Six days after entering Howard University Hospital for what's been reported as a case of dehydration, Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry was discharged today. At one point, he had been admitted to the hospital's intensive care unit.

His spokesperson, Natalie Williams, released a statement:

Councilmember Barry says he is feeling much better and is following his medical treatment plan. "I would like to first thank God for giving me the strength to rise above. By his grace, and the wonderful work of my doctors and the staff at Howard University Hospital, I am able to address my health issues more effectively. Nearly 8 months after receiving a new kidney, I am feeling very well and I am ready to get back to work. I thank the residents of the District for their love, concern, and many prayers."

The New York Times has a story today about farmed salmon from Chile that makes a few pretty scary points:

1. Chile used almost 350 times more antibiotics in its farmed salmon in 2008 than Norway, its chief competitor.
2. Chile is the biggest supplier of salmon supplier to the United States. So, if you’ve purchased the pretty pinkish fillets lately, they’ve likely come from Chile, though the story does note that Safeway and Wal-Mart, have reduced purchases of Chilean salmon due to concern about the fish illnesses that require producers there to use so many antibiotics.
3. Some of the antibiotics used in Chile are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Well, it’s not the lawn, exactly, but the country’s most widely used weed killer that French scientists say also kills human cells and may cause miscarriages, abnormal fetal development and low birth weight babies.

Environmental Health News reports today that one of the inert ingredients in Roundup, the country’s most widely used herbicide, might not be so innocuous after all. The story goes on to say: Read More "Is Your Lawn Killing You?" »

LL exclusive: Two George Washington University students have "probable" cases of H1N1 "swine" flu.

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty is minutes from convening a press conference to discuss the cases.

LL is told that both students have recovered and that they continue to be quarantined out of an abundance of caution.

UPDATE, 4:50 P.M.: Here is the official press release:

Read More "Two GWU Students With Probable Swine Flu" »

Thanks to the Washington Post's preview yesterday of the city's latest HIV/AIDS numbers, we know know that, with 3 percent of the population diagnosed, D.C.'s rates are "higher than West Africa" and "on par with Uganda and some parts of Kenya."

Those comparisons came from Dr. Shannon Hader, head of the city's HIV/AIDS Administration and a former public health officer who did extensive work in Africa. But LL and LL's boss had the thought: Is this just another example of the District suffering in an apples-to-oranges comparison---you know, where the District is compared to a state or country encompassing both urban, rural, and suburban areas rather than to its peer cities?

So after today's press conference on the numbers, LL asked Hader to put the numbers in context of American cities: "Our rates are twice as high as New York City and five times as high as Detroit," she said, adding she wasn't aware of a city with a higher infection rate.

Read More "How Does D.C.’s HIV Rate Compare to Other Cities?" »

Marion Barry, former mayor, current Ward 8 councilmember, and political legend, is awake and resting comfortably at Howard University Hospital this morning after six-hour kidney transplant surgery.

Said Barry spokesperson Natalie Williams, "I think of only two words: true soldier."

The surgery, which began shortly before 5 p.m. yesterday and ended around 11 p.m., has been thus far judged successful by doctors, though the possibility of rejection still exists. Scarring from previous surgery for prostate cancer complicated the procedure somewhat, doctors said, but not usually so. Chief Surgeon Clive O. Callender said that per usual procedure, Barry will get out of bed briefly today for routine exercises.

This morning, according to Williams, Barry slowly raised his hand, touched thumb to forefinger, and said, "I am A-OK." Bishop Glen Staples, pastor of Ward 8's Temple of Praise, said Barry was "in good spirits" and had an appetite this morning. He was given broth and tea.

Read More "Marion Barry After Surgery: “True Soldier”" »

Right now, At-Large Councilmember David A. Catania is nearly an hour into a roundtable he's holding on the operations of Whitman-Walker Clinic, the Logan Circle health center that's historically treated the city's gay and lesbian community and victims of HIV/AIDS. The inquiry follows the clinic's decision in December to lay off 26 employees and cut two facilities.

LL will have a lot more about this drama in his column this week, which will be posted later today, but Catania is wasting no time in attacking WWC Executive Director Don Blanchon for alleged financial mismanagement. Blanchon has yet to testify; he's sitting in the chamber as Catania grills pro-WWC witnesses, most of whom say they were asked to testify by the clinic.

Most witnesses seemed unaware that the hearing was focused on the clinic's finances rather than the care it delivers. Catania called it "strange" that the clinic wouldn't have sought assistance from District government before considering drastic layoffs.

Said one witness, "If what you say is true, it's not strange. It's alarming."

UPDATE, 3:45 P.M.: Catania is really laying in to Blanchon, a truly virtuoso performance of witness badgering. At one point, Catania started hammering Blanchon for not approaching the government for assistance. "This is a dereliction of you responsibility!" he said. Blanchon asked if he could comment. Replied Catania, "I'm not sure it's going to do you any good, but give it a shot."

Later Catania referred to the December firings this way: "It was a putsch! A classic Stalinesque tactic!" Blanchon was not able to respond after being compared to a mass murderer. "No, you may not respond," Catania said. "Just sit back and make yourself comfortable."

Jim Graham, who led the clinic for 15 years before becoming Ward 1 councilmember, has just entered the hearing. Graham has pretty much stayed out of clinic affairs since joining the council, but told LL yesterday that he was very concerned about the layoffs.

UPDATE, 4:30 P.M.: If Blanchon was hoping Graham was going to throw him a lifeline, it isn't happening. He's particularly peeved about the circumstances of the December firings of senior staff, just before Christmas with no severance. "How would you feel" being fired under those circumstances, Graham asked. Said Blanchon, "I would feel horrible."

"You know there's this thing called karma...," Graham said.

UPDATE, 6:15 P.M.: LL's column on the matter has just been posted.

Catania closed the hearing at about 5 p.m., after personally attacking Blanchon's credibility and leadership. "I feel like I've been duped," he told Blanchon at one point. "I don't trust you." He went on to criticize the clinic's declining financial health, saying, "Structurally, you have a deficit that is not going to be fixed by you.

Blanchon briefly mustered a defense of his tenure, speaking up for his employees and board, but it only set Catania off on another extended rant.

Before closing, Catania held out the possibilities of subpoenas and/or depositions. He then essentially called for his resignation: "I don't have confidence in your leadership of the clinic," he said. "I feel duped. Gerry Connolly [the former chair of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, now congressman] feels the same way, other members of this council."

Blanchon had no comment after the hearing.

A man died Monday morning while receiving treatment for a drug addiction at a District facility.

Sandy Ethridge, 59, was pronounced dead at Prince George's Hospital Center on the morning of Dec. 15. He had been admitted on Dec. 11 to the Addiction Prevention and Recovery Administration's detox facility on the D.C. General campus, according to sister Annie Holder.

Ethridge, a resident of Potomac Gardens in Capitol Hill, had been sent to detox under a court order, Holder says; he had been admitted to the facility several times before for treatment of drug and alcohol addictions. On Monday morning, according to an account related to Holder by a detective investigating the death, Ethridge was seen by a fellow patient using a needle and syringe to inject drugs in a facility bathroom. When patients were awakened for breakfast a few hours later, according to the account, he was discovered to be unconscious and unresponsive and was taken to the Maryland hospital.

"I said, 'Well, where did he get [the drugs] from?" Holder says.

An investigation into the cause of death is pending, according to the Maryland medical examiner's office. A call to the investigating detective today was not immediately returned.

If Ethridge was indeed determined to have died from a drug overdose, it raises serious questions about security at the APRA facility, which is charged with providing indigent District residents with inpatient addiction treatment. Facility policies require strictly controlled access to the facility and thorough searches of patients upon admittance.

Dr. Pierre Vigilance, head of the District's health department, declined to comment on the specifics of Ethridge's death. "The passing of any client is unfortunate. We take this situation very seriously, and we are in the process of carefully reviewing this matter. Out of respect for our client's privacy we are unable to provide details of his demise at this time."