Hordes of summer interns have once again descended on Washington, leaving many of us rolling our collective eyes and bitching to friends about the latest thong sighting, overheard "I was sooo drunk" story, or just being stuck with training someone who appears to lack the ability to function in an office. But let's say you're one of those rare interns who has actually come to D.C. to learn something, or are planning on using......

In Los Angeles, LAist most definitely celebrated Thanksgiving like no other. After all, one has to keep up all the energy to keep on walking the line at the Writers Strike and fighting the unfortunate return of the wildfires in Malibu, which single handedly destroyed over fifty homes within the first 24 hours. National outlets may be covering the fires, but CNN also found it is easier to buy a gun than fruit and......

Our beloved D.C. United may have crashed and burned (again) in the MLS playoffs this season, but life goes on. Also, the playoffs go on -- right in our backyard, in fact. Many moons ago, Washington was picked to host the 2007 MLS Cup this Sunday at noon, at RFK. Time to put aside your grieving and check out the game. Tickets start at $30, maybe even less on Craigslist. When else are you going......

Former D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey has been named police commissioner of Philadelphia by Mayor-elect Michael Nutter, reports the Associated Press. Ramsey came to D.C. in 1998 after serving for 31 years in his hometown of Chicago, and became Washington's longest-serving police chief in more than three decades, serving as top cop in the District until the end of 2006, when he was replaced by incoming Mayor Adrian Fenty. Since we've had a little bit......

Moms are great. Aside from birthing us, they wipe our mouths when we dribble food, wrap us up warm when it gets cold out, and give us Jell-O and ice cream when we're sick. For many years it seemed like mom and dad were the smartest people in the world, an Encyclopedia Familica. Usually they give us advice like cover your mouth when you cough, wash your hands after using the bathroom and useful stuff......

"Writing is easy," wrote legendary sportswriter Red Smith. "Just sit down at the typewriter and open a vein." Though most of us no longer sit at typewriters nor face blank pieces of physical paper, there's nothing more daunting than a blank screen and the notion of putting something meaningful on it. Compound that with the idea of doing that for approximately 200 pages and you begin to realize why a lot of novelists end up......

Good morning, D.C., and welcome to another day without congressional representation — it seems we'll have plenty more of them thanks to yesterday's legislative disappointment. You can find the Post's post-mortem here. There's not too much new information in it, but there are words of consolation from Senate minority leader/arch-villain Mitch McConnell: "If the residents of the District are to get a member for themselves, they have a remedy: amend the Constitution." Thanks for......

>> Diddy's in town tonight, which means only the most masochistic of locals will be waiting in line to get in to new nightclub Ibiza. Our advice? Stay out of the 1/2 mile radius around 1222 1st Street NE completely starting from 10 p.m. to around dawn. It's just going to be too full of desperate people looking to catch a glimpse of the party host -- like a Saturday night in Adams Morgan......

Who can resist the Hammer? We're glad some of you took our advice yesterday and went to see him live for free at the Woodrow Wilson Plaza ... so the rest of us could stay home and just enjoy the great photos. This close-up by Captain Easychord almost nailed it for Photo of the Day, but we couldn't resist this black and white version (that's Hammer in the center with the sunglasses) after photographer......

Anyone who has a car and has had to renew their registration knows that one thing apart from death and taxes is an inevitable part of life -- fighting to remove the old registration stickers. So hard is it to pry an old one from a windshield that some drivers sport a number of expired ones alongside their current one, while others just try and find an excuse to change the whole damn windshield instead.......

Brookland neighborhood blog stop, blog and roll points to a pretty horrifying crime story we missed: A woman was sexually assaulted and beaten inside her basement apartment on the 900 block of Perry Place NE Friday night, and then subsequently driven by the suspect to several ATMs around the neighborhood and forced to withdraw money. The assault occurred as the woman was entering her apartment -- she was grabbed from behind, forced inside, beaten and......

Good morning, D.C. If you live in Wards 1 or 2, don't forget to turn out to vote today in the special election for District I member of the State Board of Education. There's only one name on the ballot, that of veteran education reporter Mary Lord, but as we mentioned before, there's also a write-in candidate, first-year teacher in DCPS Jason Crawford. Check out each candidate's web site and decide for yourself. If......

Good morning, Washington. It's just a gorgeous day outside right now, with temperatures currently in the 70s and only predicted to reach the upper 80s later this afternoon, which is about the best we can hope for in mid-August. Please make plans to eat your lunch outside accordingly, as this surely won't last through the week. Need a good story to gab about with your officemates as you head out into the sunshine? A......

UPDATE #2 WMATA reports that all three stations have re-opened, though some delays may linger in order to get everything back on schedule. Enjoy your evening, Washington. According to an alert from Metro, the Dupont Circle, Woodley Park, and Cleveland Park stations have been closed due to a suspicious package aboard a train. Metro will be running shuttle buses between Van Ness and Farragut North to connect to the stations. We hope the package turns......

Puppets. Off-color humor. Off-color humor involving puppets. What could go wrong? Well, plenty, if BurleyQ is any indication. This exhaustingly awful entrant into the Capital Fringe Festival may appear to have a wacky, whimsical premise, but instead is the kind of show where you find yourself digging your nails into the knee of your theatergoing companion, eagerly waiting for the 50 minutes to pass. Think painfully bad jokes, laughably poor production value, frequently off-key singing,......

A new survey conducted by AutoVantage, a Connecticut-based automobile membership club, and Prince Market Research reveals which U.S. cities have the worst cases of road rage -- and D.C. came in at number five, behind only Los Angeles (#4), Boston (#3), New York (#2) and Miami (#1). From CNN.com: The most frequent cause of road rage cited in the survey was impatient motorists. Drivers also said road rage can stem from poor driving in fast......

Former Editor-in-Chief Ryan Avent writes a weekly column about neighborhood and development issues. You have to love the really idiosyncratic corners of a city. The hundred year-old oddities with rich histories and lovely faces that look wholly out of place amid more recent arrivals. The Warehouse Theater is just such a place. Sitting quiet and unassuming on a small stretch of 7th Street NW near the hulking new Washington Convention Center, the Warehouse has been......

>> Wish you too were living the dream of working a flexible job from home? Free yourself from the shackles of your office in time to make it to the Warehouse Theater by 7:30 p.m. for a comedy-infused presentation by Michelle Goodman, Seattle freelance writer and author of The Anti 9-to-5 Guide: Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube. Men are also encouraged to attend. And it's free. >> Gear up......

Nestled between cherry blossom season and the influx of D.C.'s summer intern and tourist season is a hopeful time, when students turn away from keggers and exams to graduate into the real world -- at least in theory. For Washington's thousands of college seniors, this means job hunting, leaving the friendly confines of campus and the prospect of moving into your parents' basement. It also means a litany of platitudes, advice and well-wishes from commencement......

Yesterday, alleged madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey asked the media to "put aside the titillation of the 'Who's Who' list -- at least in part -- and instead investigate the disturbing genesis, the confounding evolution and the equally alarming continuation of this matter." In response, the entire press corps found a litter of adorable puppies and reported live throughout the night. Well, not exactly. ABC News, which obtained Palfrey's client list and an exclusive interview, discussed......

>> After the fire at Georgetown Public Library, DDOT warns that Wisconsin Ave. Southbound is still blocked at 34th Street NW, Northbound Traffic is blocked at Q Street NW. East-West Routes are and will continue to be congested >> Scads of dead or dying fish are surfacing in the Shenandoah River, again. [Washington Times] >> Arlington's Booeymonger really means it when they say their parking is for 20 minutes only. [Andyland via DC Blogs]......

Written by Jason Linkins MONDAY Vertigo Books and the TransAfrica Forum’s Writers Corner are bringing three great authors together for a special reading event: Kwame Dawes (She’s Gone), Helon Habila (Measuring Time) and Dinaw Mengestu (The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears) come together at the Charles Sumner School, 1201 17th Street NW, 6:30 p.m. TUESDAY It’s a father and daughter fest at Politics and Prose tonight, as John McPhee, author of Uncommon Gardens joins Martha......

There is little doubt that the main event this week is the opening of the final part of the Washington National Opera's season. The company's penultimate production, Leoš Janáček's Jenůfa in a staging by David Alden, won the Laurence Olivier Award this year for best new opera production. For reasons beyond understanding, not a single performance has sold out, although this is likely to be the high point of the WNO season. Some people may......

It's a little dreary out today, isn't it? Please accept this video of adorable baby meerkats at the National Zoo trying to dig holes as a token of our concern for the mental well being of Washingtonians in desperate need of a sunny, warm spring day. [DCGuide]. >> There are plenty of things D.C.'s federal workers can complain about: shifts in the administration, incurring public ire during tax season, being treated like a number in......

Last week we checked out that hotbed of hard news, Inside Edition, as they visited our fair city and shined the bright light of truth on the District's rat problem. Today the Examiner reports from the front lines of the war on rodents and concludes that we're losing. From all four quadrants the perennial urban menaces -- sometimes the size of small dogs -- are scurrying about, causing various levels of disgust and panic. How......

The National Mall is, as we're sure the Park Service will tell you, a national treasure, a constantly evolving piece of L'Enfant's vision of Washington. (It is not, however, a place for careful editing, unless "relfecting" is a colonial word meaning "to walk about in knee-high tube socks and bermuda shorts upon gravel pathways".) The key word, though, is evolving. The moment ground is broken on one monument, the lobbying begins for the next one.......

Good morning, Washington. How about this weather, huh? We couldn't believe our ears when we heard some friends complaining about the warmth yesterday. "Sure, it's nice," they said, "But isn't it a little early to be this nice?" Bah! Well, take solace, warmthophobes: it'll be cooling down to the more April-appropriate sixty degree range soon enough. Webb Denies Giving Gun To Aide: Details regarding Webb aide Phillip Thompson and the gun he brought to the......

Guy walks into a studio executive's office in Hollywood and says, "I've got a fantastic idea for a movie. Guaranteed blockbuster." The executive leans forward in his chair. "Go on," he says. "OK, so you take Jackass, cross it with It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, set it in an urban environment, put lots of young people in funny clothes while pulling shopping carts around the city like sled dogs and drinking at......

MONDAY You know, kids. If you are, for whatever reason, uncomfortable saying the Pledge of Allegiance in class, just cross your fingers or something, or say “the Sun God Ra” instead of “The United States of America.” Or just suck it up and deal, it’s not like the Pledge really has binding legal power. Or just take Joel Westheimer’s advice. He wrote a book about this stuff: Pledging Allegiance: The Politics of Patriotism in America's......

Dine Out For Life On March 8 If you've been feeling guilty about all your meals out lately, get ready to wash that all away next week. The annual Dining Out For Life benefit will take place next Thursday, March 8. If you're unfamiliar with the charity affair, it's one day each year when dozens of area restaurants donate at least 25% of their profits to local charity Food and Friends. The event, which takes......