Remember that airline commercial that asks “Want to get away?” from those embarrassing moments in life? In the Internet age, there is no getting away when somebody comes up with a truly dumb, ridiculous or just plain bad idea.
Washington insiders trading?
1| Congressman under investigation
The details: Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., reportedly faces an investigation from the Office of Congressional Ethics on allegations he violated laws against insider trading by purchasing stock options using information gained as a member of the House Financial Services Committee.
Judges overrule voters 2| California gay marriage ban overturned
The details: Federal judges on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a gay marriage ban approved by California voters in 2008, even as President Obama carried the state in the presidential election.
Transportation Security … Argh!
3| TSA makes woman miss flight
The details: Transportation Security Administration officials refused to screen a woman at a Wyoming airport, because they had no female agents available to give her a pat-down, causing her to miss her flight.
Court follows memos, not law
4| Halts deportations
The details: Two federal judges halted the deportations of seven illegal immigrants, telling prosecutors to see if the immigrants qualify for more lenient treatment under two memos by President Obama’s immigration enforcement officials.
Hand malfunction
5| M.I.A. gives Super Bowl fans the bird
The Details: British singer M.I.A. flipped the bird during the Super Bowl halftime show, a far cry from Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” during the 2004 Super Bowl, but still an embarrassment for networks that failed to edit the image before it aired.
Pension battle
6| Big pushback for O’Malley
The details: There is growing statewide opposition to Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s attempt to shift half of the state’s teacher pension costs back to the counties that hire them. If passed, the governor’s initiative will cost Montgomery County alone $315 million over five years.
Cheating
7| D.C. employees caught red-handed
The details: As many as 130 District employees, including an aide in D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown’s office, were caught fraudulently collecting up to $20,000 in unemployment benefits while on the city’s payroll. But D.C.’s attorney general says most of the cheaters won’t be prosecuted.
Cheating probe
8| 35 teachers under scrutiny
The details: D.C.’s state superintendent for education has started an investigation of 35 classroom teachers after finding that their students’ spring test results contained an abnormal number of wrong-to-right erasures. This is nearly double the number of classes investigated for cheating in 2010.
Buses on fire
9| Fourth Ride On ablaze
The details: Four of Montgomery County’s Ride On shuttle buses have caught fire since September 2010. The series of blazes, first reported by The Examiner, all occurred on vehicles that the county’s own mechanics had warned were inappropriate for local driving conditions.
Metro non-Access
10| Handicapped can’t get to bus stops
The details: Metro admits that nearly a third of its 11,490 bus stops in the Washington region are not accessible to handicapped riders, forcing them to rely on the much more expensive MetroAccess service, which costs $40 per each one-way ride.
