Civil rights leaders like Rev. Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King III and others are gathering with supporters on Freedom Plaza at 10 a.m. this morning to march to the Justice Department in a "March Against Hate Crimes." NBC4 says that organizers hope the march will bring attention to racism and recent hate crimes against African Americans that have been popping up around the country. The march was also designed to bring attention to the Jena......

Welcome back to work, you godless heathens who had yesterday off. While you were off frolicking in the sunshine with flowers in your hair and puppies at your feet, the rest of us were here, slaving away. OK fine, maybe we spent a little time playing with our new avatar feature (read more here). But we only did it in a totally serious manner, devoid of any fun or whimsy. Speaking of fun, this ridiculous......

Who are these people and why are they tangoing the night away in Freedom Plaza? This is a video submitted to YouTube of the popular summertime milonga, the Milonga a la Libertad, which happens most Sundays from 7 to 10 p.m. from May until Sept. It's free to join in -- participants are merely asked to bring a snack or beverage to share.......

Thanks to WABA's Jeff Peel and Flickr contributor Intangible Arts for sharing a few of their shots of the Bike to Work Day rally in Freedom Plaza this morning. More photos below the fold: Top three by Jeff Peel, bottom two by Intangible Arts. Good luck biking home!......

Quick, informal poll: Raise your hand if your drive, slug, or Metro to work each day. Now keep your hand raised if you hate your commute. One more -- keep your hand up if you have a bike. For all of you out their that still have your hands up (virtually, at least), why not pull that old dusty Diamondback off the back porch, give it the WD-40 treatment, and ride it to work for......

As you've no doubt heard, we're putting on our best coats and walking shoes to fight for voting rights with a march and rally this afternoon. Several blocks will closed to traffic during the events, which kick off at 2:30 p.m. in Freedom Plaza with a march that leads to a rally at the Capitol Reflecting Pool beginning at 4:00 p.m. Between these times Pennsylvania Ave. NW from 3rd to 14th Sts. and 3rd St.......

Good morning, Washington. Today is the day of the Voting Rights March. If you can, gather at Freedom Plaza at 2:30 p.m. to march to the capitol with your friends from DCist and other Washingtonians. Or, just meet us for the rally planned at 4 p.m. at the Capitol Reflecting Pool. Either way, we hope you make it out for at least one hour to show your support for District voting rights. Don't let this......

We're just a weekend away from the March for Voting Rights, which kicks off at 2:30 p.m. on Monday, April 16 at Freedom Plaza, ending at the U.S. Capitol Reflecting Pool at 4 p.m. for a rally. As we've mentioned before, you only have to take an hour off of work to join in the cause, and we'd encourage everyone to do so. We'll be there, and this is why: We're Too Close To......

As we mentioned yesterday, next Monday, April 16 is the long-awaited Voting Rights March. Activists, residents and supporters will take an afternoon to demand that Congress finally do something to remedy the 200-year-old disenfranchisement of the District's residents. We'd like to see as many people out there as possible, but we recognize that it's hard to take an entire afternoon off, regardless of how good the cause is. Fear not, though -- you may only......

It was almost three weeks ago that Republicans helped derail legislation that would finally grant the District a voting seat in the House of Representatives. The Democratic leadership has promised to bring the legislation back to the floor next week, but even if it passes, it faces an uphill battle in the Senate and an almost assured veto from President Bush. Short of giving up and moving en masse to Virginia and Maryland, what can......

In a city of monuments to great Americans, it's easy to think that the more recent monumistas began the trend of honoring foreign heroes. But for nearly a century, a statue of Polish freedom fighter Casimir Pulaski has made its home at 13th St. and Pennsylvania Ave., in what is now known as D.C.'s Freedom Plaza. The plaza, designed in 1980, is mainly a tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement,......

More than two decades after the first cases of a strange “immunity systems ailment” appeared in Washington, today's observance of World AIDS Day sees the epidemic still rampant, both in the city and around the world. While the number of new infections peaked in the District in 1993 at 1342 cases, it remains persistent. Despite massive education and “get tested” initiatives, the number of new infections in D.C. still hovers around 900 per year. We’ve......

At a Bike to Work Day rally on Freedom Plaza this morning, the District Department of Transportation's Acting Director Michelle Pourciau announced the launching of a new website that would pool resources and information for area commuters. Working with the Downtown D.C. Business Improvement District, DDOT today officially introduced goDCgo.com, a site that will include information on parking, transit, bicycling, carsharing, road closures and more, all pooled from existing websites. According to a DDOT press......

We've always been big fans of cycling. Spare the somewhat aggressive drivers, pothole-ridden city streets and rock throwing kids we occasionally have to navigate, the District remains a cycle-friendly city. Though many commuters don't often jump on their bikes to get to and from work, tomorrow should be the one day to do so -- it's Bike to Work Day. Sponsored locally by the Washington Area Bicycle Association, the event caps off National Bike Month,......

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. The move came eight months before slaves were freed throughout the nation. The document read as follows: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all persons held to service or labor within the District of Columbia......

District political types and local journalists long waited for today -- the day the D.C. City Council would finally vote on the contentious stadium lease, the day on which D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams was to prove once and for all if he could round up key votes at key moments. Alas, it was not to be. As we reported late yesterday afternoon, Williams asked Council-chair Linda Cropp to postpone the vote on the stadium lease......

Good morning, Washington. With the holidays bearing down upon us, we hope your preparations are going well whatever they might entail. Since our friends on the hill spent the weekend hard at work, we thought we would choose a photo of the New Mexico Holiday Tree for our morning roundup. The photo was tagged for us by Flickr user pattista. Rallies For, Against Stadium Planned: If you're going to be near the Wilson Building around......

You're the mayor. Through both sheer fear and skilled negotiations the City Council and U.S. Congress bow to your every demand. Your city coffers are suddenly flush with millions of dollars in surplus. What do you do? What do you do? In yesterday's Outlook section, the Post toyed with this quasi-realistic scenario and offered a variety of Washingtonians the chance to play God with the reported $300 million budget surplus the District is set to......

It may be a first, but it's a first that District voting rights activists have been waiting for and one which they are sure to celebrate -- an international endorsement of their cause. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a 55-member regional security organization, is holding its annual meeting in Washington starting tomorrow, during which they plan on considering a resolution that expressly calls for the U.S. government to grant residents of the......

Freedom Plaza will be filled with the youth of D.C. this evening as the city kicks off the "It's Time to Stand Up and Take a Stand Against Youth Violence" rally at 6 p.m. Mayor Williams, members of the City Council and numerous community leaders and organizations -- including the Peaceoholics Youth Council -- will be out on the plaza to rally for peace. There'll be live music from DC Allstars and go-go's D.Floyd, along......

Tomorrow, if only for a day, the tables will be turned. Cyclists will wander fearlessly through traffic, knowing that they have strength in numbers, while cars proceed meekly through roads populated by amateur cyclists, roadies, off-roaders, and seasoned two-wheeled urban warriors. It'll be the day where Indians become chiefs, hunted the hunters. Ok, so maybe that's a little dramatic. Tomorrow is, though, Bike to Work Day. Part of the national Bike to Work Week, which......

In advance of Earth Day on Friday, the District today kicks off its Green Week DC today with Environment and Community Day on Freedom Plaza from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday is Holistic Energy Day at the Reeves Municipal Center at 14th and U streets NW where you'll be able learn more about renewable energy and see GM hydrogen vehicles. Although pretty much a concrete courtyard, Nassif Plaza at the U.S. Department of Transportation......

Some details are emerging about activist groups' plans for protests during Bush's second inauguration. According to emails we've received, Pro-Life Groups have applied to hold a protest on the Mall, conservative groups are applying for a protest at Freedom Plaza (a center of protests in 2000), and ANSWER has applied for a permit for a protest in Pershing Park. Also, groups have begun planning a variety of feeder marches and the National Lawyer's Guild is......

Veterans Day is tomorrow and the official observance of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month will bring a whole host of closures and modified schedules. Check out the District's rundown of Veterans Day events and closures. Veterans Day is rooted in Armistice Day, which remembers when the guns fell silent on the Western Front during the first World War. In a city that has memorials dedicated to Armenian earthquake victims,......

Red and white illuminated balloons will dot the streets of downtown D.C. this evening during D.C.’s Light The Night Walk to support The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The casual 2+ mile walk through downtown steps off from Freedom Plaza at 7:30 p.m. with onsite registration opening at 6 p.m at the Woodrow Wilson Plaza at the Ronald Reagan Building. Walkers carry illuminated balloons to celebrate and commemorate lives touched by cancer. The D.C.-area events are......