Dogs Deserve Better, a small nonprofit opposed to chaining and penning dogs, is trying to buy Michael Vick's old house in Surry County, Virginia, which used to house dog fighting and Bad Newz Kennels. Vick's former property had been on the market for a few years at a $595,000 asking price. Dogs Deserve Better has raised about $120,000 toward buying the house. They plan to use the property to help socialize and house-train rescued dogs, renaming the property "Good Newz Rehab Center for Chained and Penned Dogs." The group plans to leave the kennels where Vick's dogs were housed as a memorial. Through his publicist, Vick voiced support for Dogs Deserve Better's plan for his former house. more ›

In the midst of a feverish haze on Monday night, I repeatedly heard the words "Michael Vick" and "touchdown," as if I was imagining a world where large men lay down on defense and run up the middle down by 28. Those words kept repeating and repeating, with adjectives like "embarrassing," "humiliating" and "putrid" mixed in. I figured it was the drugs, but was sorely disappointed when I found out it was Larry, Sonny and Sam running out of ways to describe what they were seeing on the field. (Sam, as he always does, did manage to call every Redskins touchdown a turning point.) The Redskins were getting destroyed by the Eagles, and no one was stepping in to do anything about it. Teams have off-nights, but those usually don't come after not having played a game in two weeks and announcing a long-term contract extension for your quarterback. Now that the hysterics are out of the way, it's time to turn to Sunday's game against Tennessee with the comfort of knowing that things couldn't possibly get any worse. Right? more ›

At long last, it's time to put the off-field drama of the last two weeks behind us and get back to what the Redskins do best get paid to do. (Or...maybe not.) The Redskins certainly don't look like a division championship contender, but with the Giants getting pasted by the Cowboys yesterday, a win in tonight's rematch with the Eagles would put the burgundy and gold just one game behind a team that is hopefully rediscovering their early-season mediocrity. A win for the Eagles tonight would tie them with the Giants for the NFC East lead with a nationally-televised showdown looming between the two teams next week. The stakes are high tonight, and it doesn't require a huge injection of hyperbole to say that tonight is a turning point in the NFC East title race. more ›

Donovan McNabb believes he's going to hear cheers when he returns to Philadelphia this Sunday. He's probably right, considering McNabb's not the one who traded himself to Washington. And it would be asinine for Philly fans to boo the guy who displaced the Detmer brothers, among others, in the long and storied Eagles quarterback tradition. McNabb and the Redskins roll into Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday to face the Eagles and their shiny new (old) toy, Michael Vick. more ›

The NFL's second most reviled quarterback is in D.C. today, the Associated Press is reporting, in order to speak to local youngsters about how dogfighting is bad. Michael Vick has been making appearances like this in cities around the country since he was released from prison after being convicted of running a dogfighting ring in Smithfield, Va., as part of a Humane Society campaign against the sport. His talk will take place at Covenant Baptist Church in Southwest this afternoon, where a group of area students have been invited to listen. Hopefully any hardcore Redskins fans in the audience have already had their spirits crushed to the point that Vick, now a member of the rival Philadelphia Eagles, won't get booed. more ›

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Repertory: Halloween Screams at the AFI Perhaps my favorite part of this time of year is the fact that on any given night, you can turn on the television, and somewhere on the dial you can find a movie about things that go bump in the night, creatures from the depths of Hell, or your garden... more ›

Good morning, Washington. It's almost October, but in many ways it still seems like summer. For one thing, it'll be ninety degrees today. For another, there's news of Michael Vick's worsening legal situation. Yesterday Virginia indicted him and three others on dogfighting charges. Of course, we all knew that was coming sooner or later — less expected was word that a Canadian bank is suing Vick for defaulting on a $2.3 million loan. Potential... more ›

Tom Knott: Once again, Tom Knott has managed to take what seems to be an isolated incident and turn it into evidence that liberalism of any sort is just evil. This week, Knott recounts the badly-handled trial of a Liberian immigrant accused of raping a seven-year-old girl in Montgomery County. Due to some bad decision by the trial judge, the charges were eventually dropped, though the county has stated that it will appeal. Regardless, it's... more ›

Jonetta Rose Barras: "The District government is spending millions to send children to a controversial special education residential facility in Massachusetts that uses electric shock to discipline students." Wow. Talk about an opening sentence. Rose Barras dedicated her column this week to the 10 District students who have been sent to the facility -- the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in Canton, Ma. -- arguing that its unorthodox methods of treatment are reason enough to bring... more ›

>> Michael Vick pleaded guilty today for his role in a dog-fighting operation, while Jaime Foxx has yet to explain how fighting and killing pit-bulls is a "cultural" thing. [NYT and Access Hollywood] >> Yes, your Mac can survive a Coke spill. [Home Improvement Ninja] >> Fat bastards. No, seriously. We're apparently a bunch of fat bastards. According to a report published by the Trust for America's Health, 22.8 percent of the District's children... more ›

With unseasonable weather descending upon much of North America, schools getting ready to reconvene, and sports seasons getting exciting, it's a busy time of year for us here in the Ist-a-verse. Luckily, even with all the things we have to do, we still managed to get together to let you know what we've all been up to. After cooling down from a hot weekend of many badass Sunset Junction Street Fair photo dispatches, LAist asked... more ›

>> October 1, 2007. Remember that date, because after it H Street aficionados will no longer be allowed to buy a single can or bottle of their favorite low-quality and high-alcohol beer. [FreeRide] >> Michael Vick filed his guilty plea in the dog-fighting controversy today. On another note, the Big Mac turns 40 today. To Post columnist Courtland Milloy, fans of the Big Mac are no better than Vick. [WTOP] >> Whoever said D.C.... more ›

We read all the local columnists, so you don't have to. This week we find meat-eaters being compared to Michael Vick, a lot of bum opinions on city schools and District residents being called "granola." Courtland Milloy: According to Milloy's Wednesday column in the Post, your choice to eat a hamburger isn't all that different than Michael Vick's decision to brutally fight, torture and kill dogs for money. "We'll kill a duck, deer, turkey --... more ›

Good morning, Washington. Just one more day! By tomorrow we'll be free of this dreary, occasionally drizzly mess — or so CapitalWeather assures us. Here's hoping they're right. Although the cooler temperatures have been pleasant, we've had enough of this gray mid-winter preview. MPD Officers' Trial Begins: The Post reports on the start of Milagros Morales' and Erick Brown's trial. The two police detectives are accused of manipulating witnesses into implicating Jerome Jones in the... more ›

>> "Michael Vick agreed Monday to plead guilty to federal dogfighting conspiracy charges, a deal that leaves the Atlanta Falcons quarterback facing up to 18 months in prison and puts his NFL career in jeopardy." [AP via WTOP] >> Rep. Robert Filner (D-Calif.) was charged with assault and battery following an incident at Dulles International Airport Sunday night. [WJLA] >> Taxi GPS doesn't eliminate fare zone confusion. [Free Ride] >> "Four years after a... more ›

Good morning, D.C. Did any of you stay up watching the filibuster, or pre-filibuster, or anti-filibuster, or whatever the heck we're calling it? Yeah, us neither. We did manage to catch a moment of it while en route to the Daily Show, and were greeted with a slightly disheveled-looking legislator gesticulating wildly at a chart of a Humvee. Unfortunately, we have no idea whether the sleepless showdown is likely to produce anything other than entertaining... more ›

The days when one could slyly slip down to a basement, enjoy a beer, put a couple hundred bucks down, and gather around a ring to watch two dogs maul each other to death may soon become an activity worth more than a slap on the wrist. The Washington Times reports that a bill going before the D.C. City Council today proposes to increase penalties for attending a dog fight from a misdemeanor to a... more ›

>> Giada De Laurentiis of Food Network's Everyday Italian was in town this weekend filming a bit for her new show, Weekend Getaways. One Flickr photog caught her picking out plump tomatoes at the Dupont farmer's market; did anyone else get a glimpse of the "Cooking With Cleavage" star? >> Oh, Clinton Portis, really? The Redskins player decided to come out in favor of dog fighting to defend embattled Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick. This... more ›