* SHOTS FIRED: Apparently gunshots were heard on Half Street SE near the Big Stick on Sunday night, and MPD reports that a suspect was arrested for the unlawful discharge of a firearm.

* SOUTH CAP OVAL DETAILS: If you really want to go into the weeds (or grass, or trees, or paving stones, or pedestrian flow) of the two traffic ovals coming to either side of the new Douglass Bridge, these two documents supporting final approval for the designs from the National Capital Planning Commission are for you. Also, WashCycle has a detailed look at the final proposed designs, from a bicycling point of view.

* PUNCH BOWL SOCIAL: From Twitter: New ABRA license app for Punch Bowl Social (1250 Half St SE; ANC 6D); "food made from scratch"; food with "social activities"; 250 seats; 40-seat sidewalk cafe; 20-seat summer garden; live entertainment

* BUILDING A WALL? (no, not that one): The Navy wants to build a flood wall around the Navy Yard that could "increase the flood risk to neighboring properties." (Bloomberg)

* CIRCA COMING SOON: Signage is up, training has begun, and Circa says on its Facebook page that its opening date announcement is "coming soon."

* CAPPER SENIORS COMING DOWN: Demolition began last week on the remnants of the Capper Seniors building at 5th and Virginia, SE. DCist has a summary of a report on the fire and its aftermath by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. The official cause remains classified as undetermined, but there are theories--and ATF also faulted DC Fire officials for being too cautious about letting search crews and "other agents" into the building after the blaze. UPDATE: Here is the report itself.

The Freedom Star served primarily as a solid rocket booster recovery ship during the Space Shuttle program before being transferred in 2012 to the US Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration (MARAD), which now uses it as a training ship, operating out of Piney Point, Maryland.

The ship will be open on both May 22 and 23 from 9 am to 11:30 am and again from 12:30 to 4 pm, via the Riverwalk (not through the Navy Yard itself). Note that it is not handicap accessible, and that pets are not allowed. Also, children under 10 must be accompanied by an adult, and sturdy shoes are recommended.

The ship is expected to arrive around 5 pm on Saturday, May 21, so if you are finishing up getting soaked at Tour de Fat around that time, keep your eyes on the Anacostia for the guest.

Social media is already well flooded with photos, but of course I had to take my own, and I chose to head across to Anacostia Park and Poplar Point, so that I could capture the Barry passing its neighbors, old and new.

The full gallery is here, but here's some previews.

Also, Mr. JDLand was deputized to take videos of the Barry's initial move and turn-around from its dock, and then the Barry's last moments in the neighborhood, as it passed the Douglass Bridge.

Again, the full gallery is here. (And I don't want to talk about that dust speck.)

UPDATE: Here's a post about the history of the Barry from The Hill is Home.

UPDATE: The departure time is now set for 7:15 am. If weather intervenes, they will reportedly try again on Sunday. (I'll update this post if newer information comes along.)

Bring your white handkerchiefs to wave as she passes!

Other items on the near-term agenda:

* GRAND SLAM FOR SAFETY: On Thursday, May 5 (today for most of you reading this), from noon to 1:30 pm at the Fairgrounds, it's expected that more than 800 construction workers from the various projects currently being built here in {insert neighborhood name here} will attend the "Grand Slam for Safety" as part of the construction world's Safety Week for 2016. After starting off with a "round of stretching exercises" used at the start of the workday to help avoid injuries, there will be speakers, safety fall restraint and rescue demonstrations, and awards. The event is sponsored by Skanska and a slew of names familiar to anyone who looks at the signage at neighborhood construction sites.

* WHITE FORD BRONCO: The Miller Lite Summer Concert Series, formerly at Nats Park, shifts one block north to the Fairgrounds this year, and launches on Friday, May 6, with "DC's favorite '90s cover band," White Ford Bronco. Cover charge is $10, doors open at 5 pm.

* CHIHUAHUAHUAHUAS: Across the way, the 5th Annual Running of the Chichuahuas, rained out last weekend, is now scheduled for Saturday, May 7, from 1 to 4 pm, at 600 Water St., SW.

* DERBY DAY: Also on May 7, from 3 to 7 pm, is the previously mentioned Due South Derby Day, for all your julep and southern cookin' needs.

* VINOFEST: Or, if you juleps aren't your speed, there's Vinofest DC on May 7 from 3 to 10 pm, in the parking lots at 1st and N SE. Tickets start at $55.

* ANC 6D: If you have enough juleps or vino on Saturday, you may decide to go to Monday's ANC 6D monthly business meeting, at 7 pm at 1100 4th St., SW (2nd floor).

* JOY EVANS PARK MEETING: Also previously mentioned is the May 10 public meeting on plans for the Joy Evans Park, at 6:30 pm at Van Ness Elementary.

And, the Nats arrive home on Monday, May 9 for three against the Tigers and then three against the Marlins.

What else is happening?

If you are wanting to wave farewell, be prepared to set your alarm--it's expected to start around 6 am. It will also require that the Douglass Bridge's span be raised rotated for it to pass through.

It was over a year ago that it was announced that the Barry would be leaving, with the Navy citing the ship's deteriorating condition along with the expectation of construction of a new fixed span Douglass Bridge leaving the Barry locked up river if it weren't moved beforehand.

(Would have been nice to get a credit for my photo of the Barry that the CNIC story used! Though now it's been replaced with a non-JDLand photo.)

* 'CAPERS: Excerpts from the one-woman play "'Capers," about how residents of Capper/Carrollsburg dealt with the housing project's demolition, is being performed tonight (Oct. 15) at 7 pm at 400 M St. SE, hosted by the Arthur Capper Carollsburg Community Village. You can also catch the entire play four nights next week at the Forum Theatre in Silver Spring.

* DSS BARRY CEREMONY: The Display Ship Barry isn't actually leaving just yet, but on Saturday Oct. 17 the Navy is holding a departure ceremony at 10 am inside the fences of the Navy Yard. See the announcement for details, including how to get into the base if you wish to attend. It was announced in February that the ship will be dismantled and removed from its home along the Anacostia Riverwalk.

* WATCH. BOX.: A "watch box" (guard shack) that stood as part of the sentry post at the Navy Yard's 8th Street entrance from 1853ish until 1905ish and was passed through by Abraham Lincoln just hours before his assassination has been restored and formally ribbon-cut on Oct. 8 after its return earlier this year from a 110-year stay at Indian Head. (Though unfortunately it's on display on a portion of the grounds that most of us will never see.)

* SODOSOPA: South Park took on gentrification last week, with the new neighborhood of SoDoSoPa, the Lofts at SoDoSoPa, and the Residences at the Lofts at SoDoSoPa. And there was this: "What this town needs is a Whole Foods. It will instantly validate us as a town that cares about stuff." (And yet you people still refuse to adopt my new name for this neighborhood, Near Capitol Ballpark River Yards, #NeCaBaRY.)

* BRIDGE BEFORE AND AFTER: DDOT's historic photos Tumblr recently included a shot from 1966 of the early construction of the downriver 11th Street Bridge span. And I realized I have a photo taken from a very similar location as the span was dismantled in 2012 and its offspring was built. (The piers remain in the water, though, as the potential underpinnings of the 11th Street Bridge Park.)

Will post updates as needed, though as I am hitting the Post button, reports are coming out that no injuries have been found and that "all indications are no shooting."

UPDATE: Here's the WashPost reporting on the morning.

* Some additional information about the Display Ship Barry's impending departure, including that the hull is apparently structurally sound and so it's expected the ship will be towed away, as opposed to be being dismantled in place. Also, the Navy "has not yet made a decision about replacing Barry with another decommissioned ship, and there is no timeline for doing so." (USNI News)

* Bisnow takes a look at the city's "fastest-growing neighborhood," though, ahem, the ballpark was not built in 2005, guys. (Bisnow)

UPDATE: Extra-special last-minute tidbit:

* A crane will be arriving at the Community Center site next week to place the steel for the gymnasium, which is good in terms of progress but which is bad in terms of the fact that it's going to take up a bunch of parking spaces on L and then around and up 5th Street. It is expected that these parking spaces will not be available at all next week. After the gym steel work is done, though, the crane will move onto the construction site itself.

* SECURITY EXERCISES: From Feb. 2 to Feb. 13, naval bases and installations in the DC area will be conducting an annual security training and readiness exercise, dubbed SOLID CURTAIN-CITADEL SHIELD 2015. "Measures have been taken to minimize disruptions to normal base operations, but there may be times when the exercise causes increased traffic around bases or delays in base access. Area residents may also see increased security activity associated with the exercise."

* BLOOD DRIVE: There is a community blood drive on Saturday, Feb. 7, from 10 am to 4 pm. The truck will be parked outside of Lot 38 Espresso at 2nd and L streets, SE, and Lot 38 is offering a free drink for each donor. Reservations encouraged but not required. Read more here about Davon and Kai, the young residents whose need for blood products inspired the event.

* NO MORE LOT P: A season ticket holder was informed by the Nationals that Lot P--the garage below 1015 Half Street--has been dropped from the lineup of parking lots available to season ticket holders. With CBS Radio and the National Labor Relations Board preparing to move into the building (and with Bonchon in preparations to open in the ground floor), it's perhaps not a surprise that there may not be quite so many spaces available in the building anymore. But at least a a surface lot should reappear at 1st and N (the old Spooky Building 213 site) in the coming months after being out-of-circulation last year.

"After 30 years as a display ship with minimum maintenance performed, the hull is in poor condition and must be removed before construction begins in October 2015 on the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge replacement with a fixed span that would land-lock Display Ship Barry."

The letter goes on to say that the Barry is not eligible for historic landmark status, and "as such will be dismantled for recycling."

There are apparently no plans at this time to replace the ship.

Readers have been asking lately about the work recently begun to demolish the piers near the Barry--if the Barry is going to be dismantled in place, removing the nearby piers would seem to be tied in with that. *

The switch to a fixed-span design for the new Douglass Bridge resulted in a savings of about $140 million in estimated construction costs and an additional expected savings of $100,000 a year for drawbridge maintenance and operation, though the city did "initiate discussions" with the Navy and the Coast Guard about the design change. This Barry announcement does seem to be a confirmation that there will be no drawbridge added back in.

UPDATE: Here is the Wikipedia entry on the Barry, for those who want to know her history. She was commissioned in 1954, decommissioned in 1982, and moved to the Washington Navy Yard in 1984, as seen in this keen photo. She was the third of four (so far) ships named for Commodore John Barry, America's first commissioned naval officer and man credited as "the father of the American Navy" (or at least he co-parented it with John Paul Jones).

UPDATE II: Technically, it's not the "USS" Barry anymore, it's the DS Barry. I knew this. Was in a hurry.

* UPDATE III: A spokesman from the Navy Yard writes to say that only two of the piers are being removed--one other is being restored, and the fourth is being left untouched. And that this is not tied to the fate of the Barry.