Yesterday, the Whitman-Walker Clinic announced plans to restructure itself, with a focus on expanding its medical services. With the restructuring comes layoffs from within its nearly 240 member staff as early as today. WWC didn't specify how many would be let go, and published news reports currently give inconsistent figures; Metro Weekly says up to 10 percent of staff will be cut, while the Washington Post reports closer to 25 percent. The staff reduction will......

Say what you will about the $515.7 billion spending bill the House of Representatives passed yesterday, there is a silver-lining for the District -- the ban on the use of public funds for needle-exchange programs was finally lifted. For the past nine years Congressional Republicans successfully prohibited the District from using any of its resources to promote needle-exchange programs, regardless of their efficacy in combating the spread of diseases such as HIV/AIDS. As a consequence,......

It's Friday, Washington, and reactions are still rolling in to Metro's approval of its largest fare hikes ever. We all knew this was coming, but we're curious to hear if any of our readers actually plan to make changes to their commuting habits come January 6, when the increases will go into effect. Do you think you'll ride Metro any less, or finally make the leap to using SmarTrip? Let us know in the comments.......

Good morning, Washington. We'll be standing by for a good chunk of the day to see what the Metro Board decides to do about the proposed fare hike - the Board is meeting at 11 a.m. for a session that is expected to produce a final vote on the fare hikes, which could go into effect as soon as January. Board members have indicated they would likely pass a fare hike that is slightly less......

>> A fire forced students to evacuate a dorm at Catholic University. [NBC4] >> "NEWSFLASH: The Nazis killed millions of people. This gay rights organization raises money for AIDS research, breast cancer and the arts, among countless other charities." [Blade Blog] >> "Wizards players are donating $20,000 to a woman whose former boyfriend doused her with gasoline and set her on fire." [AP via WTOP] >> A D.C. man in his 50s was hit......

The Onion's regular American Voices segment takes on the D.C. HIV/AIDS epidemic today, proving once again that there is no holy mad cow disease too sacred for America's Finest News Source.......

December 1 is World AIDS Day, and several vigils and protests are planned in D.C. today and through the weekend to mark the occasion. In the wake of the recent report by the D.C. HIV/AIDS Administration calling the HIV infection rate in the city "a modern epidemic," over 40 protesters are planning to drape themselves in red tape and stage a sit-in on the White House sidewalk by Lafayette Square at 2:30 p.m. this afternoon.......

Good morning, Washington, and welcome back to work after a nice long holiday away. We hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving vacation as much as we did ours. That is if you can take a long enough break from all the online shopping you'll supposedly be doing from your desk today to tell us about it. Stay tuned until the week before Christmas for your next update on the holiday shopping habits of Americans -- we......

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Indie: Romance & Cigarettes John Turturro's third film as a director is the sort that seems tailor made to become a cult classic. Not nearly polished or glamorous enough to be the sort of Broadway to big screen musical hit that Chicago or Hairspray was, it was too oddball to fit into the heads of most......

Pie and helping people are two of our favorite things. Thanks to the folks at Food and Friends, the two are brought together with their Slice of Life program. The charity--which provides meals, groceries, and nutrition counseling to people in the D.C. area with AIDS, cancer, and other major illnesses--is holding a pie sale, just in time for Thanksgiving. Generous people (and pie lovers) can help out by purchasing their holiday pies from Food and......

MONDAY >> Do you like screamo? How about metalcore? Us neither, but if you do, get yourself to the 9:30 Club, for Underoath and similarly sinisterly-named Every Time I Die, Poison the Well, Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, and Belle and Sebastian. Just kidding about the last one. 6 p.m., $18. TUESDAY >> Stevie Wonder needs no introduction. He's coming to the Verizon Center today. Tickets start at $68, so get your wallet ready.......

Whether it was the driving beat of his Afrobeat music or his outspokenness on political issues, Fela Kuti made a statement. Having made such an impact, the fact that a decade after his death from AIDS–related complications he’s still revered shouldn’t be a surprise. His son, Femi, has done his part to keep his father’s work alive and so have numerous other artists. One of those artists, DJ Rich Medina, will deliver his own tribute......

The condom saga continues, as community groups have returned as many as 70,000 of the D.C.-branded condoms provided by the health department. Despite assuring the public that the condoms, which bear the slogan "Coming Together to Stop HIV in D.C.", are safe and effective, the city eventually gave in and agreed to phase them out, agreeing that they were now so mistrusted as to no longer be effective, de facto. The uproar began when the......

The District was still defending its yellow-and-purple packaged condoms yesterday, but today Health Department officials are whistling a different tune. On the heels of news that the company that makes Trojans will donate 350,000 condoms to the city's HIV/AIDS outreach prevention program, officials are finally throwing in the towel on the old batch, which have been derided for having weak packaging that reportedly falls apart. The condoms, which bear the slogan "Coming Together to Stop......

Good morning, D.C. Yesterday was just about the most beautiful day, weather-wise, that the city has seen in a long time, and today we're expecting more of the same. So is there anything on God's green Earth that could cause us to lose the attendant sunny dispositions we all naturally have as a result? Oh, drat. It's Thursday. Metro General Manager John Catoe will appear before Metro's Board of Directors today and recommend raising minimum......

Bloggers across this fair nation thought they couldn't get a bigger gift from a Virginia senate race than they did last year, after the epic and appalling Macacaness of Sen. George Allen's eventual defeat to Sen. Jim Webb. But via Wonkette, it would seem we could all have been wrong. Rumors are flying that Pat "Homosexuality is Not Only Immoral, but Filthy" Buchanan is considering a run at the seat being vacated by Sen. John......

We gave Mayor Fenty a hard time back in March for being so slow to get going on fighting HIV and AIDS in the District, which has the highest rate of infection of any city in the country. Eventually he did name who appears to be a good choice to run the city's HIV/AIDS agency last month, but a story in today's Washington Post detailing the problems plaguing the District's effort to give away 1......

The Examiner reports on a $36,000 bill received by the organizers of the 2007 Capital Pride Festival from the D.C. police and the Emergency Management Agency, who say they need the money to pay for overtime and other costs for security incurred during the June festival. But the festival's organizers and some members of the D.C. Council are questioning the charges, since the agencies waived these same fees last year and other annual parades, like......

>> Mayor Fenty has named Shannon Lee Hader, an epidemiologist and public health physician who has directed the U.S. AIDS program in Zimbabwe, to head the District's HIV/AIDS Administration. [WaPo] >> D.C. Law enforcement officials are trying to seize control of a house at 1923 Rhode Island Avenue NE, a long-time location for illicit activity. [WJLA] >> A small plane crash landed in the Hollywood area of St. Mary's County. Two of three passengers......

Well, it's August, D.C. Temperatures will be peaking, news will be slowing, and the non-workaholics among us will be fleeing the city for less sweltering vacation spots. We're not saying you ought to panic, exactly, but there are definite signs that Summer '07 may not be endless after all. Better get going on all that relaxing you had planned. PG County Cop Indicted For Murder: Seven months ago two Marlo employees made a delivery......

By DCist contributor W Jacarl Melton Femi Kuti performs tonight at the 9:30 Club. Doors at 9 p.m. $25 Following in your father’s footsteps isn’t easy because there will be the inevitable comparisons, especially if your dad was a musical vanguard. Femi Kuti can’t avoid the path his father, Fela, blazed so he’s decided to embrace it and further his family’s legacy in Afrobeat. It goes without saying that Fela Kuti was one of those......

Good morning, Washington. Did you stay up late arguing the finer points of last night's Democratic presidential debate at Howard University? Or were you just hoping to get a table at Busboys and Poets but unable to shove your way through the crowd? Shaw and the U Street corridor were overrun with Democratic political operatives last night ... which really probably isn't any different than any other night. But forget about the substance of the......

Mayor Adrian Fenty held a press conference this morning to announce a slew of new cabinet-level nominations for his administration. Topping the list was his decision to go with current interim director of DCRA, Linda Argo, as his nominee to run the department. Argo was previously deputy director of DCRA, responsible for the agency’s public service enhancements. It's a somewhat uncharacteristic move from Fenty, who has tended to focus his hiring efforts on bringing in......

Good morning, Washington. Predictions of a cold front that will bring in spring-like conditions tomorrow have us a little bit giddy this morning, so we hope you'll forgive us for putting up a slightly hurried morning roundup so we can seize the opportunity to dance around our office with glee. You know want to do the same, so go on, we won't tell. Post Starts Beating Examiner's Drum: A front page story this morning in......

It's often easy to huff and puff about the city's lack of voting rights, budget autonomy and the kingly powers used by members of Congress to derail local initiatives or force the city into doing things that its voters never envisioned. But rarely does an example come along that brings the District's second-class status into such sharp relief as did a story published today in the New York Times. The story chronicles the tireless work......

Whoops. We neglected to bring you our weekly calendar of notable author visits yesterday, so here's your slightly abbreviated version. Go forth and enjoy the wordy goodness. TUESDAY: Get ready for the farmer's market season with Russ Parsons tonight at Politics and Prose, where he'll be discussing how (and how not) to squeeze and shake for the perfect piece of fruit when he reads from How to Pick a Peach. 7 p.m. WEDNESDAY: Turn off......

Just when we were looing hope in the alleged D.C. Madam's ability to deliver a home-grown sex scandal, two glorious things happened. First, Deputy Secretary of State Randall Tobias, director of U.S. Foreign Assistance and administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, resigned after admitting he was a client. Then, we tore the ribbon off this gift from the front page of Sunday's Post. Deborah Jeane Palfrey, known to clients as Pamela Martin, and......

We know that despite the grumbling, despite the lack of voting rights, despite the indie rock neighborhood battles to the death, even despite the fashion sense or lack thereof, you guys love this town just as much as we do. That's why this year we're starting our own team for the Greater Washington Servathon 2007, the massive, annual volunteer event presented by Greater DC Cares and AOL. In addition to volunteering our time on either......

Good Morning, Washington. Yes, we too woke up to the rude fact that it's friggin' cold again well into April, with no relief in sight through the weekend, and briefly considered giving up this urban life we'd always thought we wanted in favor of opening up a fruit stand in Acapulco. We wouldn't need much really, just a couple of bathing suits and maybe a blender to occasionally whip up a frosty tropical beverage. Mmm.......

We get it: Mayor Fenty is one helluva busy guy. In his first few months on the job, he's hit the ground running on issues ranging from public safety to schools to Congressional representation. One area where some residents feel he's been curiously quiet, though, is on the District's ongoing HIV/AIDS crisis. Among them is the newly formed Metro D.C.chapter of The Campaign to End AIDS (C2EA), which writes that with "Adrian Fenty's first 100......