Courtesy of WRC-TV, here is video of LL, WTOP's Mark Segraves, and WRC's Tom Sherwood vainly trying to extract some answers from Mayor Adrian M. Fenty on his adherence to the DCPS enrollment process:

This morning, local reporters gathered at a press event at the John A. Wilson Building honoring the World Team Tennis champion Washington Kastles. We, of course, were interested in something besides the fabulous tennis team. That, of course, was to give Mayor Adrian M. Fenty one more opportunity to explain how his twin sons ended up in out-of-boundary Lafayette Elementary School.

Things got pretty darn testy. Listen here:

WTOP's Mark Segraves kicked things off by asking Fenty if every student who wanted to get into Lafayette Elemetary got in.

"I'm not answering any more questions about Lafayette or my kids," he replied.

Read More "Fenty Vexed by School Questions" »

This morning, the Washington Post reported that at least one of Mayor Adrian Fenty's twin sons attended class at Lafayette Elementary School this morning---thus, it seems, making good on a vintage campaign promise from Fenty to have his kids attend D.C. Public Schools.

Yet Fenty, strangely, did not go out of his way to advertise that fact at a press conference early this morning. In fact, Hizzoner was quite terse in addressing questions about his kids, saying he would not discuss the matter out of respect for their "private life." This evening, mayoral spokesperson Mafara Hobson doubled down on her boss' silence, releasing this statement: "This morning Mayor Fenty and his wife, Michelle, officially enrolled their boys in DC Public Schools. Out of respect for the boys' privacy, he has declined to comment further."

But the fact is that his desire for privacy is caught up in a sticky political situation: Lafayette isn't the Fenty family's neighborhood school---that would be the somewhat lower performing West Elementary, at 14th and Farragut Streets NW. And the question is, how did the Fenty kids come to be enrolled at high-achieving Lafayette, across Rock Creek Park?

Read More "Fenty Mum on Kids’ DCPS Schooling" »

This week's Loose Lips column delves into the background behind Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's move to evict Cora Masters Barry and her Recreation Wish List Committee from the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center---a beautiful eight-year old facility in Congress Heights.

Some questions remain unanswered: For one, why did this happen in the first place? When the story initially broke, Attorney General Peter Nickles explained that the city discovered that RWLC's corporate registration had lapsed through "random checks of nonprofit organizations that do business with the city."

LL finally connected yesterday with Nickles to ask him about the origin of the probe. He says the random check was part of a Fenty administration effort to review city arrangements with nonprofit organizations in the wake of misconduct allegations against Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry.

So, it seems that Cora Barry's current problems were collateral damage from her estranged husband's nonprofit woes.

Read More "Did Marion Barry Get His Wife Evicted From Her Tennis Center?" »

Yesterday, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's office issued the following press release: 'Fenty Administration Shuts Down 14th Vacant Problem Property in Ward Six for the Year.'

The release goes on to explain how the Ward 6 Core Team Drug Haven/Vacant Problem Property Initiative 'shut down' an H Street NE structure as part of its program to shutter 'vacant commercial and residential properties that are home to drug and prostitution activities in Ward 6.' It goes on to detail the program, compete with content-free boilerplate quotes from top agency honchos.

Aside from the question of how you 'shut down' an already vacant property, why, pray tell, is this news?

Is it because...

Read More "Fenty Issues Press Release; Why Care?" »

WaPo has a nice little incremental story on the controversy surrounding the Recreation Wish List Committee's looming eviction from the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center. Fenty and Co. appear confused about how to handle the Committee's Honcho Cora Masters Barry. D.C. Wire writes:

"'If Cora Barry gets her corporate papers together, then we will determine if she can play a role in the future plans of the city' said Fenty spokeswoman Erica Stanley early Wednesday.

However, Mafara Hobson, Fenty's director of communications, called a short time later to say that Stanley's comments did not accurately describe the administration's position.

'While we can't comment on leasing or contracting issues, the administration appreciated the contribution and partnership of Cora Masters Barry over the years,' Hobson said. 'We will work hard to find ways to continue working with her going forward.'

Whatever the Barry-Fenty partnership may be, this reads like the administration is prepared to evict Barry from 701 Mississippi Avenue SE. What could the future work be?

The District's move to evict Cora Masters Barry's Recreation Wish List Committee from the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center has certainly caused a late-summer dust-up among politicos. District officials have given Masters Barry 30 days to vacate the facility, citing that the committee's corporate charter had lapsed.

In Sunday's WaPo story, AG Peter Nickles stood firm on the decision to send Masters-Barry an eviction notice, saying: "Legally, you can't give them a break. This is not the fault of the city. They should have known better. They were trying to do business with the city when they knew their status as a registered D.C. corporation had been revoked by the government."

But Committee Board Chair Chance Patterson tells City Desk, the District erred when it originally notified the nonprofit that its corporate status had been revoked. Patterson claims the organization never received any warning or notice. In fact, Patterson says, the city mailed the notification to the wrong address.

“It was an early address," Patterson says. "I don’t know if someone moved. It never got re-routed. It was sent to an address that no one was aware of. We’ve been very diligent about our paperwork in general in all the other areas.”

In a letter sent to the city today, the non-profit's lawyer, A. Scott Bolden made similar arguments.

Read More "Claim: Cora Masters Barry And Co. Weren’t Properly Notified Prior To Eviction Notice" »

From this week's New Yorker profile of Michael Bloomberg, by Ben McGrath:

Far more than Rudy Giuliani, who parlayed his symbolic role as the stoic face of leadership after September 11th into the honorary title of America’s Mayor, Bloomberg deserves the label, advising lesser cities in replicating his data-driven initiatives, like a political franchise. “They see it as part of their mission to export ideas,” Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, said of Bloomberg’s crew....Booker and other ambitious younger mayors around the country, like Adrian Fenty, in Washington, D.C., call him Papa Smurf.

Which raises the question, which Smurf does that make Fenty?

Read More "Which Smurf is Adrian Fenty?" »

Seems the fake Adrian Fenty Twitterer, "FentyDC," now has some competition. From the real Fenty - or, "MayorFenty."

Read More "Get Your Twitter On: The Battle of “FentyDC” v. “MayorFenty”" »

As much local politics as humanly possible. Send your tips, releases, stories, events, etc. to lips@washingtoncitypaper.com. And get LL Daily sent straight to your inbox every morning.

Morning all. Late last night, we published a piece on the latest mystery woman in Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry's life: Sharon Bowen. Bowen, who resides in Ohio, received $50,000 in contract work from the legendary politico to work on poverty issues in Ward 8. Bowen, our sources say, was also Barry's girlfriend at the time (June 2007 to May 2008). For the piece, we detail her work and interview key players including Barry and Bowen's daughter. Meanwhile, the Hill Rag's The Nose examines Barry's legislative record and finds it lacking in accomplishments. The upshot: many of Barry's bills go nowhere and his priorities seem misplaced.

TREY JOYNER: The U.S. Park Police shooting of Trey Joyner on June 8 is getting a serious look by law enforcement authorities. On that Monday night, four park police cops in plainclothes moved in on Joyner as he was getting out of a car. When the officers tried to arrest him, allegedly a struggle ensued and he was gunned down. Witnesses at the time stated that Joyner was shot in the back and that the officers did not announce themselves. Now, WaPo is reporting that a federal grand jury is getting deep into the case and has subpoenaed an amateur video showing the chaos in Trinidad after the shooting. The WaPo scoop includes an interview with the filmmaker and has the man's video. Fox-5 finds Eleanor Holmes Norton is still fuming over whether or not the U.S. Attorney's Office should be leading the investigation into the shooting. If only all suspicious police shootings got this much attention.

HOMELESS FAMILIES: District officials plan to expand the number of beds for homeless families by 10 percent. But there's a catch: the extra beds will only be available in the winter. WaPo reports that means 75 more beds (WUSA also has the story). Key graphs:

"Nassim Moshiree, a lawyer with the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, said the officials who presented the plan seemed overconfident. 'This past spring, 88 families were living at the family shelter at D.C. General Hospital when the capacity was 75,' Moshiree said. 'Some had to stay in the cafeteria. They say they'll only need 75 beds there in the winter, when demand is high now. Where is their Plan B? They need a Plan B.'

Fred Swan, family services administrator for the Department of Human Services, said Moshiree voiced a common complaint. 'To a certain extent, we hear that every year,' Swan said. 'We'll make adjustments as needed.'

AFTER THE JUMP---Cathy Lanier dismisses the controversy over the "police" report in Fenty's car accident, Harry Jaffe continues to hammer away at the Pershing Park case, Fenty signs anti-crime bill, and much, much more.

Read More "Marion Barry’s Mystery Woman Revealed: Loose Lips Daily" »

The Washington Post, also in possession of the Mayor Adrian M. Fenty collector's edition accident report from his Sunday evening collision in Northwest D.C., notes that the report

seems to indicate that several police procedures were violated, including that the names of passengers in Fenty's vehicle were not listed on the accident form and pictures were not taken at the scene even though a city vehicle was apparently damaged. The report was taken by a member of Fenty's security detail and not a regular patrol officer.

The "detailed narrative" says that Fenty reported being struck by James Gambrill Utt Jr., which is what Fenty's spokesperson told the Post earlier in the week. But Allison Klein notes that the report lists Fenty's as the "striking vehicle/object."

According to the same narrative, Utt said he never saw Fenty.

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty had a traffic accident on Sunday night, as has been widely reported. Here, we bring you the collector's edition police report [PDF].

Read More "Complaint No. 09-109484: Fenty’s Traffic Accident Report" »

A heretofore mystery man in the fishy fire truck affair has spoken: Vladimir Céspedes, mayor of the Dominican Republic city of Sosúa, told reporters today about the caper that has generated a great deal of political heat in this town.

Turns out it's not just this town. Céspedes, through a translator, tells LL that he has his own political problems: His own city council wants to know what happened to the $11,000 in city money he paid expecting a fire truck and ambulance in return---not a small amount in a city of 50,000 that has a municipal budget totaling $100,000 per month. There was no written contract, he says, just a receipt from the shipper.

"Not only they, but I want the money back," Céspedes says.

That money, he says, was paid in cash to Sinclair Skinner, friend and political associate of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, in the expectation that the funds would finance transport of the rigs to Sosúa. Skinner, Céspedes explained, has presented himself as being very close to Fenty.

Read More "Dominican Mayor Says $11,000 Paid for Trucks That Never Came" »

The Atlantic Coast joint fundraiser is getting to become a bit of a tradition.

On July 14, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty will travel to New York for a fundraiser for that city's chief exec, Michael Bloomberg, according to a New York Daily News report.

Read More "Fenty to Help Raise Money for Bloomberg" »

The fishy fire truck testimony delivered last Thursday by Peaceoholics co-founder Ronald Moten before the D.C. Council was plenty dramatic, but the drama apparently did not end with the pound of the gavel.

Since then, a classic council-executive scuffle has broken out over broadcasts of the proceeding on city cable, with allegations flying that Mayor Adrian M. Fenty himself has become personally involved.

Because Thursday's proceeding was considered a "public deposition" rather than a council hearing (it was supposed to be behind closed doors until Moten demanded otherwise), the councilmembers heading up the fire truck investigation---Mary Cheh and Phil Mendelson---determined that its contents should not be disseminated. That's in keeping with the usual council practice on depositions, which are kept under wraps, so other witnesses won't change their testimony to make their stories consistent (Never mind that LL and other reporters already did plenty of disseminating.)

Read More "D.C. Council Riled Over TV Airing of Fire Truck Testimony" »