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......

The Hill is reporting that the Senate Hart and Dirksen Office Buildings were evacuated due to a fire just after 1 p.m. There are at least four fire trucks and an ambulance at the scene as hundreds of aides left the buildings. Senate staffers told The Hill that this was not a planned drill, though it is unclear why fire and rescue personnel were called. “Evacuating hart & dirksen due to confirmed fire & audible......

As part of our continuing efforts to make the Gothamist network a friendly and reasonably polite place, we've now, as of this morning, eliminated "guest" comments on our posts. This means that to comment on DCist and any other -ist site, all users will need to complete a short registration process. A note about privacy: the new system does require a working email address to complete registration. It does not require you to share your......

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......

Okay, so we've already given Brooklyn's Clap Your Hands Say Yeah a less than stellar live review and sufficiently curbed our enthusiasm when they announced two November dates at the Rock and Roll Hotel. Fortunately for the band, our lukewarm opinions hardly affected their ticket sales, as both dates have been sold out for weeks. Unfortunately for fans of the band (including some DCist staffers), the dates were so popular that both were actually oversold,......

>> Ward 8 Council member Marion Barry feels "disrespected and misled" by Mayor Adrian Fenty regarding the changes the administration made to the development of Poplar Point, where plans for a new stadium for D.C. United have now been abandoned. [WTOP] >> The accused "D.C. Madam," Deborah Jeane Palfrey, is alleging that national security concerns related to the fact that Muslim men used her escort service before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks might......

Photo and review by DCist contributor Valerie Paschall Atlanta psych-noise rockers Deerhunter may have built a reputation over the past year for shocking their live audiences, but last week the band seemed visibly shaken. The previous night, guitarist Colin Mee departed the group, making Thursday their first show in several years as a quartet. This shift in the band’s chemistry was the latest in a string of personal and public relations disasters in the past......

Via the Examiner, we learn that a new ranking put out by Dulles-based AOL places Washington, D.C. as the "most email addicted" city in the country, beating out the likes of Atlanta, New York, San Francisco and Houston, which all placed in the top five. The prevalence of mobile email devices such as Blackberries and Sidekicks in the city was attributed to the result, as well as the large number of government employees, most of......

Regular readers probably noticed that we've made a few small changes to our commenting and feedback systems today. Here's the low down: 1. Every commenter can now have a profile page that includes a small bit of information about them, links to their recent comments, and comments other people have left in response. If the commenter is also a DCist author, the page will include a list of their recent posts. Here's mine. You can......

Even before our scatterbrained, ADHD world began over-prescribing Ritalin, we giggled at Steven Wright's one-liners on SNL during the ‘80s. If you're like us, maybe you even stayed up late into the night listening to albums like I Have a Pony. His brand of comedy, as something of an intellectual punster, appealed to us as kids just as much as it does today. Jokes like, "I was walking in the woods all by myself. A......

Washington woke up this morning to the sad news that Mstislav Rostropovich died in Moscow today, after undergoing treatment for cancer since February. The world has lost a giant of music, an enthusiastic, larger than life figure for many of his 80 years among us. Many Washingtonians felt the loss more keenly because of the Russian cellist and conductor's long relationship with the city, as Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra from 1977 to......

There's good news for residents of Georgetown. District police says the two men wanted in connection with three robberies are now in a Maryland jail on unrelated charges. The armed robberies took place between April 11, 12 and 17 in the area between 27th and 31st, and N and Q Streets in Northwest. In two cases the assailants had a gun. Second District police sent an e-mail yesterday warning women not to walk alone in......

There are a lot of rules when you visit Soho Tea and Coffee in Dupont. Customers must spend at least $5 to use the wireless Internet. No credit cards are taken. Non-customers are charged $3 to use the unisex bathroom, adorned with a helpful reminder than only one person is permitted in the single stall at a time. Two months ago, another rule went into effect: no cell phones at the front counter. Owner Helene......

Yikes. Someone just forwarded us a disturbing e-mail from Commander Diane Groomes of the MPD's First District. Anyone who walks around the Eastern Market area in the morning hours, or really probably at any hour, will want to know about it. On Friday morning at 0645 hours -- a male citizen was walking to Navy Yard when he saw a male dancing in the street -- he walked by and then felt a burning sensation......

Past attendees of any of the F.W. Thomas Performaces, the semi-regular literary-comedic efforts of City Paper contributor Adam Mazmanian held at Warehouse, are well versed in the religion of Lowery. That's T.M. Lowery, or Mike Lowery, or Thomas Michael Lowery, depending on who you ask, the baby-faced "artist-in-residence" of F.W. Thomas and proprietor of The Argyle Academy, a collection of neurotic cartoon animal characters. Mazmanian invited Lowery to present some of his drawings at the......

Recently we noticed a new D.C. blog, called Don't Be Silent, pop up that's dedicated to documenting street harassment in the District. In an e-mail exchange with its author, Golden Silence, we learned that she started the site as a way of speaking out against what she sees as rampant street harassment in our city, and out of frustration with the demise of the now-defunct HollaBackDC, which also used to serve as a place where......

Just when you thought the District's public schools were facing enough hurdles these days. The Examiner reports that most of the Ward 3 public schools were without telephone service yesterday, in what appears to have been an error on the part of DCPS. The outages ocurred after DCPS gave the District’s Office of Finance a list of phone numbers they supposedly weren't using anymore. The disconnects began March 8 under the city’s Zero Usage Project,......

Think you've got a better slogan than "Celebrate and Discover" to describe our fair city? Chances are you do and the D.C. Convention & Tourism Corporation wants to hear it. They've launched a new campaign to find out what we Washingtonians think makes the city great. Over at Share Your DC you can take a quick survey asking what you think are the city's greatest people, places and events along with advice you'd give to......

We don't know about you, but it's friggin cold out there. Well, not for some of you. It seems as though places that are supposed to be cold are warm and places that are supposed to be warm are cold. Or maybe that's just us. Either way, we're freezing. Austinist said goodbye to their co-editor (sell-out) and played rumor monger on the SXSW lineup. And when dozens of dead birds littered downtown Austin, it's......

Tom Chats It Up Fishbowl DC decided it was high time to figure out what was lurking underneath Postie Tom Sietsema's mysterious fisog. Though they were unable to get him to reveal his disguises, they did show us a side of Tom we may not have seen before. For instance, did you know that he likes the letter "T" best, buys his coffee from a San Francisco roaster (we're guessing either Blue Bottle or Peerless),......

MONDAY: It's hard to think of a more appropriate person to have written On the Wealth of Nations, part of the new Grove Atlantic Great Books series where contemporary writers flesh out the work of humanity's most important thinkers, than P.J. O'Rourke. Harder still to imagine a time when everyone agreed that P.J. O'Rourke had a sense of humor. At Politics and Prose at 7 p.m., also Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Cato Institute,......

>> While the Post spends precious column inches on the risk of infectious disease in our produce, some GW microbiology students have dedicated their study to a more harrowing bacterial risk: those slimy, salmonella-ridden beer pong balls. [GW Hatchet] >> Rarely do you find hipsters and schoolmarms on the same side in a fight, but the collective force of the PTA and the retro-food lovin' Bohemians is united against the War on Cupcakes. [Washington Post]......

Have you or anyone know you know sat for a portrait? In the world since photography, what relevance does the tradition of painted portraiture have? These are questions that the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery would like us to consider. The museum is offering a free event, the Edgar P. Richardson symposium, this Friday (November 17, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.) on the subject of Today’s Face: Perspectives on Contemporary Portraiture. The morning session features two......

>> Following the footsteps of Beck, Middle Distance Runner sent out an e-mail announcing a secret show tonight at DC9. They'll be playing with Cloud Cult and Hot IQs as part of the DAM! Fest Hangover party. Festivities start at 9 p.m. >> We've got wood. Today the Capitol Christmas tree started its journey from Washington State to D.C. where it will be adorned with 3000 kids' crappy hand-made ornaments. Even Mom knows when it's......

Last Call. . . Take advantage of the final days of summer by treating yourself to a pork sandwich and side of broccoli rabe at the Galileo Grill this Tuesday and Wednesday between 11:45 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Chef Roberto Donna will also feature pork sausage or chicken sandwiches, cold carrot and tomato soup, and an onion, pancetta, and cheese quiche. As fall nears and the restaurant prepares to close for renovations, this may be......

Thanks to Diane "The PandaPack Winner" Shedd, DCist was alerted to this incredibly sad account posted on craigslist of poor Julie G's cat Mittens, who may have bit the big one earlier today, according to her not-very-subtle neighbor, Steve Y. Hey Julie G, it's Steve Y-- your next door neighbor. I remeber you telling me that you read these. Sorry I don't have your cell or work e-mail, but I think your cat's dead. I......

Yesterday, we received an e-mail forward contaning a PDF file of the image at right. Right away, some of us voiced skepticism that the coupon could possibly be real. First of all, when Starbucks does giveaways, they only give out tall sizes. And second, who on earth would distribute a free drink coupon as a PDF? What's to stop some terrorist email user from making a thousand copies and standing in front of a Starbucks......

The Examiner has a story today that kind of boggles our noggins. It seems A. Scott Bolden, candidate for the At-Large seat on the D.C. Council, is upset with his opponent, current councilmember Phil Mendelson, for emailing a newsletter to about 1,000 consituents last week. Bolden argued that the emails constitute a violation of D.C. election laws, which prohibit councilmembers from mailing more than 99 newsletters or press releases at a time within 90 days......

Local blogger and Condoleezza Rice devotee Princess Sparkle Pony is wondering: Why on earth has the water at the U.S. Navy Memorial turned blue? Indeed, her majesty has turned up photographic evidence of the unnatural hue of the water in the Memorial's fountains. As always, the Pink Pony asks the tough questions: Is it intentional? A prank? One thing is for sure, it now resembles the Ty-D-Bol™ Memorial more than anything. Honey, listen, next time......

It doesn’t matter where they say they came from or how they were formed, one thing that will immediately draw listeners to The Roosevelt is their sound. It’s surprising to hear a new band write such polished songs with memorable hooks. Maybe there is something in the water at the building in Northwest that they're named after. As of right now, the band’s discography consists of a handful of mp3s available on their site. But......