About six months ago, I downloaded an iPhone app that allowed me to listen in on police radio communications. I rarely caught much of interest, but if you listened for long enough, something newsworthy could come in over the airwaves. But over the last two weeks, it's been radio silence, as a D.C. policy encrypting police radio finally took effect. more ›

It's about as predictable as death, taxes and traffic jams -- an emergency hits the District, and within minutes phone networks are so clogged with calls, text messages and data usage that they collapse altogether. more ›

In recent years, the District has been hit by record snowfalls, torrential rains, a hurricane and an earthquake. Fortunately, none of them have been particularly catastrophic -- but that doesn't mean that District officials aren't constantly preparing for one that could be. more ›

UPDATE: According to D.C. Fire and EMS, all agencies investigating have given the all clear after determining that the package presented "no hazard." According to a report from ABC7, the Metropolitan Police Department is investigating a suspicious package of some kind at the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, located at 2720 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE. There's no word on whether any connection has been made to the packages sent to Maryland state buildings and a D.C. post office last week. Obviously, we'll update this story as more details emerge. more ›

Did you know it's National Preparedness Month? (Yeah, neither did I, but so it is!) As a result, there's going to be plenty of emergency workers out and about in the D.C. area this weekend, running drills to make sure that in the event something awful happens, they'll be ready. WTOP's Adam Tuss notes that there will be numerous spots in Northern Virginia where scenario training will occur. The District has not officially announced where they will be conducting training, but a tipster alerts us that one of the locations will be on 19th Street NW, between K Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. The exercise is scheduled to occur between 8 a.m. and noon, but the 19th Street closure could last until approximately 4 p.m., as the District's Homeland Security Emergency Management Agency conducts a private training drill in and around 900 19th Street. No live weapons will be used in the exercise. more ›

Good morning, Washington. Think good thoughts for Tian Tian, the National Zoo's male giant panda and the biological father of Tai Shan/Butterstick. Tian Tian underwent eye surgery yesterday to remove inflamed tissue from one of his third eyelids. He's expected to make a full recovery, but in the meantime he'll have to live with the shame of being the one to expose this whole pandas having third eyelids monstrosity. DCist has always held a firm editorial stand that pandas are adorable, but after learning this fact we may have to convene our board to reconsider. more ›

The Associated Press is reporting, via the Examiner, that a Department of Homeland Security employee has been placed on leave after wearing a Halloween costume that was racially insensitive - even though it won "most original" in the agency costume contest. Deciding what costume to wear for Halloween can be tricky enough, but deciding what to wear to an office Halloween costume party in D.C. is tough business. You certainly wouldn't want to wear the... more ›

Morning, Washington. We hope you were out enjoying the fantastic weather, especially since the environment has been front and center in the news this weekend. As you must have heard, our former Vice President turned Global Warming Guru had to shove over the Oscar on his mantle to make space for half of a Nobel Peace Prize. Maybe after the news you were inspired to go check out the 20 amazing houses built on the... more ›

Good morning, Washington. Just one day after officials did their best to reassure metro area drivers that our bridges are safe to travel on, the Washington Post has pored over U.S. Department of Transportation statistics that show that a dozen bridges in the District, hundreds more in Maryland, and nearly 1,200 in Virginia are listed as "structurally deficient," -- the same rating as the bridge that collapsed in Minneapolis Wednesday. Still, DDOT says that... more ›

Good morning, Washington. We've just been catching up on the rather scary looking but thankfully not terror-related explosion in Manhattan yesterday. Naturally, our parent site Gothamist has complete coverage of the steam explosion that occurred on East 41st and Lexington Avenue (41st between Lex and Third) just before 6 p.m. yesterday. Unsurprisingly, the explosion, which killed one person and injured 30, had New Yorkers worried for a while, but Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said... more ›

Happy Friday the 13th, Washington. We do hope none of you are suffering too much from paraskavedekatriaphobia or had bad dreams last night about a psychopathic killer in a hockey mask. We're sure there's nothing to worry about, but just in case we're wrong, why don't we all leave early for the weekend today? Surely having some extra time to make our way to the beach will ward off any potential bad luck heading... more ›

>> Vice President Dick Cheney is claiming that, for the purposes of securing classified information, his office is not part of the executive branch. Exactly which branch are you in then, Mr. Vice President? [Raw Story] >> Are you ready for another severe thunderstorm alert? The National Weather Service just issued one from now until 10 p.m. >> There's a book launch party tonight for Murray Waas' The United States vs. I. Lewis Libby. Somehow... more ›

It's never a good sign when it's already this steamy this early in the morning, and indeed, the heat index looks like it will near 100 degrees today (actual temps closer to 94). The D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management has some helpful tips to beating the oppressive heat, but this list has a shameful lack of ice cream sandwiches involved. DCist heartily recommends the Ice Cream Sandwich Method of keeping cool today, which involves... more ›

This morning the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs approved legislation granting the District a voting seat in the House of Representatives, sending the measure to the full Senate for cosideration. The vote was 9-1, with Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) casting the lone dissenting vote (seriously, can't Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) have a talk with this guy?). Senator Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Senator George Voinovich (R-Ohio), all considered key... more ›

After a pair of hearings before two Senate committees, a proposal to grant the District a vote in the House of Representatives will be marked up tomorrow. The mark-up, which will occur at 10 a.m. before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, is the final step before the legislation -- which would grant both Utah and the District additional seats in the House -- reaches the floor of the Senate. Thanks to the... more ›

MONDAY: Leftover anger from last week's G8 Summit? Check out John Perkins at Politics and Prose tonight. He'll be discussing his newest book The Secret History of the American Empire: Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and the Truth about Global Corruption, which details the shady deals behind U.S. foreign aid to developing countries. 7 p.m. TUESDAY: Hurricane season is upon us yet again, and this August will mark the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's devastating impact... more ›

Good Morning, D.C. It sure is getting hot in here, and for once, we don't just mean the weather. The Post reports this morning that the Voting Rights Bill is making some progress in the Senate. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.), a co-sponsor of the bill, announced that the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which he chairs, will vote on the legislation Wednesday. And in a meeting with Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and Mayor Fenty,... more ›

Ahhhh, the real start of summer: The consistently warmer temperatures ... the first night you venture wearing skimpy clothes out ... the year's first Code Orange Bad Air Quality Day. However you prefer measuring the start of the season, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments is predicting our first Code Orange air quality day today, meaning ozone levels are predicted to be extremely high and the air quality very poor. The Northern Virginia Transportation Commission... more ›

It looks like Senate Republicans really don't want today's scheduled Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to happen as planned. DCVote spokesperson Kevin Kiger tells us that Republicans have tried to invoke the 2-hour Rule, which would cut off committee action two hours after the Senate started work for the day. We've got our browsers set to the live webcast of the hearing, set to begin at 1:30 p.m., at which point we'll know whether Sen. Russ... more ›

After passing the House and getting a hearing in the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee last week, The D.C. Voting Rights Act moves to the Senate Judiciary Committee tomorrow. The committee has scheduled a full hearing on Wednesday called “Ending Taxation Without Representation: The Constitutionality of S.1257,” which will address, natch, the constitutionality of the bill. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, is a supporter of... more ›

If you work on the Hill you might still have time to run over to the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Rm. 342 for the hearing Equal Representation in Congress: Providing Voting Rights to the District of Columbia before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. The hearing, scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., will include testimony split into two panels, the first with Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), Mayor... more ›

After a rocky road through the U.S. House of Representatives, legislation granting the District a voting seat in the lower chamber will get its first hearing before a Senate committee tomorrow -- and pretty much everyone and their mother is set to testify. In a hearing scheduled to start at 10 a.m. before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, eight witnesses will discuss the legislation that was passed in the House on... more ›

The U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs has scheduled a hearing to consider legislation that would grant the District a voting seat in the House of Representatives. The hearing, which will be presided over by bill sponsor Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), will take place on Tuesday, May 15 in 342 Dirksen. The hearing -- which we'll try to live-blog, obvs -- should be interesting. Among the Republicans on the committee are a... more ›

As promised, Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) introduced legislation to create a Congressional seat for D.C., as well as a new seat for Utah, this afternoon. Of course, this doesn't mean the bill was debated or even mentioned on the Senate floor. While we sat eagerly by the television, fingers twitching to live blog the whole thing, it seems DCist should have been brushing up on our School House Rock. The senators... more ›

If you see emergency response vehicles zipping around town laden with folks shouting into walkie-talkies about evacuations and floods, don't be alarmed. Today Washington area officials are running their first ever joint hurricane response exercise. Federal workers, along with their counterparts from D.C., Maryland and Virginia are gauging the region's ability to deal with a watery disaster. While most associate hurricane-strength storms with the Gulf Coast and tropical climes, many vividly remember the destruction wrought... more ›

MONDAY >> Don't be fooled by the picture. That isn't Trent Reznor and his ever-changing group of touring musicians. It's Greg Dulli's pals and labelmates Afterhours, and they'll be playing DC9 with Cedars. Expect tons of sex, drugs, rock and roll and Italian accents. Bravissimo! $8, 8 p.m. TUESDAY >> Hailing from Derry/Donegal on the northwest coast of Ireland, Claire Sproule has been playing guitar and writing songs since she was 14. She lists Tom... more ›

It seems like, all across the network, folks were up to no good. Maybe it was all the green beer from last weekend... Gothamist spent the week writing about New Yorkers behaving badly: at the post office, at the Garden, and at the fertility clinic. Calvin Klein may not be misbehaving, but he's just a little dirty, and in a completely different way than some NYC kitchens. SFist had its share of misbehave-rs, too, like... more ›

"Working for the government" can mean Amtrak, White House or the Endangered Species Committee. It can also mean bor-ing. But now feds can prove they do more than fill out forms and draft legislation all day. Like doodle on meeting agendas and carp about busted staplers. The first annual Funniest Fed contest is open to civilian employees, military (both active and reserve) and the Legislative and Executive branches. They want this secret community of sarcastic,... more ›

Well, D.C. we had a nice weekend together, didn't we? Perhaps we ran into you at the hugely successful opening of the inaugural DCist Exposed photography show on Friday, or we might have crossed paths out walking the dog in the fantastic spring weather. Or maybe it was just that extra hour of evening light created by Daylight Savings. In any case, it was good to see you. But now, it's time for coffee and the news: more ›