticed when, after a breakfast for contributors, a friend whose name hadn't been submitted for a background check tagged along into a VIP room to take pictures with Vice President-elect Joseph Biden."

Michelle Rhee could teach Wall Street a thing or two. The head of the DC schools has chosen to forgo her bonus this year, citing the difficult economic times.

ABC has a really awful video of a man being brutally attacked outside of the Giant in Columbia Heights. The worst part? Nobody comes to his aid for nearly half an hour. 

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