Superintendents in three of the Washington region’s largest school districts announced new plans to start all public schools with distance learning only to their respective county school boards. All three counties had planned on some for of hybrid learning, but changed to all remote as cases in the region spiked recently. (Post)
The Vision Zero Omnibus bill passed the first of two votes needed to approve it yesterday. The bill would put $171 million over four years into traffic safety initiatives like building out more sidewalks and protected bike lanes and banning right-on-red turns at 84% of DC intersections. (Jordan Pascale / DCist)
In response to a letter from several Maryland counties, including Montgomery and Prince George’s, asking about restricting some activities as COVID-19 cases rise, Governor Larry Hogan says the state will not reverse its reopening. (Post)
The Council debated whether it should remove or change a 3% ad tax that could hurt local papers, or whether to accept cuts to library services that would have been funded by the tax. The vote was eventually postponed to Thursday, but many councilmembers grew impatient with the slapdash budgeting and last-minute changes. (Martin Austermuhle / DCist)
A New York Times survey mapped out where people report wearing a mask around others, and while the region as a whole has high rates of mask-wearing there are pockets in DC and in both Maryland and Virginia where those dip down. All three jurisdictions encourage mask wearing in public (Elliot Williams / DCist)
Election officials say they will need $20 million to carry out Governor Larry Hogan’s plan for the November election, including printing and sending each voter a mail-in ballot application. Legislators argue that the state should skip sending application, and send each voter a mail-in ballot directly. (Bennett Leckrone / Maryland Matters)
The rising popularity of biking during the pandemic may have led to a small increase in bike crashes, two more in May, June and July than in 2019. Alexandria is partnering with WABA to offer bike safety classes, though it’s crash breakdown does not indicate whether cyclists, poor infrastructure, or another road user were at fault in the crashes. (Vernon Miles / ALX Now)
The Arlington County Board approved a new General Land Use Plan study for Shirlington which would increase height limits to allow for redevelopment of the Village at Shirlington, WETA headquarters, a gas station and a parking lot in the neighborhood. (ARL Now)
President Trump kicked anti-urban rhetoric and action into high gear, deploying federal troops to crack down violently on racial justice protests and railing against the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule saying it will “abolish the suburbs.” Despite this, polls still show him behind among suburban voters. (Lawrence Lanahan / CityLab)
Back in 2013, DC took the unusual step of allowing bikes to be ridden in the District without a bell, something the city had required for more than 125 years—and something a lot of other cities had required as well. Some advocates successfully argued that bicycle bells were an add-on that did nothing to improve safety, so they shouldn’t be mandatory.
