watching the Cardinals self distruct in the 7th and loving it #cubs

at Wrigley Field getting ready to see the Cubs whip up on StL

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at Wrigley Field getting ready to see the Cubs whip up on StL

Just saw Rod Blagojevich Superstar at Chicago Navy Pier!

Filming of Police Raid for TV Show Outrages DC Residents

Montgomery County police officers staged a fake raid in Northwest D.C., complete with guns drawn and police lights blazing, sparking outrage from local residents who were not warned that the cops were acting for a TV show.

About a half dozen off-duty officers, who wore county uniforms and drove county police cars, were hired by a local production company to stage a police raid on 315 Aspen St. NW, which is about a quarter of a mile from the Montgomery-D.C. border.

"If the D.C. police had been in Montgomery County, that's all [anyone] would have talked about," said an irate Kelly Craven, who lives a few houses down from the raided house.

The filming was for a show called "Prison Wives," which is about women who fall in love with and marry prisoners, according to neighbors. The show is in development for the cable channel Investigation Discovery, according to its Web site.

Julie Schor, who lives next door, and other neighbors said they were angry when they found out that the police were there to be filmed and the community had not been notified.

"I wasn't told nothing," Hall said, adding that the police "took their time" when he asked them to move their cars out of his driveway.

The police also tied up traffic by speeding up and down the two-lane residential street with their flashing lights on, neighbors said.

Police spokeswoman Lucille Baur said the blame for the "very unfortunate" incident lies with the production company for not alerting residents before filming.She said the department allowed officers to participate because it was told that filming would occur inside the county's borders.

The Silver Spring production company, Sirens Media, issued a statement apologizing to the residents for not following the "correct protocol" to notify the District before filming.

Had they cleared the film shoot with the city first, Sirens would have been required to get a permit and paid to have traffic diverted, according a spokesman for the District's film office, who added that the city would have "over-communicated" to the neighborhood about any planned filming involving guns.

Story from the Examiner

Michael Jackson Death Prompts Bus Brawl

Jackson Remark Prompts Knife Threat
Suspect In Bus Confrontation Arrested
POSTED: Friday, June 26, 2009
UPDATED: 3:23 pm EDT June 26, 2009

NORTH LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The Broward Sheriff's Office said a man's comment about the death of Michael Jackson prompted a confrontation on a Broward County Transit bus Thursday evening.

James Kiernan, 60, of Coral Springs was riding the bus near Kimberly Boulevard and State Road 7 when he received a text message saying that Jackson had died. He told the other passengers on the bus about Jackson's death.

The bus driver commented, saying
Jackson should have been in jail long ago, BSO said.

"The world just lost a great musical talent," Kiernan said.
For some reason, BSO said, that comment enraged another passenger, 54-year-old Henry Wideman of North Lauderdale. Police said he told Kiernan to shut up, and Kiernan said, "I can say whatever I want."

According to BSO, Wideman started yelling profanities, pulled out a 6-inch folding knife, moved toward Kiernan and threatened him as Kiernan backed away.

The bus driver told his dispatcher of the situation and pulled over near Rock Island Road and Kimberly Boulevard to wait for police.

BSO said Wideman got off the bus and went to a nearby Quick Stop, where deputies arrested him. Wideman
faces a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Story from JustNews

DC - Metro Operator was NOT on cell phone

There had been some speculation about whether Jeanice McMillan, the Metro operator who lost her life in Monday's Red Line crash, had been using her cell phone at the time of the collision, but Metro says she wasn't, WTOP reports.

"We know where her cell phone was -- it was not on her. It was in a backpack," Metro General Manager John Catoe said. Investigators have also reportedly found evidence on the rails at the crash site that the brakes were activated several hundred feet before impact.

"The train itself was trying to stop for several hundred feet," Catoe says. "There's not one letter of evidence that our operator did anything to cause the accident."

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