Environment

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Left to right: Seventh graders Ambika Minocha, 12, Alex Letchworth, 12, and Scott Browoning, 13, and their fellow classmates at Langston Hughes Middle School drop under their desk and hold on as they participate in the Great ShakeOut national earthquake drill, Reston, Va., Thursday, October 18, 2012. Students in the Washington, D.C. region are now participating in the earthquake preparation program for the first time after a 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck the area in August 2011. According to the program's website, an estimated 18 million people are participating this year. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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RST Development is building 46 condominium homes at the Orion in Silver Spring. The homes have up to 1,132 square feet and are priced from the mid $200,000s.

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People in the District’s Chinatown area rush into the street after last year’s magnitude-5.9 earthquake. A Great ShakeOut drill Thursday is planned to help people know how to react to an earthquake, which includes staying indoors. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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An 8-foot-tall bright-yellow bird became the unlikeliest character in the presidential race this month when Republican Mitt Romney suggested, during the first presidential debate, cutting off federal subsidies for Big Bird. (Associated Press)

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**FILE** Laboratory technician Ruth Rutledge packages cerebrospinal fluid of the three confirmed meningitis cases in Minnesota to send to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta for further testing, at the Minnesota Department of Health in St. Paul, Minn., on Oct. 9, 2012. (Associated Press)

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Thierry Coste of the European Union farmers union addresses the media in Brussels on Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012, about the worst wine-grape harvest for the region in a half-century. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)

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In this Feb. 23, 2007, file photo, President Bush, center, listens to Dave Vieau, President and CEO of A123 Systems, right, as he is shown a Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid car utilizing a lithium power battery during a demonstration of alternative fuel automobiles on the South Lawn of the White House. Short of cash and hurting from slow sales of electric cars, battery maker A123 Systems Inc. sent its U.S. operations into bankruptcy protection on Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012, and quickly sold its automotive assets. The filing is likely to stoke the debate in Washington over the Obama administrationÃs funding of alternative energy companies. In 2009, A123 got a $249 million Department of Energy grant to help it build U.S. factories. Republicans have accused Obama of wasting stimulus money on the companies after the failure of politically connected and now-bankrupt solar power company Solyndra LLC, which left taxpayers on the hook for $528 million. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

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In this Aug. 9, 2007, photo, development technician Ronnie Wilkins reaches for some development powder stored in a glove box used in lithium car batteries A123 Systems Inc. headquarters in Watertown, Mass. After years of struggling with weak sales and mounting losses, the electric-car battery maker filed for bankruptcy protection and reached a deal to sell its automotive assets Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012. (AP Photo/Boston Herald, David Goldman)

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This Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009, file photo, shows A123 Systems Inc.'s high power Nanophospate Lithium Ion Cell for Hybrid Electric Vehicles batteries in Livonia, Mich. Short of cash and hurting from slow sales of electric cars, battery maker A123 Systems Inc. sent its U.S. operations into bankruptcy protection on Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012, and quickly sold its automotive assets. The Chapter 11 filing in Delaware came one day after A123 warned that it likely would miss some debt payments and could be headed for court-supervised restructuring. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

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In this April 30, 2010, file photo, from right, A123 Systems, President and Chief Executive Officer David Vieau, A123 Systems electrical engineer James Fenton and A123 Systems design engineer Antonio Biundo, stand next to President Barack Obama, as he speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. Short of cash and hurting from slow sales of electric cars, battery maker A123 Systems Inc. sent its U.S. operations into bankruptcy protection on Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012, and quickly sold its automotive assets. The filing is likely to stoke the debate in Washington over the Obama administrationÃs funding of alternative energy companies. In 2009, A123 got a $249 million Department of Energy grant to help it build U.S. factories. Republicans have accused Obama of wasting stimulus money on the companies after the failure of politically connected and now-bankrupt solar power company Solyndra LLC, which left taxpayers on the hook for $528 million. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari, File)

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Shawn Lockhart examines a meningitis-causing fungus at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday in Atlanta. Investigators are looking into how the fungus tainted steroids produced by a Framingham, Mass., pharmacy. (Associated Press)

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**FILE** A Chinese submarine rescue ship sails in waters off the island of Yonaguni in Japan's Okinawa prefecture on Oct. 16, 2012. Japanese aircraft spotted seven Chinese warships in waters off the southern Japan island and about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the uninhabited isles at the center of a territorial dispute between the two countries. (Associated Press/Joint Staff Office of Japan)

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“Most people I talk to are convinced that our automated traffic enforcement cameras are just about raising revenue,” said Tommy Wells, Ward 6 Democrat and one of three council members who introduced the bill to lower traffic fines. (The Washington Times)

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From right, A123 Systems Inc. Chief Executive Officer David Vieau, A123 electrical engineer James Fenton and company design engineer Antonio Biundo listen to President Obama at the White House on April 30, 2010. Short of cash and hurting from slow sales of electric cars, A123 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday. The bankruptcy filing is likely to stoke the debate in Washington over the Obama administration’s funding of numerous alternative-energy ventures. (Associated Press)