Both the Post and the Examiner have stories covering testimony provided by D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, among others, to a congressional subcommittee yesterday about the state of the National Mall. "We should all be ashamed" of what the average Mall visitor sees, Norton told the panel. “There’s no great national park that suffers from this kind of neglect." Norton introduced a bill last year to revitalize the Mall. Anyone who spends time on the......

What’s weird about revisiting the Albert Einstein Memorial at the National Academy of Sciences is, shamefully, that we had never visited there in the first place. Maybe some of you are in the same boat. Maybe you’ve been to the Mall monuments so many times that you’ve developed a kind of over familiar path that you walk every trip you take there. We certainly do. And, well, we learned that it’s time for that path......

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......

Roll Call had a subscriber-only story up yesterday about today's kick-off of an effort on the part of non-profit Trust for the National Mall to raise $350 million to revitalize Washington's top tourist destination. Students from Ann Beers Elementary School in Southeast are getting things going today by planting 3,000 daffodil bulbs in Constitution Gardens. Citing maintenance needs due to heavy use like cracked walkways and patchy grass, the Trust will be working alongside the......

We're pleased to congratulate the winners of the first ever WalkingTown DC Photo Contest, sponsored by DCist and Cultural Tourism DC. On September 29, the staff behind the twice yearly free walking tour weekends challenged local photographers to come out to their event and snap photos that best captured the spirit of WalkingTown, and then judged the entries to pick their top three. First place winner: David Pike won for his "walk on" shot......

Hidden underneath the Smithsonian museums on the National Mall is a treasure waiting to be discovered — the Smithsonian Latino Center, which has been celebrating Latino culture, spirit, and achievement in America for 10 years, presents a terrific exhibit, Mexican Treasures of the Smithsonian, on display through November 11 at the S. Dillon Ripley Center’s International Gallery. The exhibit pulls together objects from different museums around the city to explore the shared histories and cultural......

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......

Many of you have already visited the "Solar Village" since it opened its gates last Friday on the National Mall. Last weekend the long lines literally wrapped around each house entered into the 2007 Solar Decathlon, with people eager to get a tour from the students, alumni and faculty from each university competitor. The ten competitions have been judged all week, from Architecture last week to Engineering today, with individual winners announced for each leg......

We may write all the time about our developing neighborhoods, but one D.C. block is getting super-developed as we speak. Stroll down to the National Mall between today and October 20 and you'll find yourself in the middle of the Solar Village, where twenty universities have descended on the strip with their brilliant innovations costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, to compete in Solar Decathlon 2007. The entire event is open to the public with......

Last week, the National Gallery of Art opened a career retrospective of British landscape artist Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) -- the largest ever assembled in the United States. The curators of the show have assembled a collection that demonstrates Turner's development as an artist, as well as his commitment to raising the status of landscape art in a time when the classical themes pervaded Europe's artistic community. A must see for anyone with even......

"Books," wrote the poet Philip Larkin, "are a load of crap." No doubt Larkin, one of the most gifted lyric poets of the 20th century and a career librarian at the University of Hull, was being ironic. But irony or no, the participants and sponsors of this Saturday's National Book Festival vehemently disagree. Held every year for the last six years on the National Mall -- rain or shine -- the festival brings together marquee-name......

>> Hundreds of protesters met on the National Mall this morning in support of the Jena 6. [AP / WJLA] >> Voting rights advocates plan to target specific Senators who might be swayed to change their votes. [Free Ride] >> Parking space jockeys: more entrepreneurial than lawn jockeys. [Penn Quarter Living] >> "Now this is some cold-ass eviction." [DC Metblogs] >> Eighty-five hybrid taxicabs to storm Arlington in a fit of environmentally-conscious rage. [WaPo]......

Written by DCist contributor Morgan Hargrave It is entirely possible that the only people who visit the National Building Museum are intrepid tourists who have strayed from the Mall, or perhaps those only there to count the ridiculous number of columns in the Great Hall. It would be a shame if this were actually true, since the NBM has plenty to offer. Of particular note for tourists and locals alike is an exhibit, Washington: Symbol......

On Saturday night, Washington National Opera opened its fall season with an oh-so-edgy rendition of a tired old chestnut, Giacomo Puccini's La Bohème. It is the fifth mounting of this opera by WNO since 1984, which works out to a production every four or five years on average. Film director Mariusz Treliński created this new production for the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw, which also gave Washington his Butterfly and Andrea Chénier. The aim, laudable......

The classical music season got officially under way this weekend, and there will be more and more choices facing eager listeners. Even if you cannot afford all the concerts you want to attend, since local radio station WETA, at 90.9 FM, went back to a classical format, there is more local music on the airwaves, too. Tune in this evening (September 16, 7 p.m.) to the live broadcast of the National Symphony Orchestra's Season Opening......

>> Don't forget: thousands of dirty hippies and the gun-toting maniacs who hate them are getting together for a big ol' hootenanny down on the National Mall tomorrow morning. It's the War on War on War. >> At the Washington City Paper, editorial assistants who make mistakes aren't just named, they're taken out back and tortured with one million paper cuts using the latest issue while Erik Wemple screams "you're not good enough to......

The recent antics of the anti-war ANSWER Coalition, including pasting signs on utility boxes advertising their planned protest this Saturday on the National Mall despite orders from the city not to, resulting in several arrests and thousands of dollars in fines, haven't won the group many new fans among locals. Even though the District is a heavily liberal town populated by people who mainly agree with their stand on the war, ANSWER's attitude toward the......

Classical music has come back from summer vacation, and that means you actually have a choice of concerts this week. Most importantly, many of the city's leading groups are opening the season with glittering events. Look for reviews next week. >> Washington National Opera is opening its fall season with one of the most popular operas in the repertoire, Puccini's La Bohème (September 15 to 30). For all its audience-pleasing qualities, this opera is a......

Flickr user Julianasur, aka web designer Juliana Diaz, uploaded this trashscape of the area around the National Mall as her entry to our August-long Touch Up D.C. feature. Is it a damning political statement, or a creepy apocalyptic vision of the future? Or both? Thanks for your entry Juliana, and remember that there's only about a week left to tag your touched up photos in Flickr with "touchupdc" or email them to sommer (at)......

>> Media conglomerate Viacom announced that it will donate $1.5 million in cash and promotions to help build the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall. [NBC4] >> A child described as a 20-month-old black boy was found adandoned in a stroller in Capitol Heights Tuesday morning. [NBC4] >> An improperly disposed cigarette was to blame for the fire that damaged Capitol Lounge and Trover Gift Shop last week. The fire began......

>> It's the last night of Screen on the Green, which would guarantee the National Mall will be packed with folks who have been meaning to catch one all summer on its own -- but tonight's selection is also Casablanca, perhaps the most beloved film of all time, so get there early, kids. Films start around 8 p.m. >> Fort Reno should be similarly packed as they count down their final couple of dates,......

>> The ceremonial flame for the Special Olympics will pass through town tomorrow afternoon, starting at the White House at 12:15 p.m. and making stops on the National Mall before heading uptown to the Chinese Embassy. Expect minor traffic delays along the route. [WJLA] >> Is a Rita's Water Ice coming to the Washington Convention Center area? [Bloomingdale (for now)] >> Bob Mould is set to release his first ever live DVD, Circle Of......

By DCist contributor John Harlow Created and organized by artist and curator Mark Tribe, the Port Huron Project is a series of reenactments of protest speeches from the New Left movements of the 1960s and '70s, conducted at their original locations by paid performers. Previous PHP events have featured enactments of speeches originally delivered by Coretta Scott King and Howard Zinn in New York and Boston respectively. Tomorrow at 6 p.m., the National Mall will......

... But harder still is keeping from laughing while you're capturing some guy's rather sad attempts to perform some near the National Mall. YouTube user hermankirby's faint background laughter makes this short video all the funnier. Turns out practice doesn't always make perfect.......

Hayden Panettiere, the young star of NBC's Heroes, is getting mixed reviews on YouTube for her performance singing the National Anthem in D.C. on Wednesday as part of the Capital Fourth concert at the National Mall. Judge for yourself.......

At first today's forecast just looked a little bit annoying: a 30 percent chance of thunderstorms in the late afternoon which, in the words of our esteemed pals at CapitalWeather.com, we'd venture to say "those odds are too low to go changing any plans yet, but high enough to keep an eye to the sky and on radar just in case." In other words, we're packing up to head to a barbecue right now, potential......

Hey, DCist, I like fireworks and celebrating the birth of our country. Where should I go, what should I do, help a sister out. -DCist reader Sarah The best (and entirely serious) tip we have for you is of course to avoid the National Mall like it's going to give you cancer. It's a sea of tourists and transit trauma every year down there, but this year it's shaping up to be even worse, with......

MONDAY: Min Jin Lee will be at Politics and Prose to read from her debut novel, Free Food for Millionaires. No, it doesn't promote welfare for the wealthy. It's actually about a first-generation immigrant trying to find balance between the ways of her parents and American culture. 7 p.m. TUESDAY: We don't know what to think about 2006 Tour de France winner Floyd Landis. His win last year was surrounded by controversy over whether he......

Last June, days of heavy rain flooded the downtown area, sticking the IRS building with a $30 million cleanup bill and costing millions more in disruption of business. Government officials met yesterday to discuss how they might prevent a Deluge '07 (or, more realistically considering we're already in the midst of the summer storm season, a Deluge '08 or '09) from wreaking as much havoc as Deluge '06 most certainly did, especially in regards......

Good morning, Washington. Sure, there's some news to discuss, as usual. There's even a local weather update. But we're not going to sit here and pretend like you don't all want to talk about the numb emptiness inside you that resulted from the series finale of The Sopranos. My take? If they could give out penalties to TV show runners who can't decide how to end their series, David Chase deserves at least two separate......