DCentric

Good morning, DCentric readers! Here, have some links to go with that coffee:

Youth suffers stab wounds in fight at National Zoo An update to the story we posted yesterday, about violence on a day traditionally celebrated by African American families at the zoo: “The fight broke out about 3:30 p.m. near the Small Mammal House, authorities said. Zoo spokeswoman Jodi Legge said zoo security ejected an unspecified number of people, many of them juveniles, as a result of the fight. Legge said the zoo, with a capacity of 25,000 visitors, was “extremely crowded” Monday.” (The Washington Post)

Witness: Saturday commute had beating at Anacostia station, rowdy teens at L’Enfant Plaza Witness saw up to nine men kicking and beating a woman: “The second witness to Saturday’s attack, who also says she no longer rides Metro, said the District’s transit system was “too unexpected,” and “too chaotic” for her. She described Saturday’s scene as “anarchy,” and wondered why authorities weren’t reviewing cameras or proactively posting themselves at stations where trouble has cropped up before. “I feel like I can get kicked out of Metro for eating french fries,” she says, “but someone could assault me in the Metro and that’s OK.”" (tbd.com)

14th & You: Corner of 14th and Corcoran Gets “Cleaned Up” “Many of you have commented over the past couple of years about the individual who had made his home at the northeast corner of 14th and Corcoran streets. The individual, whose name is Michael, had amassed a rather large and unsightly collection of–for lack of a better word–”stuff” that was taking up a rather substantial portion of the sidewalk and treebox and creating a public health hazard…as of this weekend, Michael’s belongings were gone from the sidewalk.” (14th & You)

Prejudice lives on, even in enlightened D.C. Did a cab driver’s culture play a part in this incident, which took place in the heart of Dupont? – ““It was like I was in the ’50s or something,” Ari Fredge, 45, told me. He and his main squeeze hopped into a cab after a nice dinner out. They told the cabbie their destination, then shared a quick kiss after the driver pulled away. A peck, they said. Slam! went the brakes. “My cab is not a bed. You cannot have sex in my cab!” declared the driver, who ordered the couple to get out of his taxi.” (The Washington Post)

N.Y. Rangers, team owners get D.C. police escort Police have escorted the Cardinals and the Cavaliers, too: “Police union chief Kris Baumann said the escort for the Rangers, coming in the wake of the Sheen controversy, shows a lack of institutional control at police headquarters. “It should be a concern for anyone that it took the chief of police 36 hours to cobble together a policy for police escorts that the department immediately violated the next day,” Baumann said. Lanier said days after the Sheen controversy that escorts are only for top politicians like the president, vice president and mayor, along with visiting foreign dignitaries.” (Washington Examiner )

Obama Launches Black Outreach Program in Communities Nationwide ““We’re crisscrossing the country and taking our stories directly to people about how the African-American community is benefiting from the Obama administration,” (Michael) Blake told BlackAmericaWeb. “We’re literally going to people’s homes and have direct conversations. We’re getting out of D.C. and approaching our efforts from a community level.” The outreach comes at a time when unemployment remains high, especially among Blacks…” (afro.com)