One of the big mysteries in the Pershing Park case centers around the gaps in the radio dispatches during the mass arrests on Sept. 27, 2002. Plaintiffs lawyers have long argued in U.S. District Court that the tapes turned over by the District contained gaps at the crucial time of the arrests.

When 400 individuals are rounded up and arrested in a park,  it seems reasonable that there would be some police radio activity.

For a time at least, the Office of the Attorney General defended those tapes as being a complete recording of the infamous police activities in Pershing Park. Exhibit A: The affidavit of Denise Alexander [PDF].

Read More "Pershing Park Case: Who Wrote That False Affidavit?" »

D.C. General, the city's long-shuttered hospital of last resort, is one facility that's used to being overused. In its pre-gentrification heyday, its emergency room swelled with indigent residents in need of care.

Though it's no longer providing ER services, things have scarcely changed at D.C. General, which now serves as a shelter for homeless D.C. families. Maximum capacity, say D.C. officials, is 135 families.

By early January, there were more than 100 families in residence. On Feb. 4, there were 163 ---double the number of families from the same date last year.

On March 4, the District reached a troubling milestone. There were now 200 families taking up residence at D.C. General. That day, there were a total of 851 residents, including 400 children. The influx should hardly surprise officialdom, considering that as of late October,there were more than 400 homeless families on a waiting list for services.

Welcoming upwards of 60 families beyond capacity has strained the temporary digs. Shelter residents sleep on cots in hallways and in activity rooms, guarding their privacy via walls of bedsheets. The lucky ones get private rooms, some of which don't have functioning heaters.

"Atrocious," says Khristine Buchanan, 23, of her living conditions at the old hospital. Last night, she lingered at the building's entrance doing her best impression of an OSHA inspector. She says mold and peeling paint embroider the stairwell, roaches and mice share the sleeping quarters, and the one elevator often goes out of service.

Read More "Fenty’s Gifts To Homeless Families: Mold, Peeling Paint, Rib Patties, And Overcrowding" »

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty has his passions, and sometimes your passions pay off.

Avid competitive cyclist Fenty is reportedly on the brink of pulling off a veritable coup by luring the Giro d'Italia, one of the three premier European grand tours, to D.C. for its initial stages in 2012.

For his efforts, Hizzoner was feted at an Italian Embassy event on Feb. 25, where he was bestowed with a new Colnago racing bicycle, given to him by famed Italian cyclemaker Ernesto Colnago himself. It came complete with his name inscribed on the top tube.

Read More "What Will Happen to Adrian Fenty’s $12,000 Gift Bike?" »

Read More "Photos: Still Life, Table & Chair" »

As much local politics as humanly possible. Send your tips, releases, stories, events, etc. to lips@washingtoncitypaper.com. And get LL Daily sent straight to your inbox every morning!

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT---'Jeff Smith Will Make Graham Challenge Official'; 'Michelle Obama to Address Anacostia HS Grads'; and tweets galore!

Morning all. Same-sex couples started pickup up their marriage licenses yesterday, and some immediately proceeded to get married. 'There were yellow roses, champagne toasts and tiered cakes. There were tuxedos, lace dresses and Pachelbel's Canon in D,' write WaPo's Keith Alexander and Ann Marimow. 'This D.C. watershed moment was bursting with pride and happiness. Yet it was also tinged with memories of political struggles and legal battles.' But that's all over---for the moment, anyway---it's no longer a political story, but a human-interest story. So who was first? Seems to be a tossup between Jeremy Moon and Bryan Legaspi, Obama administration employees married by Judge Brook Hedge in her courtroom, and Robb Hawthorne and James Betz, GWU students who were married by a minister just outside the courthouse.

AFTER THE JUMP---Vince Gray's Fencegate rolls on; Rhee and KJ dish to WaPo; snowball cop recommended for 10-day suspension; DCPS hires woman as football coach; more alleged FEMS misconduct; what exactly is the connection between cigars and Ireland?

Read More "Wedding Bells Ring: Loose Lips Daily" »

Read More "Photos: First Day for Gay Weddings" »

The Washington Post has a visa problem.

Last year, Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli hired foreign correspondent Andrew Higgins to bolster the paper's coverage of China. Higgins, a veteran reporter for the Wall Street Journal, was a phenomenal get---he speaks fluent Mandarin and covered the Middle Kingdom in the late '80s, a tour that included eyewitness reporting on the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

Read More "Washington Post, Kissinger Team Up on Reporter’s Access to China" »

Bus Stop, 7th Street NW Archives/Navy Memorial. © 2010 Matt Dunn

Morning!

First, a mini roundup: Washington Post readers don't like pictures of gay men kissing ("please don’t shove this 'Gay' business in our face"; "I will be glad when your rag goes out of business. Real men marry women"; "disturbing"). Former representative Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) has some splainin' to do (it's not every day you can Google "tickling" and come up with a breaking news story). And Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and his betrothed, DCPS Chancellor Michelle Rhee, are not Romeo and Juliet.

Now to the question of the week: Should Georgetown secede?

Discussion after the jump.

Read More "Morning Roundup: The ‘Should Georgetown Secede?’ Edition" »

Binyamin Appelbaum, an anchor of the Washington Post's national business coverage for two years, is leaving the paper for the rival New York Times. Speaking of his soon-to-be employer, Appelbaum notes: "It's a phenomenal paper and and incredible audience and I'm really excited about working there. It's just a great opportunity."

When asked if his decision was motivated solely by the pull of the Times, the 31-year-old Appelbaum responded, "I have loved working here. It's been a tremendous place to work. It's incredible in one journalism life to work at both places."

Appelbaum got a plum of a job at the Times. He'll be working an enterprise post on business and economics, from which he'll be able to "dig in deeply" on lots of issues. Not that the Post didn't afford him some enterprise moments as well: "I've had some enterprise opportunities here," he said.

The departure is a tough blow for Post Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli, a biz-reporting veteran who has taken a personal interest in the reporting churned out by Appelbaum and his cohorts on the nat-biz beat. Brauchli didn't respond instantaneously to an inquiry about what significance Appelbaum's departure may hold for the Post.

Former school board member Jeff Smith says he's ready for a full-on challenge to Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham.

"I'm not positive yet, but we're probably going to file in the next couple of days," says Smith, who has run an exploratory campaign since December.

He's already on the attack: In a posting today on his Web site, Smith unfavorably compares Graham to Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry.

Read More "Jeff Smith Will Make Graham Challenge Official" »

My Name Is ---, I'll Be Your Mugger: A woman was walking eastbound in the 1700 block of T Street NW at about midnight on March 6 when a man she didn't know said hello. The man asked her name, then gave his. He then forced her to the ground and yanked her purse away. He fled through an alley.

'Scuse Me, Guvna: A guy told police he was getting onto a Metrobus in the 2200 block of Pennsylvania Avenue NW when two men bumped into him. When he got home, he realized his wallet was missing. The man concluded one of the bumpers  slipped the item from his coat pocket.

I Think I Can, I Know I Can: A man wanted to score some dough. Police say that the cash-seeker "entered the Bank of America located at 401 M Street, SW, and attempted to rob the bank" around 10 a.m. on March 4. Though police haven't specified why, he failed. Later, the would-be Dillinger displayed a go-getter attitude by trying again. At about 1:30, he entered the BB&T bank  at 1801 Adams Mill Road NW and" attempted to rob that bank as well." He failed again.

Hostage Situation: An Metropolitan Police Department listserv poster identifying himself as Steven Conn on March 7  declares that the 300 block of W Street NE, where he lives, is being "held hostage on a daily basis." "Everyday I call to have Residential Parking Permit enforced to try and get them off my block, but it's not working," Conn writes.  And just who is besieging Conn's homestead? A horde of loiterers and drug peddlers, he claims.

"Attached is a picture I snapped out my upstairs window of the 14 loiterers perched on my fence, immediately in front of the house, and there were countless others up and down the 300 block of W Street NE last night, 06MAR10. My other concerned neighbor and I had to call 911 several times last night. Although the loiterers are dispersed, they always re-congregate after the police cruisers leave the block." Read More "The Blotter: ‘I’m Held Hostage in My Own Home’" »

Fresh from the White House press office:

On June 11th, Mrs. Obama will address the Anacostia Senior High School Commencement, a DC public school that Mrs. Obama visited in the spring of 2009 in conjunction with her Women of Excellence event and her early mentoring activities as First Lady.

Last year, FLOTUS spoke at the commencement for the Washington Math Science Technology Public Charter High School in Northeast.

The snowstorm that hit our fair polity
Made rivers abysmal in quality
The clean-up's expense
Makes each bag's four cents
Seem vital, and not a frivolity

Now maybe this makes me a weenie
But dammit, my shower's chlorine-y
I won't get morose
'Cause water tastes gross
Instead, I'll just make a martini