Category Archives: News

News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Post Writes Phillies a Mash Note

Photo courtesy of
‘Washington Post’
courtesy of ‘DC Public Library Commons’

Look, it’s an open secret that Post wants to be a national newspaper only. Their downsizing of the Metro section, elimination of the Business section, and move to online-only for any good coverage of the locality. But really, I thought Sports was one area where the concept of local reigned supreme. Today’s Dave Sheinin piece on the front page of the Sports section is the paean usually reserved for local teams of note, but instead…we get a mash note to the Phillies?

I know things don’t look great for the Nationals, but I would’ve much rather read a hard-hitting analysis of the faults of the bullpen, or even the nighttime proclivities of Ron Villone’s mustache, than a love note to the team who has the worst fans in Baseball. Couldn’t you write about the Orioles, even?

Business and Money, Life in the Capital, News, The Daily Feed, The District, We Green DC
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DC Bag Tax Nets $150,000 For Anacostia River Clean Up

Photo courtesy of
‘Reusable Giant Bags’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’

The District’s 5-cent bag tax, which started in January 2010,  netted approximately $150,000 during its first month of enactment. According to the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue, only 3 million bags were issued in the month of January compared to 2009’s 22.5 million bags per month average, and it appears that the new law DC shoppers has been successful in altering  shopping bag habits faster than was expected.

Prior to enactment, the new tax was estimated to generate $10 million in revenue over the next four years and would fund the Anacostia River Cleanup Fund. Given January’s results it appears that consumer behavior has changed so rapidly that this revenue may fall short of its original projection.

Dupont Circle, Fun & Games, News, Special Events, The Daily Feed, The Mall
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International Pillow Fight Day

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

I guess that early spring is the time international activity days.  Last week we had Kite Day, which was awesome, and this week we have Pillow Fight Day, which will probably be more awesome, I recommend buy amazon pillows, are the best option for this event. If you struggle with getting your mind to shut off when you’re trying to get comfy and cozy under the sheets, hugging an amazon body pillow may be just what you need. Capitol Improv is organizing a massive gathering on the mall on Saturday to observe pillow fight day.  Thus far, over 1600 people have responded to the Facebook invite. The plan is to gather on the WWII Memorial side of the Washington Monument around noon, at which time a few Capitol Improv folks will engage in a shouting match that will quickly devolve into a pillow fight.  At this point, the general public is welcomed to join in.  After a little while, the fight will be moved to Dupont Circle, where it will continue until everyone gets tired of it.  I missed last years pillow fight which had over 400 participants.  I’m not making the same mistake this year.

News, The Daily Feed
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DC Fire/EMS/Police Communications Down For Five Hours

Photo courtesy of
‘red white and blue’
courtesy of ‘willmeyer’

An electrical problem at the city’s Office of Unified Communications brought DC’s primary radio system for emergency responders to a halt on Monday night around 7:15pm. According to NBC4, system went down for about five hours, causing DC Fire/EMS and MPD to default back to their backup radios.

DC operates a trunked radio system for emergency responders, meaning that there is one master control facility for all the radio communications for the city. There are several transmission facilities, but it’s all routed through the computers near the big antenna cluster by McMillan Reservoir. The whole system went down due to a power problem, forcing responders to their backup radios. While there was confusion for a short while, the city’s policies for maintaining backup radio channels with Arlington and Montgomery County on the 800Mhz band allowed for an easy switch back to working communications centers. DC Fire/EMS set up a temporary command center at 6th and F St NW to coordinate extra assistance during the five hour outage.

News, The Daily Feed
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Loose Lips: Vincent Gray to Challenge Fenty

Photo courtesy of
‘IMG_8607’
courtesy of ‘dbking’

Mike “Loose Lips” Debonis of the City Paper has a big scoop this morning: Mayor Fenty will have a real challenger in Council Chairman Vincent Gray, starting tomorrow, when Gray files to be a candidate for the September Mayoral Primary.

The big question is: can Gray raise enough money fast enough to offset the over $2M already in the Fenty war-chest, and can he run a campaign based on the Mayor’s executive behavior in his first term and be successful? Gray was listed as competitive with the Mayor in a recent poll this winter listing potential challengers. Another question remains: will At-Large councilman Kwame Brown throw his hat in the ring, either for Gray’s old job as Council Chair, or to try a three-way battle for Mayor. We shall soon see.

News, The Daily Feed
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Prince George’s Officer Not Charged in Suspected DUI Crash

Photo courtesy of
‘Prince George’s County Sheriff’
courtesy of ‘scoutnurse’

A local paper is reporting this morning that a Prince George’s Sheriff’s Deputy was released without charges in a suspected DUI incident. The officer’s personal vehicle was found in a ditch, and the deputy failed field sobriety tests, but he was let go without any charges in early March. A sergeant with the Sheriff’s Office ordered the release, and is now serving a suspension for the decision.

The creepy part of the story? The person who brought this decision to light? Sgt. Rafael Hylton, the brother of the current PG County Police Chief Roberto Hylton. Guess who’s running for Sheriff? Sgt. Rafael Hylton. Sgt. Hylton is currently claiming that he’s suffering from a hostile work environment for failing to support his boss’ candidacy for County Executive in PG County. Don’t you feel safer already?

In other news,

Freeman Klopott of the Examiner has the eagle eyes. Late yesterday, he spotted a series of dropped cases by D.C Attorney General Irvin Nathan, all of which were DUI cases. Last Spring, the Intoxilyzer 5000 series blood alcohol testers fell under serious scrutiny when 8 of the department’s 10 units were suspected of producing faulty results. Since then, the Police Department has been trying to get the new Intoximeter machines certified with the medical examiner’s office, but failing that, they were pulled off the street last week.

Police were collecting evidence using the Intoximeter machines, but according to internal police emails presented by Klopott, not presenting those results in court as certified evidence, due to the conflict with the medical examiner’s officer over certification. As an intermediary measure, police are now collecting urine samples from suspects to use in court. If you have been charged with DUI, read here the steps you will need to take to ensure a successful defense.

I think there’s something doubly scary here: 1) That Police can’t trust their own equipment to give them solid results and 2) even if they could, watching case after case be thrown out while the potentially irresponsible go free without punishment will have an effect on morale.

News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Breaking: Arenas Gets Probation

Photo courtesy of
‘DC Court of Appeals and Lincoln’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’

Reports are in: Gilbert Arenas was today sentenced to 2 years probation for his felony firearms conviction. Judge Robert Morin weighed the decision carefully, relying on the sentencing recommendation from the prosecutor’s office, and the 221-page document from Arenas’ attorneys with multiple character references, and Arenas’ own apology.

Arenas will also be forced to 400 hours of public service, and donate $5,000 to a victims of violence charity (Seriously? He made that much while you were just looking at him funny. That’s an insult to Justice right there.), and spend 30 days in a halfway house.

Arenas’ future with the Wizards is in question. Currently, he is serving a season-long suspension due to the incident which involved firearms in a December locker-room altercation at the Verizon Center. The Wizards have the option to seek to terminate Arenas’ contract, due to the felony conviction, and given Arenas’ large salary, and the horrific performance of the team (lost 13 straight) it would be understandable if the team might terminate his contract. 4 years and $80M is a big pill for the team to swallow when trading Arenas might be impossible.

Were I the owner of the Wizards, I’d terminate Arenas’ 4 years and offer him a 1-year, $1M chance to prove himself worthy of further investment while the Wizards rebuild from their horrific season. You want to be in DC, Gilbert? Give up the money and job security and show us you mean business.

News, The Daily Feed, The District
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DC Ranks No. 6 For Highest Rental Market Costs

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘dno1967’

If you thought your rent was expensive … you were right.

The District is the sixth most expensive rental market in the country, according to a study called “Paycheck to Paycheck: Wages and the Cost of Housing in America.”

The 2009 fair market rent in town was $1,494 a month (which, for comparison’s sake, is the same as Bethesda).

San Francisco, Honolulu, and Santa Cruz round out the top three.

Adams Morgan, Food and Drink, Fun & Games, News, Night Life, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Madams Organ Happy Hour for Community of Hope

Photo courtesy of
‘Madams Organ Restaurant’
courtesy of ‘KrS-NrY’

Drinking and philanthropy are two of my favorite things, and fortunately, they mix fairly well.  That’s why I’m excited about the April 15 happy hour and Madams Organ benefiting local DC charity Community of Hope.  Community of Hope provides medical care, affordable housing and other social services for DC’s disadvantaged.  Madams Organ will donate $1 of every drink you order and 20% of food sales to Community of Hope.  All you have to do is show up, eat and drink. Plus, April 15 is tax day.  You’ll probably be drinking anyways.

News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Leonsis, Pollin Family Agree on Price for Wizards, Verizon Center

Photo courtesy of
‘It’s been awhile’
courtesy of ‘afagen’

The sticking point in Ted Leonsis’ negotiations with the Pollin family for the purchase of their stake in the Wizards and the Verizon Center has been price, for some time now. Finally, there’s been a breakthrough, according to a local newspaper, who report that the valuation has been agreed upon at $550M for the team and the Verizon Center. My guess is the Verizon Center is the lion’s share of that, at the moment, given how piss poor the Wizards are playing these days. From here, they’ll continue negotiations on other subjects including how the facility will be run, and whether or not the majority of the league owners will approve Leonsis’ full purchase.

News, The Daily Feed
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Anti-Marriage Equality Amendment Defeated

Photo courtesy of
‘Love Wins’
courtesy of ‘Matt.Dunn’

Chalk one up for the good guys. Senator Bennett (R-Utah) was unsuccessful in getting his anti-marriage equality amendment through the Senate and amended to the health care bill. Don and I were talking yesterday, what’s up with Utah not wanting gay marriage in DC? Are they still bitter that the government banned plural marriage in their state so many years ago?

Food and Drink, News, The Daily Feed
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BGR Expanding to Lyon Village

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

As Michael wrote in his review of BGR this December, “There is no better food than a hamburger,” and we would certainly agree. The Burger Renaissance that’s happened in this town over the last few years has been nothing short of a Golden Age for this simple and wonderful culinary treat. BGR announced late yesterday that they’re opening a new location over in Lyon Village, home of The Italian Store, in Arlington.

BGR will open on April 15th. Here’s to the spread of the delicious, tasty burger. Cheers!

BGR
near 3213 Lee Highway
Arlington VA, 22201

News, The Daily Feed
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Metro Stops For Fire

Unsuck DC Metro pointed us at this video, which shows an aboveground Metro train stopping for a brush fire…in the middle of the fire. This, right here, is my personal nightmare on the tracks. I figure the driver stopped to report the fire to Control, but couldn’t they have stopped a little further away from the licking flames?

Food and Drink, News, The Daily Feed
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RAMMY nominees announced

Photo courtesy of
‘chef mike isabella’
courtesy of ‘aliciagriffin’

Every year, DC’s Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington (RAMMY) awards garners a lot of attention, and deservedly so.  This is a town that loves its restaurants, and loves its food.  The nominees for this year’s events are below the cut, but I’ll give you a quick summary here. The Fine Dining and Upscale Casual categories were no great surprise to anyone who’s been to the establishments, and the usual restauranteurs are making their presence felt: José Andrés, Michel Richard, Robert Wiedmaier and the NRG. Top Chef’s Mike Isabella is likely a shoo-in for Rising Star. I was deeply gratified to see Birch & Barley/ChurchKey get so much attention.

DC has such an abundance of great food, that I certainly don’t envy anyone their ballot here!

Continue reading →

News, People, The Daily Feed, The District
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Home-Grown Pot May Become An Option In DC

Photo courtesy of
‘Reefer Madness/The Burning Question (1936)’
courtesy of ‘Caveman (Kickin’ 66 with Pete Zarria)’

It’s Congress approved … now the next step in upholding the legalization of medical marijuana in the District is figuring out how to get the green stuff into the city itself.

D.C. Council is considering a “home cultivation” option in which individuals requiring medical marijuana could grow up to two plants at a time in their own privacy via a city-issued licensing process.

Complete legalization of medical marijuana usage is on hold until the D.C. Council approves and passes a new law in its name.

The Washington Examiner reports the District’s biggest concern  at the moment, according to D.C. Judiciary Committee Chairman Phil Mendelson, is how to not make D.C. a mistake like Los Angeles, “who opened the door so wide it was tantamount to legalized pot” in their city.

Crime & Punishment, News, The Daily Feed
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Serial Flasher at Work in Arlington

Photo courtesy of
‘W&OD sign’
courtesy of ‘A.M. Kuchling’

The Arlington Police are warning female joggers on the W&OD Trail that the serial flasher we warned you about in January is still operating along the trail and has now exposed himself to eleven women in the last two months. Anyone with information about this creep is encouraged to talk to the Arlington Police, talk with Detective Comer at (703) 228-4243 or Detective Austin at (703) 228-4241. Don’t approach flashers, keep your distance and call the police. Be careful using headphones that don’t allow you to hear others approaching you, and be watchful on the trail.

Business and Money, News, The Daily Feed
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Coming to DC, Hold Your Applause, It’s UGG!

Photo courtesy of
‘Missing’
courtesy of ‘Samer Farha’

OK, yeah, UGGs may be a bit of an eyesore, but gosh darnit if they aren’t the most  comfortable and warm shoe ever! And fashion be damned (sorry fellow WLDC blogger Kelly Collis Frederick) because this year’s rash of snowstorms really made owning a pair uber practical. So love ’em or hate ’em, DC will be getting its very own UGG Flagship store.  According to the Georgetown Metropolitan, the shop will be taking up residency in the prime UGG territory of 1249 Wisconsin Avenue NW in Georgetown.

News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Reston Chiropractor Linked to Steroids, Sports Franchises

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

A Reston Chiropractor today was arrested on drug charges today after being accused by a co-defendant of conspiring to deliver control substances by Florida authorities. According to Florida authorities, Douglas Nagel of Reston received regular shipments of steroids from his co-defendent “Andy” Thomas of Florida. Thomas has told Police that Nagel was supplying both the Washington Nationals and the Washington Capitals with the substances.

The Capitals released a statement this afternoon denying that Nagel or Thomas had any contact with the Capitals, saying: “This has been a thorough investigation, and we are satisfied that law enforcement, the NHL and our own internal investigation have not led to any link of steroid use by Capitals players… Dr. Douglas Owen Nagel, a Virginia chiropractor who was arrested today, is not affiliated with the Washington Capitals and is not the “team chiropractor,” as he has stated. Dr. Nagel’s office, however, has seen some of our players for standard, routine chiropractic services.”

The Nationals did not immediately respond for a request for comment.

News, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Local Business Owner Strong-Arming Bloggers?

Photo courtesy of
‘Soda jerker flipping ice cream into malted milk shakes. Corpus Christi, Texas (LOC)’
courtesy of ‘The Library of Congress’

News came in overnight that David Shott, the owner of yet-to-open Du Vin Osteria at 14th & Florida, had threatened two local bloggers – Prince of Petworth and U-Street Girl – with legal action unless they removed comments from their blog entries concerning his new establishment.  The strong-arming appears related to comments made by a former Union Row Resident, who was reminding readers of a 2008 interaction with the Union Row community by Mr. Shott. Mr. Shott’s threat of legal action is an empty one, as comment forums provide the blog owner, but not the commenter, safe harbor under the Communications Decency Act.

We have requested comment from Mr. Shott by email, but have not received one.

Generally, we consider it in poor form to strong-arm bloggers concerning the comments that are posted on their site, as it stifles an open community.  This is a place to engage your customers, not threaten them.

As a precaution, I would point everyone to our comment policy before they decide to write in below. We will also note that the comments are the property of their author, and not of We Love DC.