Remember that airline commercial that asks “Want to get away?” for 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.
U.S. hits unemployment milestone
1| Worst since Great Depression
The details: With unemployment above 8 percent for three consecutive years, the Congressional Budget Office noted that the United States is going through the longest period of high unemployment since the Great Depression.
Iran could bomb U.S. targets overseas
2| Missiles can reach Eastern Europe
The details: Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told Congress that Iran has missiles capable of reaching U.S. targets in Europe that it has threatened to launch in the event of an attack on its nuclear facilities.
Democrats walk out on religious freedom hearing
3| “Where are the women?”
The details: Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton walked out on a hearing on the effect of Obamacare’s contraception mandate on religious freedom. They blamed Republicans for not allowing a woman to testify who was nominated after the deadline.
Debate canceled
4| Romney bails
The details: Mitt Romney withdrew from a Republican presidential debate scheduled in Atlanta for March 1, just days before Super Tuesday. This prompted Santorum’s withdrawal, and eventually the cancellation of the debate.
Diva dies
5| Whitney Houston overdosed
The details: Music icon Whitney Houston died last Saturday. After years of struggling with drug addiction, she was found dead in her bathtub.
Obama zeroes out scholarships
6| Over 1,000 D.C. students affected
The details: President Obama’s new $3.8 trillion budget contains no funding for the popular and successful D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, which provides tuition vouchers up to $12,000 to help 1,615 disadvantaged District children escape their failing neighborhood public schools and attend qualifying private schools.
Dulles Rail financing
7| Shaky revenue projections
The details: Even though tolls on the Dulles Toll Road could double next year, a new study released by the Reston Citizens Association cast major doubt on whether there will be enough toll revenue to fund 75 percent of the Dulles Rail Phase II project.
Dulles Rail jobs
8| Marylanders outnumber Virginians
The details: Data released by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority confirm that its union-friendly project labor agreement employs more Maryland construction workers on the Dulles Rail Phase I project than Virginians, 96 percent of whom are not unionized in the right-to-work state.
St. Valentine’s Day massacre
9| No love between council members
The details: A Valentine’s Day retreat for D.C. Council members ended in an expletive- and insult-filled verbal brawl between David Catania, at-large, and Ward 8’s Marion Barry. The spat erupted when Barry brought up the troubled, city-owned United Medical Center.
Cybercrime capital
10| D.C. residents most vulnerable
The details: D.C.’s wired culture — it’s second in the nation for average time spent on the Internet and fifth for the number of Wi-Fi hot spots per 100,000 people — makes residents also the mostly likely to be victims of cybercrime.
