President Obama's sudden support for a measure that would allow the District to spend its own money (and thus avoid future threats of a shutdown) is a big deal, but some D.C. voting rights advocates are stressing that his actions have to speak louder than his words. more ›

D.C. Shadow Representative Mike Panetta has decided that he won't be running again after spending three terms as one part of the District's three-man Shadow Delegation. more ›

Admit it -- that's a look that says, "I want you to support the District's efforts in achieving voting rights, self-determination and statehood." more ›

The History Channel is currently featuring a rather fascinating series, How The States Got Their Shapes -- and a recent episode covered the return of the District's ten miles square to Virginia, or how "George Washington's perfect diamond was torn apart." more ›

Part celebration of the District's hometown pride and part protest of the city's longstanding second-class status, organizers of DC Flag Tattoo Day: Flag Day in the Flesh have put the word out to anyone who has a stars-and-bars tattoo -- and even those who don't -- to gather at Dupont Circle at 6 p.m. tomorrow. more ›

Virginia may have its Horse Enthusiast and Wildlife Mallard license plates, but if one local D.C. voting rights activist has his way, the District might get some special plates of our own. more ›

A wide range of District political candidates gathered at One Judiciary Square last night to make their case to members of D.C. for Democracy why the organization should support their candidacies in the September Democratic primary. Everyone from the mayor to would-be shadow representatives showed up to make their case. Endorsements should be handed down in the coming weeks. more ›

In hopes of closing a $500 million budget deficit, Mayor Adrian Fenty's proposed FY 2011 budget cut funding for plenty of programs -- and D.C. voting rights and statehood lobbying wasn't spared. more ›

Yesterday afternoon, the Examiner's Leah Fabel first reported that Ward 1 Council member Jim Graham planned to introduce legislation today that would allow D.C.'s bars and restaurants to serve alcohol until 5 a.m., and to keep doors open 24-hours per day, between Jan. 17 and Jan. 21 to accommodate inauguration tourists. We then linked to it in our end of the day roundup. D.C. Wire posted its own version this morning. Then about an hour later, D.C. Shadow Representative Mike Panetta posted the following message to his Twitter feed:

DC Council extends "last call" to 5 am during inauguration week. Sounds fun, but I'll be happy to stay awake past midnight :)

While we soak in Barack Obama's historic victory over Senator John McCain (who delivered a moving and honorable concession speech), we can't ignore the change that came to our own backyard. Few of the results caught any of us by surprise. We did, though, rid ourselves of a pesky ANC commissioner, though. more ›

When the Democratic Party gathers in Denver next week for its national convention, the D.C. delegation will do what D.C. does best -- complain about our lack of voting representation. But even as they push for the District to be given a full voting seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, a group of frustrated voting rights activists are crying foul over the Democratic Party's failure to endorse full statehood in their national platform. more ›

As we mentioned yesterday, Mayor Adrian Fenty, D.C. Council Chair Vincent Gray, eight members of the council and the District's Shadow Delegation are in New Hampshire today to testify in favor of legislation that would express the Granite State's regret that its two senators voted against a measure that would grant the District a voting seat in the House of Representatives. more ›

Remember those billboards that popped up in the 1980s that counted up the national debt, dollar by dollar? Pretty scary, huh? Well, District voting rights activists want something similar for their cause. Today the D.C. Council held a hearing on legislation that would allow the city to place two large LED billboards -- one outside the John A. Wilson Building and the other outside the new Washington Nationals stadium -- that would display the amount... more ›

As Sommer mentioned earlier this week, I was fortunate enough to have been invited to speak on a panel on D.C. voting rights at the YearlyKos Convention, a huge gathering of progressive activists and bloggers in Chicago. This morning I will be sitting alongside D.C. Shadow Rep. Mike Panetta, Danny Rose from DC Vote and Kesh Luddewhetty of DC for Democracy, all of whom will detail the current fight for voting rights, where it stands... more ›

For all you liberal/progressive internet/Netroots types in town who are heading to Chicago later this week for the behemoth 2nd annual YearlyKos Convention — and we know there are more than just a few of you — allow us to recommend some programming. On Friday, August 3 from 9:15 a.m. to 10:15 a.m., the panel you'll want to make sure not to miss is Taxation Without Representation: Alive and Well in the Nation's Capital, which... more ›

Hoyer and Pelosi Need Your Input: Mike Panetta, D.C. Shadow Representative, informed us that voting rights activists are pushing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) to bring the voting rights legislation that was derailed last week back to the floor of the House this week. They're afraid that if it gets pushed off until next week, it may well get lost in the usual congressional shuffle. Panetta has... more ›

Back in the day, people would gather to lobby, write letters and protest for a cause. These days, all it takes is access to a computer and a creative approach to using online tools. And while the fight for District voting rights has involved a good amount of old-school tactics, online activists have more resources at their disposal than ever before. Newly-elected Shadow Representative Mike Panetta has been leading this fight in recent years, employing... more ›

What a night, eh Washington? If you're like us, you were up late listening to Kojo and Jonetta break down the election results as they came in on WAMU. Our favorite moment of the evening came just before 10 p.m., when Mayor Williams told co-host Jonetta Rose Barras she was crazy to suggest that anyone believed he had waited too long to decide if he would seek a third term. For the record Jonetta —... more ›

We've followed the candidates for the last 16 months, and today is the day everything will be decided. We opted not to endorse any candidates, but we are going to put our betting skills to work and pick the winners for the D.C. races. Mayor: Love him or hate him, Adrian Fenty is taking this contest. Not only has he led competitor Linda Cropp in the polls since late July, his recent endorsement by the... more ›

Everyone else has taken their shot, so why not the City Paper? Today the weekly's local politics column, Loose Lips, threw its support behind a number of candidates for next week's D.C. primaries. But more surprising than the picks was the biting tone in which they were delivered -- this is no Post endorsement, they seemed to remind us. Columnist James Jones sided solidly with candidates that bucked the establishment and railed against those beholden... more ›

There are a lot of creative ways to advocate for District voting rights. Of those, our friend Mike Panetta has been behind many. As you may recall, Panetta was one of the minds behind a recent online effort to allow District residents to ask Supreme Court justice nominee Samuel Alito questions, and, prior to that, to rename RFK "Taxation Without Representation Stadium." Now Panetta has hatched a new scheme to promote voting rights -- having... more ›

We here at DCist aren't much for federal politics. Yes, we live and work in the same town as countless bureaucrats and policymakers, but when it comes down to it, federal politics just isn't our bag. Well, spare the times Congress tries to jump in and rename our roads, sell our parks, or impose their will on our budgets and legislation. Or when they continually deny us our voting rights. Ok, so maybe federal politics is our bag. more ›

As DCist wrote a few days back, District officials are struggling to find a corporate sponsor willing to pay anywhere from $1.5 to $2 million a year for the rights to attach their name to RFK Stadium, the temporary home of the Washington Nationals, for the next three years. The Post reported on Wednesday that the U.S. Army, looking to raise its profile and boost sagging enlistment numbers, has pushed to the front of the... more ›