At 3:58, Adams Morgan. Pretty much right on sked.

Everything's closed, we got tons of snow, there's more in the forecast. Yeah, we know all of the above.

What we really want to know is what happened within the administration of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty between roughly 5 pm and 9 pm. At the former hour, his people put out the word that the D.C. public schools would open a mere two hours late. What ambition!

That shocker came on the heels of a blizzard of far more cautious announcements: Montgomery County schools would be closed until Wednesday. And the school systems in just about every other regional county were counting Monday out, easy.

So on what twisted logic did Fenty and schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee actually believe that they could get teachers and students past impassible streets and sidewalks and into their often out-of-boundary schools? That would be question No. 1.

Question No. 2, logically, is who screamed at them following the 5 pm two-hours-late announcement and talked some sense into them? Was it the teachers? Hard to suppose that this group would have swayed the powers that be. Was it parents? Doubt it---parents want the schools to stay open. Was it Peter Nickles? Again, doubt it---Mr. Hard Guy couldn't be expected to advocate for such softness.

We're waiting for answers.

Snow consists of water, and it piles up in little fluffy mounds. It gets pushed around a lot.

In other words, it's just the sort of substance that, you'd suppose, steakmen would scoff about. Steakmen are the brutes who live on red meat and serve it at their steakhouses. Red meat, of course, symbolizes toughness, and its extraction from cattle requires macho cowboys (or, OK, absurdly confining stalls and tons of environmentally hazardous corn feed).

Read More "D.C. Steakhouses: Weather Wimps" »

First flakes now falling.

It's a law of nature every bit as ironclad as a Noreaster: People are descending on milk supplies right now throughout the Washington region, thanks to the forecast.

Read More "Stock Up on Milk Now!" »

For a moment last week, I was worried sick about Washington Post staff writer Eli Saslow. After what happened to him, you could only wonder how he could carry on, how he could put one foot in front of the other. Talk about lows.

For the few of you who hadn't been tracking this calamity, consider this: One of Saslow's stories appeared on page A08.

Read More "WaPo’s Eli Saslow: Back on A01 Track!" »

It just cut 50 or 60 percent of its newsroom staff, depending on which reports you believe.

It essentially dropped metro and sports coverage in the reductions.

It is caught in the middle of a massive power struggle within the Unification Church, the entity whose business interests finance and run it.

Yet the Washington Times is soldiering on, and will be announcing a new editor on Monday, according to U.S. News & World Report's Paul Bedard. It's 36-year-old Sam Dealey.

Bedard on Dealey's bio:

Dealey, a U.S. News contributor, is based in Washington, writing on national and foreign affairs. Besides contributing to Reader's Digest, he writes frequently for publications such as GQ, Details, and The New York Times. Dealey has also reported from Africa for CNN and PBS's NewsHour With Jim Lehrer. He is a media fellow at the Hoover Institution.

The Dallas native was a reporter for The Hill newspaper, an editorial board member at The Washington Times, and assistant managing editor of The American Spectator.

Dealey would be taking over a newsroom that's been in flux ever since the November drama that saw the departure of editor John Solomon as well as top officials on the publishing side.

City Desk will be working to snare some updates on this story. Stay tuned.

Update 9:01 pm: Washington Times released an announcement this afternoon confirming the appointment. Dealey is quoted saying that "this is a tremendous opportunity to help shape the future of a great newspaper that is transitioning to meet the challenges of the 21st century media market." Meaning, the paper has laid off 50 to 60 percent of its newsroom staff.

Washington Post ombudsman Andy Alexander is a careful, thorough reporter. When something goes wrong at the paper, you can be sure he's talking with all relevant parties, compiling a sound account of what went on (especially in his killer investigation of the "salons" episode).

Read More "WaPo-Ombo Ignores Turque-Armao Blog Shenanigans" »

The Washington Post editorial board is pissed beyond words about Bill Turque's Wednesday blog post regarding the board's relationship with D.C. public schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee. In the post, which the paper temporarily deleted from its site last night, Metro education reporter Turque blasted editorial writer Jo-Ann Armao for furnishing Rhee a "print version of the Larry King Show."

Read More "Washington Post Editorial Board Livid Over Turque Blog Post" »

The Washington Post on Wednesday evening deleted from its Web site a sizzling and brilliantly constructed blog post that criticized the paper's editorial board. Metro education reporter Bill Turque, in a Wednesday afternoon item on washingtonpost.com, explained to readers why they might have noticed an anomaly in the paper's coverage of a high-profile hubbub centering on D.C. public schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee.

Read More "Washington Post Blog Post Critical of Washington Post Disappears from Web Site" »

Wow.

Heads must roll at the Washington Post's Style section. Specifically, editors. After all, these people are paid to show some news judgment, and in today's edition of the paper, Style's editors showed absolutely none.

Read More "Sally Quinn: The People Don’t Elect Presidents. Georgetown Does!" »

Here's a true sign of "Post Apocalypse"!

The Washington Post is now gauging the reaction of subscribers to the prototype of a new business magazine that the paper may just launch. It's called Capital Business, and according to a description on the prototype's Page 2, the publication aims "to offer comprehensive coverage of the people and ideas that animate our local business community, whether it be a startup in suburban Maryland, a law firm in Washington or a Fortune 500 giant in Northern Virginia."

Read More "WaPoBizJo Prototype: “Old and Out of Date”" »

The Washington Post is plotting a possible move into deeper reporting on the local biz scene, according to a newsroom source and a prototype that some Post subscribers have received. According to the source, the new publication---which would be named "Capital Business"---would come out on a weekly basis---sorta like the Washington Business Journal---and would focus on local biz developments---sorta like the Washington Business Journal. A subscription would cost $1.99 per week.

Here's the intro text of the poll that went out recently to some of the paper's subscribers:

Thank you again for agreeing to take this survey. As you can see, there is a prototype of a potential new, once a week, business publication from The Washington Post newspaper in the package you received. A subscription to this publication would be $1.99 a week.

Most of the questions will concern your opinion of this publication, however, we would like to begin with a few questions about what business topics you are interested in. The survey should take no more than 15 minutes to complete.

Your opinions matter to us. Thank you!

A Post source indicates that the paper might hire some young reporters to do the low-to-the-ground reporting necessary to make a local biz pub worthwhile---sorta like the Washington Business Journal.

City Desk has made calls all over the place about this potential new product and will be filing more stuff throughout the day.

Hey folks, great to have you back at WIR!

Let's dig into some stuff, right now: Hooray for Post Ombo Andy Alexander, who stood up for the paper's decisions to run various disturbing photos of the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake in very prominent spots. As usual when the paper does anything other than put politicians and more politicians on the front page, people get pissed.

Read More "Weekend in Review" »