Wednesday at 10am: DC Councilman Marion Barry

That said, the attempt raised the questions: Why didn't Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab make it to the Terrorist Watchlist despite warnings before his bombing attempt?

Eileen Larence, director of homeland security and justice issues at the Government Accountability Office, discussed a new study on the issue with Capital Insider.

WATCH today's entire conversation right here:

Tuesday at 10 a.m.: Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton

Friday at 10am: Prom season safety, DC Councilman Vincent Orange and a recap of Caps-Bruins game 4.

In our second half hour, we went live to Nationals Park as the team prepared for today's home opener. ABC7 reporter John Gonzalez gave us a glimspe of the excitement felt by fans in and outside of Nats Park.

Tom Threlkeld of DC Pro Sports Report analyzed the team's chances of success this season, and gave his thoughts on what we can expect tonight from the Caps as they kick off their playoff series with the Boston Bruins.

WATCH today's show here:

Tomorrow at 10am: Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart

WATCH today’s interview here:

Wednesday at 10am: A preview of the Virginia legislature’s special session, Md. AG Doug Gansler, Politico’s David Levinthal and congressional hopeful Milad Pooran.

Washingtonian's Garrett Graff reported late yesterday that Amine El Khalifi, recently arrested by the FBI for allegedly plotting to bomb the Capitol building, "first scouted Bistro Bis on Capitol Hill, a power-lunch-friendly French restaurant in the Hotel George, before deciding on what he thought was a better target: the Italian restaurant Aria."

One can see the attraction — to a budding suicide bomber, anyway — of both spots. Bistro Bis is frequented by politicians and power-brokers, while the hotel above could boost the death toll. Aria Pizzeria & Bar, with its expansive outdoor seating, is a popular spot with federal workers during the warmer months, and "attached to the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center, DC's largest office building," Graff writes, noting that the building houses the U.S. Agency for International Development and U.S. Customs and Border Protection headquarters.

Last October, you may recall, the Iranian-American suspect arrested for allegedly plotting to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington had considered doing so by bombing a restaurant where the ambassador regularly dines — most like Café Milano in Georgetown, according to the Reliable Source.

I left a message for Aria's general manager, and the office line at Bistro Bis rang endlessly. I'll update this post if I hear back.

A call to police did nothing to ease Collins' mind: She learned that this type of crime is commonplace. Unnerved about the barrage of muggings in her city (even the good neighborhoods!), Collins unleashed a barrage of tweets describing the violence, slamming the Washington Post and the D.C. Council, and commenting on the lack of resources available to police:

 

kellyanncollins Kelly Ann

We've been on phone ALL DAY with police. Their resources are limited. @WashPost = slacking. Thugs won't terrorize our people. @dcpolicedept

Feb 07 Favorite Retweet Reply

 

 

paultheviking Paul Frederiksen

@kellyanncollins your best protection against robbery is an easy one. Don't make yourself a target. Pay attention (not to your cell phone).

Feb 07 Favorite Retweet Reply

 

in reply to @paultheviking↑

@kellyanncollins
Kelly Ann @paultheviking it's a crime spree - they are mugging people and stealing phones ... it doesn't mattter ... it is bad. police can't keep up.
Feb 07 via web Favorite Retweet Reply

Luckily for Glittarazzi's local readership, Collins doesn't just write up Clint Eastwood interviews. She used to be a crime/gang violence/investigative reporter.

Collins says by phone that she is very serious about covering crime, most likely in the form of reported tweets. After having her car broken into repeatedly (twice last Sunday) and witnessing this violent mugging, Collins says her conversations with D.C. police have her convinced that this is a problem that needs attention.

"There's a crime spree happening right now where these thugs, not sure where they're coming from, are robbing people all over the place," she says. "We heard it's bad, even in Georgetown."

Collins commends the police department for doing what they can, and she's prepared to use the full reach of Glittarazzi to inform the public of what's going on. "I know we cover politics and celebrities," she says, "but if we need to cover crime, we will. Sometimes you need to help out."

We look forward to the watchdog crime reporting from Team Glittarazzi. Watch your back, thugs. You too, Washington Post.

But D.C. police have no record of any such arrest. A 1st District officer searched the MPD database for Givens' name and, when that failed, all arrest reports for that district yesterday. Nothing came up, and yet, Stein tells me, the above photo was taken by LivingSocial multimedia producer Mathew Ramsey at around 3:30 p.m. yesterday. What gives? Was Givens let go after the photo was taken? Email me if you know anything. I'll update this post when I learn more, but in the meantime, here's a relevant quote from an Open Salon blog post about Givens, followed by more videos of his dancing than you could ever want.

Sometimes, cars, busses and taxis swerve, deftly and not so deftly, to avoid him. Sometimes, traffic grinds to a halt while the man does his backwards dance in the center of the left turn lane. Always, police, calmly patrolling their corners, look idly on.

“You cannot create another piece of equipment that can do the work a dog can do and can offer safety to officers and the public like these dogs can do,” said Officer Mary Davis of the Montgomery County police.

Two of the dogs now serving in the K-9 unit are trained to sniff out guns, a first for the county.

“Firearms are a little more prevalent these days and if the dogs can take them off the street that's one safer area for Montgomery County,” said Davis.

Montgomery County Police now have 29 dogs in their K-9 unit, which typically cost between $6,500 and $7,500, in addition to the cost of training.

The two latest four-legged members of the unit are Cali, an 18-months-old German shepherd, and Lila, a shepherd mix.

Their careers span about 8 years on average.

“Their intelligence, their temperament, their agility, their structure -- it's all right for this type of work,” said Sergeant Ari Elkin.

The dogs hone in on the unique combination of metallic, gun powder and gun oil scents.

“For obvious reasons weapons are high value pieces of evidence -- they can have DNA on them -- they are dangerous in nature and usually loaded, so we don’t want the dogs disturbing them,” Davis said.

Police are already talking about adding more of the firearm dogs to their ranks.

WATCH today’s interviews here:

Wednesday at 10am: Analysis of today’s elections in Virginia and DC Council Chairman Kwame Brown.

Mary McGowan of WomenHeart helped us wrap up Heart Health Week with some tips on how to prevent cardiovascular disease, and where to seek support if you are diagnosed.

In our second half hour, we spoke with Rev. Keith Savage, and Rev. Clyde Ellis of VOICE. The organization is helping victims of the foreclosure crisis in Prince William County, and making sure big banks are being held accountable for their role.

Monday at 10am: DC Councilman Michael Brown

Police Chief Cathy Lanier said the city would begin posting the crime statistics online.

Activists claim hate crimes are on the rise, saying there were 23 crimes in which transgender victims were targeted in just the last four months. In some cases they feel police are not sufficiently addressing the problem.

“We haven't seen a willingness to investigate crimes against trans people... to us that spells trans-phobia, it spells discrimination and it can’t be tolerated,” said Jason Terry of the D.C. Trans Coalition.

Police Chief Cathy Lanier pushed back, arguing MPD has put significant resources into a special liaison unit to work with the transgender community as well as sensitivity training for officers.

Ruby Corado says she's rushed to some two dozen crime scenes involving transgender victims in the last year, two of them murders.

“I know the time of the call and who's making it and unfortunately I am already numb,” the activist says.

According to a 2011 survey, nearly half of transgender people report being uncomfortable asking police for help. Data on hate crimes in the District is difficult to track, as it’s challenging to prove a crime was motivated by hate or bias.

Corado worries the Metropolitan Police Department isn't doing enough to prevent crimes targeting the transgender community.

“I mean, what are you really doing to combat this? This is happening in your backyard and I don't think every year that you keep seeing what's going on you can remain silent,” Corado said.

Corado said she hopes statistics will shine a light on the issue. “We should all be ashamed this is happening and you should at least raise your voice,” she said.

On Wednesday, the sheriff's office unveiled the software, called ComputerCop.

“It’s a program that scans potentially objectionable images and text, drawing from a database of over 4,000 red-flagged words, and phrases that are associated with pornography, drugs and violence,” said Deputy Specialist James Spurlock of the Loudoun County Sheriff's office.

Parents can run the program and have the option to view and permanently delete the filtered information.

“Some parental monitoring programs are very complicated, they require lots of downloads. You have to be computer savvy. This program... I think any parent can put this disk and navigate through the program,” Spurlock said.

He educates parents on the potential dangers of the web. As a father of a teenager, he also knows the importance of an open dialogue about Internet safety.

“Not that you have to confront your children about what you find, but if you start to see images or text messages that they're sending out and its talking about where they live at, or how old they are, or their gender or ethnicity, that's information that online predators use to track down children,” Spurlock said.

Sheriff Stephen Simpson says it's an extra tool that will give parents a leg-up as technology continues to advance.

Confiscated drug money helped pay for this initiative, so all of the software is free, and can be picked up at the loudoun county sheriff's office, and its sub-stations.in leesburg, kathy park, nc8>

[Fredericksburg.com]

[WaPo]

A model airplane can't blow up the Capitol building with some explosives, the AP reports:

And there were slim prospects of causing any serious damage to buildings like the Pentagon and Capitol, which are undoubtedly hardened to withstand explosions, according to Crippin, director of the Western Forensic Law Enforcement Training Center.

Take Megan Gordon, a Sussex County sub, whose cell phone was taken by a 15-year-old student. The phone contained nude pictures of Gordon — something that's not uncommon anymore. For most teachers, the shame might kick in post-naked revelation, but not for Gordon! My Fox DC reports:

The boy later gave the phone back to Gordon, but following a class Gordon let him see the pictures again and exchanged phone numbers with him.

The two were texting, which would be creepy were it not every 15-year-old boy's fantasy, ever.

EXPOSURE-ARREST, 09/23/11, 2400 block of Arlington Boulevard. On September 23 at 4:45 am, an officer witnessed a man running nude on the highway. Mark Dewitt, 48, of Arlington, was charged with Indecent Exposure. He was held on a $3,000 bond.

EXPOSURE-ARREST, 09/23/1, 2300 block of Walter Reed Drive. On September 23 at 1:50 pm, a man was seen exposing himself on a bike trail. Russell Bixby, 48, of no fixed address, was charged with Indecent Exposure and released on a summons.

EXPOSURE, 09/23/11, 3200 block of Arlington Boulevard. On September 23 at 7:40 am, a man was jogging and suddenly stopped in front of three teenage girls. He acted as if he was going to tie his shoe, but exposed himself instead. The girls went to school and reported the incident. The suspect is described as a white male, 5’8”, and 165 lbs. wearing black running shorts and a baseball cap.

EXPOSURE, 09/25/11, 1300 block of N. Meade Street. On September 25 at 8:20 pm, a woman was walking and noticed a man walking behind her who was exposing himself. The suspect was 25 year-old a white male, 5’10” wearing a light colored shirt, dark pants, and large glasses.

EXPOSURE, 09/25/11, 1500 block of N. Rhodes Street. On September 25 at 9 pm, a man approached a woman sitting on a step smoking a cigarette. He touched her leg and when she pulled away, he exposed himself. The suspect was a white Hispanic male in his mid-20’s, 5’5” and 150 lbs. He was wearing an orange baseball cap, blue t-shirt and dark shorts.