The roads around the metropolis seem like they are getting awfully cluttered with automatic tolling mechanisms that are increasingly difficult to resist — or comprehend. The stakes are considerable. Virginia Department of Transportation officials say the state has 15 E-ZPass “tolling facilities,” which rack up more than 225 million transactions annually. But VDOT was unable to tell me how much money is collected annually in Virginia through the E-ZPass system or provide an annual report that might be expected to summarize what happens to the money.

The tree’s origin is not as obvious as its voluminous blooms that now ring the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C. It appears, though, that green-thumbed agents of the CIA-like Onmitsu had the opportunity, motive and ability to pull off the feat, according to researchers in Japan.

The future of the bridge, long deteriorating, has been under review for years, and the Glover Archbold National Park trail section that runs below its beams has been closed by the National Park Service for safety since August 8, 2016, with a plan for a covered walkway unrealized.

The Palisades Library, after a renovation budgeted at $8.2 million, reopened on Saturday, January 20, 2018, an event welcomed with a ribbon-cutting and a throng of eager readers.

Fletcher Creamer and Son, Inc., will do the work, a contract combined with similar work done in North Cleveland Park and totaling about $4.3 million, according to DC Water Project Manager Nyika Roberson-Ramos.