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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT---Famous Channel 4 sportscaster George Michael dies at 70. Also, more on the snowball fight, as City Desk reports on an effort by D.C. police to make "conversation" on this troubling incident melt away like the snow that made it possible in the first place.

Morning all. Hope all you LLDers had a good holiday weekend. And if you're not checking out this week, have faith: LLD is on the case, though under a different by-line (see above).

LLD, even under a guest columnist, can never resist the opportunity to self-indulge, and this time it has plenty of pretext. In the Dec. 27 edition of themail, Dorothy Brizill and Gary Imhoff do a lot of grousing about local news coverage, with an emphasis on the alleged downgrading of the Washington Post's coverage of all things D.C. And in Imhoff's little riff on the matter, he tips his hat a bit to the toils of LLD:

Online news coverage has taken some halting steps. For the past several months The Washington City Paper’s Loose Lips, Mike DeBonis, has written an opinionated news aggregation column every weekday: Loose Lips Daily, at http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk. It’s useful — and could use competition.

So, Mr. Imhoff, with that whole "could use competition" thing, just what are you getting at? That LLD could possibly be any better than it now is? That you have enough time to read yet another 4,000-word news roundup each and every weekday?

After the jump: More Imhoff-Brizill; Barras on the end of the year; Mathews slams Gray and Cheh; more!

Read More "Loose Lips Daily: Barras Rounds It Up" »

Good morning, City Desk readers. Last I met you in this space, we were engaging in panic about the impending Snowpocalypse. And I didn't even know then about the snowball-toting anarchists!

Speaking of anarchists, President Barack Obama phoned in yesterday to WTOP's "Ask the Governor," on which Virginia's outgoing chief executive, Tim Kaine, was taking a final goodwill lap. This "Barry from D.C." stunt would have been all fine and good, except that it came at 10:18, when the station was due for its traffic update ("Traffic and weather together, on the 8s"). And then Obama made a joke about traffic! In Northern Virginia! Does he not know how many poor boobs were still out there on the Beltway, trying to get to work, desperately awaiting the next "8" so they could plot (or re-plot) their alternate route?

Read More "Morning Roundup: The “Homer Simpson Gets a Thumbs-Up From the Pope, Sort Of” Edition" »

"Barry from D.C." called in to WTOP's Ask the Governor today, where Tim Kaine was taking a final bow as Virginia's chief exec.

Barry, it turned out, was President Barack Obama, offering his good wishes to Kaine as he leaves office.

Hosting that day was WTOP reporter Mark Segraves, who says he was only informed of the president's call 10 minutes ahead of when he called in at 10:18 a.m.

To maintain the surprise, Segraves says, "I thought, what I'll do, I'll just say we have a caller from D.C. And it was the White House's idea: no, no, no---why don't you say Barry from D.C.?"

Kaine was indeed surprised. Listen:

Read More "Obama Calls WTOP, Delays Traffic and Weather" »

According to new D.C. Police data [PDF], there has been a total of 36 hate crimes committed in the District  as of September 30. That's about the same for 2008 and 2007's totals of 38.

By far, the majority of hate crimes have revolved around sexual orientation. As of Sept. 30, there have been 31 such crimes reported. There could be many more. As WTOP's Mark Segraves pointed out on his must-listen Ask The Chief segment, sometimes officers do not report hate crimes as hate crimes. [In a recent hate-crime incident I did some reporting on, D.C. cops did not report it as a hate crime].

On the WTOP segment, Police Chief Cathy Lanier did admit that since the report was issued, sexual-orientation based hate crimes have jumped to 35.

Numbers can be debated. But one number can not: the rise in sexual orientation hate crimes in Wards 7 and 8 [police districts 6 and 7].

Read More "Sexual Orientation Hate Crimes Jump In Wards 7, 8" »

R. Donahue Peebles is starting to sound more and more like a man who's running for mayor.

On the same morning that Washington Times reporter David C. Lipscomb revealed that several Peebles-related Internet domains have been quietly snapped up, the megadeveloper appeared on WTOP's Politics Program this morning to address the mayoral scuttlebutt.

Under questioning from host Mark Plotkin, Peebles said he was "giving some serious consideration" to announcing a mayoral run, and that he'd have a decision in seven to 10 days.

If there's any doubt in Peebles' mind, he certainly did not express it. He also committed on the air to spending as much as $5 million out of pocket to finance his bid.

Peebles tried out some campaign rhetoric and answered some of the tough questions he'll be hearing often over the next 10 months.

Read More "Don Peebles Starts Sounding Like a Mayoral Candidate" »

John Riggins took some chuckles out of the Dan Snyder bashing season when he said the Redskins owner was a "bad guy" with a dark heart. The big let-down of Riggins' rant came from its utter lack of examples of Snyder's conduct that would back up such soul judging. The controversy wasn't addressed in the Riggins profile by Sally Jenkins that ran in today's Washington Post.

But yesterday on WTOP, Riggins sorta explained his harshness. In a prepared statement delivered before his scheduled radio spot, Riggins said what he meant was that Snyder was "a bully," and that bullies have to be called out. While specifics would have again helped, there are already years worth of anecdotes about Snyder's bullying ways -- only an organization run by a dark-hearted bully would treat Jim Zorn the way he's been treated this year, for example.

So the bully explanation made Riggins' judgmentality understandable.

But just when you thought Riggins had found his bearings, he lost 'em again.  The former Redskins star, who will not say "Redskins" when talking about the team -- he usually says something like "the Washington NFL franchise -- compared the plight of Redskins Nation to the plight of the American Indians in the 1800s.

His words, as transcribed by the Great Steinographer:

Read More "Riggins Explains ‘Dark Heart’ Tirade, Adds Perspective to the Redskins’ Holocaust" »

It's been a good week for WTOP reporter Mark Segraves. On Monday, he broke a story about Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's use of public resources to facilitate his bike training rides. Now, he tells LL, he's inked a deal to host his own TV show.

No name has yet been determined, but starting next month, Segraves will be taking over the public affairs show on WDCW-TV now hosted by Chris Core, the longtime WMAL-AM talk show host now at WTOP.

The show, Segraves says, will be 30 minutes long, will be predominantly in interview format, and will cover more than strictly city politics. The show will have a more regional focus and will cover various current events, social issues, and cultural matters.

Segraves will also keep his duties at WTOP. Same goes for Core, who says he's signed a contract to embark on a new project, although he's forsworn from sharing details ahead of an official announcement. Core says he put in a good word for Segraves with Channel 50 management.

Read More "WTOP’s Mark Segraves to Get TV Show" »

Don't you pity D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier? Murders are way down. And she's stuck defending Fenty's latest mini scandal. This past week, WTOP broke the news on Fenty's police-escorted bike training sessions. During his training, Fenty was able to ride wherever with the help of some D.C. Police motorcycle cops. This has provoked widespread news coverage and considerable outrage. It has also put Lanier in a tricky spot---between her boss and her rank-and-file officers.

WTOP's Mark Segraves noted the huge time suck for officers on the Fenty bike detail:

"Documents obtained by the police union through a Freedom of Information Act request show officers from the Special Events Branch are routinely detailed for the "mayor's bike ride," racking up hundreds of man hours - many of which officers spend waiting for the mayor.

On multiple occasions, WTOP witnessed uniformed officers waiting for one to two hours for the mayor's cycling team to arrive for their training rides.

Thanks to Fenty, Lanier is now forced to offer some kind of lame quote. This past summer, Lanier had to defend her officers' zany response to that Fenty traffic accident. Now comes her weak defense of her department's escort service for Fenty's bike team.

Read More "Chief Cathy Lanier: The True Victim Of Fenty’s Latest Scandal" »

WTOP's Mark Segraves has the hot scoop: He is reporting that Mayor Adrian M. Fenty regularly uses motorcycle-mounted police to escort his cycling team as they train throughout the District and Maryland. This happens during weekday business hours, leading to traffic backups.

Moreover, Segraves says, Fenty and his team, D.C. Velo, use the cops to run red lights and stop signs (mere misdemeanors in LL's book) as well as traverse thoroughfares verboten to cyclists, e.g. the Clara Barton Parkway along the Potomac.

WTOP's video is above. Fenty, in comments to Segraves, declined to address the story, except to say if he did anything illegal, he won't any longer.

Read More "WTOP: Fenty Uses D.C. Cops to Escort Cycling Team" »

So how did the Red Line metro crash death toll jump to nine last night then fall back to seven this morning and then back up to nine? Last night, City Desk reported that three news outlets---WUSA9, WTOP, and WJLA---had confirmed that nine had died in the crash. WTOP cited the D.C. Fire Department as its source. WJLA had cited Metro.

This morning, Fenty stated that the number of confirmed dead was actually seven. That number soon increased back up to nine.

At least one fire department official is trying to figure out how and why there was so much confusion. One reporter City Desk contacted speculates that it may have to do with just the gruesomeness of the scene.

Read More "Metro Crash Death Count: WTF" »

This morning, Attorney General Peter J. Nickles appeared on WTOP's Politics Program with Mark Plotkin to discuss a variety of matters.

Mark Segraves, who also questioned Nickles, already posted an item about Nickles' strong statements on Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry. Asked if not paying your taxes should disqualify a person from public office, Nickles said his "personal view" is that it should.

But what really caught the ear of LL is statement Nickles made about the DeOnte Rawlings case. Asked by Segraves about the Fenty administration's commitment to transparency, Nickles raised the subject of the Washington Post's in-depth investigation of the Rawlings case published last Sunday.

That article, by Cheryl W. Thompson, he says, contained an illegal leak. Nickles says the article names an individual who provided grand jury testimony indicating that Rawlings shot first at officers James Haskel and Anthony Clay.

Read More "Nickles on WTOP: I Will Hunt Down Leaker" »

No one knows where Mayor Adrian M. Fenty is today, Mark Segraves reports for WTOP:

A spokesperson for Fenty refused to say where the mayor is today, whether or not he's in the country, or how long he will be gone....

D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray, who is second in the line of succession to the mayor and the second-highest ranking elected official in town, is in the dark.

"The Chairman was not informed. I am told the Mayor does not inform the Chairman when he is going out of town as a practice," Gray's spokesperson Doxie McCoy writes in an email to WTOP.

Mayor Fenty talked to WTOP about the controversy over his recent trip to Dubai. I'm sure LL will have a smart take on this. I'm just semi-shocked that Fenty claims to have no regrets over that trek in which the United Arab Emirates government shelled out $25,000 to the mayor. And he attended that tennis tournament in which an Israeli female player was barred. And when confronted about the trip, he claimed to have always wanted to go to Dubai.

Even more shocking, Fenty plans to keep his future trips secret:

"The mayor says while he does have more out-of-town trips planned, he will not release any details of those trips until after he returns -- and only if required by law to do so.

'I'm not going to tell you,' Fenty tells WTOP."

So much for transparency. Is this the kind of BS other big city mayor's get themselves into? This controversy has been going on for weeks. Shouldn't this tell us something about how Fenty handles his own screwups? How much longer will it take for Fenty to actually give a straight answer on this? LL asked Fenty about these issues some days ago and got some similiar stonewalling.

Jonathan Rees may or may not be dead, but the hate he spewed in the comment sections of various local sites is very much alive... and worse than ever. Most egregious case I've seen in awhile comes today on WTOP's item about the 2-year-old triplets in critical condition after a horrendous MoCo fire. The Post's coverage in this a.m.'s paper was pretty thorough. It's a real tragedy. But not to some:

The dad's DHS?!?!!!
and he has no smoke detectors?? what-da-ef? I feel so secure knowing a dad with no smoke detectors is watching my homeland. UnBelievAble.
by kckat @ 11:55am - Thu Dec 4th, 2008

Here's another good one:

This family needs to prioritize.
To be a fly on the wall and listen to the discussion this family had must of been interesting. I wonder if it went something like this:
"Let's not have smoke detectors, but let's get a hot tub, and we'll either wire it ourselves or bring in a guy standing on the corner to wire it. With the money that we save we can hire a nanny who will watch our triplets. Two working battery powered smoke detectors would probably cost us less than $30, but given the cost it will take to heat the hot tub, let's wait."
Must make some of us feel pretty safe that this Dad works for Homeland Security. Be afraid, be very afraid.
by John D. @ 7:56am - Thu Dec 4th, 2008

Or how about someone who derides a man who may lose three children because he has a nice house?

You forgot to mention
the house is probably worth a million. The man should be locked up for child negligence. Unforgivable.

by BAC @ 8:11am - Thu Dec 4th, 2008