Dimitri P. Mallios, Washington's "dean of Alcoholic Beverage Control attorneys," died yesterday at 77.

Mallios was first among a relatively small cadre of D.C. attorneys representing restaurants, bars, clubs, and hotels in front of city liquor authorities; his services helped myriad establishments navigate an arcane licensing process and fend off countless neighbors and advisory neighborhood commissions.

He had been battling cancer for more than five years, says his law partner Steve O'Brien. Mallios had been active and practicing before his illness suddenly worsened a week ago.

Read More "RIP: Dimitri Mallios, ‘Dean’ of D.C. Liquor Lawyers" »

Jared Bowers was arrested after hoisting himself on top of a van in front of the Starboard, dropping his pants and twirling his dick at a bustling Route 1. In the police report, one bystander described the maneuver as a “whirlybird.”

That was last year. In 2009, Bowers has managed three arrests, scoring a felony on the third. It’s the sixth time Dewey Beach Police have collared Bowers. They even banned him from the town.
What makes Whirlybird Bowers come back for more?

Read More "Whirlybird Bowers" »

Perhaps this is Dewey crime at its most essential: several teenagers mobbing a 40-year-old woman inside a very crowded Mama Celeste’s, slipping on slices of pizza, mashing cheese fries into the floor. The most serious injury? An 18-year-old girl with bite marks in her forehead.

Read More "Woman Bites Teen; Pizza to Blame" »

Sorry to break this news: But it turns out that mixing caffeine and alcohol may not the best way to party all night and get up for work the next morning, chipper as ever.

The maker of the caffeinated schnapps Wide Eye has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that its advertisements were “deceptive, unsubstantiated, and in violation of federal law.”

Read More "Alcohol + Caffeine = No-No, FTC Says" »

Hello. I'm Rob Kunzig. I'm a reporter and editor living in coastal Delaware, and I want to introduce you to Dewey Beach.

A mile south of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, Route 1 swerves right and the speed limit drops to 30. A marquee advertises the bands blowing through town that week, mostly burnt-out ’90s legends and cover bands. The crosswalks are busy with bikinied girls and shirtless frat boys lugging 30-racks of Miller Light. The highway ahead is a corridor of traffic lights and bar signs that glow and hum like bug zappers. A greeting placard reads DEWEY BEACH: A WAY OF LIFE.

Read More "Welcome to Dewey Beach" »

Good morning, City Desk readers. Some news:

• OffSeventh has a message for Feinstein and Bennett, regarding extended bar hours for inauguration: "Stick to your states unless you are willing to pay for this whole thing." Edgar says, "I’m sick of these new arrivals trying to smear their smelly poop all over the most excellent party to hit DC since Nixon resigned."
• What is (was) Truxton Circle? Where would it go? (Why) Do we need it? bloomingdale (for now) makes the case for bringing Truxton back.
• Petworth News reminds you that there's an art fair this weekend at Domku. (If you're not up for Scandinavian food, check out Kilroy Cleaners--it's participating in the art fair by offering 5% dry cleaning discounts!)
• And Now, Anacostia has updates on the community's efforts to save 1357 Good Hope.
• Officer Chante Brodie, the MPD's community outreach coordinator for 4D, has some advice on how to keep your home and neighborhood burglary-free. (Speaking only for my stretch of street: I'd have to call the cops every 15 minutes if I stuck to these guidelines.)
• Jesse Jackson Jr. didn't do it.
• Those bastards in Detroit got what they wanted. If Mark Pinsky has anything to say about it, journalism is next on the list.

Photo courtesy of flickr user walknboston.

DCist points to a load of confusion over the District's plans to extend drinking hours in the days leading up to the inauguration.

Here's what LL knows: This is not a done deal, and it looks likely that the 5 a.m. hour will change.

This morning, Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham walked into the pre-legislative-session breakfast meeting and told his colleagues about his plan.

LL noticed that Graham seemed somewhat tentative over the prospects for the bill, and he did not in fact mention the 5 a.m. cutoff in his initial remarks on the matter. He said that "negotiations are ongoing."

"The debate is about the time," he said, "whether it's reasonable."

For the record, many of Graham's colleagues issued strong support for the 5 a.m. time, including Chair Vincent C. Gray, Ward 2's Jack Evans, and at-larger David Catania.

Ward 6's Tommy Wells raised an interesting point: "What's the point of 5 a.m.? So you can start drinking at 8 again?"

Graham expressed the likelihood that he would hold off on presenting the bill, negotiate whatever needs to be negotiated, and bring it back for the council's final legislative session on Dec. 16. Evans was more gung ho: "Just pick a number---we'll support it!"

Catania got the last word in: "After eight years of Bush, we all need a drink."

Here we are at 6:30 p.m., and the drinking-hours bill has not yet come up. The bill is emergency legislation, which traditionally comes last. ("Emergency" means that it's a bill that will go into effect immediately; it's distinguished from regular legislation, which doesn't go into effect until a congressional review period is up. The trade-off is that emergency legislation expires after 90 days and needs nine votes to pass.)

LL will update here when they get to it.

UPDATE, 6:45 P.M.: Graham spokesperson David Lipscomb says the bill will come up today. The only change that will be made, he says, is that nightclubs will be exempted from the extended hours, at the request of the mayor.

UPDATE, 7:15 P.M.: OK, they've started the debate. Here's Mendo the party pooper: "There are very few people I know of who are out partying at 5 o'clock in morning...who are not out getting drunk." Duh! He cites an already overstretched police force for voting agin' it.

UPDATE, 7:25 P.M.: In initial vote, on emergency declaration, vote is 12-1, with Mendo dissenting. Bah humbug.

Now they've moved to the bill itself. Catania is Mr. Party---introduces amendment to scrap the nightclub exception! Graham says to keep it, citing discussions today with "various stakeholders...not the least of which is the mayor."

UPDATE, 7:30 P.M.: Marion Barry, who knows from a good time, supports the Catania Amendment, as fine a piece a legislation as has moved through this august body today.

UPDATE, 7:40 P.M.: Here's the Catania Amendment tally. Party people: Thomas, Alexander, Barry, Brown, Catania, Cheh, Evans, Gray; party poopers: Mendelson, Schwartz, Wells, Bowser, Graham. Woooo! Nightclubs are in!

UPDATE, 7:41 P.M.: Mendo, Carol, and Bowser end up voting no. Graham votes no "in order to honor the commitment I made to the mayor." Tally is 9-4 in favor of LATE-NIGHT DRUNKENNESS!

LL approves.

Steinberg's got the memo.

Anyone who's been to a preseason game got any reports on the effectiveness of the new policy so far?

Here's another idea: Ban alcohol sales within the stadium and consumption outside the stadium. Last Redskins game I went to offered remarkably good arguments for such a policy---from the guys doing "Sean!" "Taylor!" call-and-response beer shotgunning (it's how 21 would have wanted it) in the parking lot to the creepy grit lady passing around the booze she smuggled in via her socks to the guy who tried to stomp his seat to death after Gibbs' plan to freeze Buffalo's kicker hit a snag.

In my experience, Scottish soccer stadiums don't sell alcohol, mostly to prevent fans of opposing "sides" from amplifying their everyday mindless violence.

Then again, this might be a bad year for Skins fans to stop drinking.