Photo by Sommer Mathis Last fall we reported that builders in the District would be required to construct covered pedestrian walkways beginning in October. Since then, we've definitely seen a few of the new, safer passages around town, but we've also run into more than a handful of others, such as the one pictured above at 11th and K Streets NW, that still force pedestrians to cross the street to use a proper sidewalk......

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. In a statement released today, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is calling the move, which brings the total tax on a pack of cigarettes in the District of Columbia to $2, a "win-win-win solution......

Several neighborhood blogs are posting information about the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority's upcoming public meetings to discuss a proposed 8.5 percent rate increase to city water and sewer rates. WASA is one of the city's most troubled agencies, having come under fire many times in recent years, notably for water pressure and communication problems that may have hampered firefighters during an apartment fire in Adams Morgan, elevated lead and toxic chlorine levels in the......

Maybe you've got a 20-year old bottle of Burgundy chilling in your wine cellar that you want to drink for a special dinner out. Or, you just want to order something nice off the wine list. Up until now, D.C. ABC regulations dictated that you can't carry any remainder out of the restaurant. So of course, most folks would either try to finish the whole thing, leave it behind, or stealthily hand it off to......

Earlier today the AlertDC system sent out an advisory that five water mains had broken overnight in Southeast DC. The DC Water and Sewer Authority followed up with a press release a couple of hours later with the exact locations of the breaks, details on service disruptions, and repair schedule. The utility said that approximately 50 households were affected, though more may be impacted as work continues through the evening. * Work to repair a......

After last weekend's overwhelming turnout and ensuing traffic disaster at the city's semi-annual Household Hazardous Waste and E-Cycling event at Carter Barron Amphitheatre, the D.C. Department of Public Works knew it had to hold these types of events more often. The department announced today that it will conduct an additional collection event this Saturday to accommodate those who did not get a chance to participate last weekend. “Last week’s event attracted more than twice......

A couple of days ago Prince of Petworth posted this picture, along with a query typical of his highly observant neighborhood blog: what do you do when you have a neighbor or an absentee landlord who doesn’t mow the lawn? According to a story in today's Examiner, the District is actually cracking down on these types of overgrown lawns for us. The city government issued nearly 1,400 citations last year to residents who failed to......

In the department of bad timing, at the end of last week the Department of Parks and Recreation sent around a press release notifying the community that the play courts, plaza, and playground at the Stead Recreation Center at 1625 P Street NW will temporarily close beginning April 30, 2008. The city plans to construct a brand new playground, but the rec center itself as well as the athletic field will remain open during construction......

The Associated Press had a story over the weekend reporting that as part of their restructuring efforts, Giant Food grocery stores are discontinuing many products that don't sell as well to make room for larger quantities of fewer products. Those of us who regularly shop at Giant aren't quite sure how to feel about this. The AP quotes a couple of customers complaining that having an even worse selection of items is exactly the opposite......

Via the Post, one more blow was dealt to District taxicab drivers who are still hoping to delay the implementation of time and distance meters in all city cabs. D.C. Superior Court Judge Brook Hedge has denied their request for an injunction to block the meter system from being put in place while they wait for their case to be heard by the D.C. Court of Appeals. Of course, it's not over yet. The cab......

We first told you about it last month, but here's a reminder that this Saturday, April 26, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., the city will be collecting household hazardous waste from residents at the Carter Barron Amphitheatre parking lot at 16th and Kennedy Streets NW. District residents only (Virginia and Maryland residents should check with their local governments to find out where they may take their hazardous waste) may drop-off hazardous waste for proper......

Over at City Desk, Mike DeBonis is reporting early from the mayor's taxi meter presser that Fenty will not be extending the May 1 deadline for taxi drivers to have time and distance meters installed in their cabs. Barring further action by a judge to delay the deadline once again, the District's cab drivers will now have to scramble to get their meters installed by next Thursday, or face $1,000 fines each time they pick......

The final road block to Mayor Adrian Fenty's mandate to switch the District's taxicabs to time and distance meters has at last been removed, reports WTOP. A judge has ruled in the city's favor in a case brought by a group of taxi drivers who tried to argue that Fenty did not have the authority to make his decision on meters. Now that the ruling confirming the mayor has power over taxi regulation is in......

The Politico has a story this morning on D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton's ties to real estate developers. A long list of powerful developers have recently made contributions to her re-election campaign, many of whom have projects underway that have benefited from Norton's political support. The list of Norton’s donors reads like a “Who’s Who” of well-connected real estate developers: the Ratner family, which controls Forest City; Victor MacFarlane, a San Francisco developer who owns......

There was a parade this morning at Franklin Square to celebrate Emancipation Day -- not that anyone much noticed, what with Pope Benedict XVI's visit taking up all the attention. But indeed today is an important District-wide holiday, as it was on this day in 1862 that President Abraham Lincoln freed over 3,000 slaves in the District with the declaration of the Compensated Emancipation Act, which came eight months before slaves were freed throughout the......

The Washington Times has the story this morning on how the District government is handing over the keys to a network of 5,200 closed-circuit cameras to the Metropolitan Police Department. The cameras are normally used to monitor traffic, schools and public housing, and in addition to the 92 crime cameras police already monitor in high-crime neighborhoods, will give D.C. one of the largest surveillance networks of any major city in the United States. The initiative,......

Mayor Fenty's office sent out a press release on Wednesday to announce that the District will spend $2.5 million to improve the 17th Street levee. As you may recall, the Federal Emergency Management Agency proposed new flood maps in January to include an area in Southwest Washington from the Lincoln Memorial to Fort McNair. The change would have required many private property owners to purchase mandatory flood insurance, but FEMA recently agreed to delay implementation......

Both the Post and WTOP have stories this morning announcing the National Park Service's decision to close the tiny Tidal Basin parking lot during the National Cherry Blossom Festival this year. Talk about overdue ideas. Anyone who's been down to see the blossoms at peak hours over the last decade can tell you that the additional traffic caused by the yahoos who seem to think they'll be able to snag a spot in the lot,......

The literary Web site Hitotoki (pronounced hee toe toe key) is looking to launch a D.C. edition, but the editorial staff is facing a small problem — they need content. What is Hitotoki, you ask? In Japanese, the word can mean a moment or a brief stretch of time. Online, it's a project — launched in May 2007 — that publishes stories tied to specific locations within a city. These stories range from an Italian......

K Street, Tuesday, 5:41 p.m., photo by llunardi2 The Post is reporting that participants in today's Iraq war protests were disappointed by the turnout. What did you see? Here's some of the images that have already been uploaded to the DCist Flickr Pool. 17th Street, Wednesday, 8:44 a.m., photo by Fredo Alvarez 17th Street, Wednesday, 8:42 a.m., photo by Fredo Alvarez......

Walter Dellinger has argued before the Supreme Court on many occasions. In fact, according to a Post profile of the lawyer and academic, he's been in front of the nine justices often this year -- three times in the last four weeks. And while yesterday's argument may have been one of the most historic, it probably wasn't the most fun. Dellinger, who argued for the District in yesterday's ground-breaking case on the Second Amendment, didn't......

A little more than a year separates when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District Circuit first called the District's gun laws unconstitutional, and the final test those laws will face today before the U.S. Supreme Court. And in a matter of hours, the case will have been heard, the audio of the proceedings will be released, and months of conjecture will fill the space until the justices actually issue a final ruling. At......

I've got an old printer in my house that doesn't work, and won't ever work again. It's been sitting in the exact same spot for two years, collecting dust, as I've had no idea what to do with it. You can't just throw those things in the garbage, they're full of toxic something or other! Well a reminder posted by the D.C. Department of Public Works has prompted me to block off a chunk......

The Post reports on Virginia's move to ban the sale of dishwasher detergents that contain phosphates. Phosphorus has been found to be a major source of pollution in the struggling Chesapeake Bay. The ban won't go into effect until 2010, however. The Soap and Detergent Association successfully lobbied several states, including Virginia and Maryland, the latter of which which already passed a similar ban, to wait two more years to put their bans in place......

We haven't yet gotten the official press release from the Department of Public Works, but the agency's online public calendar shows that residential street sweeping is set to resume on Monday, March 24. As happens every winter, street sweeping and the parking restrictions that come along with it were suspended on Nov. 30. Here's how DPW describes its street sweeping regime:Mechanical street sweeping is a weekly service in heavily trafficked residential sections of Wards 1,......

Spotted in One Judiciary Square: The Fenty administration's "final solution" for weeding out corrupt and inept city employees? At least only D.C. government employees who work on Saturdays are slated for "extermination" this time.......

With the March 18 hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the D.C. gun ban fast approaching, there's been a lot of news we've missed. Supremes to Release Audio: While the publicity-phobic Supreme Court has never been much of a fan of making its hearings more easily accessible to the American people, the justices have announced that they will make recordings of the proceedings available on the same day they hear the......

The National Cherry Blossom Festival held a press conference this morning to announce the predicted peak blooming dates for Washington, D.C.'s famous flowers. The Post's Going Out Gurus report that Robert DeFeo, the chief horticulturist for the National Park Service, has determined peak dates will be between March 27 and April 3. As the GOGs point out, the Cherry Blossom Festival itself runs from March 29 to April 13, with the parade scheduled for Saturday,......

Mayor Adrian Fenty announced today he has named a new director of the D.C. Department of Health, and he has the basically the coolest name in the world: Dr. Pierre Vigilance. For serious, Dr. Vigilance is going to be looking out for our public health needs now. We eagerly await the announcement of his deputies, Dr. Alert and Dr. Watchful. “This is a great day for the wellbeing of all District residents,” said Mayor Fenty......

Last night I was flipping through the cable news channels in order to live-blog the Potomac Primary results, and as you'll see if you follow that link and scroll down toward after the 9 p.m. mark, something was amiss with the District's election returns. More than an hour after the polls closed, there was zero data from any of D.C.'s 142 precincts available from any major news outlet. CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer even mentioned on-air......