Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. (D-Ward 5) will reportedly introduce emergency legislation limiting the number of cultivation centers that can end up in his ward. more ›

You know that saying "the enemy of my enemy is my friend"? That seems to have been lost on one local group trying to recall Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. (D-Ward 5) from office next year. more ›

Mayor Vince Gray, who has been historically prickly regarding media requests for comment on the Harry Thomas, Jr. scandal, unsurprisingly refused to call for Thomas to step down today. more ›

Harry Thomas, Jr., the Ward 5 D.C. Councilmember accused of improperly using $300,000 in city grant funds on personal expenses like a luxury SUV, golf outings, dinner at Hooters and overdraft fees, settled a lawsuit filed by the District's Office of the Attorney General today without admitting wrongdoing. more ›

Alan Suderman's rundown of Councilmember Harry Thomas' bank records has given us all a chance to marvel at the Ward 5 representative's enjoyment of Hooters, satellite television and 7-Eleven on D.C.'s dime. But there's one expense not mentioned in Suderman's story that's also worth noting. more ›

There's little more American than the freedom of speech, and at yesterday's Fourth of July Palisades Parade, plenty of participants took advantage of the place and moment to practice it. more ›

What's going on in Ward 5? First, the ward's Councilmember, Harry Thomas, Jr., was sued by the city for misusing hundreds of thousands of dollars in city funds. Now, one of the ward's Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners is accused of inappropriately using $27,000 in city money. more ›

Due to allegations that he diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars in city funds to his Team Thomas organization, Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. has stepped down as chairman of the D.C. Council's influential committee on economic development. Thomas stepped down in a letter sent to Council Chair Kwame Brown; Brown announced the around 6:30 p.m. this evening via email. more ›

The reaction to the lawsuit filed by the District against Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. has been swift and damning -- of course, that's what will happen when you show up to a press conference in the very car the Attorney General claims you improperly spent nearly $60,000 in city money on. more ›

Here it is, a full copy of the civil lawsuit which the D.C. government has filed against Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. and his organization, Team Thomas. more ›

This morning, D.C. Attorney General Irv Nathan announced that an investigation into Team Thomas, a nonprofit operated by Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr., had uncovered enough evidence for the city to file a civil enforcement action against the councilmember. (UPDATE: Read the entire lawsuit here.) more ›

During today's legislative meeting of the D.C. Council, a protester interrupted proceedings with a tirade against Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser regarding the construction of a Walmart in that ward. (A community activism group called Ward Four Thrives had been demonstrating outside the chambers this morning -- check out some video of the tail end of the incident after the jump.) The incident was rather quickly forgotten -- after all, protesters have interrupted the Council before, and with testy budget hearings looming, they will most certainly interrupt them again in the future. more ›

During an appearance on NewsTalk with Bruce DePuyt this morning, Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. addressed a number of different topics: education, taxicab medallions, the ethics of the Council and the Vince Gray administration. But the bulk of the conversation centered around Walmart's inroads into the District. Thomas has been a reliable supporter of the Big Blue Box, but it turns out that he's got much grander plans than simply lobbying for the store to open several locations inside D.C.'s borders. more ›

Seriously, this has to be one of the best D.C. Council exchanges ever. Here's Harry Thomas, Jr. (D-Ward 5), during the debate this afternoon over a bill that would institute residency requirements for homeless people to access the city's shelters, which ended up passing by a 9-4 vote. more ›

As Aaron summarized in the Morning Roundup, tonight's victory party for both presumptive Mayor-elect Vince Gray and presumptive Council Chair-elect Kwame Brown will take place at Love, the massive Northeast nightclub. more ›

A story that broke while you all were preparing for cookouts or catching up on some shuteye has taken a turn for the interesting. To recap: on Monday, Trinidad/H Street/Capitol Hill blog Frozen Tropics was the first to publish images from the security cameras outside the Capital City Diner which depicted Ward 5 Council candidate Kathy Henderson taking down Harry Thomas, Jr. and Kwame Brown campaign signs and replacing them with Adrian Fenty ones. The images, one of which can be seen at right, were supplied by Diner owner Matt Ashburn. more ›

We all know that our fair city is facing some financial difficulties, but it would appear that so too are some of its elected representatives. more ›

A wide range of District political candidates gathered at One Judiciary Square last night to make their case to members of D.C. for Democracy why the organization should support their candidacies in the September Democratic primary. Everyone from the mayor to would-be shadow representatives showed up to make their case. Endorsements should be handed down in the coming weeks. more ›

Martin made the case yesterday that playing up the racial divisions within our city when it comes to same-sex marriage was misleading, especially when considering how the Ward 8 Democrats recently voted to support marriage equality legislation, despite opposition from their D.C. Council member. more ›

The D.C. Council voted 10 to 3 today to give Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee the power to fire nonunion central office employees. more ›

Good morning, Washington. It turns out that House Pages don't need lecherous congressmen's help to make scandalous headlines: two have just gotten busted for inappropriate behavior in a House elevator. They've been dismissed, bringing the year's total fired pages to five — two others were caught shoplifting, and one was booted for fighting. Needless to say, it looks like the program — the oversight of which has been in turmoil — will be getting... more ›

Good morning, Washington. We hope you had a pleasant and restful evening despite the howling wind and bitter cold. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee had a bit of a rough night last night herself, as she was greeted by throngs of angry Ward 5 parents at the first community meeting that allowed her to present the school closures plan to the public. Ward 5 D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. had set up the separate meeting... 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 ›

Good morning, Washington. It's the last Friday in July, and we can already feel the impending doom and gloom of D.C.'s traditional No News August, a time when the Washington Post publishes lengthy ruminations on humidity and local TV news begins investigating whether your children's toy water guns are really safe. But as if feeling the need to grant us one last interesting Friday before the new month begins, D.C. Council member Harry Thomas... more ›

In response to the record temperatures outside, the District has opened eight of its public swimming pools today. If for some reason you're free for the rest of the afternoon, head on down to cool off.: more ›

Good morning, D.C. If you're like us (and presumably since you're reading this, you are), you love to follow local news, especially for those few stories that come up every now again that manage to combine two of the local media's favorite tropes: fear mongering and funny names. For example, just when you thought the intersex fish problem in the Potomac had drifted off into the ethereal plane of being old news, the Sierra Club... more ›

The D.C. council is set to vote on legislation proposed by Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) tomorrow that would create exemptions to allow strip clubs displaced by the new Nationals stadium to relocate to Ivy City in Ward 5. As we told you previously, Ward 5 Council member Harry Thomas opposes the legislation and has offered several amendments to the bill, including one that was adopted that would give $3.6 million to improve the... more ›

>> "Man, if I am ever refused service at a publicly funded institution for wearing a political shirt, I am leaving that fucking place in handcuffs. Someone gets their rights trampled on and she responds with a vegan cake? That is so fucking weak. Grow a pair." [why.i.hate.dc] >> "If you’ve always wanted one of Sen. John Edwards’ $400 haircuts, now’s your chance. Duvall’s Hair Co., in McPherson Square, put a sign outside its... more ›

The controversial plan authored by Ward 1 Council member Jim Graham to relocate a number of strip clubs displaced by the new Nationals stadium into Ivy City, a neighborhood in Ward 5, got even more interesting this week. The D.C. Council on Tuesday agreed to spend $3.6 million to reduce the "impact" of the relocated clubs, in a rare earmarking of funds for a specific neighborhood. Ivy City is bordered by Bladensburg Road, New York... more ›