DCentric

Good morning, DCentric readers! Happy Friday!

Man Attacked by Metro Mob Fights Back “Metro transit police said they’re making progress. “We do believe that we have a search warrant that well (sic) execute and hopefully in executing that warrant we’ll have further information that will further solve this case,” said Chief Michael Taborn, Metro Transit Police. The victim who was left bruised and bleeding…described the attack. “Just one after another. Bam, bam, bam, in my head, all over my head; It was a very lonely moment in a very public place,” said Haywood. The victim says those who weren’t punching him were recording the attack and no bystanders helped him; not even a nearby Metro employee.” (myfoxdc.com)

Fake Twitter account pops up for Mayor Gray “After negative tweets about Mayor Vincent C. Gray failing to measure up to the Twitter-adept Newark Mayor Cory Booker, a fake Twitter account has popped up. One of @MayorGray’s first tweets was to The Washington Post’s own Mike DeBonis: “@mikedebonis I signed up for Twitter. Will you tell Dorothy and Jonetta please?”…No identity yet on @MayorGray, but the first tweet reads, “Hello, District of Columbia, and welcome to the most transparent administration ever!” (voices.washingtonpost.com)

OPM Apologizes For Federal Workers’ Nightmare Commute “Spinning tires, skidding cars and nightmare commutes lasting more than eight hours have garnered the Washington area’s 300,000 federal workforce an apology of sorts from their personnel chief after he released the workers two hours early on Wednesday afternoon — into the teeth of a fierce snowstorm…John Berry apologized Thursday at a hastily assembled news conference. Yet he said he still believes that letting workers go two hours early was the right decision and says everyone was caught off guard by the intensity of the storm. “That was the fastest accumulating storm I’ve seen in my lifetime,” Berry said.” (WUSA Washington, DC)

D.C. strip club has ties to gangster legend “Immortalized in the Black Entertainment Television documentary series “American Gangster,” in which he was nicknamed “the Ghost,” Mr. Jones has credentials that include running an open-air drug market for PCP, heroin and cocaine on Hanover Place in Northwest Washington, a short drive from the U.S. Capitol, and importing drugs internationally for distribution throughout the Eastern United States. Former Georgetown Hoyas basketball coach John Thompson Jr. also appears in the documentary to attest to Mr. Jones’ civic influence and his reputation as a Robin Hood figure in the District’s impoverished communities.” (Washington Times)

Philly: TFA teacher gets angry response from Ackerman “When the young teacher attending a panel discussion about men of color and education stood up to tell Superintendent Arlene Ackerman that the School District’s constant bureaucratic requirements impeded her ability to teach, she hardly expected what happened next. Ackerman blew up at her and, in essence, told her to quit. “What we need are teachers who don’t make excuses…We are looking for people who say ‘I can teach a rock to read.’… If it is not the right place for you then you should find another place to go.” The audience of about 400 people was stunned.” (thenotebook.org)

Father is killed by tree while waiting in traffic on way to job clearing snow “Oswaldo Hernandez-Cruz was thrilled Wednesday afternoon when he got the call from a buddy that they’d scored a job clearing snow in D.C. His work as a roofer has been slow, and he has three children to support…But once they hit the District, traffic was unbearable. As they sat in the dark, trapped in a tangle of unmoving cars – just like tens of thousands of others across the region – a tree was suddenly uprooted next to their truck. It crashed onto the driver’s side of the pickup, killing Hernandez-Cruz, 41.” (The Washington Post)