Washington Recovers From Earthquake, Prepares for Hurricane Irene: Morning Links

Morning, Washington. Hopefully you you didn’t have too much damage from the magnitude 5.9 earthquake yesterday. We hear commuting home was kind of a nightmare, with bumper-to-bumper traffic in downtown, exits closed on the Beltway, and WMATA reporting lots of delays as they checked the system. You can check out our coverage from yesterday here.

Hurricane Irene May Hit Washington Area: And just in case you didn’t have enough to worry about, meteorologists are keeping their eyes on Hurricane Irene, which Capital Weather Gang says might impact the Washington area—though it’s still a bit too early to tell. NBC4 reports that some are worried the potential hurricane could delay the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial dedication scheduled for Sunday.

Puppy Stolen From Adoption Event: A 14-week-old black-and-white Spaniel mix puppy was taken from a rescue group adoption event at a Petsmart in Germantown on Saturday. NBC4 has a photo of the people who were last seen with the puppy and those that know any helpful information should contact Montgomery County police.

Report Finds “Clear Evidence” of Cronyism in Gray Administration: A DC council committee report released Tuesday says it found “clear evidence” that Mayor Vincent Gray’s administration “engaged in cronyism, paid excessive salaries above legal caps, and illegally hired the children of senior officials,” Tom Howell Jr. at the Washington Times reports. The council is expected to hold hearings on the report’s findings today.

Briefly Noted: Prince of Petworth notices that the Pizza Hut on Columbia Road, Northwest, has closed.

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Kay Steiger