After 35 years, Masters Tuxedo and Costumes on Columbia Pike in Annandale is closing shop. Until the end of this month, wigs, costumes, mascots, and other whackiness are going out the door for 75 percent off their original costs.

Although a touch picked over, there are still choice items to be had and tried on until the electricity in your hair can power up your iPod. As far as big-head mascots, what's left includes "Teletubbies, Winnie the Pooh...we have some bunnies, a lot of animals," says Luke, a manager who did not want to give his last name. Bert and Ernie heads, he confirmed, are still there.

Costumes that had been rented and are now for sale include '70s stuff, flapper outfits, original-style Star Trek gear. "We're pretty much out of the medieval and colonial stuff," Luke says, indicating the Ren-festers and William & Mary kids have already been through.

Luke's worked there for five years and is losing his job. "But we've known about it since November," he says. The other store in Arlington on South Four Mile Run is already closed. And in Annandale, there's a new tenant lined up. Apparently Taekwando, unlike 'fro wigs, is recession-proof.

Photo courtesy of the Masters Costumes Web site.

The Associated Press is reporting six people were injured at a shopping-center explosion in Prince George's County today, five of them firefighters. A fire department spokesman says work was being done on a gas line in one of the stores this afternoon. WTOP identifies the location as Penn-Mar Shopping Center in Forestville, which is anchored by Burlington Coat Factory and Marshall's. Aerial photo by WTOP's metro traffic unit here.

Nice story today in the Baltimore Sun about the U of Maryland's plan to put a parking lot and maintenance sheds where there are now 15 acres of woods. Don't bother calling up the writer to give a compliment. They're on a byline strike today. The one-day protest is against Sun owners the Tribune Co., which recently laid off about one-third of their newsroom, mostly editors and bureau chiefs. Tribune's filed for Chapter 11 protection. Union rep Brent Jones tells the Washington Biz Journal injury's insulted because “[t]hese decisions were made without any discussions on alternative cost-saving methods.”

Read More "“By a Baltimore Sun Staff Writer”" »

An e-mail alert went out yesterday to previous attendees of the Shakespeare Theatre Company's Free For All that it's still on, but it's now on inside and in Penn Quarter at the newish Sidney Harman Hall. That means no more pre-show picnics on the grounds of Carter Barron (the National Building Museum is opening its more limited patch of grass this year), no more waiting in the woods and chatting with strangers before the gates open, no more wrapping up in blankets in the first act's gloaming, no more marveling as the moon appears just when it should during A Midsummer's Night Dream.

I missed last year's rather soft announcement of the death of one of D.C.'s greatest summer pleasures, staged at Rock Creek Park's amphitheater since 1991. Sure: The pros at the STC are still offering their talents to the masses free of charge and, sure, said talents won't be hampered by rain, or cold, or the choking D.C. humidity. But wasn't the weather part of what made the Free For All such fun?

In what the Post this morning says "will likely go down as one of the best playoff games in Capitals franchise history," D.C.'s scrappy hockey team went up 2 games to none in their playoff series against Pittsburgh. That means they've won their last five playoff games, their longest post-season streak to date. It took the Verizon Center staff three minutes to clear the ice of another sort of caps---the hats kept coming after Alex Ovechkin's third goal of the night, his first hat trick in in the playoffs. The Pens' Crosby got one of those, too (and a lone hat thrown onto the ice), but in this chapter of the "showdown for the ages," Sidney went home a loser. Final score: 4-3. Money quote from Ovechkin: "If I was a Capitals fan, I'd be really happy right now."

Read More "Our Morning Roundup: Caps on a Hot Streak Edition" »

In addition to the new Safeway coming to Georgetown, the go-to D.C. grocery chain is planning similar overhauls at the Southwest Waterfront and Petworth.

At the Waterfront, preliminary work is under way for the new store, which will go up behind the current building near the Metro. When completed in 2011, the old store will be demolished. And, much to the delight of the lunch-starved masses, it will have an enhanced deli with sandwiches made to order.

Petworth's store on Georgia Avenue NW will follow a model similar to what's going on in Georgetown---a new, expanded store will go up where the existing store stands. That means the old store will close at some point. Also, parking will be moved below ground. The space occupied by the current parking lot will be added to the footprint of the new store, taking it from about 20,000 square feet to about 55,000 square feet. Safeway spokesman Craig Muckle says Petworth's plans are not as far along as the Waterfront's and hesitated to give a projected completion date. "I don't have a good sense right now, but I'd say ballpark will be sometime in 2011. It won't be next year, I can tell you that," he says.

Read More "Safeway Update: New Stores Coming to Southwest Waterfront, Petworth in 2011" »

Pittsburgh City Paper's cover story this week takes a whack at the ink-stained/Twitter divide, asking: "As old media struggles, is a new breed of journalists up to the job of replacing it?"

And unlike the Newseum, which essentially ignores the role of good journalism supported by slutty ads, the PCP includes alternative newsweeklies in the mix. And gives---is "props" the right word here?---to our struggles. To wit:

The alternative press isn't exempt. The past decade has seen a wave of increased consolidation in the weekly industry, and at least one chain is now in serious financial trouble. Creative Loafing, which has its flagship paper in the big and growing Atlanta market, filed for bankruptcy this year. The company borrowed millions to buy Chicago Reader and Washington City Paper. Although all three papers were making money, when advertising slowed down, debt payments overwhelmed revenue.

So the scene is wide open for new approaches.

Hear that Newseum? Why don't you find a new approach and build a shrine to us before we're dead.

Is the panic subisiding? Not a chance, but two of the six potential H1N1 infectees in Maryland are schoolchildren (one at Folger-McKenzie Elementary in Ann Arundel County and a teenager at Milfred Mill Academy in Baltimore County) and schools are open today. A lot of parents, of course, watch the TV, where things have been getting frothier on the flu-coverage front. So attendance is expected to be low.

In more schoolchildren news: Two of them in Montgomery County planned to kill their prinicipal with a nail bomb and set off another "incendiary device" in the auditorium---after puncturing a gas pipe, something they'd already tried to do in the boys' bathroom, according to cops who arrested and charged them.

You think getting your dog to the vet is a problem? Try convincing a 5,500-pound hippo to get into her crate. A continuation of Happy stories over at the Post.

D.C. blogolinks after the jump.

Read More "Our Morning Roundup: Maryland’s Flinty When It Comes to Swine Flu Edition" »

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 the search, writes: "Turns out Midnight has storm phobia. He got himself to Upper Marlboro, MD (or had some help getting there) and during the thunder storm on Saturday night, he tried to crawl into someone's house. The folks called animal control, and Midnight basically crawled into the officer's lap...the officer has visited Midnight at PG every day since then."

Doncha love happy endings?

Josh Bowers, the local lawyer who pointed me to the pieces of the U.S. Capitol and the weird, shallow wells dug behind them, writes today that "it was only a matter of time until an occult group theory would surface."

Bowers has been posting this week's CP story to various Listservs and e-mail groups, hoping someone out there knows what those wells are and why they're there. (That's his son, Noah, sticking his head in one above.)

A reader sent him a link to Folklore of Wells, a 1918 study of water worship in East and West, written by R.P. Masani. Somewhere in its pages, the book indicates that a grouping of seven wells holds mystical meaning. It's not a tape-loop installation/audio salad in the middle of the park, but it's a theory.

Photograph by Darrow Montgomery

Of 85 unregulated and, in some cases, unknown chemicals found in samples of the Potomac prior to it becoming our drinking water, 35 were still in there after it was "purified" at the aqueduct. This tasty takeaway---plus: hermaphrofrogs!---comes from the latest Frontline on PBS, "Poisoned Waters," which examines both the Chesapeake Watershed and the Puget Sound. It was on last night and it's online. Happy Earth Day.

The Assosciated Press is reporting today that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's Jr.'s family has charged the foundation raising money to build King's memorial on the National Mall $80,000 in licensing fees. The fees were leveled for using King's images and words on fundraising materials---the ones designed to encourage private donations for the "Stone of Hope," the granite statue depicting the Civil Rights leader.

The AP found the fees in its review of financial documents and called around for reaction. Cambridge University historian David Garrow says he is "absolutely scandalized by the profiteering behavior of [King's] children....One would think any family would be so thrilled to have their forefather celebrated and memorialized in D.C. that it would never dawn on them to ask for a penny."

The company that collected the fees put out a statement backing up the practice because people "believe all 'King' fundraising initiatives are interrelated and don't donate to the King Center, thinking they have already supported it by donating to the memorial." The licensing fees were directed to the center in Atlanta where King and his wife are entombed and where their children serve as chairman and members of the board.

The memorial is being built on the northeast corner of the Tidal Basin with about $110 million in private donations and $10 million from Congress. When completed, it will be donated to the National Park Service. Local NPS spokesman Bill Line says he's never heard about the family of the subject of a memorial charging fees while money is being raised to build it. NPS, he says, will investigate.

Flickr photo by medium as muse

Before Daphne Levitas, some dog owners who lost their charges were reduced to knocking on people's doors, taping a few fliers to trees, maybe posting on Craigslist. With Levitas, a 34-year-old attorney active in dog rescue circles, losing a dog becomes a multimedia experience.

By virtue of my posts about Lucy the Ninja Dog, I received a document marked "For Immediate Release" with Levitas' name and number listed as the contact. It also included a Web address for a blog about Midnight, a 2-year-old rottweiler/shepherd mix, who went missing at a soccer game at Fort Dupont Park in Southeast on March 28. The site, much like Lucy's, includes cute photographs of the lost dog, a Google map pinpointing various sightings, an announcement of a "flyering event" this weekend, and various blog posts about the campaign to find the dog.

Midnight's parents, the release says, are Sarah and Charley. I called Levitas to inquire if she was the PR rep for this operation. "Yes and no," she said.

Read More "When Losing a Dog Requires a PR Director" »

Who needs a reality show when actual news is good enough? Applications to the U.S. Naval Academy are up 50 percent. The academy credits its two-year outreach campaign to minorities and the Post considers if it might be the lure of a free education in lean times. But we're going to jump to conclusions. It's pirate-fighting. Who doesn't want scurvy on the high seas?

New in City Paper: Every one of our hits and misses for Filmfest DC. Now in its 23rd go-round, the fest is growing up and drinking better cocktails. Plus: It's April. What else are you going to do?

Last night was Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Semifinals and let's just say Bruce Boudreau is wearing his cranky face today. Caps lost 4-3 to the Rangers, making a couple things clear: It's going to be a tough series, their goalie is better than ours, and Ovie better ice up after all those hits 'cause they're coming after him on Saturday. Game 2's at the Verizon Center again. Got tickets? No one likes a showoff.

Elsewhere in the D.C. Blogoworld:

Read More "Our Morning Roundup: Join the Navy Edition" »

Adams Morgan's divey Chinese takeout may be a tricked-out out sushi bar now, but Columbia Road still has that certain something, namely its empty stores. But fear not all you lovers of long receipts because exciting development is on its way. Yes, it's true, a CVS is going in---eventually---next to the second-rate Safeway, taking over the storefronts known as Beauty Island, Citibank, Foot Locker, and Mattress Discounters, all of which have closed or are closing, says Lisa Duperier, president of Adams Morgan Main Street.

Read More "So Long Beauty Island. Hello CVS." »