Happy NaBloPoMo! Or for the less tech-savvy: National Blog Posting Month. Apparently, there are bloggers who have vowed to post every day for the month of November! Don’t worry, slacker-bloggers with other responsibilities—City Desk has plenty of posts to go around. That’s what interns are for.

The New York Times is asking readers to look back at the year since President Barack Obama’s election and sum up their mood. As of Tuesday night, Democrats are “hopeful,” “proud,” and “thankful.” Republicans are “suspicious,” “depressed,” and… “unsurprising.” Please assign grammar lessons to those unsurprising Republicans. Also, Republicans can add some new words today after last night's election returns. Bob McDonnell!

At 12:01 a.m., the National Park Service debuted its new online lottery for the National Christmas Tree ceremony tickets. There are some 10,000 tickets available, and the lottery closes Friday. On the plus side: No more fending off tourists and huddling in the cold for hours to see a tree lit. On the downside: Did anyone actually think this through? Thousands upon thousands logging into one government-run Web page? I’d start bundling up the kiddies.   Read More "Our Morning Roundup: The “Thrilled, Hopeful, and Unsurprising” Edition" »

This is a bad sign. The weather is still pretty decent. But homeless shelters are at capacity or over capacity, according to recent census figures.  On October 27, there were no vacancies for homeless men, and shelters for homeless women were over capacity by two. There were zero vacancies listed for homeless families.

Yesterday, there were four vacancies at men's shelters. Women shelters were over capacity by one. There were zero vacancies for homeless families.

Read More "Big Worry: District Homeless Shelters Are Already At Capacity" »

WaPo reports today that D.C. has a new honor: the nation's unemployment leader. Does this include the DCPS debacle? Or the fallout over homeless services cuts?

WaPo's Frank Ahrens writes:

"Washington D.C. had the highest percentage rise in unemployment in September, with the jobless rate jumping from 11.1 percent to 11.4 percent, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported moments ago in its monthly state-by-state jobless report.

New York experienced the most jobs lost in the month, but D.C. had the highest percentage loss relative to population. D.C. lost 10,000 jobs from August to September, the Bureau said."

D.C.'s unemployment rate has jumped to 11.4 percent.

The District's unemployment rate "rose dramatically" to over 11% last month, the Washington Post reported on Saturday. There were about 36,000 Washingtonians without jobs in August.

11% is certainly not pretty, but D.C.'s actual unemployment rate is probably higher, because the unemployment rate that appears in the newspaper is often misleading.

The problem? It doesn't include what the Bureau of Labor Statistics calls "marginally attached workers"--people who want a job, but aren't looking because they don't think there's much chance of getting one. Also left out are those who are involuntarily working part-time.
Read More "D.C. Unemployment: It’s Worse than You Think" »