Archive for the ‘Bureaucracy’ Category

New Facebook Group Dedicated To Saving The Smithsonian’s Petting Zoo

There's a new facebook group dedicated to saving the Smithsonian's petting zoo, which – according to the Smithsonian's 2012 proposed budget – will be closing in the spring or early summer due to budget cuts. (Budget cuts? The Smithsonian asked for $100 million more in appropriations for FY 2012 than it received in its last [...]

Is the Weedman a Catholic University Student? (And Is He Just One Man?)

If Sunday night's home-invasion robbery in Brookland had not come to such a horrific end, it's a good bet D.C. would be spending this week pondering the identity of the city's newest pseudonymous drug-culture celebrity: The Weedman.
The three-man crew who allegedly stormed the group-house home of six Catholic University students at about 10:30 that night [...]

ABC Board Stalls Sale of Club Love

The sale of Love Nightclub won't be going through quite as quickly as the people involved in the transaction were hoping.
Love, on Okie Street NE off New York Avenue, shuttered for three months earlier this year after a non-fatal stabbing inside the club on New Year’s Day. Since reopening, the club has only catered special events. [...]

Details on NPR Intern Stabbing

It may not come as a surprise that the 24-year-old District woman who allegedly stabbed 20-year-old NPR intern Annie Ropeik multiple times and for no particular reason Wednesday morning is mentally ill. Recently filed charging documents say Melodie Anne Brevard has been diagnosed as having Bipolar Type II disorder. Brevard was supposed [...]

Shooting in Congress Heights

An adult male was shot this afternoon near Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE and Malcolm X Avenue SE. Police say the victim is conscious and alert. D.C. EMTs are transporting him, in serious condition, to a trauma center. Peaceaholics founder Ron Moten tells City Paper the victim is a 34-year-old man, and the shooting came [...]

Suspicious Package More Suspicious Than Usual [UPDATED]

WJLA-TV is reporting an "escalated response" to today's suspicious package at 19th and F Streets NW, which had authorities tied up for five hours, sealing off several square blocks surrounding the World Bank and parts of the George Washington University campus.
Some witnesses may have even heard a "small explosion," according the local ABC affiliate's Jennifer Donelan, who describes the overall level of police response [...]

Another Blaze Scorches Joe Englert’s Boozy Empire

Popular H Street NE hangout The Argonaut is closed following an apparent kitchen fire on Sunday morning. Photos of the extensive damage have been posted on the place's own web site, which also dishes up some details on the Argo's post-blaze hangover:  
Most of you may not know this, but our kitchen used to be an alley. Which means that [...]

Jim Graham On Developer Donations: ‘Ain’t No Corruption In Me’

Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham has managed to raise more than $210,000, according to recent campaign finance reports. You can bet that the coffers of his challengers–Bryan Weaver and Jeff Smith–are tiny in comparison. Graham's major moolah seems to imply he has some moneyed friends. Of course, there's nothing wrong with that. Well, unless one of those friends was once [...]

Will Mt. Pleasant Go To Haydee’s? Owners, NIMBYs Await ABC Ruling

Haydee Vanegas is confident that city regulators will ultimately rule in her favor. "We expect a good answer," she tells City Desk.
The co-owner of Haydee's, a Salvadorean restaurant at 3102 Mt. Pleasant Street NW, sparked a neighborhood fight earlier this year when she decided to apply for a CN-class nightclub license, a move that would [...]

Neighborhood Watch: No Voluntary Do-Overs in Georgetown

The Issue: Six Georgetown restaurants, including four along Washington Harbour, are trying to back out of their voluntary agreements with neighbors. The VAs, as they're often called in NIMBY circles, legally bind the operators to certain hours and methods of operation as a condition of their licenses to sell alcohol. Violations of these agreements tend to draw [...]

Friendly Card Game Leads to Homicide at Salina Restaurant

Silver Spring resident Assefaw Hagos was having some drinks last Friday at Salina, an Ethiopian-style restaurant also serving Italian food at 1936 9th Street NW.
Sometime after the dramatic conclusion to Game 5 of the NBA semifinals between the Phoenix Suns and the L.A. Lakers, Hagos, 40, asked the restaurant's proprietor, Terfneh Kahsay, if he could go upstairs, where a card game [...]

D.C. Council Catches World Cup Fever (Sort of)

 
Emergency legislation passed by D.C. Council yesterday allowing D.C. bars to open as early as 7 a.m. during the World Cup soccer tournament in South Africa would seem to suggest the presence of a few footy fans in the upper eschelons of city government, right?
Well, sort of. "Soccer has enormous interest everywhere, from what I [...]

Romeo Morgan and Cliff Valenti Bury the Hatchet (Sort of)

Romeo Morgan is fed up with waiting on community leaders to endorse his liquor license application, some 234 days now and counting, he says.
“We have people who are elected as ANC commissioners to represent us in our neighborhood, but then my ANC commissioner refused to even put me on the schedule to be heard, because [...]

Pat-Down Protocols Queried After Slashing at Club Muse

Muse Nightclub and Lounge, located at 717 6th Street NW, plans to reopen with tighter security procedures after D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier shut the place down for 96 hours in reaction to a May 16 face slashing.
The violence erupted when one male club-goer bumped into another. There was some shoving, a head butt and two [...]

Building Collapse, Gas Leak on Morgan Street [UPDATED]

A rowhouse being renovated at 216 Morgan Street NW has partially collapsed, D.C. Fire and EMS spokesperson Pete Piringer tells City Desk. "There are no reported injuries," he says.
But that's not all. Piringer says there's also a gas leak in the area. Streets are cordoned off. Canine units have been dispatched to sniff out the leak. [...]