They wanted the D.C. Police to cough up their operational procedures and general orders. In other words, just the rules on how the police are supposed to govern themselves, and utilize their authority with the general public. The complaint stated:

“Public disclosure of the operational policies and practices, orders and staff instructions of the police department is essential for policing in a democratic society and to establish accountability….The D.C. FOIA mandates that the MPD specifically make public and make available upon demand its policies, procedures, manuals and staff instructions….Additionally the MPD is required to publish a general index of all such records unless the materials are promptly published and copies offered for sale.”

Today, the Partnership announced that the D.C. Police Department has finally complied with the FOIA.

The Partnership had filed its lawsuit in early February. That's months of stonewalling. Anyway, now you can read the department's general orders and operational directives for yourself.

The Partnership has put the documents online. It's an invaluable resource that will help the public better understand how the police operate. And that's a good thing.

3:35 p.m. Update: City Desk reached Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, co-founder and attorney with the Partnership.

"It's finally time that they begin to come into compliance. They are not in compliance because we don't have everything yet." She adds that the D.C. Police Department should post all its regs on its own website.

"I have the fortunate task of progress monitoring at least three-quarters of the students in my classroom. To progress monitor a student in the intermediate elementary school grades, the assessment takes approximately thirty minutes to complete. And here's the cherry on this hot-mess sundae -- for students identified as high-risk, I have to perform the assessments every two weeks and for the students identified as some-risk, I have to perform them every three-weeks. YIKES!"

Greater Greater Washington goes deep into the archives for a history lesson on Carroll Row.

And Now, Anacostia notes that the Salvation Army building has finally opened.

In Bloom sorta responds to a listserv post asking for Bloomingdale to become a gated community. Someone is fed up with crime! The blogger writes:

"Frankly, if neighboring LeDroit Park couldn't do it from the start, it's a fair bet to say that it's not going to happen here and now. With several major thoroughfares running through the area (First Street, North Capitol Street, and Rhode Island Avenue, just to name a few), it would wreak havoc on traffic as well."

The Georgetown Metropolitan calls off Ginkgogate 2009:

"While the wretched threat of their putrid load still hangs menacingly over our heads or lies under our feet, GM is now confident that a full-blown Ginkgogate 2009 has been avoided.

This time last year we we’re under a deluge of foul smelling berries. The city had switched to a new concoction to stem the growth of the ginkgo berries. It was a total disaster. We had berries straight through the spring."

Frozen Tropics factchecks a WaPo piece on H Street.

Prince of Petworth notes that there will be a community meeting this Wednesday to discuss the recent spike in violent crime in the neighborhood.

"MPD is reporting a sinkhole at 295 & Pennsylvania Area. Delays in area; avoid if possible."

A call to MPD's press office put me on hold for longer than I care to admit. Maybe the public information officer fell in the sinkhole.

Dee Does The District doesn't appreciate a sad bit of race baiting reported from the marathon hearing on the DCPS teacher layoffs.

Harry Potter and the Urban School Nightmare despairs over their students' poor attendance. They write:

"Our school's enrollment is down, and attendance is lower than I've ever seen it. When I first started at my school, I routinely had between 25 and 30 students in my class each day. Now, I'm lucky if I get 12. Today, less than half of my students were in class, and last week the average was 55%. Now, the kids who are there every day are learning like FIENDS, but at this rate 45% of my kids are going to fail. So what gives?"

DC Teacher Chic reports from her classroom a new trend---the working lunch. They write:

"This past week, I welcomed my students into my classroom / office space to eat their lunches. At first, it started because a few students were finishing assessments while eating their lunches (so as not to miss further instruction). To say the students loved the idea is an understatement. In the days following, my working lunches have blossomed from four students to seven, with several more students showing interest in attending next week."

Borderstan reports property crimes and violent crimes were up in September according to the latest crime stats: "Total crime (both violent and property crimes) for the  month of September 2009 in the Borderstan crime area¹ is 27% higher than in September 2008 and 61% higher than September 2007." The blog has maps and stats.

The 42 does not miss the Real World folks. But if you do miss the cameras or the realty competition shows, the blog knows what film crews are coming next.

And Now, Anacostia admires some new display windows on MLK.

Southwest...The Little Quadrant That Could has an update on Arena Stage's redevelopment.

*photo by Darrow Montgomery

Read the letter after the jump.

Graham writes:

"Friends:

Police report to me there have been up to 8 different incidents since Sunday involving 2 well know gangs in the Shaw neighborhood.  As reported on this listserve and confirmed by police, these shots are being fired in the vicinity of 7^th and o and 8^th and S.  Up until Wednesday, no one was hit.  On Wednesday, a person was grazed on the side of his head.  He is hospitalized.  But he is also under arrest for possession of a large quantity of cocaine.

The feud between these two gangs has been going on for decades.  Most of the feuds between gangs in the District have been going on for a long time.  MPD and specialized gang units within MPD know who these guys are.  MPD works hard in making arrests.  But more needs to be done.  The violence needs to stop.

The feud between these particular groups, which happen to be based in two different Wards of the city, reinforces the argument I have repeatedly made.  We need a CITYWIDE strategy on gang intervention. Gang violence crosses ward and MPD District boundaries.  And so should our law enforcement efforts and intervention programs.

I have been at the forefront of fighting gang and crew violence for the entire 11 years on the Council.  I have sponsored bills for increased law enforcement powers and authored funding for targeted, community based intervention and prevention programs.  In 2003 I helped Chief Ramsey form the very successful Gang Intervention Partnership.  Over the last three years, I have authored approximately $2.5 million in funding to establish and sustain the Citywide Coordinating Council on Youth Violence Prevention (CCCYVP).

In June, Chairman Gray and Councilmember Mendelson joined me in presenting the Blueprint for Action: Responding to Gang and Crew Violence. The Council has already passed the first 2 recommendations of the Blueprint as part of the Omnibus Crime Bill.  The Mayor is required to form a working group of MPD officials, CCCYVP and key government agencies to coordinate targeted and sustained interventions of enforcement powers and prevention resources in areas where we have seen the most gang violence.

I am also convinced law enforcement officials need additional tools to target the most active and potentially violent gang members. On two different occasions in June, 2009 I fought for civil gang injunctions.  Mayor Fenty and Councilmembers Bowser, Catania, Evans and I understand how gang and crew members’ feuds not only endanger the lives of gang and crew members, but all of our lives.  We understand how gangs and crew member intimidate and sometimes claim to “own” certain blocks, recreation centers, corner stores, schools.  The Council voted down both bills.  We need to give the MPD Gang Fusion Unit the tools to put gang members on notice.

I am committed to doing all I can to make sure this violence stops.

Councilmember Jim Graham"

The District's only recourse at this point is to take its case to the Supreme Court.

AG Peter Nickles tells City Desk: "I'm disappointed. We'll look at our options including a Supreme Court request....The D.C. Circuit has spoken and we'll take it from there."

In late August, the Examiner published a piece arguing that the District's low homicide rate might be due to the cooler-than-usual summer temps. The story was one of the dumbest crime stories we've ever read. Even D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier called the lower-temp theory "idiotic." But the story did at least provoke a little attention on the police department's stunning successes and the city's big drop in murders. When Lanier speculated that the city could see fewer than 100 homicides for the year, she wasn't laughed out of town. Of course, the District's perps did not cooperate.

As of today, there have been 106 homicides. At this point last year, there were 148 homicides. The plummeting homicide rate is still quite impressive. So why is the District experiencing such a huge drop?

In September, Lanier may have squandered some goodwill by stubbornly sticking by and fighting for her All Hands On Deck program. She would do well to let that program drop. It is certainly not worth the money and the on-going petty court fight. In talking with police brass about the drop in homicides, no one mentioned AHOD is a factor. Lanier has initiated a number of other crime-fighting strategies that have both paid off and netted support from the rank-and-file.

Assistant Chief Peter Newsham, who is in charge of the Investigative Services Bureau, attributes the homicide drop to a series of Lanier-endorsed initiatives from IT upgrades to personnel moves to a push to investigate not only fatal shootings but non-fatal shootings. "One thing [detectives] are trying to focus on is shootings that don't result in homicides," Newsham explains, "trying to ID [the perp] even when nobody is struck, what the cause of the shooting was, where the victims are from, what types of associations [they may have]."

Sounds of gunshots actually gets a serious response from police. "Even if they don't find anything, we still track that," says Lt. Wilfredo Manlapaz of the homicide branch. "We look at that---especially the chief and patrol commanders. They may deploy officers there to find out if it's true, call intelligence officers out there to find out if there is some type of crew beef. If there's a known crew out there, based on that, who do we know that's beefing and having a problem with this crew?"

This past Friday night's double shooting at 13th and W Streets NW backs up this claim. Two men were shot. Both would survive their injuries. Despite their relatively minor wounds, the police were out in force guarding the crime scene as well as trying to track down the three suspects. A police helicopter roared overhead. Near the crime scene, one man was cuffed and interrogated. Detectives could also be seen interviewing potential witnesses, fanning flash lights on the pavement looking for shell casings, and patrolling nearby alleys.

The police presence was overwhelming. At one point, a detective hollered at a dude for leaning on an unmarked police car. She even got in his face about it. Talk about zero tolerance.

The other big factor Newsham cited was Lanier's push to get homicide detectives and beat cops to share information. "The street officers know more than we do," explains Manlapaz. "They are out there every day. We aren't confined to specific beats. We aren't familiar with the people in the neighborhood."

Manlapaz says the detective-patrol-cop cooperation came into play in a December '08  stabbing death on 14th Street in Columbia Heights. The beat cops knew the victim, knew people who may have been involved and had pictures of the possible perps. Manlapaz says he put the beat cops with the intelligence unit and the detectives.

Manlapaz continues: "It involved gang members and this came into play.... We got the nicknames from the community and passed them on to the gang unit. The beat officers knew the names already and had information---I know that person, I know where they live, as a matter of fact I just saw them. The intelligence unit knew all of them. They went out and picked them up for us so we could interview them."

Manlapaz says the case soon was closed with two men arrested. "We were able to piece together what happened, why it happened, and locate the suspects quickly."

Lanier has heavily promoted and helped ease beat-cop-detective communications. How? Through roll calls, crime briefings and quarterly homicide meetings where detectives present cases to District Commanders, PSA supervisors, vice units, and selected patrol officers.  Lanier has also initiated an emergency session or two when there's been an uptick in violence.

In May, there had been three homicides within a few blocks, Manlapaz says. Lanier called a special meeting to discuss these cases. She brought "everybody together, anybody that could potentially assist with the cases."

Assistant Chief Diane Groomes confirms this new approach. "Anytime there is a spree of violence, pattern of violence not only to include homicides but carjackings/robberies---we gather the important segments together to listen to the cases and brainstorm on what is needed to close out the cases," she wrote in an e-mail to City Desk. "This includes again not just command officials but those from patrols directly---who work the streets and need this information, and we need their input."

Groomes writes that the mission for detectives has expanded: "There is a greater cooperation and the detectives have also been given the mission to also PREVENT crime instead of just investigating it after it occurs."

This greater cooperation between detectives and beat cops may be Lanier's legacy. It surely will not be her much-hyped gimmicks.

*photo by Darrow Montgomery.

"The City Council uses only rhetoric to denounce the pairs' actions; remember when Vincent Gray caved and restored the school funding he originally cut? The Washington Teachers Union has been utterly useless in the struggle between 825 and teachers' rights; George Parker continues to cancel meetings and overall, has not been proactive in addressing the layoffs. With the Mayor's reelection looming within a year, there are no candidates that pose a serious threat to him. And while the protests and sit-ins are a start, I seriously doubt Chancellor Rhee or Mayor....o until someone with a better vision and a stronger hand comes along, I think Chancellor Rhee is here to stay, despite what you think of her."

In Bloom wonders what's going on with Baraki: "After an flurry of construction activity earlier this spring—including the appearance of an outdoor seating area—Baraki has since sat quiet. Its highly visible location at the intersection of First Street NW and T Street NW meant that many folks in Bloomingdale and beyond went past it every day wondering what was (or wasn't) going on."

Life In Mount Vernon Square wonders if pepper spray is illegal: "I am told on the one hand you can have it and it needs to be registered;  then I was told you cannot own it.  Which is the case?"

Frozen Tropics posts about a recent shooting on 10th Street.

Time to get involved! There's a meeting today about the new dog park at 17th-and-S. On Wednesday, there's a meeting for ANC 6C (see draft of the agenda). And finally...the Downtown Neighborhood Association is meeting tonight---guests reportedly includ AG Peter Nickles and Councilmember Phil Mendelson!

At issue: the missing evidence, doctored or missing radio dispatches, and a discovery process that has lasted for years without an end in sight. Nickles' statement apparently has done little to assure plaintiffs that they will be getting a full accounting of what happened during the mass arrests at Pershing Park---and what happened to all that missing evidence.

The attorneys state that they were so disappointed with Nickles and Co.'s representations to the court, they can only form one conclusion: the need for an independent investigation, and "severe sanctions."

The plaintiffs attorneys write:

"Given the District's recalcitrance in admitting even the existence of apparent alteration of the audiotapes and the complete absence in the Declarations of any discussion of how the gaps were created or tapes were not produced, it is clear that only an independent inquiry--not aimed just at glossing over the OAG's shortcomings or pinning all blame for others' failings on [lead counsel Tom] Koger---will be able to resolve this issue."

They argue against Nickles as lead investigator into the missing evidence:

"Nickles has been responsible for this litigation---with his name appearing on all of the filings---since he became the Attorney General in January 2008. A significant number of the discovery abuses occurred while he was serving as the Attorney General, and he has been personally active in these cases....He would hardly be considered an impartial or independent investigator of his own office's actions."

The attorneys write that the declarations of Nickles and other District officials fell well short of Judge Sullivan's order:

"The District does not explain the cause for the District's utter failure to comply with its most basic discovery obligations in the Chang and Barham cases, or why no investigation has been conducted into the missing and apparently destroyed evidence, despite being informed by Plaintiffs years ago of these failures. What is clear from the Declarations is that Nickles provided no explanation for the gross misconduct in this case."

The plaintiffs focus on the issue of time---the seven years of faulty discovery, and the filibustering of the OAG. They did not take kindly to Nickles' using OAG's lead counsel Tom Koger as a scapegoat for the Pershing Park mess.

"It is incredible that the District would suggest that Koger alone was the only person responsible for the District's, and particularly the MPD's, failure to preserve, maintain and produce responsive documents. It is, as noted, a variation of teh District's overall strategy to blame one individual for wide systematic abuse in these arrests, while nimbly shifting responsiblity away from others who share in the culpability."

The plaintiffs go on to address the issue of the missing evidence and Nickles' response:

"The District does not explain how the JOCC Running Resume (and the various paper and electronic copies of it) went missing. The credibility of the declarants is severely undermined by their failure even to address, much less explain how radio run audiotapes were altered---with critical portions apparently erased---or disappeared. Instead the District suggests that these are simply issues it plans to look into at some unidentified future point in time. They also do not explain why these allegations are being treated as new disclosures by Nickles and Efros despite their past involvement in the case on a supervisory level."

The Radio Runs

Plaintiff attorneys highlight the issue of the gaps in the radio dispatches from Pershing Park. They take particular issue with the amazingly faulty deposition of Denise Alexander. The OAG had produced a sworn statement from Alexander testifying that the radio dispatches did not contain gaps. Even after a police official testified in a deposition that Alexander was wrong---that there were gaps in the tapes---the OAG never withdrew her affidavit from the court record. Nor did the OAG ever seek to correct Alexander or investigate the matter further.

"The District continues  to fail to discuss how it came to submit to the Court the patently false declaration of Denise Alexander, why it continued to defend that declaration after it became clear that it contained falsehoods, and how it reached the conclusion never to withdraw Alexander's declaration from the record....In fact, the District fails even to acknowledge that gaps in the radio run audiotapes exist---information that could be confirmed with only a few hours of effort."

The Running Resume

Plaintiffs also take issue with Nickles' accounting for the missing running resume. In his statement, Nickles appears to suggest that the running resume had been turned over to the D.C. Council during its investigation into Pershing Park. This is not so, according to Councilmember Mary Cheh. Plaintiffs confirm this in their filing:

"In an effort to close all remaining holes, Chang counsel reviewed all publicly available files held by the Office of the Secretary to the Council and Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary and confirmed that the JOCC Running Resume from September 27, 2002 was not among those documents....Moreover, the Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary staff told Chang counsel that several individuals, over the past couple of years, had examined the same set of documents in a search for the JOCC Running Resume and had been unsuccessful---suggesting that the OAG's office was likely fully aware that the City Council did not have a copy of the document. The direct contradiction of the latest series of declarations from the District should only serve to strengthen the conclusion that the Attorney General's Office cannot be relied upon to get to the bottom of this issue."

Bad Timing

And finally, plaintiffs attorneys address the central question: Why didn't the District investigate the missing evidence years ago?

They write:

"This is not a new problem; the District has known about it for years. In October 2007, the Barham Plaintiffs filed a motion to compel the District to produce running resumes and recorded police channel communications. Apparently, Efros had already assumed her supervisory position over this case by this date. The Court granted the Barham motion on October 30, 2007. On November 16, 2007, the District filed the declarations of Koger and others, which concluded that the JOCC Running Resumes had disappeared. From that point forward, at least, the District was on firm notice that its document retrieval, management and production processes had failed, either through negligence or intentional acts, and some steps should be taken....No investigation was commenced by the District as to the document management practices in these cases or any other cases where similiar problems were likely to occur....Nowhere in its response does the District describe any effort by the OAG to investigate its discovery abuses or determine how and why evidence went missing."

They go on:

"It is clear the OAG knew of these issues, admitted them in Court months ago, and still took no actions. It is only the Court's Orders that ddroe them to commit to take actions to address the inadequate process of handling civil litigation discovery."

*photo by Darrow Montgomery.

Evans also thinks the U.S. District Court judge's strong recommendation that the D.C. Council should investigate the OAG is misplaced. "I would think that the more appropriate agency would be the inspector general," Evans tells City Desk. "Certainly, someone would have to determine if there was wrongdoing. That's not the city council's job that's the inspector general's job."

Evans is sure that Nickles did not commit any of the alleged wrongdoing. For one thing, Nickles was not in office during the bulk of the Pershing Park case's activity. That fishy affidavit? Well, that's come up under his watch.

Should Nickles resign? "Oh God no," Evans says. "I think Peter Nickles does a great job for the District. This is the first time we got an attorney general that actually defends the city."

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT---"Peter Nickles: I Will Not Call You Back," "Video: Is Cleveland Park Dead?" and "The Pershing Park Case: Did A District Official Commit Perjury?"

Morning all. A big thanks to the local politico reporters and Wilson Building staffers who a) Jokingly thought I had become LL; b) Wished me luck in compiling the must-read briefing on local politics; and c) failed to mention the "resident" controversy from yesterday. A few local heavyweights inquired about LL's bike ride to Dewey Beach and wondered if he had made it to the Rusty Rudder safely. I reached LL via e-mail. Here is what he wrote about his trek:

"Uh, well, we left gonzaga HS at 4:30 a.m. then took back roads to just across the severn river in annapolis where we were bused across the bay bridge to where 50 meets 404. it started out looking like it was going to be cloudy and rain all day, but by the time we crossed the bridge the clouds were gone and the sun was shining. so it was really hot. the route kinda sucked. its exactly the same as driving; we rode on the shoulder of these roads the whole time, trucks whizzing pasy, chickenshit in the air, no real scenery of note. but it was for a good cause--autism research--and it was pretty well run, lots of rest stops with powerbars and water and bananas and all that stuff. The first leg I did pretty fast, finishing 35 mi in about two and a half hours. the second leg was somewhat slower---five and a half hours to do 65 mi to Bethany Beach--but i was among the first half of finishers (at 2:15 p.m.) on my junky old bike. so yeah, it was good."

Now on to the news: Councilmember Phil Mendelson has joined colleague Councilmember Mary Cheh in calling for AG Peter Nickles to resign. Cheh spoke out to City Desk last Friday. So what has provoked the councilmembers? The OAG's conduct in a Pershing Park lawsuit in which police evidence has gone missing and/or has been destroyed, among other discovery problems. The U.S. District Court judge in the case has promised painful sanctions, has called on the D.C. Council to investigate the matter, and ordered Nickles to provide a sworn statement explaining his office's conduct. The Examiner's Bill Myers gets Mendo on the record calling for Nickles to go. Nickles offers his usual bulldog-with-rabies react: "It's politics at its worst. They have no idea what's going on." What's going on is available via transcript. News Channel 8's Bruce DePuyt has Cheh and Nickles on the Pershing Park issue. Nickles says he is "troubled" by the missing evidence, and will follow the law. Cheh stands by her comments and says D.C. needs a new attorney general.

LEAD TROUBLES: WaPo is reporting that House investigators have found many more children than previously reported had high levels of lead in their blood during the drinking water crisis from a few years ago. Key graphs: "Local officials could not say Monday whether some children with unsafe lead exposure have gone without intervention to reduce their health risks. The CDC and city health department had reported dangerously high lead levels in 193 children in 2003, the worst year for high concentrations of lead in city tap water. But lab data gathered by congressional investigators this year show that the actual number was 486 children."

AFTER THE JUMP: More public transpo issues, D.C. Police are getting some federal dough, Legal Seafood is fighting to stay inside National Reagan National Airport, WaPo stands up for press freedoms(!) and much, much more.

PUBLIC TRANSPO continues its stretch of bad press. Last night a man was stabbed at Union Station, News Channel 8 reports. It is unclear whether the man was stabbed on a train or on a platform. The man was taken to an area hospital. A female suspect was taken into custody. (Also reporting: WTOP). During rush hour, doors opened on a moving Metro train. Scary. WaPo reports that the incident occurred on an Orange Line train. No injuries were reported and the train was promptly taken out of service. Key graph: "A passenger, who requested anonymity because he is restricted from speaking to the media in his job as a House aide, said that the left panel in the middle door of a middle car came open and that the door closed as soon as the operator hit the brakes."

WJLA is reporting that 27 bus shelters have been busted recently. A DDOT source speculates that this appears to be the work of one person: "Metropolitan police will be handling the investigation. They say the damaged bus shelters are located across the city from Upper Northwest across the Potomac and into Southeast. Clear Channel, the company that began installing the shelters two years ago, said the first damage reports started coming in Sunday and then Monday the number of vandalized shelters passed the two dozen mark."

D.C. cops are getting a bit boost from the feds. Police coffers will see an increase of $12 million from a federal grant. The money will be used to hire an additional 50 officers. News Channel 8 reports this may not necessarily boost the rank and file's numbers: "At the same time the department is getting more officers, the D.C. Council passed a budget calling for a hiring freeze in the department. Over time, it will result in less officers all together. 'Whatever number we ended up at, we're now 50 more than that and that's great news,' said Fenty." NBC4 has a brief on the boost.

An Inspector General's audit has found that the District's financial office has failed to collect $750,000 in motor fuel taxes during the past couple years, the Examiner's Michael Neibauer reports. The news is kinda ironic: "The Office of the Inspector General 'identified uncollected motor fuel tax revenues of about $733,000 for six years,' said the audit, dated July 26. The District's Office of Tax and Revenue, auditors reported, 'has not been aggressively pursuing potential revenues,' as it never followed up with motor fuel importers who didn't pay. The audit was issued July 26, five days before the council voted to increase the gasoline tax from 20 cents to 23.5 cents per gallon."

WaPo is reporting that Legal Seafoods is seeking a court order to stop airport officials from kicking them out of Reagan National Airport's choice Terminal C locale. The chain says it's being pushed out to make way for a steakhouse. Nerdy highlight: "Owner Roger Berkowitz says the problems started last year during lease negotiations with officials from Westfield Concessions Management, the Los Angeles-based company that oversees retail stores and restaurants at National and at Dulles International Airport. He said Westfield encouraged the seafood chain to spend $2.3 million to expand, primarily by taking over the space of a bookstore next door. Berkowitz said he agreed to make the changes but insisted that the seafood chain pocket any construction savings. At the time, he said, construction costs were plummeting due to the weak economy." Of course, there's more.

Gov. Tim Kaine has told families of the Virgina Tech massacre victims that he will not reconvene his investigatory panel. The families had urged him to re-investigate the shootings in light of the shooter's mental health records being found. WaPo reports that more than 60 families and victims had signed a letter urging Kaine to bring the panel back. Key graphs:

"In an e-mail to families sent about noon Monday, Mark Rubin, the governor's counselor, ruled out reconvening the panel.

'While we would not rule out inviting willing members of the Panel to review proposed revisions to the report, we are sensitive that there are families who expressly do not want to reconvene the Panel,' he wrote. 'Our hope is that the current process for revisions will satisfy the need for a thorough report without upsetting families like your own any further.'

But Rubin added that Kaine will accept any factual corrections families wish to make to the report until Aug. 19."

PEGGY COOPER CAFRITZ---one of the District's most impressive politicos---talks about last week's fire that destroyed her home. She tells FOX5: "We'll always find the light, you know. We went through an exercise of looking through the plural of 'phoenix' and we found it, and it's 'phoenixes' and as I told others, that's exactly who my children and I are and will be." WUSA's Bruce Johnson had the exclusive first interview and some news on the fire: "Sources tell 9NEWS NOW that WASA had four reports of low water pressure in the area in the past year. At least two hydrants are clearly marked out of service." Let's hear it for "sources" whoever they are!

WaPo Editorial Board slams the D.C. Council's penchant for closed-door meetings. A must read for....fans of Sherwood, Segraves and any another local reporter who has pounded on those closed doors. Key graph: "THE D.C. COUNCIL was able to shut the public out of its recent budget deliberations because supposedly, it wasn't really taking action. Never mind that all the big decisions were being made behind those closed doors. That such an outrage could occur is the latest example of why the District is viewed as having one of the most worthless open-meetings laws in the country and why that law needs to be changed."

FENTY'S SCHEDULE:

10:45 a.m. Remarks
Demolition at Gage Eckington Elementary School
Location: Site of Former Gage Eckington Elementary School
2025 3rd Street, NW

4:00 p.m. Remarks
Petworth Recreation Center Ribbon Cutting
Location: 801 Taylor Street, NW

7:30 p.m. Remarks
79th Grand Chapter Meeting of Kappa Alpha Psi, Inc.
Location: Marriot Wardam Park Hotel
2660 Woodley Road, NW

The D.C. Police Department has heralded its latest All Hands On Deck weekend with a press release. This AHOD took place between the early morning hours of July 10 to the early morning hours of July 12. The all gambit produced 519 arrests and one closed homicide case.

As all AHOD scholars know the bulk number doesn't quite tell the story of what the officers really achieve during these weekends. More detailed breakdowns show that much of the arrests are ultimately tossed out by the U.S. Attorney's Office. We posted the numbers of previous AHODs here and here and here.

The latest numbers provided by the U.S. Attorneys' Office show a similar stack of flimsy arrests.

Here are the stats from the July 10 to July 12 AHOD via prosecutors:

July 10 Cases:

Felonies: 7

Misdemeanors: 48

Fugitive: 4

No papered cases: 22

July 11 Cases:

Felonies:  21

Misdemeanors: 41

No Papered cases: 38

Fugitive: 3

July 13 Cases:

Felonies: 20

Misdemeanors: 74

No Papered cases: 40

Fugitive: 7

Total cases tossed out: 100

Total felony cases: 48

Photo By Darrow Montgomery

New Columbia Heights spots a possible illegal bar on Georgia Avenue. Jim Graham is so on this.

Congress Heights on the Rise lists reasons you should attend Wednesday's D.C.Library trustees meeting. The blog even lists a number you can call for carpooling to the big session. One reason: "Clearly the community is not happy with the proposed WashingtonHighlands library designs. How will the Board direct DCPL leadership towork with the local ANC's to help them get to a solution the whole Ward can appreciate?"

Borderstan offers May/June crime stats for the "new Borderstan."

Penn Quarter Living notes that a bagel chain on 9th Street debuted outdoor seating. I didn't know there were still bagel places left in D.C.

The New Teacher on the Block isn't quite buying the latest upbeat reports between Rhee and the teacher's untion.

Housing Complex has a great story on a local, modern co-op.

The rooftop of the Pickwick Apartments building, located at 1754 S Street NW, is currently being treated to a personal visit by a couple of MPD officers, a roving helicopter, and a good dose of CAUTION tape. What's on the roof, officer? Oh, "just looking for a suspicious person," MPD told a tipster, who submitted the above photo of MPD making the climb. If you've seen one, let them know.

If only this car could talk. Though it looks like somebody thought it could talk, which is why they shot it full of holes.

In any case, there's gotta be a story behind the black vehicle identified in its temporary tags as a 1998 Land Rover (VIN #391804) now sitting across the street from Pierce Park in Adams Morgan.

There are magic marker-type writings on the windows that seem to indicate somebody from the 5th District of the Metropolitan Police Department marked the car on May 9. That same somebody tried to cover the shot-up windows and put duct tape over the bullet holes. They're big holes.

A neighborhood resident told me some shady-looking fellows who didn't look anything like cops recently dumped the auto off as discreetly as they could. The resident told me the dumpers didn't appear to be happy when they noticed somebody was watching the drop.

Bottom line: Something bad happened with this car.

And now it's taking up a prime parking spot.

The latter's really gotta get folks steamed.