Meredith Somers

Metro lowers performance goals

Metro has lowered its internal standards for on-time performance of rail service, buses and escalators.

May 26, 2011

New train operators partly to blame for Metro red-light running

New train operators may be partly to blame for a string of recent incidents in which Metro rail cars have run red signals.

May 26, 2011

Charge dropped against man who tussled with Metro police

Prosecutors have dropped a charge of assaulting an officer that was filed against a wheelchair-bound man shown in an Internet video apparently being tackled by two Metro Transit Police officers.

May 25, 2011

Metro carjacking related to earlier crime

Four men who brazenly carjacked a man and his daughter at a Prince George's County Metrorail station Wednesday morning appear to have used as a getaway car a vehicle they stole last week during a similar station assault, officials said.

May 25, 2011

Gas prices likely won’t deter holiday drivers

Gas prices $1-per-gallon higher than this time last year are not likely to deter area motorists from traveling on Memorial Day weekend, although estimates released Tuesday suggest they will spend less when they get where they're going.

May 24, 2011

Transit police chief to investigate use of force

The chief of the Metro Transit Police Department initiated a formal investigation Monday into the actions of two officers who appear, in a video posted to the Internet, to have tackled a wheelchair-bound man outside a D.C. rail station, sending the victim to the hospital with a head wound.

May 23, 2011

Metro to investigate officers who arrested wheelchair-bound man

Metro Transit Police Chief Michael Taborn launched a formal investigation on Monday into the actions of two officers who appear in a video posted to the Internet to have tackled a wheelchair-bound man outside a D.C. rail station Thursday, sending the man to the hospital with a head wound after he resisted arrest.

May 23, 2011

Metro poised to close $66M budget gap

Metro officials will now decide how to close a $66 million gap in the agency's operating budget, after a week of town-hall meetings across the region in which riders gave their input on such major cost-cutting proposals as ending bus lines and limiting weekend rail service.

May 22, 2011

Pilots and planes of all stripes take flight at Andrews Air Force Base

As our small, white propeller plane loops lazily above green Manassas, Va., farmland, a low snarl building from below is the only warning before red wings flash by in a rapid climb before swooping gracefully into place alongside us.

May 19, 2011

More-informative Mall map helps tourists find their way

The National Park Service unveiled its new 17-by-8-foot double-sided map of the National Mall. The map project is intended to help tourists form better plans for their sightseeing day.

May 17, 2011

Va. teen killed on road after leaving his car

Fairfax County police on Monday were investigating a fatal accident in Dranesville that killed a 19-year-old Herndon man and put the 39-year-old motorist who struck him in the hospital.

May 16, 2011

Metro holds forums on service cuts

Metro officials are hosting town-hall meetings in the District, Maryland and Virginia this week to discuss possible cuts to bus and rail service.

May 16, 2011

Work to begin on Reagan Airport runway

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority is scheduled on Monday night to begin work on a resurfacing of the main north-south runway at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

May 16, 2011

Bike to Work Week to bring riders to city streets

Sporting a pressed charcoal suit and salt-and-pepper hair neatly smoothed to frame his bespectacled face, Arlington resident Tom Hogue looks every bit the polished federal employee.

May 15, 2011

Metro system aggravated assaults on the rise

The number of aggravated assaults throughout the Metro system continues to increase, agency police Chief Michael Taborn said Thursday.

May 12, 2011

Metro set to roll out 152 new buses

Metro officials hope to improve rider satisfaction this month in part with the oddly appealing scent of glue and fresh plastic — otherwise known as that new-car smell — when they roll out 152 new buses.

May 10, 2011

Embassies open for Europe Week

A round-trip ticket to Europe normally has a four-digit price tag, but this weekend area residents were able to visit more than two dozen countries at no cost — though some entrance lines had a wait to rival the busiest airport security checkpoints.

May 8, 2011

Couple badly hurt as gas blast levels house

A gas explosion that rattled the windows of nearby houses flattened a Rockville home early Wednesday and hurled its occupants from their beds into their backyard.

May 4, 2011

Prince Charles visits farm in Northwest D.C.

England's Prince Charles began his first trip to the United States in four years Tuesday by stepping into a muddy, tangled community farm built on an abandoned urban baseball field.

May 3, 2011

Restaurant challenge shows there’s more to half-smokes than Ben’s

The District has been a one half-smoke town for more than 50 years, but on Sunday a Dupont Circle restaurant found itself holding the trophy for its unique take on the city's culinary claim to fame.

May 1, 2011