Byline: Marc Fisher

Potomac Confidential fills the midday lull with discussion by Metro columnist Marc Fisher of the latest news and a rigorous slicing and dicing of the issues that define who we are and where we live.

Today's topics include the drive to ban smoking in District restaurants and bars, police crackdowns on teen parties in Montgomery County and Virginia's primary elections Tuesday.

Fisher was online Thursday, June 9, at Noon ET .

Columns:

D.C. Should Keep the Freedom In Smoke-Free (Post, June 9)

Panels' Thoughts On Design Belong In a Museum Post, June 7)

In his weekly show, Fisher veers wildly from serious probing to silly prattle, and is open to topics local, national, personal and more.

Archives: Discussion Transcripts

A transcript follows.

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Marc Fisher: Welcome aboard, folks. It's hot and sticky enough outside that we should have a full house here, so grab a sandwich, pretend to be working and send along your thoughts and questions.

Today's column airs out the dispute over whether to ban smoking in D.C. restaurants and bars. Now you know where I stand--what's your view?

Next Tuesday is primary day in Virginia; the turnout could be a record low. Anything getting you juiced about voting on Tuesday, or are you waiting for the real showdown in November?

Did you catch the story in Tuesday's paper about Montgomery County police taking their anti-teen drinking campaign to the home of a Bethesda family that was hosting an alcohol-free high school graduation party? The cops were so disappointed to find that these were nice kids who were partying with their parents and were NOT drinking that the officers blockaded the street, breathalyzed the kids, got zeros on all of them, and rather than being polite and sheepish, the cops ticketed the kids' cars for preposterously silly parking infractions such as having their tires touch the curb or turning their steering wheels the wrong way.

On to your comments after the Yay and Nay of the Day:

Yay to Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia for getting federal investigators right on the case of Metro's mismanagement, as chronicled this week in an investigative series by the Post's Lyndsey Layton and Jo Becker. Metro needs a dedicated funding stream but it doesn't deserve one until its internal house gets cleaned up.