A group demonstrators who attempted to deliver a petition today to the American Legislative Exchange Council asking it to stop promoting the so-called "Stand Your Ground" law were locked out of the think tank's building. more ›

In an interview with The Washington Post yesterday, Travyon Martin's parents disputed the official record of Sanford, Fla. police in the 17-year-old's shooting death last month at the hands of neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman. more ›

In the wake of the Trayvon Martin shooting, a group of Howard University students and alumni are hoping a new YouTube video can spark a discussion about the racial profiling of young black men. more ›

One month after his death, hundreds gathered in Columbia Heights last night to remember Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, who was shot and killed February 26 by a neighborhood watch patrolman claiming self defense. more ›

Angered by the shocking death last month of a black teenager in Florida and upset with the statute that the shooter invoked to avoid prosecution, more than 1,000 people flooded the area around the John A. Wilson Building on Saturday afternoon in a call for justice. more ›

President Obama made his first public comments on the death of Sanford, Fla. teenager Trayvon Martin, who was shot and killed February 26 by a neighborhood watch patrolman acting under Florida's "Stand Your Ground Law." more ›

George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch captain who gunned down 17-year-old Trayvon Martin last month in Sanford, Fla., grew up not too far from D.C. His former neighbors were shocked to hear about what he did. more ›

Prince George's County has endorsed the notion of making the District of Columbia the 51st state. Unlike attempts to get New Hampshire and Florida to embrace D.C. statehood, this came without a big plane trip. more ›

So much for the Sunshine State being the next beacon of hope for the campaign to get statehouses around the country to endorse the notion of making the District of Columbia the 51st state. more ›

Yesterday, the Metropolitan Police Department announced that they had made two arrests in connection with the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Demetrius Emmanuel Thompson on a Metrobus last Thursday. more ›

D.C. Fire Department Deputy Chief Kenneth Ellerbe has resigned after it was revealed that he had been allowed to keep his D.C. job even though he had already taken a new position in Florida, Matthew Cella reports in the Washington Times. The unusual arrangement had reportedly come about so that Ellerbe could collect his full pension immediately, even though he was no longer on the city's payroll. "D.C. Fire Chief Dennis L. Rubin last month sent a letter to Deputy Chief Kenneth Ellerbe revoking a personnel exchange program that allowed Chief Ellerbe to serve with both departments at once," Cella writes. The resignation comes a couple of months before Ellerbe turns 50, the age when he could have begun collecting his D.C. pension had he remained on the department's books. more ›

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... more ›

One of these guys might be the next president, so it's good to try and parse where they stand on District voting rights. At least that was the thinking over at D.C. Vote, who recently recorded and sent in a number of videos of District residents asking the presidential candidates from the Republican Party where they stood on D.C. voting rights. The videos, eleven in all, were submitted to CNN for the upcoming CNN/YouTube... more ›

Yesterday, I found it difficult to write about Washington's loss over the weekend to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It had nothing to do with the play on the field, which amounted to a carbon copy of the previous week's loss. Jason Campbell strove mightily to lead the team past their mistakes, only to be done in by mistakes of his own. A game changing moment came when the offense failed to obtain some badly needed... more ›

After what was thought to be a succesful surgery, Redskins safety Sean Taylor died earlier this morning in Florida. His wounds -- a gunshot to his femoral artery, causing significant blood loss -- proved to be too much for his body to recover from. He was shot in what police are calling a home invasion on Monday. In a statement posted on the team's website, owner Dan Snyder said, "This is the worst imagineable tragedy.... more ›

It appears that tragedy has struck the Redskins. Emerging reports indicate that Washington Redskins Safety Sean Taylor has been shot in an apparent burglary attempt on his home, with one source claiming that Taylor is "fighting for his life". The Redskins have just released a statement confirming the shooting.Ashburn, VA - The Washington Redskins became aware of a situation this morning in which safety Sean Taylor was the victim of a shooting at his residence... more ›

We missed this when it happened a couple of weeks ago, but is it really ever too late to point and laugh at New Yorkers? We didn't think so. So, people are probably aware that Five Guys franchises are proliferating across the Eastern U.S. like nuclear weapons in central Asia. The greasy, peanut-laden fingers of our locally born burger stand have spread as far as Delafield, Wisconsin; Nashville, Tennessee; and Miami, Florida. They've even broken... more ›

The mid-November start to the NCAA basketball season tends to get lost in the universe of sports coverage. This is probably due to the staggered opening nights around the country, but can also be attributed to competition with other sports -- college football entering its stretch run, the NFL in midseason, even the NBA's opening weeks garner more attention than college hoops. We're not about to let this exciting time slip through the cracks. With... more ›

This weekend the Capitals decided not to add a great goalie to pull them up from the dregs of the standings. After losing seven of eight games, the Caps were in last place. This gave them the first chance to pick up Ilya Bryzgalov, a goalie placed on waivers because he didn't enjoy playing backup on the Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks. Two years ago, Bryzgalov posted one of the greatest playoff shutout streaks in... more ›

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Indie: War/Dance Sometimes you need an antidote before the poison even arrives. Next week Hollywood releases yet another of those diabetic-shock-inducing films about musically gifted youngsters and how they can be an inspiration to us all, designed to make soccer moms everywhere weep into their hankies. One week prior to that, though, comes a documentary from... more ›

Written by DCist contributor Brett Gellman The Maryland Terrapins (4-5, 1-4 ACC) enter Byrd Stadium for their home finale tonight when they take on #8 Boston College (4-1, 4-1 ACC) in an Atlantic Division showdown. The Terps are reeling from a three game losing streak after falling to UNC 16-13 last Saturday while the Eagles national title hopes fizzled after Florida State stunned BC 27-17. Both teams look to rebound after the disappointing losses. While... more ›

Travis Morrison Hellfighters play Thursday night at the Rock & Roll Hotel as part of a benefit show for Survivors and Advocates of Empowerment, with Ra Ra Rasputin and Jukebox the Ghost (***). 8:30 p.m., $10 in advance, $12 at the door. You can read our review of Morrison's latest album, All Y'all here What does the new album, All Y’all, mean to you? Well, it’s the first thing I did with this band. Travistan... more ›

Former Capitals coach Bruce "Butch" Cassidy (who famously wrote his plays on napkins, and then brought the napkins to practice) has just been fired by the Kingston Frontenacs of the Ontario Hockey League after they lost six straight games. The firing from the junior team confirms the suspicions of many Caps fans who remembered the 2003-2004 season and though the coach might have been slightly less than qualified for the NHL. Cassidy joined the Capitals... more ›

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... more ›

Good Morning, Washington. In an apparent attempt to rule the D.C. media landscape through terror and intimidation, the Washington Post has published the scariest local news story we've ever read this morning: apparently, these disgusting-looking creatures called camel crickets are infesting area basements due to the lack of moisture in the ground thanks to the region's rather serious drought. Described as "a mix between a spider and a cricket" and accompanied by disturbing photographic... more ›

>> 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... more ›

The skies are partly cloudy overhead with a high of 84 degrees and the winds are blowing a blustery four miles per hour. This can only mean one thing. Hockey is back in the Nation's Capital. Of course the Capitals would hardly know it tonight as they start their season in cold, rainy Atlanta, Georgia. At least they'll be home tomorrow to play Carolina. For the third year of probably only three years, the NHL... more ›

>> D.C. United star striker Luciano Emilio is neck and neck with the Chicago Fire's Cuauhtemoc Blanco for MLS Goal of the Week. Emilio scored his 20th goal of the season with an sensational left-footed volley. Be sure to vote. It's your civic duty. >> It's been exactly five years since the sniper shootings perpetrated by John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo began. [WTOP] >> "D.C. Council leaders will not hold up the... more ›

With one week left until the start of the regular season, the hockey world has been divided into two camps along the question of whether the Capitals will make the playoffs this year. The first camp consists of every Caps fan with a blog, up to and including team owner Ted Leonsis. All agree that the team can do it. The second camp contains every other fan and writer in the hockey universe, who agree... more ›

By special contributor Brett Gellman of The Upstate Life This Thursday's nationally televised contest, in which the West Virginia Mountaineers will visit the Maryland Terrapins in College Park, will be the last time these border state rivals meet until 2010. Not only are bragging rights on the line, but the Mountaineers' national title hopes are also at stake. Both schools will be playing their hardest opponent thus far and both stand undefeated at 2-0. Both... more ›