‘Spying on Renoir’
courtesy of ‘Kevin H.’

DC Fire & EMS is reporting that there was a fire at the Phillips Collection at 21st & Q in Dupont Circle this morning, confined to the roof and upper level of the gallery. The sprinkler system was activated and that kept the fire in check. It’s not known yet the extent of the damage at the Phillips, or whether any art was damaged or destroyed in the fire, or by the fighting of the fire.

Probably best to call before going over if you had plans to check out any of their exhibits today or tomorrow.

It’s an open secret that the Attorney General lives in Great Falls, VA and not in the downtown apartment that he rents to maintain his residency in DC that is required by the DC Code, and this isn’t the first time it’s been talked about in this fashion. However, a new video on YouTube (shown above) takes the stalking of Peter Nickles to a whole new level, as the maker of the video tracked Nickles’ evening movements with a video camera to his home in Great Falls on a number of summer nights.

Would it be nice if Nickles had the desire to live in the District? Yes, definitely. But stalking him seems like a creepy way to accomplish what we’re looking at, here.

‘”Big G”‘
courtesy of ‘Howard Dickins’

In a statement from WKYS program director Neke Howse, the station cleared the air concerning the rumored firing of on-air personality Anwan “Big G” Glover, she said that Big G will return to Sunday nights after the election. “Big G was not fired, and I’m happy to report that he is still an employee of WKYS,” Howse said. She called the allegation of Vincent Gray’s influence in any action “simply not true.”

WKYS seems to have suspended Big G in light of his endorsement of Mayor Fenty, but due to a station policy concerning the endorsement of political candidates over the airwaves by individual personalities, not due to the involvement of Vincent Gray.

This has been your tempest-in-a-teapot update.

‘Mayor Fenty 502’
courtesy of ‘yospyn’

The bombshell dropped late Saturday night, when Mike Debonis tweeted the results of the Post’s poll regarding September’s mayoral primary: “#postpoll mayoral top line among LVs: Gray 53, Fenty 36, Alexander 2, S. Brown 2, Undecided 6.” That means, among likely voters, Fenty’s trailing by 17 points. As far as anyone can tell, it’s all about attitude at this point, and everyone is preferring the idea of a slow and methodical Vincent Gray to the quick, shocking change of Adrian Fenty.

This morning opened the polls for the mayoral primary, with early voting running from today through election day at five polling sites throughout the city. Beginning today, you can vote at DCBOEE Headquarters at One Judiciary Square, and beginning Saturday, you can also vote at Chevy Chase Community Center (Ward 3), Hine Junior High School (Ward 6), Southeast Tennis and Learning Center (Ward 8) and Turkey Thicket Rec Center (Ward 5). It’s all electronic voting, everywhere except for DCBOEE. If you long for the touch of a pencil and paper when it comes to ballots, head to the DCBOEE HQ.

If you’re set in your convictions and don’t see changing your mind, even if either of them are caught with a live boy or a dead girl, you can head out and vote starting today, and DCBOEE will be updating the wait time on their site every 15 minutes or so.

’12 Feb 2007 (Pleasant Dreams)’
courtesy of ‘wonderferret’

“Sleep tight, don’t let the bedbug’s bite!” It’s a saying we’ve all heard more times in our lives than we can count. From childhood to present day, we’ve heard about bedbugs, perhaps encountered them on occasion, but now those pesky little guys have traveled far and wide. For commercial bed bug equipment visit https://www.pestprothermal.com/. Bedbugs are small, oval, brownish insects that live on the blood of animals or humans. Adult bedbugs have flat bodies about the size of an apple seed. After feeding, however, their bodies swell and are a reddish color.

Here are some tips to get rid of them Pest Zone Pest Control, clean bedding, linens, curtains, and clothing in hot water and dry them on the highest dryer setting. Place stuffed animals, shoes, and other items that can’t be washed in the dryer and run on high for 30 minutes. Use a stiff brush to scrub mattress seams to remove bedbugs and their eggs before vacuuming.

Bedbugs were almost eradicated from the United States after World War II, but increasing international travel and other factors have gotten the pests back on U.S. soil and into our bedrooms. WTOP is reporting that D.C. ranks 9^th in the nation among the most bedbug-infested cities. One of the most effective DIY solutions for killing bed bugs instantly is diluted rubbing alcohol. Alcohol kills bed bugs as soon as it makes contact with them. It also evaporates quickly, which makes it safer to use than other forms of alcohol. Keep in mind that while alcohol is effective at killing bed bugs quickly

Pest Control specialists Terminix issued a release on Tuesday confirming D.C.’s ranking and has New York, Philadelphia and Detroit atop the list.

‘Smart Women VOTE’
courtesy of ‘volcanojw’

DC’s primary situation is a bit of a precarious one. For the first time in my life, I had to register with a party in order to vote in the primary. I’m not one to embrace the national parties, as there’s no room for nuance in their platforms. But here I was, registering Democrat this spring so that I could vote in the fall primaries for Mayor. Today, the DCBOEE heard a petition by Mayor Fenty to allow for independent voters in the primaries. This wasn’t a true “opening of the primaries,” but rather an end-around in order to give Fenty access to the 73,000 party-less voters that live mostly in Wards 1 and 2 where he is strongest.

The two sitting members of the board, including recently seated chair Togo West, kept an orderly and quick hearing on the proposal, and ruled that the independents have had plenty of time to change their party registration in order to vote in the September primary, but chose not to do so, and rejected the Mayor’s petition.

The difficult matter here has to do with the fact that in order to participate in the crucial elections in the District, you have to be registered as a Democrat. I don’t share much in common with the national party (though, truthfully, more in recent years than with Republicans), but here I am having to register as one in order to take part in the city’s biggest decision. This seems to me to be an odd choice that people would have to make in order to participate in a city’s governance. Why do we pay for the city’s democratic primary when it’s really the mayoral election? What chance does a candidate from another party really have? Why aren’t we just holding the big election in November and opening it to all? These are some questions we should be thinking about before the next election.

‘Raising the Levee’
courtesy of ‘The National Guard’

It’s going to rain tomorrow. But, fitting in with our year of wacky weather, we’re talking about a multi-inch event capable of flooding homes, and not just your typical rainy day. DC DPW will be allowing residents to pick up 4 sandbags, starting at noon today, to help keep water out of problem areas near your home. These are 40-50lb sandbags, so come prepared with a vehicle that you can load them into, and an able-bodies person to load them. You can pick them up at the DPW facility over near the Navy Yard in Southeast:

DC DPW Facility
New Jersey Ave SE & K St SE
Washington DC 20003

‘Vrouwenkiesrecht / Votes for women’
courtesy of ‘Nationaal Archief’

We’re under 30 days to the mayoral primary this morning, and today marks the last day that you can change your voter registration to vote in that primary.  DC operates closed primaries, which means if you’re not registered as a Democrat, you can’t vote in the Democratic primary.  As someone who’s never held close ties to a political party, this seems wrong and undemocratic, but it’s the way things work for now, so for the first time in my life, I registered as a Democrat when I updated my voter registration information this spring.

If you’re not registered with the DC Board of Elections & Ethics, you can do so until the close of business today.  You need to print, sign and mail the form from their website today in order to have your party change official before the September 14th primary.

Photo by Ian Koski / Nationals Daily News

Four immigration protestors today stormed the field at Nationals Park during the fifth inning to demand that Bud Selig move the 2011 All-Star Game in Arizona in response to the state’s immigration reform laws that empower state and local police to enforce immigration issues.  Two protestors came onto the field initially and distracted most of the on-field security, while two others tried to use the fracas as a distraction to unfurl their banner on the field.  They were unsuccessful.  A security guard took down the protestors trying to open their banner before it was exposed.  The text of the banner reportedly read, ”Bud Selig Move The All-Star Game / No SB1070,” according to the Post’s Adam Kilgore.

Continue reading →

Photo courtesy of @tyssejc

There’s been a serious gunfire incident with 15-20 shots fired, likely from a high-caliber automatic weapon, at the corner of Euclid & Mozart streets in Adams Morgan this evening.  Police were on the scene within 2-3 minutes this evening, with DC Fire EMS shortly thereafter.  There was at least one victim transported to an area hospital in critical condition.  More as we get it, We Love DC’s Dave Stroup is on the scene in Adams Morgan.

Update, 9:50pm: One victim in critical condition was taken to an area hospital undergoing CPR in transit. Detectives are on the scene, but not yet speaking with press. Witnesses say a large group of teens was spotted fleeing the scene. We get the impression that several of the witnesses are not being forthcoming with police at this time. Officers are looking for access to nearby buildings to gather security camera footage. Note that there is an MPD camera box at 17th & Euclid, one block up.

Update, 10:45pm Officers have continued to lock down the area, and nearby cars are not permitted to be moved until the crime scene processing is complete. Several vehicles have been hit with stray bullets. Victim likely was taken to Howard University Hospital, but we cannot confirm that at this time. The brother of the victim was not allowed to leave with the victim to go to the hospital, but was detained to speak with Police remove his car from the scene, and had to leave the vehicle there and proceed to the hospital via bus. Ward One Council Candidate Bryan Weaver was on the scene, and expressed worry that this might have something to do with recent murder arrests. We’ll have more in the morning.

Update, 9:45amThe victim’s injuries proved to be fatal. Last night’s reports of automatic weapons fire may also have been premature: it’s also possible that we were hearing an exchange between two weapons, but the shot counts are still the same.

‘Eisenhower Executive Office Building (19/365)’
courtesy of ‘kimberlyfaye’

Numerous reports on Twitter, and word from DC Fire & EMS, show that the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on 17th Street just south of Pennsylvania Ave NW is being evaucated due to a suspicious package referred to by DC Fire & EMS as “haz mat unknown substance,” this morning. The All-clear was given just after 8:20 this morning.

This is the third suspicious package in a prominent location in as many days, with suspicious packages shutting down 13th & New York Avenue on Tuesday and K & I streets between 7th & 9th streets on Monday. Perhaps this is related to the Metro terror threat that we discussed yesterday, as all of these locations are within two blocks of a Metro station (Farragut West today, Metro Center yesterday and Chinatown Gallery Place on Monday).

Either way, I feel compelled to remind you of a few things: Don’t be an asshole and leave your box or suitcase behind anywhere. If you’re going in somewhere for coffee, don’t just leave it on the street unattended. If you do spot a package like this, do try to find local police, but not before seeing if you can find its owner immediately nearby.