Virginia Attorney General Ken "The Cooch" Cuccinelli has uncovered a devious plan by District officials to ship the city's rats to the commonwealth. Or has he? more ›

This morning, D.C. Attorney General Irvin B. Nathan announced that the city had come to a $6 million settlement with contractors who were renovating the Georgetown Public Library when a fire crippled the building on April 30, 2007. more ›

D.C. Attorney General Irv Nathan has finally produced some thoughts on the lawsuit filed by R******s owner Dan Snyder against Washington City Paper and columnist Dave McKenna -- and, not surprisingly, he's coming down on the side of the journalists. more ›

A few weeks ago, an audit of the District's Department of Health showed that the city had not applied proper oversight on a $10 million grant program designed to benefit HIV/AIDS residential services. Turns out that at least some of that money was allegedly spent on building a strip club. more ›

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is no stranger to criticism from this side of the Potomac. But it appears as if voters in the Old Dominion think he'd be a fine candidate for the Republican party to field in the state's next gubernatorial election. more ›

Last month, news broke that Cathedral Pharmacy, a retail fixture along Connecticut Avenue NW, was facing a murky future due to a contract dispute with its medication distributor CVS Caremark. In response, Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh has requested that the city's Attorney General investigate whether or not the dispute represents unfair trade practices and a violation of District antitrust law. more ›

Harry Thomas, Jr., the Ward 5 D.C. Councilmember accused of improperly using $300,000 in city grant funds on personal expenses like a luxury SUV, golf outings, dinner at Hooters and overdraft fees, settled a lawsuit filed by the District's Office of the Attorney General today without admitting wrongdoing. more ›

During a D.C. Council hearing today, D.C. Attorney General Irv Nathan and other witnesses largely dismissed the central components of an ethics reform act as exceedingly bureaucratic and largely ineffective. more ›

The reaction to the lawsuit filed by the District against Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. has been swift and damning -- of course, that's what will happen when you show up to a press conference in the very car the Attorney General claims you improperly spent nearly $60,000 in city money on. more ›

Here it is, a full copy of the civil lawsuit which the D.C. government has filed against Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. and his organization, Team Thomas. more ›

This morning, D.C. Attorney General Irv Nathan announced that an investigation into Team Thomas, a nonprofit operated by Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr., had uncovered enough evidence for the city to file a civil enforcement action against the councilmember. (UPDATE: Read the entire lawsuit here.) more ›

"I was not in the business of giving out jobs." That's the sentiment that Mayor Vince Gray tried to get across during a hastily-called press conference at the Wilson Building this afternoon concerning recent allegations made by former mayoral candidate Sulaimon Brown that the Gray administration paid him and promised him employment in exchange for support during the campaign. more ›

Today brings an interesting development in the Robert Wone civil trial: United States Attorney General Eric Holder is one of the many people who have been called to testify during the proceedings, according to court documents obtained by the blog Who Murdered Robert Wone?. more ›

Yesterday, we reported that the laws regarding snow shoveling in the District hadn't been updated since 1922, and wondered why the city would ever sue anyone for a measly 25 bucks, when the cost involved with filing a lawsuit -- time, effort, logistics, all of it -- would certainly dwarf that sum. But we couldn't be totally sure about whether the city had ever actually done it. (Sometimes, politics can be a funny business, you know.) Well, our answer came back today -- and it wasn't shocking. According to the Civil Enforcement Section, the Office of the Attorney General "has no recollection or knowledge of such [a] suit." So, there you go: even further proof that the antiquated shoveling law, as currently written, is utterly meaningless. more ›

Yet another new job for a prominent Fenty administration figure: former D.C. Attorney General and Fenty consigliere Peter Nickles will be returning to Covington & Burling LP as senior counsel. Nickles had previously worked at the firm for four decades and sued the District on numerous occasions. more ›

The District's Attorney General, Peter Nickles, has drawn plenty of criticism for not being independent enough from the man who appointed him, Mayor Adrian Fenty. But just across the river, Virginians have had to deal with Ken Cuccinelli, the commonwealth's elected attorney general whose aggressive stances against everything from climate change to health care reform to anti-gay discrimination to the state seal have made even Republican Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell slightly uncomfortable.

Just two weeks from now, D.C. voters will be asked to decide whether they're rather maintain the status quo or elect the city's top law enforcement official starting in 2014. In essence, they'll have to decide if they'd rather have a Nickles or a Cuccinelli. more ›

All this comes in the context of Cuccinelli's recent push to remove language dealing with sexual orientation from state university anti-discrimination policies. more ›

The D.C. Council today gave final approval to a bill that would change the District's Attorney General into an elected position, as the Post's Ann E. Marimow reports. The vote came after the Council rejected an amendment offered by Ward 6's Tommy Wells to instead transfer the powers of the U.S. Attorney's Office to an elected district attorney. The bill as passed would not take effect until 2014, so it wouldn't affect current AG Peter Nickles, and of course Congress would first have to amend the Home Rule charter. The bill would require anyone running for a four-year AG term to have practiced law in the District for at least five of the previous 10 years. more ›

Yesterday, City Desk provided a juicy bit of news for late on a summer Friday: Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) seems to think that D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles ought to hit the road: more ›

WTOP's Mark Segraves gets the scoop every local reporter has been angling for: exactly where in D.C. does Attorney General Peter Nickles now live? Segraves says it's Chinatown, in an apartment on 7th Street NW. Nickles, a longtime Virginia resident, took his time about complying with District law that states that senior government officials must reside inside the city limits. The attorney general has said that he moved into his new digs on May 5, but refused to disclose where in the city his residence is located. So, Chinatown/Penn Quarter residents, say hello to your new neighbor! more ›

So D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles says he's finally moved into the District from Virginia, as he was required to do under D.C. law after he was confirmed as Fenty's replacement AG. "I have moved. I have a D.C. license plate. I have my picture on a D.C. license. I'm paying D.C. taxes," Nickles said. But he won't say where, exactly, he's living, and it sure sounds like his wife is not really living there, so we're guessing he won't actually be sleeping there all that often. It's not as though we think we ought have the man's home address, but it would at least be nice if he could say which neighborhood, or which ward even, he's moved into. So, DCist readers, if you see Nickles at the grocery store or parking his car in your neck of the woods, be sure to send in word of the sighting to tips@dcist.com. more ›

Mayor Adrian Fenty this morning formally nominated Peter Nickles to be the District's permanent Attorney General. The move was widely expected; Fenty had been visibly lobbying D.C. Council members on behalf of Nickles, who has been serving as interim AG for almost six months, and the Post called it official on Tuesday. more ›

Good morning, Washington. Supporters of Gov. Mike Huckabee and Sen. Barack Obama are riding high off their caucus victories in Iowa last night, but locally, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty continues to suffer some bumps in the road after one year in office. Just weeks after the resignation of Attorney General Linda Singer, Fenty's former deputy chief of staff, Neil Richardson, has also resigned. Richardson, who was a key Fenty aide during his mayoral campaign, had been moved out of Fenty's "bullpen" in October and placed in an office called Serve DC, where he was tasked with creating a volunteer program to help the school system. Yesterday Richardson decided that the demotion, which came, according to the Post, after Richardson complained to the mayor that he was not listening enough to the public on key decisions, wasn't worth sticking around for, and tendered his resignation. WTOP has excerpts from Richardson's resignation letter, which reiterates complaints heard from others about Fenty's dictatorial governing style. more ›

As we mentioned at the end of the day yesterday, Acting D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles has fired Alan Morrison, the lawyer who had been preparing to defend the District's handgun ban before the Supreme Court in March. The timing of this move leads to all manner of questions about how seriously the Fenty administration actually takes this Supreme Court case, and whether the Mayor and the Acting AG are capable of putting important legal proceedings above personal disagreements. more ›

Good morning, Washington. With a new year less than 24 hours away and an improbable playoff berth for the Redskins suddenly a reality, we frankly expect you to have been skipping in to your offices today, in a total and joyous rapture. Even if you've had to work straight through the holidays this year, we will tolerate no whining on this, or really any other matter, on this particular New Year's Eve. There will be only good cheer and winning humor today. Got that, D.C.? That is all. more ›

Good morning, Washington. With the Christmas holiday looming, things are slowing down in workplaces around the region. Well, most workplaces, anyway — D.C.'s firefighters seem to be keeping plenty busy. Yesterday, of course, there was the fire at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Since then there's been a two alarm fire at the Chinatown Red Roof Inn, and this impressive gathering of firefighters just south of Logan around 6 p.m. last night. Here's hoping their holiday season calms down. More On The D.C. Quarter: The Post follows up yesterday's news with a longer article on the District's inclusion in the Treasury's state quarter program. First, the good news: the city government gets to decide on the design, and Mayor Fenty is promising that the process will involve "maximum resident input" — so it sounds like "No Taxation Without Representation" has a real shot at appearing on U.S. currency. The bad news: state flags aren't allowed in the designs, making the other half of the winning choice from yesterday's poll a no-go. Also, it turns out that we're only getting a quarter because Puerto Rico is. That stings a little, but I suppose we'll take what we can get. Maryland Gives Seventeen Year-Olds The Vote: Well, in the state's primary, anyway. WTOP reports that Maryland's Attorney General has issued an opinion that will ensure citizens can vote in the state's presidential primary on February 12, provided that they will be eighteen by the time of the general election. Both parties had requested such a measure. Briefly Noted: "Capitol Steps" creator passes away... Long-awaited "Stop Snitchin'" sequel nears release in Baltimore... Car crashes into Reston home... Surveillance photos of robbery suspects released... This Day In DCist: One year ago we chatted with Nethers and suggested some last minute gift ideas. Two years ago we checked out some new shopping options. Image posted to DCist Photos by Flickr user Nivad more ›

It looks like Virginia's gunnin' for a fight -- pun intended. more ›

Big news from the Washington Post: D.C. Attorney General Linda Singer has resigned after less than a year on the job. more ›

A happy Friday to you, Washington. Hopefully you all made it in to work on time despite Metro having reduced the speed of their rail cars in several areas this morning. Speed restrictions were in place until 8:10 a.m. along portions of the Orange line in Maryland and Virginia, the Red line from Union Station to Silver Spring and from Shady Grove to Grosvenor, and the Green line from Branch Avenue to Congress Heights... more ›

The Supreme Court has announced that it will take on Heller v. District of Columbia, the D.C. handgun case, and decide whether our city's ban on handguns violates the Constitution. The Court will likely hear the case sometime in March, with a decision to come later in the session. The case will mark the first time the Court has taken up the meaning of the Second Amendment in almost 70 years, and the decision could... more ›