Live Like DSK: Always wanted to lead the life of a self-important French politician, but never had the right real estate to do it? You're in luck! The Georgetown home former IMF head, former rape defendant, and erstwhile-next-French-prime-minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn and his wife Anne Sinclair own is on the market, for the low, low price of $5.2 million. Which is good news for all of us, even if we don't have that kind of cash, as it means DSK will probably be leaving D.C. +1

Designated Driver: Taking a shuttle bus around town to hop between Howard University homecoming parties this weekend might have seemed like a good idea—no need to worry about who was doing the driving that way, after all. Unless, that is, you were on the shuttle bus that crashed into a car, a lamppost, and a taxi on Sherman Avenue NW, causing police to arrest the driver. Maybe walking is the better plan. -2

iDistrict: By the time the iPhone 7 comes out, you may be able to camp out all night to buy it without going to Georgetown, Bethesda, or Pentagon City. Apple is reportedly considering opening a store in the CityCenterDC development under construction on the site of the old convention center downtown. For some reason, the stores have become tourist attractions; the one in midtown Manhattan is the most-frequently geotagged location in the city on Flickr. Call it the Apple Museum and enlist the Smithsonian? +1

Beck To The Future: The Washington Redskins had, allegedly, solved all their problems by swapping one journeyman quarterback for another. John Beck would improve on Rex Grossman's performance and the team would get back to winning. Alas, yesterday's game against the Carolina Panthers proved the team would only get back to something that's been too familiar in recent years: losing badly. The Redskins fell, 33-20, bringing their record to 3-3 for the season. Suddenly, those predictions that the team would finish last in the NFC East look prescient again. -2

Friday's Needle rating: 63 Today's score: -2 Today's Needle rating: 61

MLK Memorial, Take Two: The last time the new memorial to Martin Luther King Jr. was scheduled for a dedication ceremony, a tropical storm got in the way. This weekend, the weather's set to be perfect for the rescheduled event. (Yes, there was a tornado last night near Quantico, Va., but the ceremony isn't until Sunday.) President Barack Obama and other dignitaries will be on hand; Mayor Vince Gray will lead a D.C. democracy protest on Saturday, taking advantage of the attention to human rights that an MLK memorial naturally provides. Don't plan on going to a D.C. statehood memorial any time real soon, though. +3

A Streetcar Named Walter Reed: Nothing in the city gets people dreaming, or arguing, quite like the streetcar plans—people either love the new transit system or hate it, and it hasn't even started running yet. So expect the news (broken by Washington City Paper) that a planned line along Georgia Avenue NW might get built earlier than expected in order to attract development to the land vacated by the Army at Walter Reed to set off the usual disputes. Plus, since the site is relatively close to a planned Walmart location, one of the other frequent topics of District controversy, there's bonus contentiousness! And, in the end, maybe a streetcar to Silver Spring. +2

No Guns, Thanks, We're Washingtonians: Like clockwork, Congress tries to tinker with the District's gun laws every few months. The only surprise in the most recent attempt? It didn't work. The House Judiciary Committee voted Thursday against a bill by Rep. Louis Gohmert, R-Texas, to allow anyone with a concealed weapons permit from elsewhere to carry a concealed weapon here, despite the GOP's control of the panel (and the whole House, of course). This isn't likely to be Gohmert's last gun scheme; he had proposed, last winter, allowing lawmakers to arm themselves on the House floor. +2

iPhone, YouPhone, We All Scream for iPhone: The latest Apple device went on sale today at 8 a.m., spawning not only a frenzy at Apple stores (and AT&T, Spring, and Verizon outposts), but a bit of a media frenzy, as well. The Post had a blogger camped out in Bethesda at 4:30 a.m.—and he was there to buy the iPhone 4S, not just to cover the people buying it. Another piece looked at the retail boom provided simply by being next to a Steve Jobs-designed store. The Metropolitan Police Department emailed a helpful list of tips on how not to get your new iPhone stolen minutes after you purchase it. Full disclosure: We also succumbed to the Apple frenzy, but our pre-ordered phone arrived by FedEx, so we didn't have to file any dispatches while waiting. +1

Yesterday's Needle rating: 63 Today's score: +8 Friday bonus: +2 Today's Needle rating: 73

You Can Dance If You Want To: Future scholars of social movements may well look back on May 2011 as the month it became safe to dance. Because up to now, the U.S. Park Police arrests of dancers at the Jefferson Memorial was merely a funny story; all of a sudden, it's a political protest. More than 1,500 people have signed up on Facebook for a public dance-in next weekend, protesting the original arrests and this weekend's second round, which was also a protest of the first one and the court ruling upholding it. We just hope the jail storage facility has room for all those toe shoes. +2

Melt With You: Free advice for the White House or any Democrats hoping to put climate change deniers on the defensive: Schedule some hearings for this week. Record high temperatures swept the D.C. area today and are expected to stick around. Last summer, which broke all kinds of heat records, there weren't consecutive 95-degree days until late June; if this keeps up, going outside at all in August will be seriously ill-advised. Of course, the weather on any individual day doesn't have anything to do with climate. But since that point seems lost on the likes of James Inhofe, no reason not to take advantage of the confusion. -3

Stop the Presses: Along with mayoral advice on keeping pets cool, the heat wave managed to break the media. Power outages rolled around the vicinity of North Capitol Street, shutting down the CNN Washington bureau and Roll Call, where staffers were unable to edit or lay out the next issue of the paper. If such mighty news organizations can be brought down so easily, we fear for Howard Kurtz. -1

Think Different: The stereotype of the BlackBerry-addicted Hill staffer checking email from the bar late at night (mostly in a misguided attempt to impress fellow bar patrons with how important the staffer is) may soon have to change. Not too much, though; mobile email is still as popular as ever in D.C. It's just now it's increasingly likely to be Gmail, read from an iPhone. Don't expect to see Apple using images of federal bureaucrats in its marketing any time soon, but if footage of President Barack Obama using an iPad surfaces in Cupertino, Calif.-led ad campaign, it'll be a sure sign that his reelection bid is going pretty well. +1

Friday's Needle rating: 62 Today's score: -1 Today's Needle rating: 61

Penn, who was working for the Obama administration as a staffer until he quit in April to film another Harold and Kumar flick, earned himself some D.C. street cred when he was robbed at gunpoint later that month. The White House recently announced he'd be returning to the Office of Public Engagement as an associate director.

But is Penn glad to be back? He was sauntering the 1500 block of S Street NW at around 1:30 a.m. one night last spring, when, according to a police report, he was stripped of his valuables, including a BlackBerry and iPhone. City Desk asked him about the mugging via e-mail, and the celebrity shot back a message that indicated he couldn't talk about it. But he also seemed a little frustrated. "In terms of the robbery, my understanding is that since it’s an ongoing (albeit absurdly slow) investigation, I can’t comment on anything related to it at the moment," Penn wrote.

The "absurdly slow" investigation Penn is lamenting is being handled by the U.S. Attorney's Office. In June, City Desk has discovered, the Metropolitan Police Department arrested Marcellus Chambers for the mugging.

According to an arrest warrant,  the alleged stick-up man used Penn's bank card at "numerous locations along the Georgia Ave. NW corridor approximately an hour after the robbery." At one of those locations Chambers was caught on video. His license plate was also captured.

Later, cops tracked a signal from Penn's stolen iPhone to the "area of Warder and Otis Streets NW." But "due to a weak signal," they were unable to pinpoint the phone's exact location. It was in the proximity of Chambers' address in the 700 block of Quincy Street NW, however. Responding to a disorderly conduct call on that block several days later, cops happened upon Chambers, who was sitting in a Toyota Camry. They busted him.

About a month later, Penn was asked to identify Chambers in a photo array. But he couldn't be sure Chambers was the guy. "After viewing the array C1 stated, number 4 resembles the person who robbed me, without 100% certain[t]y," the MPD report says.

Arrested for robbery while armed, Chambers has been released on high-intensity supervision. No word yet on whether Penn ever got his iPhone back.

Update: U.S. Attorney's Office spokesperson William Miller says he declines comment on the specifics of the case because it remains pending and the investigation is continuing, but says his office "has missed no deadlines and is well within legal timelines."

Photo by SAITOR, Creative Commons Attribution License

Ah, Free Speech: If you were wondering who the angry, crazy looking folks screaming outside the Supreme Court building this morning were, wonder no more—they were members of a radical sect of misguided fundamentalists the Westboro Baptist Church, who descended on the District from their Topeka, Kansas, lair to give moral support as their lawyers argued before the court that the Constitution protects their right to yell insane, offensive things at, uh, funerals. (Classy!) At City Desk, we're pretty much First Amendment absolutists, so we agree Fred Phelps and his band have the right to blame America's moral decline for the death of soldiers if they want to indulge in such nonsense. But we also agree that Washingtonians have the right—or maybe the duty—to stop by First Street NE and tell 'em to piss off if they're still out there. -4

Baseball Cards Gone AWOL: Stories of clueless parents tossing priceless collections of baseball cards in the trash when they clean out their basements or attics have nearly reached urban legend status. But that may be exactly what's happened in the District; the Metropolitan Police Department says it's looking for help finding the owner of a collection of 500+ cards left by the tennis courts near Hains Point this summer. The cops are being cagey about exactly what's in the collection, so only the real owner will be able to identify what's there. A tip that few members of the current Washington Nationals team are included: police say there's "potential value" in the cards. +2

When Facebook Attacks: Online sleuths thought they'd found Scott Alan Fike, the cop responsible for killing a dog at Adams Morgan Day last month. So they started bombarding the guy's Facebook page, calling him "dog killer" and generally, uh, hounding him about the incident. The only problem? It was the wrong Scott Alan Fike. The guy with the same name, who lives in Odenton, says he's been replying to let his correspondents know they're barking up the wrong virtual tree. (Okay, okay, we promise, no more dog puns.) But why let the facts get in the way of the smug satisfaction of knowing you've served the cause of justice with a righteous Facebook message? -2

No, Really, Can You Hear Me Now?: The future is now! Or rather, later this year. Which is when Verizon Wireless says it'll be bringing its high-tech "next generation" 4G phone service to the D.C. area. Naturally, the service will be based on the LTE standard, which is incompatible with and different from the WiMax standard that's already being built out in the region. (Because why shouldn't your cell phone wind up being, essentially, a smarter Betamax player with a touch screen?) Just for the Google search traffic, we'll add some phrases that you care more about when it comes to Verizon than anything else in this item: Verizon iPhone, iPhone, Verizon, Verizon Wireless Apple iPhone. +3

Yesterday's Needle rating: 53 Today's score: -1 Today's Needle rating: 52

The D.C. government has been trying to encourage street vendors to diversify their offerings, even holding informational meetings titled "You Don't Have to Sell Hot Dogs," the Post reports. Although vendors see increased profits in selling ethnic food, wariness of increased regulations have kept the number of hot dog carts high.

In other food news, the Washington Times reports that some DCPS parents and officials are worried about the new D.C. Healthy Schools Act, which ups the nutritional and exercise standards for local schools, saying that the new requirements will be burden on the system and stretch schools' already tight budgets.

A number of Apple fanatics spent the night camped outside the Clarendon store, waiting for today's release of the iPhone 4.

Meanwhile, open government fans may have to wait longer for Freedom of Information Act responses from the D.C. government, if Attorney General Peter Nickles has his way. Nickles asked the Council to give the Fenty administration a a "safety valve" of "unspecified additional time" to respond in unusual circumstances, the Post reports.

Photo by rollingrck/Creative Commons Attribution License

Witness the hoopla surrounding the opening of Georgetown's newfangled Apple store on Friday afternoon. Special correspondent Kim Chi Ha reports rather appropriately via iPhone: "Lol there's like 30 ppl in line already," she texts at 3:33 p.m. "It's hot as fuck out here."

3:31 p.m.-Let's see how long my fully charged phone lasts until it dies.

3:37 p.m.-"Only an hour and 24 minutes left," one geek in line says to another. One of them is carrying both an iPhone and a Mac. And they're either staring at me, or the Nine West display.

3:53p.m.-Dude has a "Thank you, Steve" shirt. Don't see any picketers from Amanda's story.

3:54p.m.-God, these people in line have to be miserable. It's sweltering.

Inside the store

4:11p.m.-Inside the store. [It pays to be in media; you other suckers are still in line!] Senior store leader Ilene Magee says the company has no plans to open any other locations in D.C. Yet. No special deals but shit is nice yo. Unique feature is the courtyard where the screens are 82 inches.

4:17 p.m.-They gave us free water

4:19 p.m.-Free t-shirt to first 1,000 customers. Hurry!

4:29 p.m.-Richard Lawson, No. 2 in line, says, "I thought I was gonna get a free iPod. I already got a t-shirt."

4:30 p.m.-My phone's got a bit less than half a battery life left. Damn Steve Jobs

4:31 p.m. "It's hot like bacon out here," says the first guy in line, who identifies himself as Zeus Shytbagh. (Probably not his real name.) Turns out, his uncle works here and he didn't even know! "He could've gotten me a job," says Zeus. The second guy in line isn't so bothered by the heat. "I'm in a long sleeve shirt. I'm good. This cool," he says. "I could stand out here in a leather jacket. We been out here since 1:30."  The velvet rope next to him keeps coming loose from its pole.

4:32 p.m.-Line is down to M Street. Make that, wrapping around M Street. Gotta be over 100.

4:36 p.m.-Protesters show up. "Enough" is the name of the organization. Protest to end genocide and crimes against humanity.

4:40 p.m.- [via email] Shit I think too many ppl r texting. It stopped going thru. Also I'm charging my phone in the store

4:53 p.m.-"No life is worth more than a penny," says demonstrator Gregory Rockson (pictured left) Also: I think I'm getting suburned. At least I got a free t-shirt!

4:56 p.m.-300 ppl in line. 300 iPhones. A mugger's dream!

4:59 p.m.-Store opens to the public.

Photos from Kim Chi Ha's iPhone

That's according to the official police report of the incident, obtained by City Desk.

Another tidbit you might not already know about Penn's hugely publicized mugging back on April 20:  the actor, 33, whom the report identifies by his given name, Kalpen Suresh Modi, not only handed over his iPhone and Blackberry (one reportedly owned by the U.S. government), $180 in cash, three credit/debit cards, his D.C. driver's license, and his federal I.D. card. He also relinquished a personal item listed under "purse, briefcase, wallet, backpack," bearing the label "Roots," which cops further described as black in color and made of "cloth & velcro."

City Desk presumes police are referring to "Canada’s leading lifestyle brand."

The investigation is ongoing.

Photo by SAITOR, Creative Commons Attribution License

Have you thanked a veteran today? What are you waiting for? Technology is only getting faster! That’s right, soon you will be able to thank a veteran by using a technology chip in your mind! (No, there’s no actual link to that…it's just a theory.)

Can’t remember if the Georgetown Circulator exists? Download the new iPhone app! And while you’re at it, you may soon be able to pay for parking at meters with your cell phone! Isn’t technology great? Oh wait, WUSA has just reported that there is a new virus that downloads child porn onto your computer. Does it call Chris Hansen too?

Do you Twitter? Do you use LinkedIn? This was actually a secret intern test to remember not to trust you (because you are obviously over 30, we don't touch that stuff). Anyway, the two companies announced a new partnership yesterday.

Stop the presses (are there any left to stop?)—commenters on Prince of Petworth universally agree that the new mural on Sherman Avenue and Barry Place NW is awesome.

The Advoc8te bemoans the lack of local news coverage in Ward 8, and argues that bloggers have been picking up most of the slack. Looks like print journalism’s fat lady is singing before I even graduate. At least when I’m unemployed, I’ll still be able to get a haircut.

Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service has reportedly placed an online ad for a new dean. A commenter says, “Let’s also put it on Craigslist. Then people searching for DVD players can also apply.”

And two things technology has yet to solve: death and politics. John Allen Muhammad, the D.C. sniper, was pronounced dead by lethal injection last night at 9:11 p.m. EST.

WTOP also reported on Monday that it caught Mayor Adrian M. Fenty biking in Bethesda in (gasp!) a no-biking zone. Oh right, he also used police officers and their handy sirens to clear traffic—apparently a violation of federal law. Evidence of corruption, or political mud-throwing? You decide. But this has to be evidence that we need more bike lanes. Fix that, iPhone.

Photo by Christopher Chan, Creative Commons Attribution License

Like this: The D.C. Public Library has an iPhone application. And it's great!

It lets you search the library catalog, place a hold on a book, and have it sent to the branch of your choice. Don't know how to get to that branch? You can search a list of branches, get maps, hours, and direction—and even a picture of the building.

Chris Tonjes, DCPL's chief information officer and the guy who came up with the idea back in November, says his is the first library system in the nation to do an iPhone application. "I thought, wouldn't it be fun if we had our catalog on the iPhone? So we started playing around with it."

So far, Tonjes says, at least 3,500 folks have downloaded it since it debuted Jan. 8—enough to make it, as of last week, the 66th most popular free educational app. All that interest came without much more than word-of-mouth; no media's noticed outside of a few library bloggers.

Tonjes says the library's got some new interesting tech items in the works: For one thing, the iPhone app might be seeing an upgrade in the future—perhaps to add the library's Live Homework Help online feature or to directly download videos and music. A Facebook application is in the planning stage, he says, and shortly the library will share thousands of rare photographs through Flickr's Commons project.

And there's some hope for LL, who is not an iPhone user. A BlackBerry version, he's told, is in the works.