Given the record high gasoline prices consumers are paying at the pump right now, it's not terribly surprising that the D.C. Taxicab Commission took "emergency action" this week to extend the expiration date of the current $1 per trip gas surcharge by another 120 days. The previous gas surcharge, which was also an "emergency" extension, went into effect at the end of January and expired on May 28. When the $1 gas surcharge cycle we're......

Aside from donating to charity or saving for your child's college fund, the best use of $6.75 is the quarter-chicken platter with fries and salad at Skorpios Maggio's Family Restaurant (affectionately known as Skorpios) in Vienna.  Hot rotisserie chicken, dusted with a lemon peppery spice blend, served to you on a divided plate with thick cut steak fries and a simple lettuce salad covered generously in feta and dressed with oil and vinegar, and a......

Aimee Mann never seemed like one of pop's 500 likeliest candidates to release a Christmas album, but last year’s One More Drifter in the Snow was a tasteful, minor-key treat, and her “1st Annual Christmas Show” at the Birchmere last December was one of the best concerts of 2006. As she promised she would at the end of last year’s freewheeling interfaith revue, she's hitched up the sleigh again this year for a monthlong yule-tour......

The Metro board didn't spend their entire day on the fare hike issue Thursday. They also voted to spend $450,000 to develop a proposal to add an eastern entrance to the Rosslyn station. Metro says the new entrance would include three new high-speed elevators, an underground station mezzanine and passageway connection, and an emergency stairway. Since the preliminary plans are still to come, the precise location of the entrance is still unknown, especially considering how......

It's Friday, Washington, and reactions are still rolling in to Metro's approval of its largest fare hikes ever. We all knew this was coming, but we're curious to hear if any of our readers actually plan to make changes to their commuting habits come January 6, when the increases will go into effect. Do you think you'll ride Metro any less, or finally make the leap to using SmarTrip? Let us know in the comments.......

The Post is reporting that in an 8-2 vote, Metro's finance committee has approved a series of fare hikes at their full meeting today. The plan they approved was the one recently offered by Maryland members of the board, which is less expensive for suburban customers who park and ride. The vote basically guarantees that the full board will approve the fare hikes later today. Here's how the new fares will break down: >> The......

Good morning, Washington. We'll be standing by for a good chunk of the day to see what the Metro Board decides to do about the proposed fare hike - the Board is meeting at 11 a.m. for a session that is expected to produce a final vote on the fare hikes, which could go into effect as soon as January. Board members have indicated they would likely pass a fare hike that is slightly less......

Monday >> It’s Saint Lucy’s Day! Hej Hej, the DJ night dedicated to Scandinavian pop and rock, is getting festive for this start of the Christmas season with drink specials and holiday hits in addition to their regular fare. Pop into Café St.-Ex in your finest crown of candles, and you might even get a free drink. 10 p.m., FREE. >> Le Loup are also celebrating tonight, in a homecoming of sorts for the local......

Flying food? Perhaps you've noticed the odd little vehicle with wings near 8th and H, NW selling empanadas and other Mexican fare. It's On the Fly, a new food business started by one of the founders of Zip Car, Gabe Klein, L'Enfant cafe owner Christopher Lynch, and architectural designer Michel Heitstuman. The car is one of the first in a planned series of food carts and small stands that will swarm the city. This......

If you've taken a D.C. taxicab since the stroke of midnight last night, you may have been surprised by a cab driver insisting that you pay an extra $1 gas surcharge. Didn't the gas surcharge expire in September? It did, but last week the D.C. Taxicab Commission quietly passed an emergency measure to bring back the $1 fee, beginning at 12:01 a.m. this morning and lasting until 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, January 29, 2008. “Prices......

Good morning, Washington. Not too upset about the coming Metro fare hike, are we? WJLA is reporting that only four people showed up to last night's hearing on the measure. Of course, the meeting was held way out in Reston and was only the first of six opportunities that Metro riders will have to voice their opinion on the price increase. Maybe you're just biding your time. Tax Scandal Grows Even Bigger: This is......

WMATA has put out a release to remind everyone that the first in a series of six planned public hearings on the proposed Metro fare hike is tonight. All six hearings start at 7 p.m., with open-houses beginning at 6:30 p.m. before each one. Tonight's hearing is in Reston, at the Bechtel Conference Center, which is at 1801 Alexander Bell Drive. To get there, take the Orange line to the West Falls Church station, and......

The Examiner reports on a new DMV program that would install SmarTrip chips into every new D.C. driver's license and identification card beginning in October, 2008. The program is a combined effort by the agency and WMATA, the latter of which has made no secret of its intention to make universal conversion to SmarTrip a priority. Recently Metro General Manager John Catoe made SmarTrip cards available for sale at more Giant Food stores and announced......

Given his position as chairman of the committee that oversees transportation and the D.C. Taxicab Commission, we knew headline-loving Ward 1 D.C. Council member Jim Graham wouldn't pass up an opportunity to create his own spectacle in the wake of Mayor Adrian Fenty's announcement about the transition to taxi meters. But it seems as though Graham was only able to muster up the resources to put together a 2 p.m. public roundtable at the Wilson......

Good morning, Washington. It's Friday, and the city is still reacting to yesterday afternoon's announcement about how our new taxi meters are going to work. We already told you about the $4 flag drop, which many people are already saying is too high, and the fact that taxi roof lights will go on and off automatically to indicate whether a cab has a passenger, which everyone seems to agree is long overdue. One more thing......

We can't believe we at first skimmed over this little nugget from the Mayor's announcement this afternoon about the upcoming switch to taxi meters:The meters will be connected to the light on top of the cab allowing passengers to see if a taxi is available. The light will be illuminated when a taxi does not have a customer and will extinguish when a fare is activated on the meter.Whoa! That's another big change. Adding......

D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty announced this afternoon that new time and distance meters for D.C. taxis must be installed no later than April 1, 2008. The announcement came about nine hours after the end of a 24-hour taxicab driver strike in response to the Mayor's decision to abandon the zone system. Fenty and D.C. Taxicab Commission Chairman Leon Swain Jr. also announced the pricing structure for the new meters: a $4 flag drop charge, then......

Mark your calendars: WMATA put out a release earlier today announcing the dates of a series of six public meetings at which you can voice your opinions about the proposed Metro fare hikes, which would go into effect in January. The full set of proposed increases is here, but the basics include raising the base fare of Metrorail from $1.35 to $1.65, keep bus fares the same as long as you use SmarTrip cards (add......

Welcome to Friday, Washington. More reactions to the Metro Board's proposed fare hikes this morning, as The Examiner quotes the chairman of Metro's Riders Advisory Board claiming he'll be switching to driving from Rockville to Rosslyn at least two days a week if the increases go into effect. Do the proposed fare hikes make you think you'll change your commuting habits? Operator Error Blamed in Track Deaths: Another report about a terrible Metro accident from......

WTOP's Adam Tuss is the first to the gate with news of Metro's Board of Directors having agreed today to a fare hike proposal to put forward to the public. Here's the details: >> Peak Metrorail base fares would increase 30 cents, from $1.35 to $1.65 >> Off-peak rail service would remain at $1.35 >> The maximum rail fare would jump 80 cents, to $4.70 >> If you use SmarTrip, bus fares will remain......

Good morning, Washington. The weather-related headlines today are all generally pretty disappointing -- The Post proclaims that "Rain Likely to Dampen Area But Not Douse the Drought", and others have followed suit. But waving like a lone reed in the pessimistic sands of weather prognostication is CapitalWeather.com, who just minutes ago put up a prediction, based on a brand new model, suggesting that "several factors are finally lining up to bring the potential for......

By DCist Contributor Stephanie Taylor Halloween is fast approaching, and because the scariest day of the year was inconsiderate enough to fall mid-week this year, much of the drunken pin the rib on the skeleton madness begins next weekend. But the District has very few true costume shops. If you've sorted through your closet and still haven't found a winner for this year's costume, we thought we'd offer a few suggestions as to where to......

Mayor Adrian Fenty has ordered all D.C. taxicabs to switch to time and distance meters, abandoning forever the controversial zone system that has been unique to Washington for decades. “As we work to become a world-class city, it is essential that all aspects of District government are user friendly, fair and efficient for residents and visitors alike,” Fenty said in a statement released to the media. “District residents are overwhelmingly in favor of modernizing......

Perhaps Mayor Adrian Fenty has already made up his mind on the great zone vs. meter debate, and he's just waiting until tomorrow to announce his decision for dramatic effect. But we think the odds are pretty good that he's still mulling it over as we type. Wednesday, October 17 is the deadline imposed by Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), who inserted the provision in legislation last fall that forces Fenty to either switch to time......

Good morning, Washington. We have to admit it — we have a soft spot for cheerleader-related crime. And this is a good one: the AP (via WTOP) reports on the case of Anna Lois Miles, a cheerleading coach who is charged with holding an illegal gambling event to raise money to... wait for it... repay bail money she borrowed from the parents of a girl she coached after being arrested for writing bad checks!......

This is the kind of image that really shows off the skills of the photographer. On the surface this seems to be an otherwise nondescript building each of us passes by every day without really noticing, but Flickr user twoeightnine has created an ominous scene; perhaps the foreshadowing opening shot of a building with a life of its own in your upcoming Halloween horror fare. EXIF.......

>> So, yeah, still no word on exactly how much that fare hike is gonna be. [WaPo] >> An Islamic activist appointed by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine to the Virginia Immigration Commission was forced to resign Thursday after videos surfaced of him making controversial statements about Israel. [WaPo] >> The end of WaWa in College Park: "Kids from South Jersey and Philly will be forever sealed off from their favorite place to get a......

While we sit here tap-tapping our fingers, eagerly awaiting the Metro Board’s next move on our collective fare fate, we will distract ourselves with other traffic and metro related tidbits: metro savings, the ICC goes on and weekend delays. Photo by philliefan_99......

Good morning, Washington. It's almost October, but in many ways it still seems like summer. For one thing, it'll be ninety degrees today. For another, there's news of Michael Vick's worsening legal situation. Yesterday Virginia indicted him and three others on dogfighting charges. Of course, we all knew that was coming sooner or later — less expected was word that a Canadian bank is suing Vick for defaulting on a $2.3 million loan. Potential......

Neither Mozart nor Hockey Themed Washington works hard to burnish its dining credentials. D.C. fat cats who are literally fat need somewhere to eat, and they're not going to throw down lobbyist dollars for just any slop. No. D.C. is a dining destination, beckoning the up-and-coming chefs and their myriad foodie followers. People are noticing, too. From the New York Times to the National Geographic Traveler, we're a getting noticed -- enough so that a......