Around the Beltway: Top local universities

🚇 Metro is planning a return to self-driving trains for the first time since a deadly Red Line crash in 2009. Pending approval from safety regulators, the switchover would begin in December and wrap up by the end of summer 2025.

• Automatic train operation — meant to be less delay-prone and create smoother rides — was not at fault for the crash 15 years ago, investigators found. (Washington Post)

🐘 Political Pattie's Bar riled up the internet with its bipartisan signage when it recently opened in a former gay bar space on U Street — so they're dropping the name.

• "Our concept has not changed," the owners tell Axios of rebranded Pattie's."Just the logo, out of respect for those in the community."

✏️ Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Virginia all landed in the top 25 national universities listed in U.S. News & World Report's latest ranking.