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. But if it does, it'll generate a lot more cash than lotto does. +3

Trent Franks For D.C. Council: Election year abortion politics are complicated. Conservative lawmakers want to show they're fighting the culture wars, but they don't really want to deal with a backlash from constituents who—reasonably—don't want their own rights restricted. Fortunately for Arizona Republican Rep. Trent Franks, there's always the District! Franks will introduce legislation next week to ban abortions after 20 weeks of a pregnancy—never mind that D.C. is overwhelmingly more pro-choice than his own state is. The National Right to Life Committee is a big fan; they say there's no need to consult District officials about the bill because, hey, Congress can do whatever it wants. -4

Whose Court? Our Court: The Supreme Court became the latest seat of national power to be occupied today, as Occupy D.C. protesters marched, sang, and chanted outside to protest the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling that more or less ended any pretense that big corporations don't run politics in this country. Police arrested 12 demonstrators. Had the protest managed to actually take over the building, we presume the court would have been renamed (a la the People's Pentagon) the People's Court. Chief Justice Joseph Wapner presiding? +2

Let It Mix: Is there any weather term drearier than "wintry mix?" None of the excitement of a blizzard, none of the beauty of a clear day, not even the sheer terror of, say, a hurricane. That's what's in store for the District and environs tonight through early tomorrow afternoon. On the plus side, it's Friday night, so most people's commutes won't be ruined. On the minus side, your Saturday may be. -1

Yesterday's Needle rating: 41 Today's score: 0 Friday bonus: +2 Today's Needle rating: 42

You For President: Normally we stay as far away from presidential horse race politics as we can, but today was a weird day. First up, the guy everyone was so fired up about six months ago, Texas Governor Rick Perry dropped out of the race (even though he's on the D.C. ballot). Erik Wemple ranks the reasons the local punditry gave for Perry's flameout from 10 to 1. Then Newt Gingrich's second wife claimed he wanted an open marriage (insert schadenfreude over the Defense of Marriage Act's biggest defender wanting to step outside of his own marriage). Then, businessman and pizza man Herman Cain endorsed...wait for it...You. You for president. Yeah. We don't even know, but thanks for the warm fuzzies. +2

Let It Slush: Unlike the surprise snowstorm last week, it looks like we'll at least have some notice for the next one. Flurries may develop tonight with some wintry mix tomorrow. The "winterless winter" isn't likely to get much colder than this, though, at least if historical averages hold true. And we're not complaining: An extended spring is always welcome. +3

What's $0.20 Among Friends? Virginia lawmakers are proposing a 20-cent bag tax in the state. The steep price isn't going over well, though one of the state's representatives says, "Responses on my blog ran about 64 percent of the people were perfectly fine with a nickel." On! His! Blog! That's social science for you. Here in the District, of course, the bag tax is a mere 5 cents. +5

Yesterday's Needle rating: 33 Today's score: +8 Today's Needle rating: 41

Stronger job growth and a healthier housing market in the region account for much of the mobility, said Lisa Sturtevant of George Mason University's Center for Regional Analysis.

"While [the D.C.-area housing market] is still slow, it's possible to sell your home and move to a bigger one," Sturtevant said. "We're not anywhere close to being back to normal, but compared to other places, we don't have as many people underwater."

Commemorative reenactment of The First Battle of Manassas/Bull Run, July 23rd.

Pageland Farm in Gainesville, VA.  © 2011 Matt Dunn

Now Not Boarding: Tram enthusiasts of America got tragic news today—the H Street NE streetcars almost certainly won't launch in 2012, as originally planned, but rather late 2013. That's a second delay, after the initial launch was pushed back from next spring to next fall. Part of the problem? There aren't enough cars. Construction may not start until early next year. At this rate, chances are you'll be able to take the streetcar from Metro's Silver Line to Metro's Purple Line by the time it opens. -3

Tombstone Blues: That Arlington National Cemetery had lost track of buried veterans was already an embarrassment. Now the FBI is looking to see if it was a crime, too, in the latest expansion of an investigation that's already got the Army, the Defense Department Inspector General, and Congress poking around (not to mention The Washington Post and Time, where Mark Benjamin, who broke the story for Salon.com, now writes). Might tourists flocking to the cemetery get to see some arrests? -1

Steady Diet of Shaolin: Mashups were all the rage early in the last decade, and DJs quickly ran through most of the clever ideas and moved on to bad ones. But now, singlehandedly, a group out of Minnesota may have revived the genre, with Wugazi, a project that mixes Fugazi with the Wu-Tang Clan. We suspect the actual Wu-Tang Clan might not endorse D.C. hardcore's old straight edge ethos—it's hard to imagine Method Man singing Ian MacKaye's pre-Fugazi Minor Threat refrain, "Don't smoke/don't drink/don't fuck" without a heavy dollop of irony—but listening to Wugazi's first track, it sounds like they were made for each other. +2

BYOV: Thanks to relaxed gun laws, chances are the patrons in Virginia restaurants may already be bringing weapons into dinner with them. Now they can bring wine, too; a new corkage law takes effect Friday, allowing diners to BYOB if restaurants allow them. The previous ban on the practice may have been mostly honored in the breach, but now it's not only winked at, it's also legal. Which should make the concealed weapons more exciting. +1

Yesterday's Needle rating: 47 Today's score: -1 Today's Needle rating: 46

Virginia, May 29

• After it surfaced that Metro employees at Huntington station were abusing parking, Metro CEO Richard Sarles reminded all WMATA employees he'll dispatch Metro Transit Police to enforce parking regulations.
• Are Metrorail riders meaner than Metrobus ones?
• Some parking advocates would prefer a $1 surcharge on station parking, instead of service cuts.
• Navigating Metro in a wheelchair proves very unpleasant for one rider. Unfortunately, her experience isn't uncommon.
• A man in Virginia has pleaded guilty to planning a Metro bomb attack with government agents pretending to be members of Al-Qaeda.
• Local leaders in Virginia are considering pulling funding for the Silver Line project.
• Now that cherry blossom fever has subsided, Metro's going back to intensive track work.
• Upgrading Ward 5's transit isn't going to happen right away.

In Metro Good News, a plan to put a 5-cent surcharge on Metro riders at Union Station has been scrapped (for the moment), and Arlington riders may soon be able to load bus passes onto their SmarTrips.

And if Metro Bad News is too depressing, perhaps you'd prefer it reenacted by marshmallow peeps.

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 in Congress, you can even try to rename our streets for dead Republican presidents, but mess with our trash collection at your own risk.

A new Facebook group sprung up in the last few days, proposing that if the government closes, and Department of Public Works trash and recycling pickups are disrupted, D.C. residents should take their garbage to House Speaker John Boehner's house on Capitol Hill. "Speaker John Boehner is ready to shut down the government, including DC city services like trash collection," the organizers write. "Well, if he won't allow us to use OUR TAX DOLLARS to pick it up, maybe we should just BRING IT TO HIM."

But if this protest actually works, there's likely to be more trash than Boehner's lawn can handle—or for that matter, the Capitol grounds. (The Capitol, after all, is designed to deal with hot air, not hot garbage.) DPW picks up about 600 tons of trash and recycling each week, officials say. Which means we'll need more than one dumping location.

So as a public service—and so we can prove, in the new Beltway status game du jour, how essential we are—Washington City Paper has some suggestions for where else to haul your garbage if it's not picked up next week, besides the Capitol. Remember, in D.C., newspapers and other recycling can be commingled!

FreedomWorks: From its unassuming office near Union Station, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey leads, well, an army of tea partying budget hawks. "Lower Taxes, Less Government, More Freedom," is the group's motto. "Less Government, More Trash," is more like it.

White House: Yes, the shutdown is mostly due to the demands of a band of hardcore conservatives that the federal budget be chopped down as quickly as possible, no matter what else gets chopped in the process. But President Obama deserves his share of the blame, or at least the trash, for the fact that D.C. still depends on Congress to pass our budget. The White House isn't using "Taxation Without Representation" license plates, after all. Maybe some garbage on his front lawn will encourage Obama to push harder for D.C.'s rights!

National Republican Club of Capitol Hill: When Democrats ran the House, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton at least got to vote when the chamber met in the "Committee of the Whole House," which mostly meant she could vote on amendments to tax and spending bills. Once the GOP took over again, they put an end to that. This posh club near the Capitol is where Republicans and their friends come to dine; leave them some old copies of the Post's Metro section to remind them there's a whole city out there.

National Archives: The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are on display here, showing the country's commitment to the principles of democracy that are the foundation of our political system. Except, that is, when it comes to residents of the capital, who get to pay taxes, serve in the military, and have our rights trashed whenever some congressional yahoo from Utah feels like playing mayor.

Mattress Discounters of Capitol Hill: By some accounts, as many as 15 percent of the 94 freshmen who came to Congress last fall are sleeping in their offices—in part to save money, but in part to send a signal that they loathe our city so much they don't even want to have a crappy studio apartment here. So they show up with folding cots or air mattresses, plop them in the middle of the Rayburn building, and commence to making an absurd, but apparently popular, political point. We have no idea if they buy them at Mattress Discounters, but just in case, tell them to stop aiding and abetting this nonsense.

Virginia: Until 1847, Arlington and Alexandria were part of the District. Had they not petitioned Congress to return to their native commonwealth, the modern-day residents of these parts of town would, like those of us in D.C., be wondering what to do with all their garbage next week. Instead, many of them will be planning which bars to hit up for happy hour because they don't have to show up for their jobs as legislative correspondents. So take your trash over the Potomac, and—like lawmakers love to do—make the whole thing someone else's problem.

© 2011 Michael W. Hicks

Tipsy Tenth: Ever feel like the drivers around you are incompetent or blind? Turns out, they're probably just drunk. A AAA Mid-Atlantic survey finds one in ten drivers admits to driving drunk in the last year alone. Since only die-hard drunk drivers are likely to volunteer to a AAA researcher that they've done it, odds are that figure is actually much higher. And now, in order to muster the courage to brave the potentially dangerous bike ride home surrounded by drunk drivers, we're off to start drinking. -3

Baby Boom: The animals at the National Zoo are, apparently, mating like, well, animals. The year's already seen lion cubs and baby anteaters; now comes word of baby cheetahs. Both Amani and Zazi, female cheetahs, gave birth to cubs earlier this month at the zoo's research facility in Front Royal, Va. At this rate, zoo officials may have to hand out birth control pills to humans visiting the park, just in case. +2

Shuttle Shuttered: These days on H Street NE, it's not at all uncommon to see cabs with Virginia plates dropping off fares. Which is why news that the H Street Shuttle is closing down is unlikely to make much of a splash. Sure, years ago, the bars in the neighborhood needed all the help they could get to convince people who didn't live nearby to venture that way. But now? It only carries about 6,000 people per month, which works out to 200 a day; since the X2 and X9 Metro bus run the same route, the shuttle seems superfluous. After all, some Saturdays, you can find 200 people just waiting in line to get in to some of the bars. +1

Virginia is Not for History Lovers: When a history textbook used in Virginia schools reported the previously unknown fierce loyalty of southern black soldiers to the Confederacy, it apparently set off some alarm bells in the Old Dominion. Educators combed through the text and—surprise!—found more errors, though few of them were quite as glaring as that one. Remember, Virginians: Those who don't learn the lessons of history are doomed to go through life even more misinformed than most other Americans. Which is pretty misinformed, indeed. -2

Yesterday's Needle rating: 67 Today's score: -2 Today's Needle rating: 65

The Sky is Falling!: Mark down today's date, Nov. 18, 2010, as one to remember. For it turns out that the latest absurd problem in the Metro system—the chunks of concrete falling from the ceiling onto a platform at the Farragut North stop on the Red Line—was not the transit agency's fault! District Department of Transportation workers jackhammering the street above were the culprits. However, the fact that Metro's entire online infrastructure died this morning? Yeah, that's on them. -3

Farewell, Wilbon: Raise your hand if Mike Wilbon's column was the first thing (or pretty damn close to it) you read in the Washington Post the morning after, oh, every major sporting event in the last several decades. That run is now over; Wilbon is leaving the paper for ESPN and ABC Sports, where the streets, compared to the ones that run through Newspaperville, are paved with gold. -2

The Beltway Will Kill You: File this under "Yet Another Reason Never to Venture Outside the District Line"—a new study indicates that more than half of drivers on the Beltway are talking on their phone, and that 47 percent more of them are texting while driving than last year. The study, the scientific validity of which we're not necessarily inclined to think is particularly high, was sponsored by the American Automobile Association. Which probably means the findings will soon be marshaled as an argument against red light cameras and bike lanes. -3

Virginia is for People Who Are Waiting for their Tax Refunds: Live in Virginia? Think you might be owed money by the federal government? As long as you're not expecting a check in connection with the brainwave-stealing beams the sinister black helicopters are directing at your head, you might be right. The IRS says it's got $2.3 million sitting around in tax refunds due Virginia residents who, for various postal reasons, didn't get their checks delivered. A little-known Virginia law, however, requires the recipients to use the money to purchase a concealed weapon. +2

Yesterday's Needle rating: 49 Today's score: -6 Today's Needle rating: 43

"DC plan for homeless families is to provide apts. $1,500 per.Should there be limit on number of fams hsd from other states? NY Times says no"

"Overflow for homeless families is DC Gen. 135 fams now at capacity. Should DC provide unlimited capacity for other states. NY Times says yes"

More tweets after the jump!

Wells goes on to tweet:

"Fams and individs in DC have right to shelter during cold. Surrounding states do not. % of fams in DC shelters from Md has tripled.

To bal our budget we must cut foster care, pub ed, disability pymnts, juv justice, TANF, pub safety and raise taxes to get to 175 mil

Mont co and PG co have a residency req. for shelter. We shld hse when freezing but not provide apt and shld return to home state when safe.

NY Times recommends DC expand shelter capacity if needed and dun Congress for the cost. Good luck with that.

CFO said no cost savings b/c of current waitlist for homeless services. DC residents should have dibs, no?"

Yes We Can (Beg for Endorsements): Mayor Adrian Fenty takes it upon himself to leak word that he's asked President Barack Obama for an endorsement in Tuesday's election. Which is a strange strategy in a race polls show Fenty is likely to lose to D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray; Obama has enough political problems without weighing in on the losing side of a Democratic primary in the District. All Fenty's likely to get from the tactic is an increased sense that his campaign is desperate, and also a demonstration that he doesn't have that much clout with the White House. Of course, if he does get the Obama endorsement, that'll be the surest sign yet that White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel has one foot already in the door of Chicago's city hall. -3

Monumental WiFi: Dreams have finally come true for anyone who always wondered why they couldn't get a reliable, free wireless Internet network while riding the carousel in front of the Smithsonian Castle. (All four of those people.) Public WiFi has come to the Mall. A stretch from 3rd Street to 14th Street will be covered by the network, which District and federal officials have been plotting since 2005. Now, when lost families from the Midwest ask for directions to the Washington Monument, you can first berate them for not looking it up on their iPad, and only then berate them for asking how to get to the building that's directly in front of them. +4

Chill, Washington: Evidently D.C. is only the 15th most-stressed city in the nation, according to the latest completely unscientific list to hit the newsstands. (And here at the Needle, we know from completely unscientific.) More stressed than we are: Detroit; Los Angeles; Cleveland; Riverside, Calif.; and St. Louis, among others. Less stressed: Austin; Raleigh, N.C.; Minneapolis-St. Paul; Virginia Beach-Norfolk; and Salt Lake City. We tried to figure out the criteria used for the list, but it was too stressful. +2

Virginia is for Drinkers: Just across the Potomac, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has a plan. That plan involves booze, and lots of it. The commonwealth would open liquor sales to more than 1,000 new establishments, mostly grocery and convenience stores that already sell beer and wine. The idea is to boost revenues, lower prices, and—most importantly—expand access to alcohol for all. Which is great, but do keep in mind: that drunk guy lingering by the Old Granddad whiskey bottles? He's probably carrying a concealed weapon. It's Virginia, after all. +3

Doors Closing: Holiday weekends are so nice—three days off from work, the city a little emptier than usual, special events on Sunday nights. And now, apparently, the new D.C. tradition? Metro stations closed. After shutting five Red Line stations over Labor Day, Metro announced today they'll close McPherson Square and Farragut West on the Blue and Orange lines over Columbus Day. Fortunately for any tourists visiting the District then, McPherson Square isn't located particularly close to any large white executive mansions. -4

Yesterday's Needle rating: 43 Today's score: +2 Today's Needle rating: 45

The TV show scene was laugh-worthy, but apparently this situation happens in real life too and it's not such a funny moment for new parents. A baby mix-up at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington County led to another woman breastfeeding Suzanne Libby's newborn and now she is calling out the hospital for the mistake.

Libby told her story to the Washington Post. The day after her child was born in January, she realized he was missing from the nursery at the hospital. After a search of the maternity ward,  her son was discovered in his hospital bassinet in another woman's room. Not only was he hanging out in the room of a stranger, but she had actually breastfed him too.

From the WaPo:

"It was the worst moment of my entire life," Libby said, when she realized her son was missing and nurses didn't know where he was. "On top of that, to find that another mother breast-fed him, without my knowledge, without my consent, was horrid. . . . He was exposed to someone else's body fluid."

So why is it such a big deal? Breast milk is breast milk, right? Wrong. Exposing a baby to another woman's breast milk could put the child at risk of contracting HIV and hepatitis B or C. Nasty.

Libby and her son were lucky. Blood tests showed the stranger was clean. But she's still pissed. How did this happen? A nurse aide failed to match up the baby's bracelet to the mother. And apparently the other mother never noticed her baby changed faces in the nursery. They all look like splotchy aliens anyway, right?

And this isn't a totally random occurrence. Baby mix-ups have happened at least two other times in recent years at Washington-area hospitals, but it didn't turn into breastfeeding mania.

But enough about HIV-laced breast milk. Check out The Office clip:

Photo by maessive, via Flickr.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: "Tampering Charges Tossed, But Conspiracy Case Goes Forward," "Outcast Psychic Eyes Bethesda Comeback," "World Cup Roundup," "Defense Expert Disputes Knife Evidence In Wone Case," "Court Sides With Protesters In DPW Poster Removal Case," "Fatal Shooting In Brentwood"

Good Morning. So just how bad is Mayor Adrian Fenty doing against D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray? He lost the Ward 3 straw poll—the results of which were released late yesterday. If Fenty is to have any hope of keeping his job, he's got to dominate that ward. LL is stunned and thinks maybe this is some kinda joke. But it must be true since there's a Gray campaign press release in my inbox: "According to results released tonight, Gray was named the winner of the Ward Three Democratic Committee Straw Poll with 174 votes to 168 for Fenty. The straw poll was conducted one week ago as the candidates faced each other in a candidates’ forum sponsored by the committee, but ballots were not counted until this evening. The straw poll was open to any registered Democrat living in Ward Three. The Ward Three Democratic Committee also voted tonight on whether to endorse a candidate for Mayor. While no candidate received the required 75% needed for an endorsement, Gray handily beat Fenty among the delegates by a margin of 40-15 (or 64% of the vote to 24%)." More coverage via WaPo.

AFTER THE JUMP—Virginia at war with itself over Metro, Don Peebles rides the fence, bad record keeping found at Adult Protective Services agency, and much, much more!

METRO MESS: WaPo editorial board refers to Virginia's threat to withhold Metro funds as "blackmail." The board writes: "This is not a dispute between Virginia and Metro, or even between Virginia and the other two Metro jurisdictions, Maryland and the District. This is a dispute between Virginia and Northern Virginia. And resolving it would not require redrawing the rules governing Metro's board. As things have stood for years, the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, a regional body representing Fairfax and Arlington counties and Alexandria, has named two voting members to the Metro board to match the two voting members named by the District and the state of Maryland. (Maryland's seats have for years been controlled not by suburban governing bodies but from Annapolis, which also provides the state's subsidy.) When Virginia was asked to pony up $50 million a year in funds to match the federal dollars, state officials started pressing the commission to allow them to name one of the two voting members (plus an alternate) for Virginia. The Northern Virginians declined.... State officials point out that they are chipping in about 52 percent of all Virginia dollars going to Metro; the remaining 48 percent comes from Northern Virginia localities. State officials are also right that the Metro board would be well served by having Virginia represented by a full-time transportation expert, not part-time politicians, no matter how conscientious and well-intentioned." Best line: "But Metro is not a political trophy to be squabbled over; it's one of the busiest and most critical transportation systems in the nation. Northern Virginia needs to recognize the state's legitimate interest and contribution, back down and allow Richmond a vote on the Metro board. Richmond should negotiate without holding the system hostage. This internecine skirmish must not be allowed to jeopardize funding for transit in the nation's capital."

IT'S NOVA VS. THE REST OF VA: Meanwhile, the Examiner's Kytja Weir reports that two Virginia Congressmen called the funds threat "budgetary blackmail." Weir writes: "Reps. Gerry Connolly and Jim Moran, both Democrats, wrote a letter to Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell stressing 'serious concerns' about the proposal to give two of the four Virginia board slots to political appointees instead of elected officials from Northern Virginia. They specifically disputed the McDonnell administration's claim that the commonwealth deserved half the positions as it was contributing 52 percent of the overall $249 million in state and local subsidies for the pending $2.1 billion Metro budget, which starts July 1. They argue that Northern Virginia riders' fares and parking fees are not included in those numbers, thus underestimating how much local residents are contributing. Furthermore, Connolly told The Washington Examiner, that the $50 million the state is threatening to withhold comes from revenue paid by Northern Virginia drivers through the 2 percent gas tax. 'I know who pays the bills. It's local taxpayers, not Richmond, not the commonwealth,' Connolly said. 'This is our own money that Virginia is suddenly laying claim to.'"

HOPEFULLY, THE LAST DON PEEBLES LINK EVER: WaPo's Mike DeBonis writes that the developer has finally, sorta, maybe made up his mind on whether to run for mayor:

"The D.C.-born developer, based in Florida for more than a decade now, appeared on Jonetta Rose Barras's WPFW-FM show Thursday morning, promising to answer whether or not he'd challenge Mayor Adrian Fenty — a decision he's been openly pondering since last fall.

Not surprisingly, no hard answer came from Peebles, who has pledged to inject as much as $5 million of his own money into the race and has relished the attendant public attention. But it's clear the public's patience is nearing an end. Barras started by asking Peebles the big question: Will you or won't you?

'I continue to get an outpouring of support asking me to run for mayor,' he started, before launching into an extended monologue on the problems of Washington today — ranging from jobs to fiscal management.

Barras finally pressed him to answer the darn question. Even that didn't get a clear yes or no.

When he had agreed to come on the show, Peebles explained, he intended to announce he'd run for the mayoralty as an independent — that is, in the general election, after Fenty and Vincent Gray had duked it out. But Peebles said that earlier this week he'd learned that his mother-in-law's cancer had significantly worsened.

So, he said, 'at this point right now, I cannot be a candidate for mayor.'

Barras then asked if the 'door is closed' to a mayoral run. Said Peebles, 'You never say never.'"

Peebles has a great back story and can talk passionately on the subject of job creation. But why would anyone vote for this guy after all his indecision? More coverage via WBJ.

SHADY RECORD KEEPING: The Examiner's Alan Suderman reports that paperwork concerning some of the District's most vulnerable residents wasn't kept secure—the IG has found: "Sensitive information of some of the District's must vulnerable residents, including abused and neglected elderly and disabled citizens, was left in a haphazard and unsecured mess at a city office, the D.C. inspector general has found. The District's Adult Protective Services division is tasked with 'investigating reports of abuse, neglect, and exploitation of frail, elderly and disabled adults,' according to the inspector general's report. But the APS's case files — which include clients' statements, Social Security numbers, health records, and the names of those who reported abuse — were left 'unorganized lying on unattended desks, in open boxes, and in carts waiting to filed' in a storage room," the IG found. And the storage room was often left open and unlocked because it was used by city employees "as a thoroughfare" to reach exits and restrooms. City employees from a different department and who weren't authorized to look at the records had easy access to the files, according to the IG. The report is the third the inspector general has issued in little more than a year that details how a city agency has failed to safeguard city records."

9:30 CLUB VS. LIVE NATION: AP reports: "The owner of Washington's 9:30 Club has filed a lawsuit against Maryland to prevent the state from giving Montgomery County $4 million to build a music venue. The lawsuit was filed this week by the music club's parent company, IMP Inc., and that company's co-owner Seth Hurwitz. It says the county hasn't provided enough information about the project's costs as required by the General Assembly. The county is contributing $4 million to build the venue. A spokesman for the county executive says the county has met the assembly's conditions. The Live Nation venue would be built in downtown Silver Spring and serve about 2,000 standing patrons. Hurwitz has said his company could create a music venue in Silver Spring without public funds."

FENCED IN: WaPo's Ann Marimow updates on Vincent Gray's controversial fence: "The clock is ticking for Council Chairman Vincent Gray to do something about his fence. He has 30 days to relocate or lower the black aluminum fence that surrounds his Hillcrest home, according to a letter dated June 9 from the District's Public Space Committee. Last month, the committee ruled that Gray had not provided sufficient justification to exceed the District's height limit on fences built in the public right of way. The panel, charged with protecting the character of the city's neighborhoods, gave Gray two options to act by July 9: lower his 67-inch fence to the limit of 42 inches or move the fence back to the property line. Rulings by the obscure but powerful committee are final. Gray is consulting with his attorney, but has "not yet made a decision on whether he will move the fence or decrease the height," his campaign spokeswoman Traci Hughes said Thursday."

METRO MESS PART 2: Metro workers will be disciplined over ten-car train.

HOLDOUT HORROR STORY: One landlord who refused millions to sell during downtown's development boom now probably regrets that decision.

REQUIRED FATHER'S DAY READING: WaPo's Petula Dvorak profiles a father who adopted two neglected boys with the help of the Children's Law Center.

GRAY'S HEALTH: The Examiner's Bill Myers reports that Gray had a bit of "a sniffle" this week.

CRUISERS: Three cop cars were hit by an SUV.

EMAIL OF THE WEEK: From Keith Jarrell on campaign sign wars:

"For more than a month I have had a Vince Gray for Mayor sign in my yard. Proudly I might ad, and at my request. This evening after attending a CAC meeting at 4th District I came home only to find a Fenty for Mayor sign in the middle of my front yard, completely unauthorized!

Where does the dirty, over bearing side of Fenty STOP?

I am open to no excuses from the Campaign on this heinous act. If they even begin to suggest that the person that installed the Fenty sign maybe didn't see the Gray sign then I am going to suggest that they get their eyes checked. They would have to have practically walked over the first sign to put up the second one.

I have left a message for the Fenty Campaign manger giving him until 8Am tomorrow morning to have the sign removed.

Keith Jarrell"

MAYOR'S SCHEDULE:

9:30 a.m. Remarks
Ribbon Cutting for Marvin Gaye Park
Location: Marvin Gaye Park
Minnesota Avenue and Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue, NE
(Don't you feel like he's already cut a ribbon at Marvin Gaye Park?)

D.C. COUNCIL SCHEDULE:

11 a.m.
Committee on Aging and Community Affairs (Hearing)
Bill 18-235, the "Veterans License Plates Establishment Act of 2010"
Location: John A. Wilson Building, Room 412