Inauguration

Traffic backed up on the Capital Beltway starting about 3 a.m. Washington subway riders were packed together like Tokyo commuters. Lines at some stations forced would-be riders to wait for hours amid the crowds seeking to return home after witnessing the inauguration of President Barack Obama. But overall, the transportation system in the Washington region appeared to have passed with flying colors its biggest-ever stress test - moving more than 1 million people to the National Mall and inaugural parade route and getting them home.

The University of Maryland, College Park must retain more of the state's top students, recruit more aggressively in other countries and turn more of its research into business if it is to maintain its upward trajectory, President Wallace D. Loh said Thursday at his inauguration ceremony. Loh has been on the job six months and used his formal inauguration to unveil his chief priorities, developed through listening sessions with students, faculty members and community leaders. "If there is one promise I want to make to you today," he said, "it is this: We will stay the course in our rise to excellence.

Saddam will make his next move during Bill's inauguration. You have been warned.Surprise, the deficit is bigger than George and Bill predicted. Everyone, please try to act astonished.Dizzy G. has gone to cool heaven.

The long wait for Inauguration Day used to be longer. George Washington was to take office on March 4, 1789, when the new Constitution took effect. But bad weather and bad roads delayed electoral vote counts. George wasn't sworn in until April 30. Inauguration Day remained on March 4 until faster travel and the 20th Amendment in 1933 hastened the exit of lame-duck Presidents to Jan. 20.

MARC makes patrons pay twice for big day I can hardly begin to express my outrage about the "special service" being offered by the Maryland Transit Administration's MARC train for Inauguration Day on Jan. 20 ("MTA tickets cost $25 for Inauguration Day trip," Dec. 13). I am a daily rider of the MARC between Baltimore and Washington, with a monthly pass that costs $175. Yet the MTA has informed me that my pass is not valid on Inauguration Day, and that I must spend an additional $25 (plus $6.50 if I purchase a ticket online rather than in person)

Officials of the Washington Metro subway system said yesterday that they will open the parking lot of the Greenbelt station to passenger cars on Inauguration Day, reversing an earlier decision to reserve it for charter buses. Greenbelt, the northern terminus of the Metro Green Line, is the most convenient station for many travelers from the Baltimore area. The decision opens almost 3,400 spaces there to drivers who might want to use mass transit to get into Washington on Jan. 20 for the swearing-in of Barack Obama.

The Washington transit system will expand its bus service between Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and that city's subway system for a six-day period around Inauguration Day. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority plans to increase service on its B30 bus line between BWI and the Greenbelt Metro station so that buses run every 20 minutes between Friday and Wednesday, the day after the Jan. 20 inaugural. The B30 typically runs at 40-minute intervals, connecting the airport with the Metro Green Line.

Aretha Franklin to bring soul to the inauguration Aretha Franklin, Yo-Yo Ma, the San Francisco Boys Chorus and the San Francisco Girls Chorus will all be part of the entertainment at Barack Obama's inaugural ceremony. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who heads the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, announced yesterday the program for the 56th presidential inauguration, which will take place at the west front of the Capitol. The invocation will be offered by The Purpose-Driven Life author Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif.

WASHINGTON -- In many ways, Bill Clinton's glittery, four-day journey to the White House picked up where his campaign caravan left off, with the same bus rides and handshakes and made-for-TV moments, all spun this week with the sunshine and blue skies of a winner.Just as the Clinton team constructed a campaign so consistently on target it even earned praise from then-Vice President Dan Quayle, so it carefully crafted an extravaganza that struck notes of populism and inclusion, poetry and hope like no other inauguration in recent history.

As traffic continues to flow to coverage of Super Bowl preparations, the Roe vs. Wade anniversary and post-inaugural activities, a few newer topics have also bubbled to the surface in our collective consciousness. Instagram is posting impressive numbers, and in an only-slightly-less blatant PR move, likely specs for the next generation of XBox have "leaked. " Also debuting this week: The Following , a show about crazy, violent people that is linked to Baltimore in a different way than other recent shows about crazy, violent people.