The world became a cuter place for a minute as a family of ducks crossed K Street this afternoon—in the crosswalk. more ›

On top of the rain, it's looking like an active day of Occupy D.C.-related protests will keep traffic tied up throughout parts of the District today. more ›

Carefully escorted by police through downtown D.C. and into Georgetown, 200-plus Occupy D.C. protesters made it to the Key Bridge without issue this afternoon. Though traffic was stopped along the route and on the Key Bridge as the marchers approached, it resumed once protesters made it on to the bridge's sidewalk. more ›

A D.C. man was taken into police custody this morning after he reportedly locked himself in his K Street apartment and ran the water in an attempt to flood his entire building. more ›

After bankruptcy claimed the Borders bookstore at 1801 K Street NW, many wondered who would take up the space. Well, the storefront at least has a temporary replacement -- this year's FotoWeekDC photography festival, which will occupy the space for a week, beginning November 4. more ›

Police, fire and hazmat crews responded at about 12:50 p.m. to a report of a suspicious package that was delivered to an office at 1850 K Street NW. more ›

UPDATE 3:49 p.m. Traffic is moving again on K Street NW. Police have concluded their preliminary investigation, moved the van out of the street, and cleared the area. more ›

D.C. firefighters responded to an electrical explosion at 1801 K Street NW at around 11 a.m. this morning. It appears as though an electrical transformer on the penthouse level of the building malfunctioned and "basically exploded," said D.C. Fire/EMS spokesperson Pete Piringer. more ›

If you're concerned about average D.C. street crime (and who isn't), you really need to be reading Borderstan on a regular basis. The blog has been doing a consistently great job of warning residents about the everyday muggings and burglaries that mostly go unreported by larger media outlets, and this week has been no exception. Note this report of a 9 a.m. mugging bank robbery on K Street: D.C. police were searching for a suit-wearing, briefcase-carrying robbery suspect on Monday who successfully mugged some unsuspecting pedestrian. "And you have to love the irony of mugger in a suit on K Street." Indeed. (Hat tip City Desk). UPDATE: As noted in comments, this particular crime appears to have been a bank robbery and not a mugging. My praise of Borderstan's general vigilance about street crime still stands, though. more ›

The Golden Triangle Business Improvement District sent around word to their members today that the District Department of Transportation has informed them of a month-long sidewalk and road repair project on K Street that is set to begin this week. more ›

K Street NW is currently closed between 14th and 15th Streets in both directions due to a police investigation. Unconfirmed reports we've gotten so far suggest that there was a bank robbery at the PNC Bank at 14th and K. This would be the second daytime bank robbery in the middle of a busy workday in downtown D.C. in two days. Yesterday, the SunTrust on Dupont Circle was robbed at around 1 p.m. by a man claiming to be carrying a bomb in a duffel bag. This DCist editor was coincidentally making a withdrawal from the ATM outside the same SunTrust at about 1:10 p.m. yesterday, but was unaware anything had just happened at the bank other than noticing that a woman who tried to enter the branch found the door to be locked. The SunTrust robber got away, according to the Post. We'll update when we hear more about what happened today. more ›

Thanks to reader Stephanie Pendergrass, who snapped these photos of a tree that fell across K Street NW between 20th and 21st at around 3:15 p.m. Stephanie says the tree landed on a van and an SUV, but she didn't see anyone injured. Probably best to expect delays on any bus lines that travel along K Street, including the Circulator, and to plan alternate driving routes for those of you who commute by car. more ›

WTOP reports on some of the ideas being floated around to create better cross-town connectivity as part of the White House Area Transportation Study. Ever since Pennsylvania Avenue and E Street were shut down to traffic around the White House after Sept. 11, 2001, getting across many parts of downtown D.C. by automobile at rush hour has been challenging, to say the least. more ›

Happy Almost Holidays, Washington. With both Monday and Tuesday counting as a holiday for the federal government this year, most of D.C. is staring down a nice, long holiday break today. Even if you don't celebrate Christmas, federal holidays are great for a lot of other reasons besides a day off - you don't have to feed parking meters, for instance. But The Examiner reports that that fact isn't stopping people from shoveling coins into meters on holidays anyway, especially those fancy new multispace meters: last Veterans Day, the city collected nearly $1,500 from multispace meters. DDOT says it is going to put stickers on the new meters along K Street to remind people that they don't have to pay on holidays. more ›

Though maybe not the prettiest subject in town, we have to admit liking this shot of a beat-up crosswalk signal by rsplatpc, with the detail of the spiderweb, the abuse of random stickers, and probably a sideswipe from a large vehicle. We've been noticing another slew of damaged and crooked crosswalk signs, like we did this spring, including a particularly dangerous damaged signal at Connecticut and K Street outside the Farragut North metro this... more ›

Sure, it's December and we're all preoccupied with holiday cheer and making plans for that one New Year's party that will finally be worth the all the hype. But even though they've suffered some setbacks this year, D.C. voting rights activists are pushing the cause through the holiday season. On Thursday, December 6, the D.C. Council will hold a hearing to consider legislation that would place large electronic billboards outside the John A. Wilson Building... more ›

When the City Museum closed its door in late 2004 after a mere 18 months in existence, the one place to go for a comprehensive history of Washington, D.C. disappeared. But for those of you interested in the city's history, the next few days should be quite satisfying -- it's time for the annual Washington Studies Conference. The conference, now in its 34th year, kicks off tomorrow at The Carnegie Library building (801 K Street,... more ›

Once again Penn Quarter Living is on the ball with a newsworthy neighborhood post. They link to a Downtown Neighborhood Association announcement that Douglas Development has been negotiating with Whole Foods Market to lease them store space on 7th Street between E and D Streets NW. This is the same space that Balducci's was briefly considering before deciding against the move last year. Balducci's retreat from the location was met with a lot of desperate... more ›

In case you're working downtown and wondering what the heck is going on with all those ambulances, turns out firefighters were rescuing a man who had a medical emergency while operating the crane pictured at right at about 150 feet in the air. It's unclear what kind of emergency the man was having, but according to eyes on the ground, at just after 12:30 p.m. rescuers finally had the man down from the crane and... more ›

FRIDAY: >> It may be that we've simply gotten so, so, so many press releases about The Horrors show tonight at the Rock and Roll Hotel, and we've been beaten into submission to mention it. Give the punky-garage rock revivalists a chance for $12 at 8:30 p.m., and let us know if they're worth all the fuss. Seattle's Schoolyard Heroes open, plus locals Scanner Freaks. >> One of the most anticipated new hip hop albums... more ›

Someone mentioned it in comments, but now we have confirmation. Tonya Bell, the woman who has been charged with aggravated assault after getting high on crack cocaine and driving her car at a high speed into a crowded street festival in Anacostia, hitting 40 people, had been employed by a temporary staffing agency that placed her in a position as a receptionist for former mayor and D.C. council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8). A letter... more ›

Say you've got this job. It's a job serving the public, which, as any former retail slave will tell you, is often no picnic. So you kind of want a different job. You go to one of those fancy employment websites on the internet, and they tell you that networking is a much more effective way to find a good job than just blindly sending out résumés. Great, you think. But you're not going to come up with any opportunities hanging out with your deadbeat friends in your off hours, and the only people you meet at work are your customers. What to do? Use what resources are available to you, the website advises. And so you do. Unfortunately, the one thing that none of the employment websites tell you is that when your icebreaker is wondering aloud whether your new potential networking contact is about to be incarcerated, you're probably dead in the water. more ›

UPDATE: DDOT has also postponed the previously scheduled closures of the inbound lanes on the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge this weekend to accommodate the marathon. DDOT has rescheduled the bridge work for next weekend, weather permitting. Nearly 5,000 runners will take to District roads tomorrow to compete in the Wirefly National Marathon. The race is set to start at 6:30 AM at RFK Stadium. As it takes runners through every quadrant of the city,... more ›

Good morning, Washington. February's almost upon us, and the D.C. Board of Education is still here. But for how much longer? Yesterday we mentioned the board's attempt at self-preservation. Today the Post brings word that their counter-proposal may be a tougher sell than they had anticipated: an audit of the city's finances returned generally positive results... except in the school system. Within it auditors found resistance and sloppiness that, if not corrected, could ultimately... more ›

Yesterday, the Post declared support for 1960s-style urbanism dead. No longer, they say, are we to be held hostage by soaring freeways, concrete office blocks, and the utter deadness of the streets and neighborhoods ushered in by the age of the car. Finally, we've learned how vital it is to encourage pedestrian traffic and to take advantage of our waterfront resources; We understand that you cannot design cities around automobile use. Except where the Whitehurst... more ›

WMATA continues its trend of futile campaigns today by announcing it will start warning passengers not to chase fleeing buses. After six pedestrian fatalities in two years, including a 62-year-old man who stumbled and fell underneath the wheel of a bus as he chased it earlier this month, Metro's looking for the bus version of the stern-motherly voice on the trains to keep people from jumping in the closing doors. Also, we think we heard a panicked city lawyer scream something about limiting liability. more ›

Earlier this week Matthew Yglesias took us to task for referring to a "Mid-City" part of town when discussing a campaign for a new Trader Joe's near U Street. Matt is actually quite wrong to suggest "shady real estate cabals" are the architects of the term Mid-City, but the fault for his misinformation is likely ours. You see, last winter we ran a post mocking the MidCity Business Association's moniker, basically accusing them of trying... more ›

Sex-Slave Trafficking Ring Broken Up: We'd always heard rumors that certain massage parlors in the District offered, ummmm, "happy endings" and other such services. Apparently, the rumors were true. Federal officials yesterday arrested 31 people along the east coast involved in a sex-slave trafficking ring that forced Korean women to work as prostitutes in massage parlors and spas, some of which were located in the District. Four men were arrested in the District following raids... more ›

We know, we're totally buying into a PR stunt for the film adaptation of chick lit phenom The Devil Wears Prada by posting this. However, we also know that DCist readers love getting stuff for free. We're torn between our love for you, and our high moral principles. Okay, stop laughing now. Stop. We mean it. Suggesting that we have principles is not that funny. Alright it's a little funny. more ›

Thanks to a reader's tip and an article in today's Examiner, we find that Verizon's first foray into graffiti ads has ended badly -- the telecommunications company is being fined by the District for "illegal advertising on public space." more ›