The family of Neil Michael Godleski -- the 31-year-old Catholic University student who was shot and killed in a robbery attempt as he rode his bike through Sherman Circle last August -- is now suing the city, claiming that the city's Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services failed to keep the teen responsible under its watch. more ›

The new August issue of Outside magazine ranks the "20 Best Towns in America," and this year, Washington, D.C. was given top honors, coming in as #1 on the list. The District was honored for the turnaround neighborhoods like Adams Morgan, Chinatown and U Street have seen in the last decade -- indeed, the list focuses on communities that have seen "revivals," and also includes places like Chattanooga, TN, Ithaca, NY, and Crested Butte, CO. more ›

You may have read Eric Weiss's story in Sunday's Washington Post, which described the District's attempts to improve pedestrian safety and encourage walking and mass transit use as a "war against workers who drive into the city." There's not much more to say about it that David Alpert and Ryan Avent haven't already said. This sums it up nicely (from Avent):

Essentially, Eric Weiss went around the suburbs asking folks to bitch about the District’s efforts to make the District a better place for people who live and pay taxes in the District

I applaud your coverage of the regional transportation issues. Re-examining our choices in light of current resource presures and climate risks is increasingly important. However, as you report, please be careful not to "make the news" by framing issues from one side or the other? For example, the poll associated with this article asks "Do you agree with the city's plan to discourage people from driving into the District?" I suspect the response would be different if it read "Do you agree with the city's plan to improve air quality and pedestrian safety, and provide safe routes to school?"

The Washington City Paper's Angela Valdez provides a two-pronged update today to the monstrosity that could be the Late Night Shots reality TV show we told you about earlier this month. 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 ›

In yet another sign that the ridiculously long-awaited Harris Teeter grocery store in Adams Morgan is actually going to open, Ward 1 Council member Jim Graham has posted a notice on his web site that the store will hold a Job Fair on January 9 at the Columbia Heights Community Center on Girard St. NW. Both full-time and part-time jobs at the Harris Teeter are available, and applicants are asked to bring copies of their resumes and be prepared to interview that day. (hat tip: City Desk) more ›

We reported last year that local arts venue Warehouse was forced to start closing down its 7th Street NW location due to skyrocketing property taxes. The bar and music venue closed last summer, but the rest of the space will continue to run through the Fringe Festival in July. In the meantime, they want to hear from you about how to improve their space when they finally move, and have set up a series of Wednesday night public conversations to hear what you have to say. On January 9, they'll discuss the theater; January 16, they'll cover the art gallery; and on January 23 they'll discuss the future of the music venue. All three meetings are at 7 p.m. at Warehouse. more ›

Which stories did DCist readers think merited the most attention this year? more ›

>> So Mayor Fenty and Schools Chancellor Rhee have scheduled 23 simultaneous school closure hearings at each of the proposed 23 schools to be closed. Logistics nightmare questions aside, what is a parent who has a child at more than one of the schools supposed to do? Pick which child they think is more important? [WaPo] more ›

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on DCist. more ›

>> Pepto Bismal threw up inside the Carville-Matalin home. [DC Metrocentric] more ›

>> Virginia Sen. Jim Webb has to work this week, too. [Politico] more ›

It wasn't a very merry Christmas for Michel Morauw, the manager of the Park Hyatt Washington Hotel. NBC4 reports that an MPD officer shot and killed Morauw's dog on Monday in a small park adjacent to Rock Creek Park at 24th and N Streets NW. more ›

Happy Christmas Eve, Washington. With the frenzy of last-minute shopping and travel out of the city largely complete, folks staying here for the holiday are being treated to a quieter, gentler D.C. than normal, and it turns out in more ways than one. Over the weekend the Post took a look at a recent decline in the murder rate, reporting that only nine homicides have been logged in the District in the 37 days since Nov. 17. That adds up to roughly half the average murder rate for the rest of the year. Are the District's murderers just feeling the holiday spirit a little more deeply this year? Chief Lanier, naturally, credits the work of her detectives, noting a sharp increase in the number of homicide arrests made during the same period. more ›

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We're getting ready for our staff holiday party tonight, so GHA and AT are combined into one super post! Have fun, y'all. We certainly will be. more ›

>> Congress finally, finally went home. [The Hill] more ›

>> Congress has taken away D.C. CFO Natwar Gandhi's pay raise in the wake of the Office of Tax and Revenue embezzlement scandal. Happy Holidays, Mr. Gandhi! [WaPo] more ›

WTOP's Mark Segraves got a hold of a partial list of the folks who've been receiving tickets to use the city's free luxury box in the Verizon Center -- the one that the D.C. Council is so miffed they're being boxed out of -- and there's some fun tidbits he discovered.

Most of those invited to D.C.'s Luxury Suite at the Verizon Center by Fenty either contributed the maximum $2,000 to Fenty's campaign or worked on the campaign. The rest of the tickets, with only a few exceptions, went to friends, family and the mayor's senior staffers of the mayor.

Good morning, Washington. We hope not too many of you were making your way into the city from Montgomery County this morning, as two separate water main breaks forced road closures in Takoma Park and kids to get the day off from school in Germantown. We'll admit it -- we're pretty envious of the students at Fox Chapel Elementary School, who get to spend the day doing whatever they please while we had to show up and actually do work. Isn't it supposed to be Christmas break already? more ›

FRIDAY: more ›

The majority of Overheards in D.C. fall into only a few categories: funny sex stuff, dumb tourists and weird kids. There's the occasional amusing political thing, or some quip that somebody sent in because they think they or their friends are funny. But there are always those that make absolutely no sense unless you are knowledgeable about some extremely narrow area of trivia, such as say, documentaries about lost and possibly mythical Brazilian cities. more ›

Is everyone already leaving town for the holidays? Our calendar here at Reader, Meet Author is looking a little lonely right now. If you have any tips or complaints that we're not posting all the awesome poetry readings, feel free to email us. MONDAY: Caroline Kennedy will be at Politics and Prose to share the Christmas prose most dear to her. It's all in her latest book, A Family Christmas, which includes tributes to Irving... more ›

Many people only think to donate non-perishable food items to food banks during the holiday season, but it seems this year in D.C., not enough people have gone even that far -- on Saturday the Post reported that area food banks are critically short of food donations at the very same time that demand for free and discounted food is going up. The Capital Area Food Bank reported that it only had about 230,000 pounds... more ›

Over in academia, it's finals time, but the receSs improv team over at George Washington University isn't compromising their weekend, which will mark the group's final show of 2007, over it. On their unofficial blog, The Colonialist, they're offering up reasons why their peers shouldn't either. In the past, receSs alums have gone on to pursue real-life comic gigs, including TJ Miller (now on the ABC show "Carpoolers"), Herschel Bleefeld (who landed a role in... more ›

Libertarian-leaning Republican presidential candidate and hero of the Internets Ron Paul has gotten himself a blimp, and it's headed this way. According to a just-released flight plan, the blimp, which will read "Who is Ron Paul? Google Ron Paul" on one side and "Ron Paul Revolution" on the other, will launch from Elizabeth City, N.C., Monday and flyover Washington circa 3 p.m. the same day, with a rally planned for 4 p.m. and another re-launch... more ›

We've reached another Friday, D.C., but if those light flurries that accompanied you on your way into work this morning gave you visions of a leisurely Saturday snowball fight, you'll likely end up disappointed. Very little accumulation is expected from these flakes, and the weekend will see temperatures back in the upper 40s, with a possibility of some light rain on Saturday morning, according to CapitalWeather.com. If this update doesn't satisfy your weather nerd urges,... more ›

Via WMATA:The Pentagon Metrorail station was closed at 2:42 p.m. this afternoon to allow officials to investigate a report of a suspicious package at the station. Trains are not passing through the station. Instead, Blue and Yellow Line stations are turning back at the stations on each side of the Pentagon Metrorail station--at Pentagon City Metrorail station and Arlington Cemetery Metrorail station. Officials have requested shuttle buses at those stations to move customers around the... more ›

DC for Marriage, an eight-month-old group advocating same-sex marriage rights in the District, will hold a "Marriage Equality Community Forum" tomorrow night at 7 p.m. in room 412 of the Wilson Building. This is the group's first public event, which is co-sponsored by several local LGBT organizations including the DC Center, DC Black Pride, AQUA DC, and the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League, among others. Yesterday, DC for Marriage announced Sabrina Sojourner, the first open... more ›

>> The Capitol Christmas Tree lighting ceremony is scheduled to take place at 5 p.m. this evening on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol. >> Washington-area writers Michelle Brafman, Merle Collins, T. Greenwood, Joanne Leedom-Ackerman, Faye Moskowitz, Barbara Mujica, Jessica Neely, Amy Stolls, Hananah Zaheer, and Christy J. Zink will be at Politics and Prose to read from their contributions to the latest anthology, Electric Grace: Still More Fiction by Washington Area Women.... more ›