‘The Line Up’
courtesy of ‘jacobpstein’

Chief Cathy Lanier announced yesterday that the MPD’s plan to expand the force by 5% has been put on hold due to budget pressures. 5% may not sound like a lot, but it would have meant an extra 200 police officers for the District. Instead, MPD will remain at its current level for the foreseeable future while the budgets return to normal. Recruiting officers and training officers are back to walking the beat and working desks until things pick up again. The good news is, there’s always the Capitol Police, the Federal Protective Service, and the dozens of other policing agencies that exist in DC for specific departments, to back up the MPD in case of any major emergency situation.

‘$10,000 in cash’
courtesy of ‘NickStarr’

In a deal said to be worth approximately $5-6M, it is rumored that Rainbow Media, a wholly-owned subisidiary of New York’s Cablevision system, has purchased Gothamist LLC which owns the DCist blog here in DC. When asked for comment, DCist Editor Sommer Mathis said she had seen the story, but hadn’t received any information from Gothamist concerning the disposition of any deal.

The story remains unconfirmed, and could be incorrect, but the idea of large media outlet systems like Cablevision purchasing up medium- and large-sized blogs has all kinds of far-reaching consequences. The parallels between websites and radio stations is one that we would do well to remember in this particular situation.

More as the details unfold.

Business Insider says talks are still going on, and Jake Dobkin, despite repeated attempts to get anything else, just said, “No Comment.”

video courtesy of the Kojo Show

Omar Karim was on today’s Kojo Nnamdi Show, and boy did he get testy. I mean, I’ve seen some political figures get this angry, but in the clip above, Karim does everything except challenge analyst Tom Sherwood to pistols at dawn. Karim is one of the principals behind Banneker Development which has been in the news for all the wrong reasons, chief among them, they’re the beneficiaries of several contracts to build recreation centers in the District, which the Council will be reviewing for improper award. Karim defends his company’s record, and his relationship with the Mayor, which Karim describes as pretty mundane. Either way, it’s some entertaining watching, as Karim is certainly a fiery guy.

‘Thundering Herd’
courtesy of ‘flipperman75’

If you don’t have to drive in DC tomorrow, just don’t. The National Marathon is run tomorrow through the streets of DC, and no quadrant is left out. Constitution, East Capitol, North Capitol, the Frederick Douglass Bridge, and various other streets throughout the District will be closing intermittently from 7am to 1pm. Chances are, you’re better off going around. In addition, Metrobus has rerouted 42 different bus routes as part of the event. Please prepare for transit pandemonium.

‘Party Animals on First Street, SE’
courtesy of ‘kimberlyfaye’

Councilman Phil Mendelson will be looking into the nearly $5M in overtime paid out to Fire and EMS workers so far this fiscal years, with several workers taking home substantial amounts of extra cash, in some cases amounts of more than their annual salary, thanks to Overtime abuses. Does DC Fire/EMS need more people? Is it just people abusing the system?

‘Caught’
courtesy of ‘D’Arcy Norman’

Get out your straitjackets and butterfly nets, it’s time for a trip down to Richmond. In an interview over the weekend, Cuccinelli said that a challenge to President Obama’s birth certificate was “within the realm of possibility” for legal action, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that he’s batshit crazy.

Look, it’s perfectly acceptable to not like the President, I certainly don’t think he walks on water, or is capable of delivering on the massive campaign promises he made to the American public, but isn’t the proper opposition answer to that pointing out his inability to get things done, and not challenge where he was born? Seriously? Really? That’s a viable political strategy? And you’re a state-wide office holder in Virginia? Whew. That’s some crazy-talk right there.

‘Tom Colicchio Visits DC Central Kitchen’
courtesy of ‘DC Central Kitchen’

There had been whisperings for weeks that Tom Colicchio and the Top Chef gang from Bravo would be coming to DC for their next season, and this morning the Washington Post confirmed it. To give credit where credit is due, Amanda from Metrocurean broke the news late yesterday that filming would start on April 5th.

It’s great to see the DC restaurant community get the respect it so richly deserves from the folks at Bravo.

‘Dent Capitol Hill Day School’
courtesy of ‘Tony DeFilippo’

Every year, DCPS holds an out-of-boundary lottery to allow families to apply to move from their neighborhood school to another nearby school in the District. This year, over 5,000 families applied for the lottery, and more than 3,300 were able to be placed at schools of their choosing. Chancellor Michelle Rhee expressed some happiness at the increase, saying, “a number of schools have gone from under-enrolled to flourishing,” during the past few years. In addition 14 schools now have waitlists for the first time in recent memory.

Here’s hoping they can continue to boost enrollment, which will increase funding for the District, as well as, hopefully, allow for the recruitment of better teachers, allow for more professional development of staff, and increase test scores and learning in the District’s public school system.

Team Coco is coming to DC on June 8th!  He’ll be doing a live show at DAR Constitution Hall that night called, “A night of music, comedy, hugging, and the occasional awkward silence.”  Here at We Love DC, we’re strong proponents of Team Coco, so we’ll probably be there that night, look for us screaming like girls at the Beatles on Ed Sullivan.