"I don't want to go in this motherfucker."

Frank is standing in a grassy corner at the edge of the D.C. Superior Court entrance. He stares down at the steady rush of people waiting to be checked through the security entrance. He is wearing designer shades, a designer beige knit cap, and clean jeans cuffed at the tops of his bright sneakers. He's a skinny dude, and youngish. He's no teenager. But he's no old-timer. For every newbie, Frank mumbles his line.

"I don't want to go in this motherfucker."

Frank says he has been here before. He is halfway through his Newport. He'd like to wait a little longer before going into this motherfucker. "I got another cigarette," Frank says. It's 8:30 a.m.

Frank is here for a show-cause hearing on charges he claims to know nothing about. But ignorance isn't bliss. He waits. And waits. He smokes his Newport down to the filter. The wind is starting to pick up. A firefighter hustles up to the entrance and mumbles about his case, too. The firefighter looks lost. He turns away and walks down the block. He will soon come back. A half dozen men and women line up. All Frank hears is their rolling carry-on suitcases. Plastic wheels against concrete. Only Frank has time to talk.

"I'll be all right," Frank says. "What's going to happen is going to happen."

Frank saves his extra Newport and walks inside. In a few minutes, he will pass through the security check and take a seat outside a third floor courtroom and wait some more.

A father of twin boys filed a class-action lawsuit in D.C. Superior Court against WASA over the lead warning foul up, the Washington Post is reporting. John Parkhurst's two boys, the Post writes, "now 8, were toddlers when lead spiked to dangerous levels in the city's drinking water from 2001 to 2004. They now have learning and behavior problems that require therapy and medication that the lawsuit said costs between $30,000 and $40,000 a year." The Post had the scoop last week on the water issue.

Read More "First Lawsuit Filed Over Lead Warnings" »

George Washington University is raising its notoriously high tuition. We are gonna have to update our story on the institution. Can someone please explain to me what GW is known for? Is it really worth the money? It can't possibly be worth money.

Read More "GWU Doesn’t Think There’s A Recession" »

I wanted to see if there was an update posted on William Van Croft--the missing boy the D.C. Police were so late in spreading the word on. When I tried the department's website, I just got this:

"The website is currently offline for maintenance.  It will be back online shortly.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused."

Shortly? Hmmm. I tried the site at 4:30. And now at about 10 p.m. Monday morning update: I'm still getting this.

Is it just me or is the case against Miguel Tejada a bit small? The former Orioles standout obviously doesn't think so. Tejada just pled guilty to lying to Congress. According to the Post account: "Federal prosecutors alleged that Tejada lied to staffers when he told them he never discussed steroids with other players and didn't know anybody using the substances."

Tejada lied about buying HGH. But he stated that he had misgivings about using the performance enhancer and threw out the drugs. Prosecutors don't have enough evidence showing that he actually used the drug. So he just lied about buying them.

The Post writes:

"Although not charged with taking performance-enhancing drugs or lying about using them, Tejada nevertheless becomes the latest prominent major leaguer to become ensnared in the steroids scandal hammering baseball."

Read More "Tejada Case Seems Small Time" »

Who knew Leon Harris had a blog? This guy used to fill up the dead air on CNN. He currently provides the gravitas over at WJLA which he has done for some time.  And apparently, he also invokes the common man's perspective on his blog. Of executive pay limits, he writes under a post called "Unbelievable!":

"A recurring theme among the execs and their allies has been 'if you limit their pay, the will take their talent to other companies, and things will only get worse for the bailed-out ones.' Is that the sorriest blackmail, or is it just me?"

It's not just you.

Then there's the blog post about Dionne Warwick.

Read More "Leon Harris Meets Dionne Warwick" »

Now, Marion Barry is telling Bruce Johnson that his new tax problem was a result of a serious medical condition. So yeah people now are going to quiz Barry about his prostate and poke at his bad kidneys, inspect his rusty pimp strut, and analyze his weak handshake (not sure about the handshake). All of this new spectacle involving our Councilmember for Life is just sad and annoying. Prosecutors now want Barry in the clink.

The request may be reasonable but it's not decent. It says way more about the prosecutors' ambitions than about Barry's screw up. I doubt Barry knows how e-mail works let alone Turbo Tax. Last time I FOIA-ed for his e-mails I got his chief of staff's e-mails.

I say leave the poor man alone. Make him do community service. And question his attorney Fred Cooke who walked Barry through the last fight over unpaid taxes. Is this guy still helping Barry? Or has Cooke given up on the man?

5:50 p.m. Update: Barry says he needs a kidney transplant.

This morning I did something I rarely do on Twitter. I wrote what was exactly on my mind (which I guess is the point of twitter). I typed out: "Jake Tapper had the best question at the Obama press conference." I sat there last night watching the Obama press conference like it was event television. I'm a sucker. Tapper was one of the few reporters who asked a question aimed at getting Obama off the talking points. He asked Obama what benchmarks or milestones or measurements his administration and the public could use to see if the stimulus plan was working. In other words, how would we know if the trillion bucks were gonna cough up is money well spent.

It was a great question.

I pretty much have forgotten Obama's answer. But I remembered the moment as a typical Tapper moment. He's not your average political correspondent/hack. Since he left CP years ago, I have read and watched Tapper with amazement at his ability to churn out good copy for Salon, and solid pieces for Nightline and his politics blog. So it was just odd to read today the anonymous carping from the press corps about Tapper.

Read More "Jake Tapper Gets The Spotlight" »

I have been trying to figure out Michael Steele for the last week or so. Every since he won the RNC's top job that has meant more TV chat show appearances where he talks up tax cuts and talks down Obama. He just doesn't sound that smart. Yesterday, Steele told a Politico reporter that Obama's stimulus package "is just a wish list from a lot of people who have been on the sidelines for years.. to get a little bling, bling."

Read More "Michael Steele Is Our New Sarah Palin" »

The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund recently filed a complaint in D.C. Superior Court demanding the D.C. Police Department comply with established Freedom of Information Act statutes. According to the Partnership for Civil Justice, the department has been stonewalling them on producing the most basic police information.

Read More "Complaint: D.C. Police Suck At Responding To FOIAs" »

Good morning, City Desk readers! Not only is it Freedom Friday (again)--it's also pay day for yours truly, which means I'm going to blow a wad on Listerine and Slim Jims later tonight. And now, the news:

Read More "Our Morning Round Up: Basted With Sad Sauce" »

Ding, dong, Juicy Campus is dead.

It seems even the slimiest of web gossip websites cannot seem to make the cut in these economic times. JuicyCampus.com (which the Sexist wrote about here) is shutting down tomorrow, according to a press release sent out just after 12:30 p.m. today.

From Matt Ivester, Juicy Campus founder & CEO:

"Unfortunately, even with great traffic and strong user loyalty, a business can’t survive and grow without a steady stream of revenue to support it.  In these historically difficult economic times, online ad revenue has plummeted and venture capital funding has dissolved.  JuicyCampus’ exponential growth outpaced our ability to muster the resources needed to survive this economic downturn, and as a result, we are closing down the site as of Feb. 5, 2009."

Full letter after the jump.

Read More "Breaking: JuicyCampus Comes to an End" »

On Saturday, Jan 31, 24-year-old Corey Harrison pulled off a pretty incredible stunt. It was 5:30 p.m. He had been arrested by D.C. Police as a fugitive from P.G. County. There has been a bench warrant issued for him in a child support case. But after being arrested, Mr. Harrison promptly escaped from custody at the United Medical Center at 1310 Southern Avenue SE.

On February 2, D.C. Police finally released a press release asking for help. They provided the details of his escape:

"He escaped from a men’s room by climbing through the ceiling of the restroom and then making his way to another room.  When he escaped, he was wearing a white T-shirt, boxer shorts and a handcuff on one wrist."

So, officers: Why the handcuff on just the one wrist? In the middle of winter, you couldn't find a guy running around wearing a t-shirt and boxers?

Harrison is still on the loose.

As loyal readers know, I have recently been given the coveted beat of covering Dionne Warwick almost full time. Warwick was to host one of the American Music Inaugural Balls--specifically the Legends Ball. The Legends Ball, along with the Urban Ball, were canceled at the last minute. This left a lot of people pissed off and a hotel staff left to deal with those hurt feelings and mountains of food. Warwick ended up on the night of January 20 playing Entertainment Tonight reporter at the Purple Ball. Warwick later gave an interview to the Washington Post which confused people.

The ball cancellation issue hasn't gone away. Today, in my e-mail inbox, came a message directly from Dionne Warwick. OK, it's actually directly from Dionne Warwick's publicist! Kevin Sasaki, "Public Relations Representative for Dionne Warwick" writes:

It was with great dismay, regret and disappointment that Ms. Warwick faced with the cancellation of the American Music Legend and Urban Balls to which she agreed to lend her name. When asked to lend her name as “host,” she was sincerely taken by the premise of what this event promised to be: for her to be associated with a historic gathering of young and old people of all backgrounds to celebrate the inauguration. Like her disenchanted guests, Ms. Warwick, too, was robbed of her name, reputation and her efforts on behalf of this event.

The p.r. flack goes on to talk about just who let Ms. Warwick down.

Read More "Dionne Warwick Defends Self Over Ball Flap" »

Bob Woodward suggested on TV that the Obama administration may be rocked by scandal soon enough. The investigative journalist hinted that it has something to do with a nanny problem. Meanwhile, Mike Madden of Salon reports that the White House's e-mail system is down. Wonkette provides the witty commentary for the e-mail problem:

"Sorry dudes all the resumes you sent to the White House this morning were not received, because George Bush broke the emails before he left office. Jesus, nothing in the White House works, nothing!"

And Obama moves on fuel standards.