If you're reading this right now and you live inside the District, you probably get a friendly visit in your mailbox (or your email inbox) from a Pepco bill every month. But even among an ocean of cable, internet, gas and cell phone bills which are bloated with all kinds of taxes and surcharges, Pepco's billing stands out. The news that the D.C. Public Service Commission has rejected the utility's request to add a proposed 15th surcharge to District customers' bills is incredibly good news -- as much for customers' ability to read and understand their bill as the small savings that it may mean. more ›

Somebody really loves Bill. As philliefan99's picture makes abundantly clear, some lovestruck individual took the time to declare his or her love for Bill in the fleeting medium of a snowbank. But is there a contradictory message to declaring one's love in the snow? Is love recorded by this ephemeral expression truly love, or merely a passing infatuation that will melt away (hopefully before March)? more ›

After first merely postponing a hearing on his recently proposed taxicab legislation in the wake of related federal bribery charges against his chief of staff, Ward 1 D.C. Council member Jim Graham has gone ahead and withdrawn the bill entirely, Tim Craig is reporting at D.C. Wire. In a rich bit of political theater, Graham is also apparently trying to sell reporters on the notion that this decision has "nothing to do" with the charges against Ted Loza. "Graham said he is pulling the bill because of confusion and opposition within the taxicab industry to a medallion system." Suuuuuure. more ›

Remember Monday, when the U.S. House refused to pass a $700 billion bailout package and everyone kinda freaked out? Well a little less than an hour ago they came together for another vote, this time on the Senate's version of the deal, and voted for it. We can't help but feel like the strangest part about the affirmative vote is not actually that it happened, but that even though it probably wasn't clear until this morning whether enough members had switched to the other side, the vote just doesn't seem like a big surprise. Was anyone really expecting the House not to go along with the Senate on this one, after the way the markets reacted to Monday's vote?
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The long-delayed bill which includes a potential $1.5 billion in funding for Metrorail will finally be voted on in the Senate tomorrow, and it is expected to pass. Debate on the floor was officially closed by a 69-17 vote yesterday, and it would appear that the legislation has more than enough votes to make it's way to President Bush's desk. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) is probably finding the bill more difficult to roadblock these days, since the law's main purpose - improving rail safety across the country, with the recent Los Angeles commuter rail accident which killed 25 people fresh in the collective memory - is being credited for the bill's sudden resurgence. Of course, that didn't stop Coburn from trying. more ›

The U.S. House has voted down the bailout package, 205-228. By and large, Republicans voted against the bill, while Democrats voted for it, though the Democrats voted for it by a rather small margin. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has already dropped more than 500 points, just shy of five percent, since the news broke. more ›

Metro brings word that yesterday, the House of Representatives approved an amended version of the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 and the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008, H.R. 2095. While the bill's main financial purpose is to allocate $13.06 billion in federal funds over the next five years to Amtrak, it also includes $1.5 billion in appropriations for Metro to make capital improvements in the next ten years - vital funds for WMATA. The bill, mended into one collective document after two attempts at passage in each legislative body stalled during last year's Congressional session, is expected to pass easily in the Senate after unanimous bipartisan approval in the House. more ›

Dr. No has struck again. more ›