Mount Pleasant, October 31
A full gallery.

Your Papers, Please, D.C.: The United States is tied up in two wars, and the unemployment rate is so high that a drop to 8 percent would be cause for celebration. So naturally, Congress is turning to what's really important—making sure every senior-level D.C. government appointee has never committed "willful engagement in acts or activities [...]

Who wouldn't sing to the scores of reporters clinging to your every word? Not GOP front runner Herman Cain, that's who! Cain ended a speech this afternoon at the National Press Club with a beautiful rendition of "He Looked Beyond My Fault."
Even more interesting than that, however, is what journalists on the scene say happened [...]

Intern Odochi Ibe heads across the Anacostia to visit Olivia's, a cupcakery in Fairlawn, the city's first cupcake shop to open in Southeast east of the river. Besides its location (and prices), Olivia's is a bit different from its competitors in one glaring way: There's bulletproof glass.
Yet, the very existence of the glassy barrier—the kind [...]

Despite the dismal weather, McPherson Square's Occupy DC contingent gathered in the protest's "library" tent on Saturday afternoon to carve pumpkins. About 15 people got crafty with the gourds; some stuck to traditional Halloween fare, but others embraced social-justice motifs. Occupiers noted that the pumpkins, donated from a local farm, are intended to light McPherson [...]

36th Street NW, October 31

Fox 5 reports that 20-year-old William Anthony Knight has been arrested in connection with the killing of 24-year-old Alonzo Guyton, a Howard University freshman and Marine veteran.
The shooting happened around 12:02 a.m. Tuesday on Kaywood Drive, Mt. Ranier. "Located on the crime scene was a witness who reported seeing a blue van flee the area immediately [...]

According to this Post story on demographics in Prince George's County, black middle class people like living with other black middle class people!
“They enjoy interacting with other blacks,” Karyn Lacy, a sociologist at the University of Michigan, wrote in her book “Blue-Chip Black,” for which she interviewed dozens of parents in Prince George’s. “Scholars have [...]

But you probably already knew that if you're a bus rider in the District. And the Examiner's Kytja Weir notes that while complaints about metro are down, they're actually up for bus riders:
In the first eight months of 2011, Metrobus logged an average of 1,368 complaints per month, up from 1,299 the year before.
That means [...]

600 Block Rhode Island Ave, NW.  Oct. 29th.  © 2011 Matt Dunn

A regular summary of irregular news and notes from neighborhood blogs and email lists around the District.
Halloween Advisory Committee: The Halloween questions continue! The Bloomingdale Blog has a bevy of inquiries for the occasion. "What are Bloomingdale's Halloween traditions? Do the kids Trick or Treat on Monday? From when to when? How many kids can [...]

Seriously? Snow?: The rumors turned out to be true—the D.C. region is under a winter storm watch for tomorrow, and yes, it could snow. It is, for the record, still October. No word on what this means for February, but honestly, we don't want to know. -3

"Vince Gray Made Me Eat Adrian Fenty's Brains!"

Halloween falls on Monday this year, which means you've only got a few more days to figure out what costume to wear if you're so inclined. Here at Washington City Paper, we're keenly aware of the holiday's approach—mostly because old Amanda Hess blog posts suddenly start getting lots [...]

So on Monday when people were talking about snow, I laughed to myself all "ha, ha, ha" like John Travolta in Grease. But now it seems like it is about to get real. The Department of Public Works even had a (previously planned) snowy scrimmage of sorts today:
The Dry Run showcased about 250 pieces of [...]

Man With Cymbals, 1998
Twenty-five years ago I started photographing for this newspaper.
A gallery.