First the Pershing Park case. The Office of the Attorney General may have had serious trouble with another high profile lawsuit---the Georgetown Library fire case. In April 2007, a three-alarm fire gutted Georgetown's public library. Two hundred firefighters along with roughly two dozen trucks battled the blaze. That huge effort may not have translated into a thorough investigation into the fire's cause. Chief Dennis Rubin and Co.'s sloppy detective work may cost the city big time.

In a lawsuit stemming from the fire, a contractor has challenged the department's conclusions that heat guns caused the blaze. The contractor saw enough holes in the fire department's investigation to sue the District.  Whether heat guns caused the blaze or not, the lawsuit is making one thing clear: the OAG is having difficulties furnishing evidence and discovery materials.

And OAG lawyers are furious at fire department personnel.

If there ever was a fire that called out for a serious investigation, it would be the twin fires that gutted the library and Eastern Market. The Eastern Market fire continues to be a subject of debate. Apparently, according to e-mails obtained by City Desk, the Georgetown Library fire investigation was far from competent.

At one point, an OAG attorney calls into question whether fire investigators followed national standards, and whether those investigators should be punished.

Read More "OAG E-Mails Show Frustration With Fire Department; Did Investigators Botch The Georgetown Library Case?" »

The D.C. Council saw one of the livelier proceedings in recent memory this morning, when Peaceoholics co-founder Ronald Moten appeared before councilmembers Mary Cheh and Phil Mendelson in connection with their investigation into the donation of used city emergency equipment to the Dominican Republic.

The proceeding wasn't hearing, exactly, but an open deposition. Moten had originally been scheduled to give his deposition behind closed doors on Friday, but he declined to testify, citing the council's political motivations. Council staff agreed to let him say his piece in public today, in what Mendelson called a "very unusual" proceeding.

Moten set the tone early, with a combative opening statement decrying a "political smear campaign" targeting his organization. He accused councilmembers and media of "attacking the mayor at my organization's expense" and engaging in a "political charade" that has affected his business and his family. "We hold the council directly responsible for creating an atmosphere where such stories could flourish," he said of media accounts questioning his organization's role in the shadowy transfer. The questions will remain, he says, until the "thirst for political blood is quenched."

Read More "Mayoral Official, Friend Implicated at Council Fire Truck Proceeding" »

You've read about them all week in the pages of the Examiner and lesser publications! Now see them with your own eyes---the fire truck and ambulance once donated by the District government, controversially, to the Dominican Republic!

A well-tipped LL, accompanied by ace photog Darrow Montgomery, headed down in the LLmobile to the city property yard and warehouse on Adams Street NE this afternoon. Behind the warehouse, they found the two vehicles, a 1998 Seagrave pumper and a 2002 Ford E-450 ambulance, sitting comfortably behind traffic cones.

Both had affixed to their windshields labels from shipping concern Seaboard Marine. According to the shipper's Web site, it costs anywhere from $1,500 to $4,100 a piece to ship such machinery from Miami to Puerto Plata, DR, depending on its length.

Photos by Darrow Montgomery

My apologies to anyone who's been trying to get a hold of me for the past hour. I've been too busy giving pageviews to the Washingtonian. For good reason, too. The mag's February issue has a 14-Web-page expose on the city's Fire and Emergency Medical Services (FEMS) department.

The investigative piece, which puts to shame even the windiest of City Paper cover stories on the word-count front, delves into the decadeslong dysfunction in the agency. The basic message is that the people responsible for your well-being if you suffer a stroke, heart attack, or some other calamity are demoralized, underpaid, and poorly regarded by their firefighting peers in this agency.

One of the story's strongest points is its accountability moment for Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, who in his 2006 campaign promised to separate out the emergency medical part of the agency from its firefighting component. Here's the mag's treatment of that question:

Read More "Mr. Mayor: Why Did You Flip-Flop on FEMS?" »