>> The District's next sales tax holiday starts Friday, Nov. 23 and lasts until the following Friday, December 2. [WJLA] >> Mayor Fenty and Schools Chancellor Rhee announced today that every D.C. classroom will have a working desktop computer by February under a $4 million technology initiative. [WaPo] >> Maryland voters will get to decide in a special November 2008 referendum on whether to allow the state to install up to 15,000 slot machines......

>> The D.C. Council unanimously approved a final agreement today to spend $79 million to help Specialty Hospitals of America to purchase Greater Southeast Community Hospital. [WaPo] >> Veranda, a new restaurant at 11th and P NW, is officially opening Wednesday and having a soft launch already. [renewshaw] >> Tonya Bell, the woman who was charged in the UNIFEST street festival car crash in Southeast last spring, pleaded guilty to multiple felony assault charges......

>> Three Stars alumni Greenland take the Black Cat's backstage tonight, with Mikal Evans Band and A Northern Chorus. $8, 9 p.m. >> Best Cellars co-founder Joshua Wesson hosts The European Tour of Wine tonight at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Wesson promises to illuminate the art of pairing wine with cheese, with eight wines and cheeses served throughout the evening as examples. 7 p.m., $60 ($50 for Corcoran members). >> D.C. United opens SuperLiga!......

Ahhhh, the real start of summer: The consistently warmer temperatures ... the first night you venture wearing skimpy clothes out ... the year's first Code Orange Bad Air Quality Day. However you prefer measuring the start of the season, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments is predicting our first Code Orange air quality day today, meaning ozone levels are predicted to be extremely high and the air quality very poor. The Northern Virginia Transportation Commission......

With all that went down this week, we thought we thought we'd cheer everyone up by giving everyone a double dose of dogs. It was a rollercoaster ride of emotions this week at DCist. Like the rest of country, we were floored by the news of so many dead coming out of Virginia Tech, and with so many of the victims and their relatives from the D.C. area, we felt it important to pay......

MONDAY Andrea Mitchell will finally tackle the question that's been plaguing television news viewers for the better part of the last decade: Why is no one willing to tell her that with each passing face lift, she looks more and more like a Hollywood version of an alien? Apparently, she's just too much of a tough talker for people to stand up to her, as she reveals in her new book, Talking Back: ... To......

Friday, the day we wait for with giddy anticipation. In addition to the weekend being just around the corner, there's one more reason to be pumped up: tonight, you can hear a sneak preview of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs new album "Show Your Bones" before the album hits store shelves on March 28. Hosted by DCist and Interscope Records, the good times and good listenings will take place at Cue Bar, 1115 U Street,......

Good morning, D.C. Today will be fairly rainy but not too cold, though temperatures are expected to drop significantly late tonight. Don't hold your hopes out for a white Christmas, though: the folks over at CapitalWeather tell us there's only a 15% chance of that happening. And if you're traveling for the holidays, be careful: more than one million area people are going with you. You can read a Post chat transcript with the AAA......

A dramatic and firy crash on Route 301 in Brandywine, Maryland killed three yesterday. The accident involved a dump truck, a catering truck, a taxi cab, and three other vehicles. According to the AP, the accident began when a taxi swerved into the southbound lane after seeing a broken down Ford blocking the lane. According to a spokesman for the Maryland State Police, that caused a "dump truck to lose control, which veered to the......