Earlier this afternoon D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty made his first public appearance in several days (since re-injuring his fractured foot) to announce that he had secured funding to keep the D.C. Public Library system open full-time. Last week DCPL head Ginnie Cooper said that staff budget reductions would force the library system to shutter its branches on Fridays and reduce hours on other weekdays. At the time, Mayor Fenty said he was committed to locating......

Poor Mayor Fenty: he just can't seem to get back on his feet. Or his left foot, to be more specific. WTOP reports that the mayor fell off of his bicycle yesterday, re-injuring the foot he fractured playing football on the beach and forcing him to cancel his public schedule for the next few days. Fenty had continued to bike and swim since the original injury, which doesn't exactly seem wise, but it hardly matters......

Mayor Adrian Fenty this morning formally nominated Peter Nickles to be the District's permanent Attorney General. The move was widely expected; Fenty had been visibly lobbying D.C. Council members on behalf of Nickles, who has been serving as interim AG for almost six months, and the Post called it official on Tuesday. “Peter Nickles has done a fantastic job for the residents of the District in his interim capacity,” said Mayor Fenty. “In just a......

There was something of a three-ring freak show over at the National Press Club yesterday, where convicted felon Larry Sinclair appeared at a press conference attended by a group of gawking international reporters. For those of you who don't follow crackpot theories about major national political figures, here's the basic story: Larry Sinclair, a professional weirdo who has been in the past successfully prosecuted for crimes involving lying, like forgery and bad checks, has......

Flickr contributor Bullneck was the first person to add a photo to our pool of Mayor Adrian Fenty actually driving his brand new Smart Car (OK, OK, so the image we ran of the Mayor in the vehicle last week may been slightly touched up). Bullneck says he captured the Mayor in the staging area of the Capital Pride parade on Saturday. That must be either Matthew or Andrew in the back there, but......

Alexander Ovechkin receives a key to the city from D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray and Mayor Adrian Fenty. Photo by Lateef Mangum, courtesy the Mayor’s Office. Alexander Ovechkin received a key to the city this afternoon on the steps of the John A. Wilson Building. Several hundred fans, downtown office workers, and gawking tourists were on hand to revel in the success of the Washington Capitals star left-winger. He had just returned home from......

WTOP's Mark Segraves has the scoop on Mayor Adrian Fenty's sweet new ride: he just bought a Smart Car. Fenty says he made the switch from big to small for the same reasons that are driving many Americans to rethink what they drive, and because he wanted to lead by example. "I think everyone should do their part, but I have to be honest, a lot of people in our government and other governments have......

Image of the Old Convention Center site redevelopment schematic model courtesy Hines|Archstone The Washington Post is reporting on Mayor Adrian Fenty's announcement today that the city has scrapped any plans to build a new main library at the old convention center site, and instead has reached an agreement with a developer to construct a four-star, 400-room hotel. The agreement dooms forever former Mayor Anthony Williams' proposal to close the current Martin Luther King Jr.......

Via the Post, one more blow was dealt to District taxicab drivers who are still hoping to delay the implementation of time and distance meters in all city cabs. D.C. Superior Court Judge Brook Hedge has denied their request for an injunction to block the meter system from being put in place while they wait for their case to be heard by the D.C. Court of Appeals. Of course, it's not over yet. The cab......

Over at City Desk, Mike DeBonis is reporting early from the mayor's taxi meter presser that Fenty will not be extending the May 1 deadline for taxi drivers to have time and distance meters installed in their cabs. Barring further action by a judge to delay the deadline once again, the District's cab drivers will now have to scramble to get their meters installed by next Thursday, or face $1,000 fines each time they pick......

The final road block to Mayor Adrian Fenty's mandate to switch the District's taxicabs to time and distance meters has at last been removed, reports WTOP. A judge has ruled in the city's favor in a case brought by a group of taxi drivers who tried to argue that Fenty did not have the authority to make his decision on meters. Now that the ruling confirming the mayor has power over taxi regulation is in......

Those of you who've had April 6 circled on your calendars as the first day you can expect all D.C. cabs will be outfitted with time and distance meters, time to make a little adjustment: the deadline has been pushed back to May 1. The Post reports that a judge made the ruling because the District published two different timetables for the public comment period on the final meter regulations, which the city is blaming......

Late last year we reported that after some long-awaited congressional action, D.C. and five U.S. territories would be joining the 50 states that have gotten their own official quarters. In response, we received a number of comments proposing ideas for the design of the new quarter, with everything from the "Taxation Without Representation" slogan to the Washington Monument to Matthew Lesko being thrown out there. Well, today the AP reports that Mayor Adrian Fenty wants......

Mayor Adrian Fenty will adopt a different approach to removing snow from District streets after a winter storm - one that places a bigger emphasis on residential streets instead of putting them on the back burner until the main roads have been plowed. The Washington Post's copy editors get a gold star for dubbing this plan "No Street Left Behind". The basic idea behind Fenty's new snow removal plan is to send out two teams......

Good morning, Washington. Supporters of Gov. Mike Huckabee and Sen. Barack Obama are riding high off their caucus victories in Iowa last night, but locally, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty continues to suffer some bumps in the road after one year in office. Just weeks after the resignation of Attorney General Linda Singer, Fenty's former deputy chief of staff, Neil Richardson, has also resigned. Richardson, who was a key Fenty aide during his mayoral campaign, had......

It's Friday, Washington, and reactions are still rolling in to Metro's approval of its largest fare hikes ever. We all knew this was coming, but we're curious to hear if any of our readers actually plan to make changes to their commuting habits come January 6, when the increases will go into effect. Do you think you'll ride Metro any less, or finally make the leap to using SmarTrip? Let us know in the comments.......

Now that the gloves have come off in the relationship between the D.C. Council and Mayor Adrian Fenty, it's apparently time for more of their amusingly petty disagreements to become public. The Post has a hilarious story in today's District Extra about a brewing battle over exactly how the city's allotment of free Wizards tickets will be distributed. Turns out last week the mayor's office slyly attempted to pick up all 24 tickets for the......

Up until last year, the D.C. Council's weekly breakfast meetings were closed to the press and the public. The meetings, which then council Chair Linda Cropp claimed were merely social in nature, were thought of by local reporters as the place where city politicos hammered out sensitive deals -- and did so away from the prying eyes of the District's residents. Even though that has now changed, we've never really gotten much of a sense......

Good morning, Washington. Not that you could have missed the fact that it's awfully windy this morning after yesterday's late fall rainstorm, but the National Weather Service has issued a wind advisory for the metro area, effective through 1 a.m. Tuesday morning — this wind will consistently be 25-30 mph until late tonight, with gusts over 46 mph expected. If you drive an SUV or another type of high profile vehicle, you're asked to use......

Good morning, Washington. The pernicious effects of this year's drought could continue to haunt the region during next year's holiday season, according to WTOP. Turns out that young Christmas trees and seedlings being grown in Maryland and Virginia were especially affected by the lack of rainfall, meaning that thousands of area children could suffer the indignity of having to make due with a sub-par decorative plant with which to entice entice Santa to leave them......

Mayor Adrian Fenty, Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee and Deputy Mayor for Education Victor Reinoso announced their plans to "right-size" D.C. public school system today that will include the simultaneous closure of 24 schools. School closures have been high on the to-do list for several years now as student enrollment has dropped from 55,000 to an estimated 49,600 students this school year. The new school closure plan differs from a previous one offered by former Superintendent......

Good morning, Washington. It's news of the weird day today on DCist, as the Post tells the bizarre story of two 2nd-year engineering students from U-Va. who have been charged with the kidnapping of a man in Tysons Corner and demanding $500,000 in ransom. Both the two kidnappers and the victim are Chinese nationals who had been living with host families in Virginia while attending college. Police arrested Guanyu Lu and Baichuan Shu, both 19,......

In most any public or private sector job, losing $31 million on your watch is a surefire way to get yourself fired. CFO Natwar Gandhi's reputation for saving the city's finances has thus far protected him from what is to date the District's biggest corruption scandal. But his fortunes might be changing. Buried towards the end of an article from the Examiner today on an investigation into the tax refund scheme that milked the city......

MONDAY >> The Library of Congress Mary Pickford Theatre in the James Madison Building kicks off 5 weeks worth of free Monday night rock and pop films with a rare showing of the 1966 documentary, The Big T.N.T. Show. David "Man from Uncle" McCallum hosts Ray Charles, Petula Clark, the Lovin' Spoonful, Bo Diddley, Joan Baez, the Ronettes, Roger Miller, the Byrds, Donovan, the Seeds, the Modern Folk Quartet, and Ike and Tina Turner taped......

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......

>> D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty said that he will "continue to stand right beside Natwar Gandhi," in the wake of the widening D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue embezzlement scandal. [WaPo] >> The Anacostia Farmers Market is closing down today after providing fresh produce to D.C. residents for nine years. [WJLA] >> Silver Spring's artificial grass will stick around for another couple of months at least. [Free Ride] >> Get ready for the Million......

...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......

D.C. officials are apparently stunned to find that the money they've spent on the new Nationals stadium isn't translating into the sort of unconditional loyalty they might like. Turns out the team's 2008 Dream Foundation Dream Gala (it's dream-related, see) will be held at National Harbor in Prince George's County, Md., and the Examiner reports that Mayor Adrian Fenty, D.C. Council Chair Vincent Gray and just about every other D.C. leader is throwing a temper......

Given his position as chairman of the committee that oversees transportation and the D.C. Taxicab Commission, we knew headline-loving Ward 1 D.C. Council member Jim Graham wouldn't pass up an opportunity to create his own spectacle in the wake of Mayor Adrian Fenty's announcement about the transition to taxi meters. But it seems as though Graham was only able to muster up the resources to put together a 2 p.m. public roundtable at the Wilson......