One of the Occupy D.C. "sleep strikers" we met with earlier this week has gone to bed. The other, now in his fifth day without any rest, says he's trying to stay awake for a couple more days. Is he crazy? Not yet. more ›

Michael Neibauer reports in the Washington Business Journal this afternoon that business owners and property managers in the District of Columbia will be free to post "no smoking" signs withing 25 feet of their property's outer walls, starting tomorrow. The real question is, of course: how many businesses will actually do so? more ›

Death and taxes are still a certainty in 2010. And cigarettes remain a source of both! Back in October, the District raised tobacco and gas taxes -- increases that went into effect yesterday. With the uptick in the price for a pack, the District now stands as one of the most expensive places in the U.S. to smoke. According to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the $2.50 per pack excise is the eighth highest in the nation. Drivers will take a hit, too: The gas tax has gone up as well. Smokers and drivers really do ruin it for everyone, and taxing these ills seems like a good way to make up economic shortfalls while making progress toward social policy goals. (If the District could find a way to tax drunk texting, I'd appreciate that, too.) But the District is also small. Isn't there a point at which it makes sense to drive (or Metro!) to Virginia -- where the $0.30 cigarette tax ranks 49th in the nation? more ›

Are you f**king crazy or something? When I pulled in to gas up last night, I thought you were participating in some type of hidden camera stunt for a new reality show. Smoking while filling up your SUV? Really? And not just one cigarette, but a second one, too? I don't much care that you're poisoning yourself. I'll even say that I'll support your right to smoke outside of your office building, even though the D.C. Council wants to make it illegal. But smoking while surrounded by thousands of gallons of a highly flammable liquid isn't a matter of personal liberty, unless you think that the Constitution allows you the right to level a full city block in a residential neighborhood. I don't think it does. I'd bet that even libertarians don't think so. And telling me that you've been pumping gas longer than I've been alive doesn't so much remedy the fact that you could have BLOWN US ALL UP. All you proved is that you're old and crazy. Sure, I would have loved to have a first-person narrative for DCist on what an exploding gas station looks like. Had I survived. But I wouldn't have. So that's that. For the sake of those of us who want to avoid being a casualty of someone looking to win the annual Darwin Award, please don't smoke while gassing up. Thanks. Sincerely, Martin. more ›

Cigarette taxes are popular with voters, so it's no surprise, as we've mentioned earlier, that the D.C. Council voted Tuesday to include an additional $1 per-pack cigarette tax in the 2009 budget as a means of making up a predicted shortfall. more ›