Loose Lips: Metro safety, McDuffie's crime plan and more

WASHINGTON - Political news in D.C. is never in short supply! Will Sommer, Loose Lips columnist for the Washington City Paper joined us with the latest.

The National Transportation Safety Board says the federal government needs to take an oversight role in the running of the D.C. Metro system here.

Sommer says it's not a good look. "We don't see this anywhere else in the county, where the Federal Government says - you guys are clearly not doing a good enough job with it."

Sommer said it will go to an oversite committee to see if Metro need to be reclassified as an agency. "If the feds have to step in to do oversight, what are the people we paid to do oversight doing already?" Sommer said.

Also in the District, Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie wants to put the brakes on crime using a stipend system at the grassroots level. The allowance would be paid to those at highest risk when they attend meetings and programs to help combat the violence.

Sommer also says that Andy Shallal, a Washington restaurateur, is looking closely at a run for City Council and a former Vincent Gray campaign associate, Reuben Charles, is in trouble with the IRS.

Get more details online: http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/looselips/