Good morning, City Desk readers. The holiday season is officially over, and that means we here at City Paper are again ready to spend all our time serving the needs of DC's Urban Explorers. And now for some news:

• Geopolitical scientist Samuel P. Huntington died last week. Jonah Goldberg wrote an interesting sendoff for the Los Angeles Times.
• Southwest...The Little Quadrant that Could posts the top SW stories of 2008.
• The Prince of Petworth asks a pretty decent Friday question: What's your favorite foreign film?
• In Shaw (AHGB)'s Mari posts a year-end essay about the good, the bad, and the gentrified.
• The DCeiver got hold of the Annotated Inaugural Advisory, and warns, "You will not in any way be through the security checkpoint by the time the program begins, because the security checkpoint will be a storied clusterfuck."
• Theater News: Studio Theatre's Grey Gardens has been extended (again) to January 11. Woolly Mammoth's How Theater Failed America opens January 7.

Get on with yourselves.

Photo by Flickr user ajagendorf25

Good morning, City Desk readers, and thanks to everyone who came to City Paper's Christmas party--I hope your headaches are exponentially less painful than mine. And now some news:

• In WaPo: The MPD has tied the death of 14-year-old Giovanni Sanchez to Mara Salvatrucha (also known as MS-13).
• New Columbia Heights alludes to a new restaurant coming to 14th St.
• Now that the recession has reduced individual spending power, says Penn Quarter Living, is it finally acceptable for good people to buy those cheap Prada knockoffs at the metro kiosks?
• Word of new shopping options coming to Petworth, courtesy of Petworth News.
• Braveheart over at River East Idealist sounds a call to arms: "Let us not develop River East just for development's sake. Let's fix broken windows and everything they represent."
• And Now, Anacostia has some good news and some bad news: Verizon FIOS is coming to Anacostia, but it won't be fully in place for 9 years. (That's kind of like Georgia Ave. resident fantasizing about the supposed trolley system that's on its way.)
• Also in WaPo: Police confiscate cocks in Virginia.

Update: Asher Corson, Mary Cheh's communications director, writes in to clarify the FiOS deal: "The build out deadline is just that, a deadline, not a timeline.  What I mean to say: FiOS is more likely than not to be entirely built before the 9 year deadline."

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.

Last weekend, City Desk broke the news of the D.C. Police Department's checkpoint setup in Petworth. There's been tons of criminal activity in that neighborhood of late--which we've covered extensively. Some of the police tactics we've debated as well---namely its new policing-through-e-mail tactic.

But Lanier remains a staunch supporter of her All-Hands-On-Deck program. AHOD had another installment last weekend. A few days ago, D.C. Police compiled stats on this latest all-out policing tactic and issued a handy release. Lanier's stats are hard to argue against:

"MPD officers made 479 arrests, recovered 21 firearms, and seized $11,220 worth of drugs. During AHOD, all available sworn MPD personnel were on patrol throughout the District emphasizing community policing, focused law enforcement and community outreach. This included increased foot beats, homicide detectives following up with victims, and recruits passing out specific crime related information."

Of course, how many of those arrests were no-papered or for small stuff like drinking-in-public or carrying a bong from your Honda to your apartment? And we aren't given comparable stats for an average weekend.

In conjunction with the investigation into the murder of Michael and Virginia Spevak, ABC 7 reports that D.C. Police discovered a safe and computer during yesterday's search of the backyard and alley behind 622 Ingraham St. NW.

A neighbor also found a charred ID belonging to Dr. Spevak in the alley.

Inspector Rodney Parks, addressing the press yesterday at the scene of the investigation, refused to confirm or deny the discovery of a computer. "Items were taken," he told us, "and burglary appears to be the motive. But we haven’t ruled out anything else."

NBC is also reporting the discovery of a safe.

Photograph above: D.C. Police package evidence in the Ingraham alley on 11/24/08

D.C. Police are sick of one teenage robbery suspect who has allegedly committed multiple crimes. The police department is so sick of this kid, they've got you all pissed off too. The police--OK, Third District Inspector Edward Delgado--wants you to email Peter Nickles to do who knows what to this kid. You want this thug in cuffs. You want this thug behind bars. And maybe worse. Prince of Petworth has joined the witch hunt. OffSeventh has raised a torch. The No BS Zone has started marching in lockstep, too.

Well, stop it. If you bothered to read the fine print of the Post piece, you would know that this teenager has been convicted of nothing, and was recently ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial. Yes, there are 21 robberies attached to his undisclosed name. But this kid doesn't need a bunk in a crummy, over-crowded youth facility.

Read More "Stop E-Mailing Peter Nickles: End The Witch Hunt" »

A few minutes after 11 p.m. tonight, a young woman was shot in the 700 block of Decatur Street, NW.

The victim sustained injuries to her left arm and is not in in critical condition, police say. She is seventeen years old.

Police tape also demarcated a house at the intersection of 7th and Emerson Streets to which the victim fled after being attacked.

By the time we arrived, an ambulance was on the scene. By the time we left, cops were pulling down yellow tape on Emerson while their colleagues three blocks south scoured the ground for overlooked shells.

The shots I could hear from my porch nearly a mile away.

We'll do our best to keep you in the loop.

Photograph of Decatur St. & Illinois Ave. by Mike Riggs

Personal Plea: To all District residents who ran for office last Tuesday, please take down your campaign signs! Some of you lost big time (Dee Hunter, sorry), some of you inexplicably won (Paul Strauss), and some of you didn't have to bother with signs at all (Kwame Brown). All of you need to remove your signs from city lamp posts, street corners, traffic islands, major intersections, and random tree boxes!

Intangible Arts has a rundown of some crazy-ass show you missed. Let's focus on the first band:

"BLUE SAUSAGE INFANT: A deliberately short set this time (the audio file clocked in at exactly 13:13, how spooky). A brief sonic buildup followed by a large, stomping, improvised, freeform freakout of distorted electronics and tremolo-chopped wordless howling vocals. It was a childish tantrum of noise, soaked in psychedelic paranoia. It came back down to earth (more or less) with the pulsing Korg and looping chants. So far, the best description of modern-day BSI is "mean-spirited euphoria"... sounds about right."

Meanwhile at Black Plastic Bag, Intern Bobby has some great photos of this past weekend's Dan Deacon show.

The Heights Life is reporting that The Heights restaurant has changed its menu and slashed its prices.

Mount Pleasant still can't sustain a decent blog! Climbing The Mount hasn't posted since early August. Will its last post really be about selling your art at Tonic? Thanks to this blog for pointing it out.

Congress Heights On The Rise has a rundown of community events for the week.

Pop Cesspool invents some awesome new sign language.

Prince of Petworth responds to a reader question: Why didn't you write more about the recent series of shootings? PoP mentions City Paper's excellent coverage--thanks PoP--and then goes on to state something we've long believed. People obsess over crime too much!

Read More "Our Morning Roundup" »

Courtesy of a friend who apparently doesn't give a damn about his ANC representation:

Definitive evidence below the jump.

Read More "Improbably, I Receive a Write-In" »

Hyacinth, an orange-haired, 10-pound local cat, has gone missing. Though the cat (pictured) regularly leaves her Petworth home for up to twenty minutes at a time, she generally returns when called. The cat, who was last seen on the 1300 block of Shepherd St. NW, has now been missing for 24 hours.

Owners Lisa and Cameron became worried on Monday evening after repeated calls to the cat went unanswered.

According to Lisa and Cameron, Hyacinth "is very friendly with a soft meow." A former cat-sitter describes Hyacinth as "exceptionally friendly and cute." The cats owners are joined by fellow live-in cat Mr. Trouble in offering a "generous reward" for Hyacinth's return.

"She may be in your garage or shed by accident," write the owners. "Can you please help us by checking?"

Those with information about her whereabouts are directed to contact Lisa and Cameron at (202) 321-0249 or (202) 390-1513.

UPDATE: Whew. Hyacinth was found, holed up in a new neighbor's house, at 7 p.m. this evening.