Just a few days from now, the critically acclaimed HBO series The Wire will kick off its fifth and final season. Considered one of the best and most realistic portrayals of crime and corruption in a struggling city (Baltimore, in this case), the show traces the thin line that divides the good guys from the bad. Whether cops stealing stacks of cash during drug busts or thieving dockworkers pooling together money for a stained-glass window......

>> "More than 50 nonunionized workers rallied against the new Nationals ballpark this morning, angry that more District residents did not receive construction jobs." [WaPo] >> "I saw firsthand the fragile relationship that exists between Mayor Fenty and the City Council Members. I heard tales of a delayed Comprehensive Annual Financial Review , rising murder rates and a Chief of Police who feels burdened by a system that won't help her, proposals to close......

Howard Kurtz's WaPo column today concerns the kerfuffle over Tim Page's angry email to Ward 8 Council Member Marion Barry's office that we told you about yesterday. As you'll recall, Page, who writes about classical music for the Post, received an unsolicited press release from Barry's office about the city's deal with Specialty Hospitals of America to purchase the Greater Southeast Community Hospital. Page then fired off an angry email in which he called the......

Channel 9 reporter Bruce Johnson has broken the story on the dust-up at the Washington Post this past week. Classical music critic Tim Page, winner of a Pulitzer prize, has long been one of the best writers in the Style section, making the paper's shrinking coverage of classical music all the more shameful. In response to a mass email from the staff of Ward 8 Council member Marion Barry, which was sent to Page apparently......

DISCLAIMER: PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT THE FOLLOWING LINK IS INCREDIBLY NSFW. Please do not follow it if you are squeamish, are in a public place, or have any other reservations about seeing graphic photos of public sex and drug use. D.C. resident Kevin Keith Eby, of the blog Knee Deep in Mud, recently came home to a rather rude surprise in the alley that faces his kitchen window: two individuals engaging in sex acts and......

Via WTOP's Adam Tuss, looks like Metro General Manager John Catoe is worrying about more than just budget shortfalls. Catoe says he's about to launch a new initiative to crack down on eating, drinking and chewing gum on Metro trains. "I have noticed (myself) and have received calls and letters that there has been an increase," says Metro General Manager John Catoe. "We are going to have a focused campaign from the standpoint of......

Via Wonkette, we get this mind-blowingly angry letter to Examiner columnist Harry Jaffe (text doc) from Ward 8 Council member Marion Barry's chief of staff, Keith Andrew Perry. As you'll recall, Jaffe published a column last week wondering why Barry couldn't have used a rather expensive collection of watches and cuff links, which were recently stolen from his home, to pay some of his tax burden in the years when he was known not to......

As it gets closer to Halloween for LAist, a contributer recollects her tale of staring down the serial killer, Richard Ramirez, otherwise known as the Night Stalker. Must think happy thoughts -- okay, free organic chocolate chip cookies for Los Angeles -- now that's a happy thought. Other happy Los Angeles thoughts include an interview with Jack Kehler of The Big Lebowski (he was the Dude's landlord), a beautiful and magical photographic moment in Venice......

Having failed to make their intended satire clear to the George Washington University campus, seven students felt the need to come forward late last night to take responsibility for those "anti-Muslim" posters we told you about yesterday. The Hatchet published parts of the letter after receiving it last night. Among the seven students who admitted their involvement was ubiquitous IVAW poster boy and current GWU graduate student Adam Kokesh. "It is to our great dismay......

Compiled by DCist Contributors Josh Kramer and Sarah Stonesifer The Eagle - American: >> AU is fine-tuning their free HIV testing program to accommodate students' schedules. They've also switched from an anonymous testing program to a confidential one. The changes aim to bring the school in line with the District government's HIV testing initiative. >> The American University bus drivers were approved by the Undergraduate Senate to have their own union, a debate that had......

Via PreservationNation, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has started a campaign to save the original Tomb of the Unknowns, or Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as it's commonly called, at Arlington National Cemetery. Who would want to mess with the tomb? According to the National Trust, it's the folks who run Arlington National Cemetery themselves, as well as Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) -- perhaps one of the senate's most famous military veterans and fathers......

The six protesters at American University who were recently charged with crossing a police line and disorderly conduct for blocking the path of Karl Rove's car (seen above) will pay $100 fines to settle the charges. As we mentioned earlier, arrest warrants were issued by the Secret Service for the protesters only last week, many months after the original April 3 incident and long after the students involved had served the 40 hours of......

Are you a resident of Washington, D.C. and looking for a new job? D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton is hosting her 10th annual Norton Job Fair, at the Washington Convention Center's Hall C on Tuesday, July 10, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. You need to show proof of D.C. residency to attend (either a valid D.C. driver's license, or picture ID plus a utility bill with your address), the idea being to give D.C.......

>> "Thought you were cute and wanted to talk to you, but didn't think it was appropriate in Council chambers..." [craigslist] >> "You – giant-headed former President riding coyly down Independence this morning in a silver Solara convertible. Me – almost crashing into a taxi while trying to take your picture." [Pygmalion in a Blanket] >> "If dad goes for a walk with his daughter and holds her hand, apparently Virginia Department of Health officials......

Former Editor-in-Chief Ryan Avent writes a weekly column about neighborhood and development issues. I'll admit, it isn’t easy for me to talk about crime in the District with many of my friends, particularly those who live in the suburbs or outside the metro area entirely. In the minds of those who don’t often visit, Washington is still the murder capital of the United States, still caught in crack wars, still a place into which one......

Via Best Week Ever, CNN's Kyra Phillips Kiran Chetry learns that interviewing kids is the toughest job in news the hard way. It doesn't help that her interviewee, Evan O'Dorney, the winner of the Scripps National Spelling Bee held here in D.C. last week, seems to be a particularly tough nut to crack. If watching a truly uncomfortable situation makes you cringe more than smile, you might want to skip this one.......

>> Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.) was indicted today on allegations that he took bribes to promote high-tech business ventures in Africa and for being a complete idiot for storing that money in his freezer. [WaPo] >> "If my understanding of DC history is correct, the grounds where the Ronald Reagan building stands have been: 1. a swamp-assed forest 2. an awkward triangle in L’Enfant’s partially realized dream 3. a neighborhood of brothels, flopboxes,......

Someone mentioned it in comments, but now we have confirmation. Tonya Bell, the woman who has been charged with aggravated assault after getting high on crack cocaine and driving her car at a high speed into a crowded street festival in Anacostia, hitting 40 people, had been employed by a temporary staffing agency that placed her in a position as a receptionist for former mayor and D.C. council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8). A letter......

If D.C.-area drivers are not known for their road skills, neither are local police known for enforcing the laws that might alter this behavior. We have no empirical proof that the cops of the region turn any particular blind eye to traffic violations. A few hours in a car during the evening rush, though, or even a spin through the many anecdotes posted in DCist comment threads should be enough to convince you that drivers......

Good morning, Washington. We hope you had a safe weekend and were able to enjoy the cooler weather on Sunday thanks to the rain brought in by remnants of Tropical Storm Barry. The respite from the heat, which looks like it may last through Wednesday, is one of the few things we can find to be upbeat about as we go over today's headlines. As you've already heard, Tonya Bell, a 30-year-old woman from Oxon......

>> Vandals armed only with a U-shaped bicycle lock and a sense of irony managed to trap about 40 commuters on the Virginia Railway Express Monday near Woodbridge, when they locked the metal gates from the pedestrian bridge at the Rippon station. The gates, which the VRE removed Tuesday, were originally put there to keep vandals out of the station. [AP via NBC4] >> Post columnist Courtland Milloy makes a compelling case for abolishing......

The sprawling anthology—wherein we follow a large number of characters as their lives overlap but rarely intersect directly—has been a constant presence at the movies for years. Although the genre was once an exclusive territory to which Robert Altman seemed to own the only set of keys, since the mid-90s, Quentin Tarantino, P.T. Anderson, and Alejandro González Iñárritu have all followed this loose pattern to big success—the producers of 2004’s Crash even got a Best......

Dine Out for Eastern Market on Monday The outpouring of support for Eastern Market continues. On Monday, May 21, several restaurants on Capitol Hill will participate in Dining Out for Eastern Market, a "Dining Out for Life" style charity event where the restaurants will donate a portion of their proceeds to the Capitol Hill Community Foundation's Eastern Market fund, which has raised $238,000 so far to assist the South Hall merchants while a temporary market......

The sax/bass/drums trio is an interesting format for a jazz band. Back East, saxophonist Joshua Redman's latest release, marks his first foray into this lineup. The excellent album features Redman along with a variety of drummers, bassists, and guest saxophonists on certain cuts, including his late father, Dewey Redman. Thursday night, he brought a trio to Blues Alley for two blistering sets of music that showed why he is one of the most respected jazz......

Maybe it was the indignity of the Marlins spoiling the last Opening Game ever in RFK. Maybe it was the insufferable Aramark concessionaires, who insist that it's perfectly acceptable to run out of buns in the fifth inning of the first damn game. Maybe it's the humiliation of the long winless streak to the other presidents. There's no telling. Something, though, was terribly amiss in that giant head of Teddy Roosevelt's during the Nat's 9-2......

Fox's Wisdom Martin reports that Maryland State Senator Anthony Muse calls the sale of bongs in gas stations a slap in the face in the war on drugs. Muse says drugs cause murders and incarcerations, and therefore he [along with Senator Miller, of course] has proposed emergency legislation banning bong sales – or at least significantly raising taxes on bong sales – in order to advance his political career and get some face time on......

It may be cold and rainy, but there's still plenty of reasons to smile on this fine Friday morning. Maryland and Georgetown won, VCU triumphed over Duke in one of those only-in-March exciting final two minutes, and ... oooh, right. Sorry about that GWU. Ouch. How are your brackets doing this morning, Washington? More of course will be coming later from our crack team of sportsologists. Voting Rights That Much Closer: DCist already reported on......

Last week the Wizards signed former GW forward Mike Hall to a 10-day contract, making him the second Colonial from last year's team to make it to the NBA. The first was Pops Mensah-Bonsu, who scored the first points by a GW player in the NBA since Yinka "the Stinka" Dare in 1998. Neither look to play much this season, but it got us thinking - where are all the other players from local colleges?......

MONDAY >> As much as we'd like to crack whiplash jokes, apparently the joke is on us as thrash metal group Slayer plays the first of two sold-out shows at the 9:30 club (the second is on Tuesday). As one of many sold-out 9:30 club shows this week, we can only suggest Craigslist if you don't have your ticket to this headbanging extravaganza. 7 p.m. TUESDAY >> Local experimental darlings Hand-Fed Babies, with their unique......

Good chilly morning to you, Washington. Our neighbors to the north have officially got themselves a new rock-star Governor, as Martin O'Malley was sworn in yesterday afternoon in Maryland to the sounds of the Saw Doctors, an Irish rock band that flew from Dublin for the event, and later to his own band, O'Malley's March, at his inaugural ball. Not that we're jealous or anything, but does anyone know if Mayor Fenty plays an instrument?......