It's a usual winter-time complaint in the District -- snow falls, residents and business-owners alike fail to properly shovel and pedestrians are left to navigate treacherous sidewalks. But a bill making its way through the D.C. Council would finally update a ninety-year-old law and more forcefully require residents and business to shovel their walks after any significant amount of snow. more ›

The Supreme Court announced today that they would hear a challenge to the legality of President Barack Obama's health-care reform act, which was passed in 2010. more ›

D.C. United striker Charlie Davies, who was nearly killed in a car accident on the George Washington Parkway in October 2009, has filed a $20 million civil suit against the owner of the nightclub he was partying at before the accident and Red Bull, who hosted the party. more ›

The District might be readying to register handguns inside its police headquarters, but those looking to legally get a hold of a semi-automatic rifle are still out of luck. more ›

This morning, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced this year's crop of Fellows -- you know, the people that are commonly referred to as recipients of the "Genius Award". The list includes plenty of deserving winners, including a local lawyer, Marie-Therese Connolly. more ›

If you've ever ridden a bike and had a driver purposely swerve towards you (or outright try and run you down), there are few legal remedies, despite the potential danger you could face. The Washington Area Bicyclist Association wants that to change. more ›

A D.C. vice detective, already charged with first-degree murder in the death of a woman who was found dead earlier this week in Prince George's County, has now also been charged with manslaughter in the death of her 11-month-old daughter. more ›

Ten years ago today, Robert Randall died. Had it not been for the Metropolitan Police Department, Randall could well have lived the rest of life in complete anonymity. But a chance raid of his Capitol Hill apartment in 1975 made Randall -- then slowly going blind because of severe glaucoma -- the unwitting father of the fight for medical marijuana. more ›

Albert Haynesworth has settled one half of his legal troubles: assault charges against the Redskins defensive tackle were dismissed this morning, thanks to a Virginia law which allows two parties to settle when the charge is a misdemeanor, the Post reports. more ›

The D.C. Council passed emergency legislation yesterday which would allow it to take Sulaimon Brown and Cherita Whiting to court in order enforce subpoenas to compel their testimony -- and the strategy might actually work. more ›

Washington Redskins defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth didn't appear in court this morning. But no worries, Haynesworth's lawyer, former Council candidate and White House party crasher counsel A. Scott Bolden, certainly did a fine job of maintaining that his client -- accused of rubbing "his fingers in circles around [a W Hotel waitress'] left nipple" after she said no on February 13 -- was a victim. more ›

Get ready to gamble, D.C.: a measure allowing the D.C. Lottery to administer online "games of skill and games of chance" -- passed by the D.C. Council as part of an adjustment to the fiscal year 2011 budget in December -- has now officially made it through the 30-day Congressional review period and will soon be placed on the books. more ›

During his arraignment in federal court this afternoon, former Prince George's County Executive Jack Johnson pled not guilty to eight criminal charges. Johnson's attorney, Billy Martin, entered the plea and also requested a jury trial. Johnson's wife and alleged co-conspirator Leslie Johnson was not in attendance at the arraignment. After entering his plea, Johnson told reporters that he was "extremely disappointed" and didn't "recognize the person" in the charges. Johnson also promised that he was "going to fight" for his reputation. more ›

Ted Loza, former chief of staff to Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham, is reportedly scheduled to appear in court for a plea hearing this afternoon. The hearing will be held at 3 p.m. more ›

Jack Johnson, the former Prince George's County executive who taken into custody last November on charges of evidence tampering and the destruction and falsification of records, was officially indicted on eight counts of conspiracy, bribery and extortion today in federal court. more ›

Ingmar Guandique, who was found guilty of murdering Chandra Levy in Rock Creek Park in 2001 last November, was sentenced to 60 years in prison moments ago at D.C. Superior Court. more ›

It doesn't appear as if the story about undercover Metropolitan Police Department officers getting naked rubdowns while investigating city brothels is going to be going away anytime soon. more ›

Yes, representatives from the National Organization for Marriage were present, and other anti-same-sex marriage viewpoints were aired during yesterday's public hearing on the Maryland Senate's same-sex marriage legislation. But it was young people whose voices rang the loudest. more ›

After Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder filed a lawsuit against the Washington City Paper which a Redskins general counsel claimed would "presumably quickly outstrip the asset value" of the publication, the newspaper has announced the establishment of a legal defense fund. more ›

Gulet Mohamed, a 19-year-old from Alexandria who was placed on a no-fly list and detained in Kuwait for nearly a month, returned to United States soil at Dulles International Airport this morning. Mohamed, who had been traveling through Yemen and Somalia, was locked up after attempting to renew his visa at an airport in Kuwait. He then claims he was beaten during questioning by federal authorities. more ›

Yet another new job for a prominent Fenty administration figure: former D.C. Attorney General and Fenty consigliere Peter Nickles will be returning to Covington & Burling LP as senior counsel. Nickles had previously worked at the firm for four decades and sued the District on numerous occasions. more ›

Earlier this month, we highlighted the marriage of Mark Reed and Dante Walkup -- two men who wed in a Dallas, Texas hotel ballroom as D.C.-based official Sheila Alexander-Reid presided via Skype -- as a clever exploit of the jumbled legislation on same-sex unions. But it looks like we (and several other more prominent media outlets) may have jumped the gun a bit. Amanda Hess reports today that the District's marriage bureau has "kicked back" Reed and Walkup's marriage certificate. more ›

Those who wish to protest at private residences inside the District already have to keep the noise to a minimum. But now those wishing to protest anonymously could be arrested for it -- unless they clear it with the Metropolitan Police Department. The Council recently approved a bill, first proposed by Mary Cheh in 2009, which would make masked protesting without informing police and between the hours of 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. an arrest-on-sight offense. more ›

Via The Daily What, here's a pretty incredible interpretation of the District of Columbia's same-sex marriage laws. Mark Reed and Dante Walkup wed in Dallas, while an authorized officiant from the District presided over the ceremony...via Skype. more ›

Spencer S. Hsu has the details on the final settlement in the lawsuit stemming from the mass arrests in Pershing Park in 2002. Yesterday's settlement will see the D.C. government pay another $8.25 million to around 400 people; a previous settlement of $13.7 million awarded in April for another similar incident in 2000 means that two Pershing Park arrests total the costliest total settlement ever paid by a city government in U.S. history. In addition to the cash, protesters who were part of the 2002 lawsuit will have their arrest records from the mass arrests expunged. In terms of where the money's going, named plaintiffs will get either $50,000 or $850,000, those who joined the 2002 lawsuit will get around $16,000, and lawyers for the plaintiffs will get about $2.5 million from the city. On the bright side, it's not there's in a budget crunch or anything happening around here in which we could really use an extra 22 million bucks! Oh wait, nevermind.
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NBCWashington.com reports that three District residents, who were part of the legal challenge against 2008's Trinidad police checkpoints, will be awarded $3,500 and legal fees as part of a settlement reached last week. As part of the deal, police will also be required to expunge any data they collected on individuals they stopped while the checkpoints were in effect. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled in July 2009 that the highly controversial police checkpoints infringed on the neighborhood residents' Fourth Amendment rights protecting against unlawful search and seizure. more ›

Remember back in the winter of 2009, when the proposed (and eventually approved) Virginia ban on smoking in restaurants was hogging the headlines? We've now come full circle: after "repeated complaints," police in Falls Church arrested 13 people last weekend -- nine for illegally smoking and four for allowing smoking in their establishments -- in what is believed to be the first charges levied under the ban that was passed last February. The Post reports that police made the arrests over the weekend in the 6700 block of Wilson Boulevard in Seven Corners at Eden Center, which houses a bloc of popular Vietnamese restaurants. Each of those arrested were fined $25. I'm not surprised that it took nearly 16 months for the first smoking ban charges to hit the record: rounding up a bunch of smokers to collect a fine that is less than it costs to take a date to the movies probably isn't the highest priority of law enforcement officers in Northern Virginia. more ›

Michael Neibauer reports in the Washington Business Journal this afternoon that business owners and property managers in the District of Columbia will be free to post "no smoking" signs withing 25 feet of their property's outer walls, starting tomorrow. The real question is, of course: how many businesses will actually do so? more ›

Neighborhood blogger U Street Girl acknowledged in a post late last night that she had removed a comment that had been posted to her blog after receiving an email from David Shott, the owner of planned new wine bar Du Vin Osteria. Shott had threatened legal action against the blog, according to its author.

It is with regret that I write this post and removed the comment. I wish Mr. Shott had come to me in a more friendly manner and had not immediately written the words “legal action” to a young professional who blogs on her spare time. I was trying to promote Mr. Shott’s business. I posted the comment because it seemed to raise relevant concerns about Mr. Shott.