WTOP's Mark Plotkin is not pleased that President Barack Obama neglected to invite Mayor Vince Gray to the State of the Union address tonight.
Talk about a non-story!
True, Gray has never been invited to the speech by the president—he attended last year as a guest of Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (although, based on her less-than-pleased tone [...]
Heidi Goes Cable: On Nov. 17, 1968, the Oakland Raiders and the New York Jets played an exciting football game that went down to the wire—and that no one watching on TV in the eastern half of the country saw the finish of, because NBC switched from football coverage to a made-for-TV movie, Heidi, about [...]
Yes, Virginia, You Put Your Weed In There: In the near future, Virginia may no longer just be the place to buy legal guns and cheap tobacco. It'll also be the place to go buy pot! Legislators in the Old Dominion are studying whether to allow marijuana sales at state-owned liquor stores. Prediction: This won't happen. [...]
No Taxation Without Starvation: Getting D.C. representation in Congress turns out to be physically hard work. The last remaining protester from the Occupy D.C. movement who's on a hunger strike to demand voting rights, Adrian Parsons, has lost 25 pounds in three weeks. He's consuming only vitamins and water, enhanced with electrolytes. Parsons' doctors have [...]
Armed And Dangerous: The national news media got very excited Friday night, as word broke that there had been some gunshots a few blocks from the White House. Early reports made it sound like the weapon might have been aimed at the executive mansion. But quickly, it became clear that it was just a coincidence; [...]
Some possibly good news for abortion rights activists and D.C. autonomy fans alike: The Senate's 2012 budget bill for the District doesn't include a ban on the city using its own money to fund abortions for low-income women.
Earlier this year, the 2011 federal spending plan outlawed the relatively recent program ... and led to Mayor [...]
D.C. Meets MLK: The latest memorial on the National Mall will honor the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose 1963 March on Washington took place 48 years ago this Aug. 28. D.C. residents will get both a sneak preview of the memorial and a chance to claim King would have backed more autonomy from [...]
Wonderland Bandits: Five years ago, a gang of men rushed into Wonderland Ballroom, in Columbia Heights, wearing masks and carrying guns, and robbed patrons and employees alike. Apparently that sort of thing still works; three armed robbers held the bar up again last night, around 1:45 a.m. Police apprehended one of the suspects shortly afterwards, [...]
No Sex, Please, We're Catholic: Co-ed dorms have been the norm in most colleges for generations; at George Washington University, students will soon be able to share a room with anyone of any sex. After all, today's kids aren't exactly notoriously modest. At Catholic University, though, they sure will be soon. The school says it [...]
This is Not a Test: District residents who are so inclined can sign up for emails or text messages about emergency alerts. (Yes, sometimes the system announces things like the mayor's State of the District address.) Soon enough, though, the alerts will come automatically, unless you opt out; D.C. and New York are the first [...]
The budget deal struck by Congress and the White House last weekend kept D.C. libraries and rec centers open by averting a government shutdown. But it also included policy “riders” that banned the District from spending any of its local budget on abortion and ordered the city to continue a school voucher program. Since federal [...]
D.C. Don't Stand for Democracy City: The good news from Friday night's budget dealing between the White House and Congress was that D.C. libraries, rec centers, and other services—like trash collection—didn't have to close. The bad news was that, once again, Congress has decided to play D.C. Council, with President Obama's blessing. City officials still [...]
The good news: Libraries and rec centers around the District are open today. The bad news: Congress is, once again, back in the "let's tell D.C. exactly what it can and can't do with its local tax revenue!" game.
Late last night, House Republicans, Senate Democrats, and the White House finally found an arbitrary number of [...]
Shut 'Em Down: Life as a colony of the United States sure is grand! The federal government hurdled toward a shutdown today, taking the District along with it as a hostage. Reports trickled out late in the day that city officials planned to resume trash collection after only three days, not a week, but as [...]
Even the most placid of citizens have lines they simply won't allow their elected leaders to cross without arousing some populist fury. This week, as the federal government girds itself to shut down—taking most of the District government along with it—one of those lines has come into sharp relief. You can deny D.C. its voice [...]
