>> A police officer from the Seventh District is claiming his commander ordered him to give special treatment to a member of Mayor Fenty's staff who was caught talking on her cell phone while driving. [Examiner] >> "District Fire and Emergency Medical Services officials are investigating the death this morning of a recruit who became ill during training exercises yesterday." [WaPo] >> AOL plans to cut 2,000 more jobs, including 750 from their Dulles offices.... more ›

Of the numerous romantic notions surrounding the writing life, perhaps none dies harder than that of the solitary, ink-stained wretch plugging away at his or her latest work in some dilapidated garret, alone and unnoticed and oblivious to what's going on around him or her. Writing may be a solitary act, but as any intellectually honest writer can tell you, writers need communities: first, because the realities of today's writing life necessitate that one be... more ›

Can't anyone get D.C. right? Today the Post's Reliable Source reports that Nicole Kidman's newest thriller, The Invasion, makes a number of relatively amateur mistakes in trying to use the District as a backdrop, even though a good part of it was filmed here. Among those: - Kidman, who plays a D.C. psychiatrist, buys magazines at one of those big sidewalk newsstand kiosks -- the ones all over New York but not on any corner... more ›

>> Aramark, the ballpark concessionaire at RFK and other stadiums, is eliminating trans fat from its menu, and adding a number of "healthy" options such as veggie hot dogs, pasta salad and fruit cups. In related news, Baseball has been officially declared the least fun sport in America. [Baltimore Business Journal] >> Reigning MLS Defender of the Year and D.C. United backline stalwart Bobby Boswell is holding a launch party for his blog tonight... more ›

Written by DCist Contributor Vince Wadhwani, of BuyIndie.net more ›

We'd like to start this week's run-down by wishing a very happy birthday to parent blog Gothamist, which turned four on Friday. If it wasn't for them, the rest of us wouldn't be here. They celebrated their birthday by nabbing an interview with Entourage star Adrian Grenier, who misses NYC public transportation when he's working in LA. They also reported on NYU students protesting a band whose name is also known as a slur,... more ›

What do you do when you, the dutiful copy editor, is are forced to adhere to an in-house style that flies in the face of the rules of grammar you hold in such high esteem? You blog about it. more ›

For once, we could afford to buy a CD at Tower Records. Unfortunately, the pickings were slim and the occasion sad. In October the national record store chain succumbed to the pressure of its online competitors, selling the assets from its 85 stores to a liquidation firm and marking the end of a generation of music buyers who preferred to curiously browse through unknown bands at the advice of knowledgeable, if surly clerks. Since then,... more ›

This Sunday marks the end of Daylight Saving Time, so when the last call bell rings at 2 a.m., set your watch back an hour and buy everyone another round. Any excuse for an extra hour of partying is fine with us, so let's toast to Ben Franklin, but do it ironically, since he may have come up with the idea just so people would go to bed earlier. more ›

It may not be possible to resolve the great Nearlington vs. Farlington debate. But there's a compromise available: apparently we can start calling both halves of the county Smartlington. If for some reason we wanted to. Via the Examiner, it seems that Money Magazine has named Arlington the most educated city in the country thanks to an impressive 35.7 percent of its citizens holding graduate degrees (apparently this was enough to make up for the fact that it isn't actually a city). Towson, Bethesda and Alexandria also made the top ten. Having been born and raised in Arlington, I can't say I'm too surprised. It's got wealth, proximity to the government, and a level of density that allows for a suburban lifestyle that's relatively urban. It seems that the county's especially well-positioned to attract the over-educated class. And, Money Magazine list or no, between Arlington's boringly competent government, solid schools and good library system, it always seemed like a pretty smart place to me. Although admittedly not smart enough avoid having lines queued up outside the Clarendon Cheesecake Factory every Friday night. more ›

Sometime yesterday, the estimated population of the United States crawled above 297,900,000. This means, reports the Census Bureau via the New York Times, that sometime in October the 300 millionth American will be born. And while there's no way we can actually know which bundle of joy will have been the round number, it's likely that news organizations, magazines, the makers of TV movies, and ghost memoirists will seize upon some lucky toddler and turn... more ›

This has been a pretty slow food week for the Washington area. Sure, some chefs have left their posts, and some chefs published masturbatory recipes in recently "revamped" magazines. These things happen all the time. Nevertheless, DCist seeks to sniff out the news anyway. more ›

You've seen them selling t-shirts, bumper stickers, and magazines on the busy corners of Georgetown, Dupont Circle, and other areas. Their schwag carries the same bold slogan: "Stop Bitching, Start a Revolution." Perhaps you or a friend have even purchased a shirt or sticker. more ›

We here at DCist go to a lot of concerts. A trip to the 9:30 Club is usually less "event of the season" and more "Wednesday." Last night's Stars and Death Cab For Cutie show was a resounding exception. This is one we're not gonna forget anytime soon. Both bands put on nearly flawless shows that really raised the bar. more ›

As we in the DCist newsroom say, you can never have too many society magazines. Via U.S. News & World Report's Washington Whispers, we hear that Capitol File, a new Washington society magazine, hits the streets tomorrow. According to editor-in-chief Anne Schroeder, the new magazine reveals that "Washington is fun and sexy." Not to self-promote, but we at DCist have been publishing that fact for the better part of the last year. Or making fun... more ›

Jerry Seinfeld made it through an hour of stand up on Friday, then, in typical fashion, answered some questions and outbursts. After a woman in the back row shouted something about Maryland, Jerry went off. more ›

DCist was in the house last night as Graham Coxon, the man Stephen Street once called "the best guitarist on the planet," brought his solo show to the Black Cat. We've had Graham's latest solo offering, Happiness In Magazines, in heavy rotation in our iPod for quite a while. Much like the show last night, it's full of clever lyrics, lo-fi Brit-Poppy goodness and some very impressive fret work. more ›

Greetings Washington, we hope you had a good weekend. Sunday afternoon, we snapped this photo of the Uline Arena near Second and M streets in Northeast, adjacent to the Union Station railyards. For those who don't know, Uline -- fka the Washington Coliseum -- was the site of the Beatles first live concert appearance in the United States, has seen better days. Now a trash transfer station, the arena is one of the most engdangered... more ›