Results tagged “law>”

A reader named Cali wrote in: "Any chance you could figure out what our responsibilities are as renters regarding snow removal in the District? I can't find anything and knowing my landlord he'll make something up." We'll refer any confused renters to our post on this subject from two years ago, which explains D.C. law regarding snow shoveling. It reads, "D.C. law requires residents to remove snow from sidewalks and steps within eight hours of daylight after the snow stops." The key word there is "residents." Rowhouse renters should not expect their landlord to show up with a shovel; you just have to get out there and clear the way. If you live in a big apartment building, you probably pay for a maintenance crew that will take care of this for you, but best to check with your building manager. The current forecast is calling for a second winter weather system to enter the D.C. area between 4-6 p.m. as light snow, and then change to sleet and freezing rain later tonight. Given the possibility that the freezing rain could create a hard shell of ice on top of the snow on the sidewalks, we'd recommend getting out there and taking care of business as soon as you get home from work. Put down a little salt while you're at it.

Back in November of 2007, we cited a report from the Washington Times, which showed that citations for simultaneously driving and using a cell phone were sharply rising every year. Well, this year is no different - take a look at the chart to your right.

Credit City Desk for the best news of the morning -- the lawsuit between the District's two main kickball leagues has finally come to an end.

We haven't yet gotten the official press release from the Department of Public Works, but the agency's online public calendar shows that residential street sweeping is set to resume on Monday, March 24. As happens every winter, street sweeping and the parking restrictions that come along with it were suspended on Nov. 30.

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.

Big news from the Washington Post: D.C. Attorney General Linda Singer has resigned after less than a year on the job.

Though it is District law that cars must stop for pedestrians in every crosswalk, let's be honest -- very few actually do so. When I choose to walk to work, I'm often left to navigate the harrowing crosswalk at Connecticut Avenue and Wyoming Avenue NW, where even a sign reminding drivers of their responsibility to stop is regularly (and at high-speed) ignored. Council member Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) is hoping to change that. Cheh's office...

The Holiday season is in full swing in NYC, with holiday lights in Brooklyn, a giant snow globe in Bryan Park and Chanukah specials for ham. One citizen decided to go vigilante on annoying car alarms, a murder suspect used a fake Asian accent on the stand and a video of a man being beaten up by teenage girls on a subway shocked the city. And we interviewed soon-to-be-leaving-Gawker editor Choire Sicha, who said,...

Libertarian-leaning Republican presidential candidate and hero of the Internets Ron Paul has gotten himself a blimp, and it's headed this way. According to a just-released flight plan, the blimp, which will read "Who is Ron Paul? Google Ron Paul" on one side and "Ron Paul Revolution" on the other, will launch from Elizabeth City, N.C., Monday and flyover Washington circa 3 p.m. the same day, with a rally planned for 4 p.m. and another re-launch...

>> The law firm that uncovered widespread fraud at Enron is now investigating the tax fraud case at the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue. [WTOP] >> The swear word directed at Mayor Fenty by Council member Marion Barry, revealed. [City Desk] >> "So if giving CNN yet another chance to screw up major debates is the first mistake, then allowing Wolf Blitzer to moderate one of them (Anderson Cooper the other, meh) is...

If you're down on the National Mall this weekend and see, oh, 12,000 flags stuck in the ground, don't be alarmed. The Federal Government hasn't started an experimental flag farm, nor is the display an effort of the area's squirrels to show their patriotism. The flags have been planted to represent the 12,000 members of the United States military who have been discharged under the practice of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." The policy, which governs...

Via City Desk, the Dupont Current (not available online) has a short piece about how the Logan Circle advisory neighborhood commission has given the go-ahead for the P Street Whole Foods to continue selling single-sale beers in the grocery store. The decision reportedly comes after eight months of such sales at the Whole Foods “without major conflict,” but the Current notes that just around the corner on 14th Street, the reputable Barrel House Liquors is...

The Washington Times is reporting that the number of tickets issued by the MPD to drivers using cell phones without a hands free device has increased for the third straight year. In the first year after the law was enacted in mid-2004, the city dished out 7523 tickets. The following year the number rose to 8,358. This year, it's 9,484. The numbers raise a host of questions about the efficacy and enforcement of this law....

We've always wondered:Where the police have reason to believe that a suspect is concealing cocaine between his buttocks cheeks, is it reasonable under the Fourth Amendment for the police, at the scene of the arrest, to reach into the suspect's undershorts and seize the cocaine as a search incident to the suspect's arrest?While this might sound like a late-night joke between first-year law students, it's actually a question the U.S. Supreme Court is set to...

Former D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey has been named police commissioner of Philadelphia by Mayor-elect Michael Nutter, reports the Associated Press. Ramsey came to D.C. in 1998 after serving for 31 years in his hometown of Chicago, and became Washington's longest-serving police chief in more than three decades, serving as top cop in the District until the end of 2006, when he was replaced by incoming Mayor Adrian Fenty. Since we've had a little bit...

The folks over at Dulles Metro extension are breaking out the construction tools … and the credit cards. $900 million of the $2.83 billion price tag of the initial 11.6-mile leg is in that Transportation Department spending bill tied up in Congress and under threat of veto by President Bush. But with or without the money, officials plan to start work, reports The Examiner. Is it just us, or does this violate everything you ever...

...ummm, nothing yet. According to the Associated Press, the Supreme Court failed to reach a decision on whether or not to hear a case related to the District's gun laws. Though a verdict from last week's conference discussion was possible today, it seems that the nine justices haven't yet decided if they want to take the case, which stems from a March decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District Circuit that ruled...

Good morning, Washington. Recent increases in gun-related crime in the city seems to be today's main topic of news, just as the Supreme Court may announce today whether it intends to take another look at D.C.'s handgun ban. D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty has scheduled a press conference this morning to address the District's position on its gun safety law, but in the meantime the Washington Post is questioning the law's effectiveness and just last...

Written by DCist Contributor Josh Kramer The Hatchet — George Washington University >>The big news at GWU this week is that Freshman Sarah Marshak, who reported six swastikas being drawn on her dorm room door's whiteboard, actually drew five of them herself, which she has now said she did to bring attention to the first incident. Marshak, who is Jewish and a former reporter for the Hatchet, was informed she will most likely be expelled....

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2007 Recap from Super!Alright! on Vimeo. Austinist attended a town hall meeting about proposed noise ordinances that could undermine the city's future as the Live Music Capital of the World, and lamented the possible loss of Texas's only feminist bookstore. Throughout the week, they interviewed a bunch of indie fashion designers and D-I-Y websites—Etsy, Ornamental Things, 31 Corn Lane, and Aorta Designs—for the upcoming Stitch Fashion Show. They also did...

Washington, D.C. makes yet another top ten list. A new study names our beloved city as the 8th gayest in the country. Frankly, a couple of us here at DCist thought we were gayer than that. The study, by Gary J. Gates of UCLA's Williams Institute, analyzed data on same-sex couples from the 1990 and 2000 U.S. censuses along with that from American Community Surveys (ACS) between 2002 and 2006. Cities and states were ranked...

The Examiner reports on a new DMV program that would install SmarTrip chips into every new D.C. driver's license and identification card beginning in October, 2008. The program is a combined effort by the agency and WMATA, the latter of which has made no secret of its intention to make universal conversion to SmarTrip a priority. Recently Metro General Manager John Catoe made SmarTrip cards available for sale at more Giant Food stores and announced...

We were alerted yesterday via the Art Law Blog that the U.S. Department of the Interior is gearing up to change motion and still photography rules on federally run lands. In an amendment to current regulations, three DOI agencies, the Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Services, and the National Park Service, will be authorized to charge standardized fees to and require a permit from commercial photographers who want to shoot in an area...

It's been a long, frustrating, even humiliating journey together for tax paying D.C. residents, and a man named Roy Pearson. Yesterday, it all finally came to an end, so we thought it only fitting that we should pay tribute to the former administrative law judge who, through suing his dry cleaners first for $65 million over a lost pair of pants, then later $54 million, succeeded in driving international attention to D.C.'s legal system --...

Good Morning, Washington. Birds may finally be heading south for the winter now that overnight temperatures are dipping down towards freezing, but if you can believe it or not it's actually looking like Wednesday is going to be warm again, with temperatures predicted to be back up in the 70s. Well, at least if it's going to be tough to find a cab tomorrow, it'll be pleasant enough to walk or bike. CapitalWeather.com points out...

MONDAY: Peter Behrens will be at Politics and Prose to discuss his latest book, The Law of Dreams. Maybe Behrens can analyze our reoccurring dream where we keep getting lost while driving down some featureless freeway. Wait ... His book is about a young man roaming the Irish countryside in 1847? Good thing we read that before we asked about the part where we're naked. 7:30 p.m. TUESDAY: The one and only Dave Eggers will...

It's hard out there for a frat guy. That, at least, is what pro-Greek commenters over at George Mason University's Broadside newspaper would have you believe. The student publication has a story up about a law suit filed by the school's banned chapter of the Sigma Chi Fraternity, which is suing GMU for violating their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Sigma Chi was kicked off the campus after being found guilty of a series of...

Happy Tuesday, Washington. The news broke early this morning that Judge Roy Pearson will reportedly lose his job, according to sources cited by the Post. Pearson, who infamously sued the owners of Custom Cleaners first for $65 million and then later for $54 million for misplacing a pair of his pants, is a District administrative law judge who has continued to draw a paycheck despite being taken off of his case work since the...

The Associated Press is reporting that a dark cherry red Peterbilt tanker truck hauling gasoline was stolen at gunpoint this morning in Baltimore. ABC News follows up with word that police believe it to be a straight-up robbery and not connected to terrorism in any way, but that the Joint Terrorism Task Forces from Washington and Baltimore are assisting local Police in the investigation as a precaution. The suspect was last seen driving the truck...

Written by DCist Contributor Stephanie Taylor Mark Andersen came to Washington decades ago as a student of international relations, but was heartbroken by what he saw right in his own backyard. What he describes as the distance between the city's idealism and its reality, particularly in terms of radical income disparities and the effects of historic racism, were too much for him to ignore. So he became a different type of diplomat, founding Positive Force...