Archive for April, 2009

Cheh Docks Mayor’s Office Budget

First Vincent Gray went after Victor Reinoso. Now Mary Cheh's going after his boss.
The Ward 3 councilmember, as chair of the council's government operations committee, is proposing to reduce the budget of the Executive Office of the Mayor by $287,000 and three employees.
All of that comes from the Office of Policy and Legislative Affairs, [...]

D.C. Council Porkfest 2010

As noted earlier this afternoon by Nikita Stewart at D.C. Wire, the D.C. Council's economic development committee spent their afternoon carving up a pool of money known as the Neighborhood Investment Fund into little pieces to disburse to various favored groups.
To be fair, councilmember did not start the trend. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's budget proposal, [...]

A Partial Breakdown Of All Hands On Deck Arrests

Earlier this week, I asked the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Office of Attorney General for a breakdown of the types of arrests made from this past weekend's All Hands On Deck initiative. The somewhat controversial program basically has the entire D.C. Police Department hitting city streets and, you know, fighting crime. Last weekend produced [...]

Postcards From Home: Film and Paper Archive

Wilmer's Park, 1990

Finding Midnight

Another lost dog, found. Midnight, the pup who ran off during a soccer game and was helped in absentia by a savvy lawyer doubling as a PR director, is safely home. The 2-year-old rottweiler/shepherd mix turned up at a shelter in Prince George's County.
Daphne Levitas, who had created a Web site and press releases about [...]

Redskins Waiting List Totally Gone to Hell? Are Blackouts Coming to a TV Near You?

I wrote this week about the history of the Redskins waiting list and its apparent descent into bogosity.
I sensed things were bad over at the team's ticket office.
Turns out they're worse.
Dan Snyder claims in interviews there are "over 200,000" folks waiting for season tickets.
Oh, really?
CITY PAPER HAS OBTAINED a piece of direct mail (available after [...]

Jonetta Rose Barras Returns to the Radio

Watch out, Plotkin. Watch out, Kojo.
Your days of local-politics hegemony on the radio airwaves is over: Jonetta Rose Barras is returning next week with a new hourlong politics show. "D.C. Politics With Jonetta" will air Tuesdays at noon 11 a.m. on WPFW-FM, 89.3 on your radio dial.
The new show comes almost a year after WAMU-FM [...]

Postcards From Home: Film and Paper Archive

Hand Car Wash, 1988

Highlight of WaPo‘s Obama 100-Day Package

Here's the money graph from the Washington Post's special section on President Barack Obama's first 100 days, by veteran political reporter Dan Balz:
Obama also has answered definitively the question of which would take priority — enacting the broad agenda of health care, energy reform and education that he championed throughout the campaign or responding [...]

Where are the Hearsts of Yesteryear?

ON THIS DAY IN 1863 William Randolph Hearst was born. Please enjoy the following clip, in which Hearst Charles Foster Kane defends his decision to pour millions into a cash-hemorrhaging newspaper because the people deserve the truth, dammit! And 'cuz it's fun to start wars.

Perhaps the Orson Welles estate would consider making an offer on [...]

Free the Capital Challenge: Loose Lips Daily

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—"Streetlight Fee No More, and Other Budget Potpourri"; "Anti-Gay Marriage Rally Light on District Residents"; "Looks Like Emancipation Day Is Back"
Afternoon all. Apologies to all [...]

More Should Be Done For Legal Aid Funding

As mentioned by LL in an exhaustive budget rundown, At-Large Councilmember Phil Mendelson kept funding in the city budget for a program that helps the poor pay for attorneys. Today, Bread for the City cheered the news on its blog ("Beyond Bread"):
"Yesterday, the DC Council Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to maintain funding for civil legal [...]

The News From Bangkok

(Via StumbleUpon)

Drunk Dudes Cause Swine Flu Scare @ BWI

I don't think we've hit full swine flu hysteria yet. But this is close. The Associated Press reported last night that two drunk dudes flying in from Cancun caused a swine flu panic by the time they landed at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. The AP writes:
"The commotion began when AirTran Flight 85 from Cancun, [...]

D.C. Police Report Fatal Shooting

The D.C. Police have reported a fatal shooting took place on Wheeler Road SE early Tuesday morning. In a press release, the department writes:
"At approximately 12:08 am, on Tuesday, April 28, 2009, members assigned to the Department’s Seventh District responded to the 4300 block of Wheeler Road, SE for the report of the sounds of [...]