Hot Button

During a Spare the Air alert day, residents are forbidden to burn fires in their fireplaces, unless a wood-burning fire is the only source of heat for the residence or commercial space.

Quote of year

The media trackers at Newsbusters.org, housed inside the conservative-leaning Media Research Center, have awarded Melissa Lafsky their “Quote of the Year” showcasing liberal bias.

Ms. Lafsky, a writer whose works have appeared at the New York Times and Discover magazine, wondered in a piece for the Huffington Post in August if the woman that the now-deceased Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, allowed to die in a car crash would think her demise was “worth it” because of the great things the senator later accomplished.

“Mary Jo wasn’t a right-wing talking point or a negative campaign slogan,” Ms. Lafsky wrote. “We don’t know how much Kennedy was affected by her death, or what she’d have thought about arguably being a catalyst for the most successful Senate career in history. … [One wonders what] Mary Jo Kopechne would have had to say about Ted’s death, and what she’d have thought of the life and career that are being (rightfully) heralded. Who knows maybe she’d feel it was worth it.”

Amanda Carpenter can be reached at acarpenter@ washingtontimes.com.