Lunchline: Disturbing trend for D.C. cabs

If you have difficulty viewing this newsletter, click here to view as a Web page. Click here to view in plain text. Monday, April 2, 2012 I watched "Wrestlemania 28" last night and it was absolutely fantastic. Although I was happy to see The Rock beat John Cena, The Undertaker's cage match against Triple H was the best of the night by far. There is a very disturbing trend developing with cabdrivers in D.C. According to Taxicab Commission Chairman Ron Linton, seven people have been assaulted by their drivers recently. You might be thinking, "Isn't it usually the other way around?" But to make things even more frightening, six of the seven people attacked were women. Luckily, the commission is scheduled to install panic buttons in all D.C. taxis by December, The Post's Maggie Fazeli Fard reports. Question is: Who will use them? We've all stuck a piece of gum under a desk at some point in our lives. Or just spit it out on the street. It's frowned upon by parents across America because it pretty much never goes anywhere, but we do it anyway. But Duane M. Cummins, he cleans it up. The D.C. native plies his trade as a gum-remover, and there isn't a neighborhood or building that's immune to rogue gum placement. Capital Business' Abha Bhattarai profiles the man making $100K cleaning up your litter. If you like pho as much as I do, you can probably navigate your way to Eden Center with your eyes closed. The community hub for Vietnamese culture in the area is ground zero for the tremendous soup and many other delights. But then the mall was raided by police last year amid claims that a group called the Dragon Family was running illegal gaming machines in various stores. The Post's Luz Lazo reports on how business leaders and Falls Church officials are working to keep the center's name clean. Sadly, it seems that death in Hollywood is now just another promotional vehicle. When megastars die, their albums sell more, and anything they were working on at the time of death becomes the must-see movie of the year. Things are no different for the late Whitney Houston. Viewers of NBC's "Today" show got a first look at her new movie "Sparkle," set for an Aug. 17 release. Also, Tyler Perry has added Bobbi Kristina Brown, Whitney's daughter, to the lineup of his new TBS show. After all this struggle, the Caps could still possibly win the division. Honestly, this is not an unrealistic scenario. The Sabres are choking their way right out of postseason play after hammering the Caps last week, and the Panthers are on a slide as well. To be fair, it would be rather impressive if this team rallied to win their fifth straight Southeast title. The goalie situation isn't great right now, but what can you do. The Post's Katie Carrera breaks down the playoff scenarios. Extra Bites • Whenever a lottery jackpot gets as big as it did over the weekend, you're going to have controversy. A woman in Maryland is claiming that she has one of the three winning tickets. Let me know how that works out. • There are reports that Ashton Kutcher is going to play Steve Jobs in an indie biopic adapted from Walter Isaacson's biography. Interesting. • This is easily the dunk of the year in the NBA. Blake Griffin included. Check out my Facebook fan page, my Twitter feed, or e-mail me at clinton.yates@wpost.com. Get The Washington Post, your way. Want to stay on top of the latest news, features, commentary and more? Here's how: Mobile: Alerts: Social Media: Applications Web site E-mail SMS RSS Feeds Facebook Twitter SEND TO A FRIEND UNSUBSCRIBE NEWSLETTER CENTER GET HELP Washington Post Digital E-mail Customer Care 1150 15th Street NW Washington, D.C. 20071 ©2012 The Washington Post Privacy Policy