After the Fire: Celebrate the Re-opening of the Georgetown Library on Saturday

After three years of careful restoration, the Georgetown Public Library, ravaged by fire in 2007, has reopened, and the public is invited to celebrate at a party on Saturday, October 23, from 10 am – 4 pm.

Here's what's in the invitation:

Fun activities for all ages. Tours of the new library including highlights from the historic Peabody Collection, Jazzy Drawing for kids, music on the new reading terrace, lecture with Chris Palmer, author of Shooting in the Wild: An Insider’s Account of Making Movies in the Animal Kingdom, Beading Workshop for tweens and teens, performance by Blue Moose (from Kids’ Euro Festival), face painting, learn how to make mulled cider, and more.

The Georgetown Library is located at 3260 R Street, NW. Click on the full schedule of events.

Firefighters Let Home Burn Down in Tennessee Because "Fee" Not Paid

This is not a District of Columbia story. It's not even a Washington, DC-area story. But it is a warning about what can happen when we have fee-for-services government. In a rural town in Obion County, Tennessee, firefighters refused to put out a fire that eventually burned a man's house to the ground. Why? Because he neglected to pay the $75 annual fire protection fee. Firefighters put out a fire at a neighbor's house, because that homeowner had paid the fee.

You can view the television report about this below. It's hard not to say a dozen things about this -- what happened was wrong on so many levels.

Power Out in Parts of Cleveland Park

Update, 3:15pm:  Pepco's recorded announcement says power will be back up by 4pm.  The Pepco workers on the scene say tomorrow morning.  In a cascading fashion, the tree that came down took six or more power line poles with it, like a tug-of-war rope being pulled.


Update, 2:40pm: RCN internet is out in parts of Northwest DC because RCN's area server has no power.


Update, 1:50: Pepco currently estimates that it will be at least until Saturday morning before power is restored. Pepco is trying to isolate the line, so that power can be restored to some homes before then.  Tree that feel and caused the outage is on Newark Street, NW.

The power is out in parts of Cleveland Park.  At around 11:30am a power line came down at Newark Street and Highland Place, NW, knocking out electricity in parts of the neighborhood. The power line fell onto a lawn and caused a minor fire.

The Fire Department has responded and is waiting for Pepco.  In the aftermath of Tropical Storm Nicole, it may be a while before Pepco can restore power.

We will post updates when we have them.