For a full recap of what happened at the forum on the Hoya's April Fools' edition, head over to Vox Populi, where they also liveblogged the forum.

More on the beer garden proposed near National's Stadium in D.C.

Andrew J. Kline, representing Robert "Bo" Blair, said at a March 25 meeting of the Alcohol Beverage Control Board that his client wants to create a "festival site with amenities" near National's Stadium, but that "beer garden is not our term, I don't know where that came from."

Blair, who is on four licenses in the city, according to Kline, plans to hire private security staff, and there will be one main entrance to the festival site. There will be no cover for admittance, and there will be a separate tent where alcohol is served where staff will check IDs. Their preliminary proposal indicates a trailer will be used to lock up liquor when there's no game.

ABRA Commissioner Nick Alberti suggested the venue also be used for family oriented events and perhaps even farmer's markets on non-game days.

The proposal will be discussed at the April 13 ANC 6D meeting, according to JDLand.

Commissioner Donald C. Brooks said he hopes the owners, "no pun intended, knock it out of the park."

For those of you still wondering about all that hullabaloo surrounding the April Fools' edition of The Hoya last week, you're in luck! The staff of Georgetown University's student newspaper has posted the PDF for your viewing pleasure.

Dozens of students, angry about what they considered inflammatory articles, staged a sit-in at the newspaper’s office last Thursday night, hundreds more have joined a Facebook group condemning the content of the issue.

Even a week after it hit the racks, the joke edition is still a hot topic of debate on campus, students said. Over the weekend, several of those offended by the issue met with the university president to discuss the matter, and he will likely talk about the issue in a campus address, reports rival publication The Georgetown Voice.

In an editorial in this week's online only issue, The Hoya editorial board apologizes once again for the offensive items, and asserts that "Despite the years of hard work done by minority groups on campus, a fundamental lack of understanding of minority issues persists on the Hilltop."

"THE HOYA is committed to reconciliation and long-term change; we understand that THE HOYA must never again alienate the Georgetown community in the way it did last week. Unfortunately, we cannot avoid another instance without the contributions of the community — the answer is to rely on you."

As part of that effort, they have set up a meeting tonight at 9:30 p.m. to begin a dialogue with the campus community.

Photo used with permission from Nick Troiano.

The hits just keep on coming over at the Hoya. Like we warned on Monday, April Fools' issues can cause more problems than they are worth.

Dozens of Georgetown University students, angry about what they perceived as racially-inflammatory articles in the Hoya’s April Fools’ issue, staged a sit-in at the newspaper's office last night.

From the Hoya's article on the protest (Students Protest April Fools' Issue):

The sit-in began at 11:30 p.m., on The Hoya’s production night, when approximately 60 students filed into the office and sat calmly and quietly on floors and couches throughout the office. Numerous students documented the event with photographs and videos. The students sat in protest until midnight, at which point the president of the Georgetown chapter of the NAACP, Alessandra Brown (MSB ‘09), held up the April Fools’ issue, which she had highlighted to demonstrate several of the articles she found offensive, and briefly expressed her anger in an address to The Hoya’s staff. The students then walked out, remaining largely silent.

Today's issue of the paper carried a letter from editor-in-chief Andrew Dwulet – Foolish Decisions Demand Reflection and Dialogue

As usual, it was full of jokes that were crude, but in some cases, it crossed the line. The issue has spurned campus-wide opposition: in a Facebook group with over 200 members, in a town hall meeting, and in a sit-in at THE HOYA office late last night. Flawed as it may have been, we only intended parody. We only intended to indiscriminately “go overboard” and satirize all of the news that has happened this year.

The Facebook group, The Hoya: Discrimination is Not A Laughing Matter has since passed the 300 mark.

A couple of students weighed in with a letter titled Insensitivity Makes April Fools' Issue a Bad Joke. They wrote that the "joke issue of The Hoya was tasteless, disturbing and, above all, not funny."

So what was so bad? The issue was not posted online, so we're left to judge based on the three articles that members of the Facebook group scanned and posted.

One of the articles, by "Ryan Westen," who is said to have founded the Georgetown Commission for Unity, makes a plea for "more interracial loving at Georgetown."

These days, things are much more peaceful here on the Hilltop. Only One thing's missing: We don't have enough good old vanilla-chocolate swirl interracial f******.

Image below, courtesy of "Not A Laughing Matter" album.

Hoya April Fools' Issue Controversy Link Dump:

Photos from the protest are available here.

The Georgetown Voice (full disclosure: former home of WCP's Loose Lips columnist) has covered the conflict.

Jim Newell weighed in on NBC Washington: "This is not a good path — ABANDON THE CHOCOLATE-VANILLA IMAGERY..."

For more about Georgetown's newspaper and minority organizations, read City Paper's 2007 article Under Her Skin by Ruth Samuelson.

Top image courtesy Nick Troiano.

Several issues of the paper were ripped up and placed in front of the newspaper office, and a comic that ran in the paper was ripped out and taped next to the door.

The comic was commenting on several forum pieces and letters to the editor that have run in the Tower over the past two months discussing gay rights and the Catholic Church. Featuring the Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and symbols signifying gays and lesbians, the comic stated that the student population that identifies as gay is "no longer underground."

Student editors called the Metropolitan Police Department on Friday and again on Sunday, and were told by officers both times that because the issues were free on newsstands, they did not consider it a theft.

Contacted today, MPD Officer Israel James of the office of communications said the amount of papers trashed made the case "a little tricky," and said he would call back after he looked into the issue.

More on free newspaper theft after the jump.

"The Tower is proud to offer students a place to debate opinions, but we believe that most would agree theft is an inappropriate way to express their disagreement," said editor-in-chief Justine Garbarino.

She said the paper does not censor anything they run on the forum pages. "Anything that's signed by a member of the campus community, we print."

Editors say they have the name of a suspect who was seen by other students throwing papers away, but cannot do anything about it because the university will not let them see the footage from a system of cameras in place across campus. On Friday, they were told they could look at the footage on Monday, but the only person with access to the system was apparently not on campus today.

"They are being really nice and open to giving us the best information they can, but the fact of the matter is, our papers were stolen and some kind of action needs to be taken," said Garbarino.

From Garbarino:

"University administrations, have only offered consolation, saying there is not much they can do, other than it might be a violation in the student code of the University. Our Department of Public Safety has been of little help. They have disregarded our requests to see the video tapes and have said that the investigation will take a long time and not to expect any answers. Our staff has conducted our own investigation and has been able to determine who the culprit(s) may have been, but without seeing the tapes, we can not pursue anything. MPD also will not take a report, claiming that since the papers are free, anyone can take them and do with whatever they want with the issues. However, numerous court cases have proven that this is simply not true."

Even if the school does prosecute the students internally, Garbarino does not believe the campus judicial prosecution will be adequate since the punishment will not be made public and because The Tower is hoping to recoup printing costs and partially refund advertiser's money.

Washington City Paper publisher Amy Austin said that she has also been frustrated by MPD's reaction to the destruction of free newspapers. About eight years ago, she got into a fight with a flower vendor in Dupont Circle who was taking issues out of the box and using them to wrap his produce. Austin confronted him, and the man started yelling back at her, saying he could do whatever he wanted. Austin called police.

"The police told me he could do whatever he wanted," said Austin. "'It's okay, little girl, just go home,' is what I felt they were saying to me."

Austin said "there's nothing more aggravating then to have someone take a fresh, unread paper and then throw it in the trash."

Editors at the student paper say they had hoped for a stronger action from the university.

"It is seriously disappointing to see that the university is allowing this destruction of property and blatant censorship to occur without taking action," said Ben Newell, former editor-in-chief of the Tower.

"It is equivalent somebody driving a car through the president's office, and campus security throwing up their hands and saying 'oh well, it was a student on campus property so its not criminal'," said Newell. "We have lost money and property. It is absolutely a criminal act."

This is not the first time a large number of student newspapers were taken off stands at school–many were removed by the university's admissions department when potential students were visiting campus in 2006.

Video of the trashed issues of the paper below.

From The Tower's blog:

Issues were missing in the Pryzbyla Center, McMahon Hall, Leahy Hall, the Mullen Library, Hannan Hall and various other locations.

It is believed they were stolen from the Pryzbyla Center between approximately 5:45 and 6:15 p.m.

Tower editors subsequently informed the Department of Public Safety  and placed any salvageable issues of the paper to new stands.

Editor-in-Chief Justine Garbarino said the Tower plans to pursue both internal disciplinary action and legal action against those responsible.

Ryan J. Reilly, a Washington City Paper intern, also serves as an editor at the Tower.

For the staffs of college newspapers, it's the one day of the year it's okay to just make stuff up.

April Fools' issues are often the most popular of the year, but they are also often the most controversial. The Student Press Law Center, an Arlington-based organization which offers free legal advice and information as well as low-cost educational materials for student journalists, has a post that mentions April Fools' Day and the fact that it fields more calls from students journalists on April 1 than on any other day of the year.

They gave a number of examples of articles written by different staffs and how serious some of the consequences.

But only the national publication, The Onion, which publishes a weekly parody newspaper, didn't have to endure a rash of protests, staff terminations, administrative censorship, publication thefts – and, in the case of the high school paper, the brief threat of legal action.

The Hatchet has taken some precautions on their website, making it clear in each and every story that the material is satirical.

Among the stories in the Hatchet's edition:

• April Fools' Issue: Hippo goes public about imprisonment, torture
• April Fools' Issue: Exclusive: Rahm Emanuel's speech
• April Fools' Issue: Fuck-ups
• April Fools' Issue: Cheney to lead hospital
• April Fools' Issue: We. Don't. Care.
• April Fools' Issue: These SA tools need to get laid
• April Fools' Issue: Krapp's Twitter
• April Fools' Issue: The Buzzkill Bracket
• April Fools' Issue: Krapp Shot
• April Fools' Issue: Outgoing SA president bugged own office

Green is scheduled to appear before the board today at 1 p.m. At last check, he was being represented by Andrew J. Kline, who Loose Lips reported in December violated nearly a dozen rules of professional conduct, including committing criminal forgery and engaging in behavior “involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation," according to a report [PDF] issued by the D.C. Court of Appeals’ Board of Professional Responsibility.

Read the full report and other details after the jump.

City Paper covered the bar last May and their Go-Go music last June after shootings outside the club. There have been several incidents since, including an assault in November. (Find coverage of these incidents over at the Tower, Catholic U.'s student newspaper, where I also work.)

ABRA investigators visited Cardinal's Nest on Aug. 28 in response to a complaint by an associate dean of students at CUA. That is where they allegedly observed the sale of alcoholic beverages to underage students. The complaint says the investigators "observed several patrons with Xs on their hands drinking from cups of beer in their hands and in some cases holding two cups of beer." They also saw a bartender serve a patron with Xs on his hands.

During an incident in the spring, an investigator saw a male walking away from Cardinal's Nest carrying two white cups with Budweiser/Bud Light advertisements.

The male told the investigator that he had just come from Cardinal's Nest and had been there all night. Asked what he was drinking, the patron told the investigator it was "happy juice."

Darrell Green, the owner of the Cardinal's Nest, has quite a history. The former cop worked in the 4th District for 10 years until he resigned in 2002 under circumstances the police department will not disclose, according to a City Paper article. The article, written after a man was shot and killed outside the bar says he was not the first victim of violence outside one of Green’s bars. "In May 2004, Rumba Café owner Boris Canjura was found unconscious outside of Adams Mill Bar & Grill, his skull fractured, his ribs broken, and his lung punctured."

Green has also been accused of renting out substandard properties and turned himself in after being accused of looting painting, antiques, china, and Oriental rugs from a self-storage unit in Vienna, VA. The charges were later dropped.

He was opposed to the ban on smoking as owner of Adams Mill Bar & Grill, according to a Washington Post article in early Jan. 2007. He told the Washington Times that his business fell off as a result of the ban and had to eliminate lunch service.

He also was not a fan of Flexcars and Zipcars taking up public parking spaces outside of his bar in Adams Morgan.

Catholic University administrators have long complained about the bar, which has been open since the fall of 2006. In the spring, Craig Parker offered legal help and University resources to University residents who wanted to get the bar's liquor license pulled.

The original voluntary agreement between Cardinal's Nest and Brookland neighbors was signed in Dec. 2006, and amended in April, 2008.

Read the D.C. ABRA Order to Cardinal's Nest for the full details (dates were before rescheduling and delays).

Live coverage starts at 1 p.m.

The hours left in the first day of spring are winding down, be sure you get your free cup of Rita's Water Ice before the day is over!

Rita's free ice promotion is running until stores close (either 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. depending on the store) so get over and get yourself some ice! Use this tool to find Rita's locations.

At the Rita's in Adams Morgan, Angela Brock said that Reed Elementary School and Oyster Elementary School, both located near the Rita's location, brought students out in droves earlier today to take advantage of the free ice. They served up 357 cups of ice, said Brock.

Brock and her sister, Charnita Brock Walker, were featured in Washington Post Magazine a few weeks back.

"summer treat! gelati @ rita's" by Flickr user Bright_Star.

As I selected my senior yearbook photo via the world wide interwebs this week, I took a minute to think about the difference between the presentation of those images today versus previous generations.

Today, photography companies are offering many ways to make yourself look better. There are options for retouching and removing scars, tan lines, moles, tattoos, piercings, and stray hairs (just $40 a pose!). Being a poor college student, I'll take my photo with the flaws, thank you very much.

But it got me thinking about the generations of students before me who probably would have paid that money because those yearbook photos were the defining photo of their collegiate career. The artificially posed snapshot in time was the photo that their college friends would remember them by for all eternity.

Those photos sometimes gave us a peek into what a person was actually like at the time the photo was taken.

Take John Slattery. Sure, now he's the silver-haired, womanizing, suave Roger Sterling of the Sterling Cooper advertising agency.

But before he was a Mad Man, Slattery was a young adult.

Yes, 1984 John Slattery was a beast of a different name. This John popped the collar of his denim jacket two decades before that three-week period in 2005 when it was cool again.  John didn't conform to society's rules on shaving and, based strictly off his expression in this photo from the 1984 Catholic University yearbook, he also got high on a regular basis.

Or what about Ed Liddy, the CEO of AIG? There he is, blinded by the sunlight in 1968. No boring pose here, just a quick snapshot by some student photographer who tracked him down outside the library 41 years ago.

In the 1960s, yearbook portraits were often taken in a unique environment, not in front of a backdrop. The subject of the photograph could wear whatever he or she wanted.

Today, there's a dress code—a suit and tie or blouse covered by a cap and gown for a portrait six months to a year before you actually get your diploma.

That's because big companies like Jostens and Herff Jones are taking the previously student-run production of a yearbook out of the hands of the students and are turning it into a big business. They're churning out portraits of seniors like an assembly line using online scheduling tools and order forms.

Small yearbook staffs, already overworked and busy with school on top of the massive responsibility of a yearbook project (and getting little benefit from the large commitment of time and effort), are happy to have the work taken out of their hands. Some companies are better than others and have given students the tools and support they need to complete the yearbooks, but money remains their main motivation.

Some yearbooks, sadly, are folding, including one at a college in Minnesota. Other yearbook staffers, are getting lazy and copying and pasting photos from social network sites.

The vast majority of undergraduates don't buy a yearbook until their senior year, and the same seems true at high schools like this one in Arizona.

It's tough for yearbooks to get students to send in their photos, and tougher to support a staff photographer to photograph events, especially as advertising dollars dwindle. Often yearbooks end up filled with photos of the same groups of friends who were proactive in sending in their photos. The rest get the generic headshot.

But this "Facebook can replace the yearbook" notion is bullshit. Yearbooks aren't meant to be a printed version of self-taken photos of you and your friends, they're meant to chronicle major events that were important to the whole community. It's a rundown of the whole year with a solid visual presentation that will be a keepsake and serve as a historical record for the institution from a student perspective.

Now if only we could find students with the time and motivation to do the work themselves.

UPDATED: 3:08 p.m.

The victim was a male, there was no age available at the time, and the preliminary investigation indicates it was intentional, according to a WMATA spokesman. There were several witnesses and authorities will be reviewing surveillance footage from the station.

UPDATED 3:05 p.m.

A person was struck and killed by blue line train at the McPherson Square Station, according to Cathy Asato of WMATA's Office of Media Relations.

The event happened at about 1:15 p.m.

There is currently no blue or orange line service between Foggy Bottom and Federal Triangle, and passengers should expect delays throughout the afternoon, said Asato.

From Alert D.C. -

Blue and Orange line riders face delays after person hit by a train

Buses called in to shuttle passengers around incident

Blue and Orange line riders are facing delays this afternoon after a person was hit by a train at the McPherson Square station around 1:15 p.m. The Blue Line train was headed to the Franconia-Springfield Metrorail station at the time of the incident.

There is no train service to the McPherson Square station while emergency crews respond. Metro is setting up free shuttle bus service from the Foggy Bottom Metrorail station to the Federal Triangle Metrorail station to help passengers around the incident area. The buses will stop at Foggy Bottom, Farragut West, McPherson Square, Metro Center and Federal Triangle.

Passengers can expect delays throughout the afternoon as Metro continues to investigate.

Editor's Note: This is an expansion of this week's City Lights Pick for Real Machers (pronounced MOKH-er), at the Ann Loeb Bronfan Gallery at the D.C. Jewish Community Center near 16th & Q NW.

Graphic designer Pat Hamou first spotted a mug shot of Murder Inc. hit man Abe “Kid Twist” Reles in the New York Daily News about four-and-a-half years ago. Struck by the mobster’s face, he drew a portrait of the Jewish gangster using a rapidograph pen and watercolors just for the heck of it.

But “one project turned into another,” Hamou says, and since then, he’s sketched nearly 50 gangsters from early-20th-century New York’s Jewish organized-crime community, now on display at the DCJCC.

Hamou's portraits of the Machers (Yiddish for someone who has connections) are adapted from a blend of images of the gangsters that includes profile shots, close-ups and mug shots.

Each of Hamou’s cross-hatched drawings in his “Real Machers” exhibit is accompanied by a detailed description of the gangster’s activities ripe for the Hollywood treatment.

Among the notables is Bald Jack Rose, the Polish-born completely hairless master poker player who later converted to Christianity and became a highly in-demand evangelist on the criminology circuit.

Not much is known about another Macher, Seymour "Blue Jaw" Magoon (his nickname was a result of his perpetual 5 o'clock shadow) whose skeleton was uncovered in the Nevada desert in 2003.

Arnold "The Brain" Rothstein, who bankrolled prohibition speakeasies, was the prototype for the Godfather persona and the basis of a character in the Great Gatsby.

Many of the other “machers” met violent ends — some were executed by the state, others by fellow mob men, and still others died in prison.

This part of Jewish American history is often overlooked, says Wendy Fergusson, director of the gallery.

Real Machers, she says "exhibits a period in modern history where Jews defied stereotypes and sometimes had more power than police."

"It's always in the back of my mind as well that as their activity came to an end, the Holocaust was about to begin," said Hamou.

Hamou originally intended his artwork for a book project. He created some of the artwork especially for the gallery at the DCJCC.

THE EXHIBITION IS ON VIEW SUNDAY TO THURSDAY, 10 A.M.–10 P.M. and FRIDAYS 10 A.M.-4 P.M., to MAY 17 IN THE ANN LOEB BROFAN GALLERY AT THE D.C. JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER, 16TH & Q STREETS NW. FREE. (202) 518-9400.

Meet John Culberson. He's a Republican from Texas. He's on Twitter. He's also on Qik, a video streaming service for anybody with a Blackberry or a camera-phone. We missed our chance to have him feed our Average Day D.C. blog machine.

Culberson recorded an almost 18-minute-long video from outside the Capital Building last night.

He's recorded four videos just today–including interviews with a scientist talking about glaciers and with the chancellor of Texas Tech.

The best part of the interviews is the awkward part where he explains the technology to those he is talking to.

But he hasn't recorded a video in a full two hours! What's he been doing that whole time? The people have a right to know!

More on Culberson in today's Washington Sketch column by Dana Milbank, who calls it the case of Twittering while Rome burns.

"I'm broadcasting live from the middle of Independence Avenue," announced Culberson, in live streaming video on Qik.com. He jammed his 8-gigabyte camera phone into the faces of three Capitol Police and demanded that they introduce themselves. They did not look happy. "The presidential motorcade will be coming from where?" Culberson asked. "What time are you expecting him to arrive?"

"That's classified," an officer replied.

Culberson continued to narrate his walk to the House floor for the speech: "I think that officer there is carrying a fully automatic weapon. . . . I suspect there's a James Bond type or two around this building, probably up there in the Capitol dome." Huffing and puffing as he climbed the stairs, drawing odd glances, Culberson went on. "I'll do one more broadcast and then I will tweet from the floor."

Still craving your fix of Obama web goodies?

How's this for economic stimulation–a company has developed a font called "44th President" based on the hand-writing of President Barack Obama. Now you too, can write like the president–for the low, low price of $15.95 (20 percent of the proceeds will go to charity, says the webpage).

If only you could apply fonts to Twitter, Claire McCaskill would be all over this.

Practical purposes? Absolutely none. Was I tempted for to buy this novelty item just to try it out for ten minutes? No comment. Full presser below:

"44th President" is based on the handwriting of President Barack Obama. A number of sources were studied and the font produced from those references. Barack Obama is the 8th left-handed American president. His left-handed stroke is quite obvious. As seen in recent legislation signing ceremonies, President Obama uses the “hooked” style of left-handed writing where the paper is held horizontally and the pen is “pulled” diagonally over the writing surface, and his signature is bold and elegant. The script flows swiftly with a clear and fluid motion, and includes a complete standard character set and Central European, Baltic, Romanian and Western European character sets. "44th President" is available for immediate download for $15.95, and 20% of all profits will be given to charity.

A blonde haired student picks up her Blackberry. It's another e-mail from Match.com.

"It's not for me," the Catholic University student quickly points out. "It's for my mom."

Justine G. (how she asked to be identified to keep up a "positive image" in her Google search results) is a sophomore media studies major from Allentown, PA. She has secretly signed her mother up for the dating website. She filled out a question form, but it has not posted any photos yet.

"I don't really want any divorced guys for my mom, not that there's anything wrong with it," said Justine.

She was surprised to see that there are CUA students on the website.

Justine describes the dating website as "like Facebook for old people" as she sits by a computer in the yearbook office (she's co-editor) and scrolls through profile after profile of possible digital date prospects.

Here are her thoughts on potential suitors for her maternal unit:

"He studied Vietnam, I like Vietnam!"

"The funny stuff is the turn-ons, it's kind of gross."

"You have to read the jobs, that's what is important."

"He's only separated though, you can't be on here and be separated, that's not how it works."

Some of the pictures are "from like 20 years ago" said Justine.

"He's a Buddhist though, that's not going to work."

"Some of them have kids and I was like, oh I could have a brother, I could have a younger sister!"

"Me and my roommate sat on here for like two hours. You know that's not the real person though, that's the only thing."

"I want a professor to be on here so bad, you have no idea."

UPDATE (5:40 p.m.)

Justine plans to print out a number of the profiles (using a free university printer, of course) and present them to her mom over spring break. "It's going to be a surprise."

UPDATE (5:46 p.m.)

On this article: "It reads like an Onion article," says Justine.

Footage of an average day's lunch at Catholic University's food court, which includes Chick-fil-A.