A D.C. Council hearing on Internet gambling today has attracted 117 public witnesses. While that's a lot, it's not as many as have showed up to speak on other controversial issues. more ›

When local boxer Lamont Peterson brought home the world's super lightweight boxing championship after a fight in the Washington Convention Center in December, it was big news. But the news that he might be faced with a rematch against Amir Khan because of allegations of fight-time shenanigans is bigger. more ›

Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. (D-Ward 5) will reportedly introduce emergency legislation limiting the number of cultivation centers that can end up in his ward. more ›

You know, if you polled this editor and as to what the next big D.C. government scandal would be centered on, a landscaping contract wouldn't have been near the top of the list. But, alas, here we are. more ›

Following the controversy of Virginia taking away a man's license plates, proclaiming Virginia eats the kids first, Jalopnik uncovers another Virginia plate that is still on the roads. Yes, the plate reads "Virginia slaps kids first" and as of now, Virginia's DMV hasn't proclaimed the plate so offensive that the driver has to take the plate down. more ›

Former DCist editor Kriston Capps reports that Transformer Gallery will pick up the slack and publicly screen David Wojnarowicz's A Fire in My Belly, the video which the National Portrait Gallery removed from an exhibit after several conservatives and Congress members deemed it offensive. The gallery, located at 1404 P Street NW, will begin screening an abridged 4-minute cut of Wojnarowicz's 1987 work in its front window by 1 p.m. this afternoon; Capps also notes that gallery management is attempting to secure the rights to show the full thirty-minute video, as well. (UPDATE: City Paper now passes along word that Transformer is organizing a protest in which people will walk from 1404 P Street to the National Portrait Gallery tomorrow evening with "their mouths bound.") Can't wait? You can view A Fire in My Belly here. (Note: the imagery could be considered NSFW in some environments.) more ›

The Post's Michael Lee reports on the meeting held today between suspended Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas and NBA Commissioner David Stern, and it looks like Agent Zero is officially out for the rest of the season. Arenas reportedly asked Stern for the lengthy suspension, and Stern agreed. Also notable, though not too surprising: 'The same source said that during the meeting, Arenas asked Stern about the possibility of having the remaining four years of his six-year $111 million contract voided, to which Stern replied, "That would be left up to the team."' We'd place a pretty hefty wager that Arenas's Great Falls mansion will be up for sale by this summer. This guy's outta here. UPDATE: Wizards teammate Javaris Crittenton has also been suspended for the remainder of the season. more ›

First things first. Let's get this whole controversy bit out of the way. Ben Stiller's Hollywood action satire, Tropic Thunder, has drawn the ire of a number of groups representing the mentally disabled. The offense is taken at a plot point which has Stiller's Tugg Speedman, an action hero desperate to be taken seriously, playing a character in the mold of Sean Penn's in I Am Sam. Speedman's performance in this past role is a ridiculously offensive (if comically well-intentioned) caricature of a developmentally challenged adult. He and his co-stars on his current feature, a gritty Vietnam War flick, refer back to his performance as "Simple Jack" using the word "retard." Seventeen times they use it, according to the also comically well-intentioned Timothy Shriver, who laments the frequent use of the "r-word" while the "n-word" is only used once. As if it might have been less egregious had there been more racial slurs. more ›