This really smells like it is going to get so much worse. The death of Ronnie White, the 19-year-old man who was arrested over the weekend on charges that he murdered a Prince George's County police officer, has been ruled a homicide. White appears to have been strangled to death while in custody in a county jail -- he had two broken bones in his neck and medical examiners have determined he died from asphyxiation,......

The local Tampa Bay FOX affiliate, FOX13, is reporting that Deborah Jeane Palfrey, known in the media as the D.C. Madam who was last month convicted of money laundering, using the mail for illegal purposes and racketeering, has been found dead in Tarpon Springs, FL, of an apparent suicide. Police were called to the scene of Palfrey's mother's home, and have confirmed that a body found there was Palfrey. She was 52. Palfrey was set......

>> The 1930s-era Hecht's building in Northeast has been bought by a Philadelphia developer who plans to incorporate the historic structure into a new retail hub off New York Avenue. [WaPo] >> D.C.’s State Education Office established new criteria for free- and reduced-price-meal programs in an effort to increase enrollment. [Examiner] >> Construction has begun on Alexandria's 167-acre Potomac Yard development. [Washington Business Journal] >> The death of musician Casey Calvert last month outside......

Commenter Lionel M. Hutz linked to a video yesterday in our post about the 1-year jail sentence handed down to the former Metrobus driver who struck and killed two women in February. Rusty over at why.i.hate.dc also linked to it this morning, and since then, the DCist Staff email list has been filled with a lot of phrases like "Wow", "Holy crap!" and "That's the single most horrific piece of video I've seen in a......

WJLA brings word that Victor Kolako, the former Metrobus driver who was convicted of striking and killing two pedestrians on February 14, has been sentenced to one year in jail. Kolako was found guilty on two felony counts of negligent homicide in the Pennsylvania Ave. accident. The widower of one of the victims, Greg Schoenborn, has also filed a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit against Metro in U.S. District Court. The sentencing decision is potentially......

If you don't have your milk, toilet paper and candles, Washington, you are so screwed. Why? 'Cause it's (probably) gonna snow. The local weather prediction deities at CapitalWeather are calling for a 70 percent chance of snow in the area Wednesday, with a 50-50 chance that we'll get more than an inch of snow. And as we all know, just like a child can drown in three inches of water, Washington can work itself into......

While the name might promise simple sweetness and pleasantries, the exhibit You Catch More Flies with Honey…, now on display at Carroll Square Gallery, is not simple or superficial. Curated by Hemphill Fine Arts, the exhibit features five artists in the first annual OPTIMA exhibition, which showcases artists whose works have natural connections and form dynamic relationships when viewed together. Bright color infuses the gallery as each artist uses a cheerful color palette to hide......

Good morning, Washington. We hope you had a pleasant and restful evening despite the howling wind and bitter cold. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee had a bit of a rough night last night herself, as she was greeted by throngs of angry Ward 5 parents at the first community meeting that allowed her to present the school closures plan to the public. Ward 5 D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. had set up the separate meeting......

Good morning, Washington. The pernicious effects of this year's drought could continue to haunt the region during next year's holiday season, according to WTOP. Turns out that young Christmas trees and seedlings being grown in Maryland and Virginia were especially affected by the lack of rainfall, meaning that thousands of area children could suffer the indignity of having to make due with a sub-par decorative plant with which to entice entice Santa to leave them......

>> A gas main break closed Route 1 in Alexandria this afternoon. Expect delays. [WaPo] >> The suspicious death of a two-year-old Silver Spring boy has been ruled a homicide. [WTOP] >> Authorities have arrested and charged a Clinton, Md., woman with attempted murder and other arson-related charges for her involvement starting fire in a Gaithersburg apartment building on Thanksgiving morning. [NBC4] >> An Oak Hill Thanksgiving: "Just days before, a riot broke out......

Good morning, Washington. Given that A Charlie Brown Christmas was on TV last night, this story seems especially rough. Apparently some folks stole $1500 worth of Christmas trees from the Boy Scouts that were selling them. Remember kids: leave your clearly marked tree receipt out for Santa if you want your presents delivered promptly and with a minimum of additional paperwork. Latest On Taylor Murder Investigation, Funeral: The Post reports on the few details......

The guitarist for the pop-punk band Hawthorne Heights passed away before the group's show at the 9:30 Club over the weekend. Casey Calvert, 25, was found dead on the band's tour bus at around 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, parked outside the venue in Northwest D.C. A cause of death has yet to be determined, but Calvert's bandmates have been quick to defend against speculation that drugs were involved. They posted the following message to their......

Londonist got the big scoop of the week with what may be the first images of notorious street artist Banksy in action. They also got on a runaway train without an operator provoking a response from the transport authorities. Elsewhere, London's answer to Central Station is about to open for business, and Londonist got a sneak preview. Meanwhile, spooky goings-on beneath London Bridge, where a cache of skeletons provided an apt story for Hallowe'en.......

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Indie: Control Live fast, die young. The two most important rules to follow for rock 'n' roll immortality. We suppose having great music probably helps, too. Ian Curtis followed those rules, and enjoys a massive cult following nearly three decades after his death. Maybe "enjoys" is the wrong word. As the years have passed and Joy......

It goes without saying that Stevie Wonder is a living legend. The singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist has been performing for well over 40 years and is responsible for a slew of well-known hits. As one concert-goer stated to me on my train ride home, the near capacity crowd at Verizon Center would’ve been there for a couple of days if he’d decided to play everything in his discography. Instead, he covered approximately 27 songs over the course of......

The Red Sox has permeated nearly every facet of Bostonist's lives. When they're not live-blogging the games, waxing poetic about the games, thanking Curt Schilling for his splendid work, or telling Dane Cook to watch his hair, they're watching certain presidential candidates hop on the Red Sox bandwagon (sorry, Gothamist). The Sox are so branded on the local brain that people are using the Series to spice up their sex lives. Speaking of spice, Bostonist......

Hollywood, rock and roll and reality TV are all subject to artist Jeremy Blake’s critical eye in Wild Choir: Portraits by Jeremy Blake. The Corcoran Gallery of Art, where the show opens tomorrow, calls his work “psychological pop portraits” — trippy digital videos depicting the lives of cultural figures. Flashing images, voice overs, music and explosions of color are typical in the three videos on display — 2003’s Reading Ossie Clark, 2005’s Sodium Fox, and......

The new record for the longest amount of consecutive days without measurable rainfall at Washington National Airport is scheduled to end later today, as showers and possibly a pretty heavy thunderstorm are predicted for this afternoon. But CapitalWeather.com says this rain event won't be enough to make a dent in the area's drought, as the rain will be short-lived and the amounts modest for the most part. Still, it's been a while since you had......

Good morning, Washington. Flickr user zenfrisbee went down to the West Lawn yesterday to catch the festivities surrounding the Dalai Lama's visit and acceptance of a Congressional Gold Medal. China, naturally, had "solemnly demanded" the cancellation of the event, which saw President Bush appear with the Dalai Lama in public -- something no sitting U.S. president has done before. Bush dismissed China's concerns over the event, saying he didn't think it would severely damage relations......

Franz Kafka ordered his friend Max Brod to burn his incomplete novel The Trial after his death in 1924; Brod edited and published it instead. Although written more than 80 years ago, the book was so prescient in its portrayal of a idly malevolent bureaucracy that it feels timeless. Christopher Gallu has written a new adaptation for Catalyst Theatre Company (where he is Producing Artistic Director), and here he steps into some mammoth shoes:......

>> A police officer from the Seventh District is claiming his commander ordered him to give special treatment to a member of Mayor Fenty's staff who was caught talking on her cell phone while driving. [Examiner] >> "District Fire and Emergency Medical Services officials are investigating the death this morning of a recruit who became ill during training exercises yesterday." [WaPo] >> AOL plans to cut 2,000 more jobs, including 750 from their Dulles offices.......

Blogger, itinerant rock critic, and former NPR Arts Editor Bill Wyman had a fine piece in yesterday’s Washington Post introducing the Moby Quotient, the formula he and, uh, “hyperbolic geometry” expert Jim Anderson have devised for quantifying exactly how egregiously a given artist has sold out when they license one of their songs to an advertiser. (Moby, in case you don’t know, won the dubious honor of having this formula named after him for his......

Whether it was the driving beat of his Afrobeat music or his outspokenness on political issues, Fela Kuti made a statement. Having made such an impact, the fact that a decade after his death from AIDS–related complications he’s still revered shouldn’t be a surprise. His son, Femi, has done his part to keep his father’s work alive and so have numerous other artists. One of those artists, DJ Rich Medina, will deliver his own tribute......

Kris Racer left the punk scene to do some solo soul searching. The former frontman for Ohio based Tagline is being taken very seriously by critics, with an acoustic presence comparable to Elliot Smith and Dashboard Confessional's Chris Carabba. He sings with sincerity, speaking to the twenty-somethings across the country about work, relationships, and the future. But Kris isn’t just another moody musician. There’s a nerdy quirkiness that separates him from the rest, and......

>> DAM! Fest kicks of with its first night of shows featuring a dozen different bands at three venues, including New York's A Place to Bury Strangers (don't miss our interview with the band) and Dirty on Purpose at the Rock and Roll Hotel, Vandaveer and Julie Ocean at the Red and The Black, and Foreign Islands at DC9, among many others. Check out our guide to the DAM! highlights. >> Two film festivals open......

>> The District has agreed to put a cap on the number of inmates at the D.C. Jail at 2,164. [WaPo] >> "Chapter Three: The Reason I Want to Get into the Right Lane is That It's Dangerous Over Here On the Left (And Not That I Have Failed to Sufficiently Appreciate the Grandeur of Your Magnificent Internal Combustion Vehicle)." [Megan McArdle] >> The Attorney for De'Onte Rawlings' family says he is going to......

Marc Fisher lets us know that longtime D.C. radio fixture Red Shipley, the host of WAMU's Stained Glass Bluegrass program for 25 years, died over the weekend from cancer in Charlottesville. Shipley introduced two generations of Washington area music fans to legendary and contemporary bluegrass music, up until last month, when WAMU took all of its bluegrass programming off the air and put it on HD Radio. "Radio lost one of its own legends last......

LAist began the month with a new food series exploring the popular and unknown late night eats around town. If a Top Chef winner opened up a late night spot in Los Angeles, denizens would flock it, yet the LA Times and other media might be wary. Turning to sports, the Dodger season was quite memorable in the way that it imploded and the LA County Sheriff's Department made some games of their own such......

Written by DCist contributor Angela Olson. Ballet Folklórico de México finishes an engagement at George Mason University Center for the Arts Concert Hall today. The Mexico City based dance company has long been a must see for travelers attracted by their colorful and energetic performances. The dancing exemplifies the spirit of Mexico, and the company puts on a great show for all ages. With six foot tall headdresses, carnival costumes and a live Mariachi band,......

Harry Jaffe: As the fallout from the shooting of 14-year-old DeOnté Rawlings continues, it's now Mayor Adrian Fenty taking some of the heat. According to Jaffe, Fenty's decision to pay for Rawlings' funeral and invite his sisters to speak at a press conference has soured some police officers on the young mayor, who saw the moves as an indication of where Fenty's allegiances were. "How can Fenty rebuild trust with the police?" asks Jaffe. “'Let......