Which stories did DCist readers think merited the most attention this year? Top 10 Most Commented Posts of 2007 10) D.C. Judge Seeks $67 Million for Lost Pants (105 comments) 9) Columbia Heights Listserve vs. Ross (107 comments) 8) Saving the Single Beer (108 comments) 7) This City Doth Protest Too Much (109 comments) 6) Solo Marines Often Refused Entry to Some D.C. Bars (113 comments) 5) Bars Claim Loss of Business Over Smoking......

Happy Christmas Eve, Washington. With the frenzy of last-minute shopping and travel out of the city largely complete, folks staying here for the holiday are being treated to a quieter, gentler D.C. than normal, and it turns out in more ways than one. Over the weekend the Post took a look at a recent decline in the murder rate, reporting that only nine homicides have been logged in the District in the 37 days since......

We're getting ready for our staff holiday party tonight, so GHA and AT are combined into one super post! Have fun, y'all. We certainly will be. >> Two more people, both longtime friends of Harriette Walters, were arrested in connection with the Office of Tax and Revenue scandal today. [WaPo] >> The Rock and Roll Hotel is hosting a Trailer Trash dance night. 8 p.m. to close, free. >> Sadly we weren't able to......

Good morning, Washington. With the Christmas holiday looming, things are slowing down in workplaces around the region. Well, most workplaces, anyway — D.C.'s firefighters seem to be keeping plenty busy. Yesterday, of course, there was the fire at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Since then there's been a two alarm fire at the Chinatown Red Roof Inn, and this impressive gathering of firefighters just south of Logan around 6 p.m. last night. Here's hoping......

>> Congress finally, finally went home. [The Hill] >> CFO Natwar Gandhi is "deeply sorry" for the Office of Tax and Revenue scandal: "It's tearing me apart." [City Desk] >> An MPD officer has been arrested and charged in a federal child sex sting. [WJLA] >> Gallaudet University received more than $6 million from a Fredericksburg woman who left the bulk of her estate to the university. [AP via WTOP] >> Alexandria's lackluster Landmark......

CNN is reporting that the Eisenhower Executive Office Building is on fire. From the looks of it firefighters have already gotten the worst of the flames, which began as an electrical problem on the 3rd floor, under control, but a small amount of smoke is still coming out of the building. No injuries have been reported. MORE, 10:09 a.m.: The fire reportedly began in an electrical closet adjacent to the Vice President's ceremonial office......

>> Congress has taken away D.C. CFO Natwar Gandhi's pay raise in the wake of the Office of Tax and Revenue embezzlement scandal. Happy Holidays, Mr. Gandhi! [WaPo] >> What kind of person steals a wheelchair? [NBC4] >> Free holiday EP from Vandaveer. [You Ain't No Picasso] >> Marvin is already expanding. [Prince of Petworth] >> Christopher Hitchens sings at the Reason Secular Christmas party. [via City Desk] Photo by AlbinoFlea......

Aimee Mann never seemed like one of pop's 500 likeliest candidates to release a Christmas album, but last year’s One More Drifter in the Snow was a tasteful, minor-key treat, and her “1st Annual Christmas Show” at the Birchmere last December was one of the best concerts of 2006. As she promised she would at the end of last year’s freewheeling interfaith revue, she's hitched up the sleigh again this year for a monthlong yule-tour......

Earlier this month the Post revealed that the majority of mail sent from the District is bastardized with a postmark reading "SOUTHERN MD." or "SUBURBAN MD.," a practice imposed soon after a 2001 anthrax attack in a D.C. postal facility. District officials and voting rights activists were none-too-pleased -- after all, if they take our postmark, what's next? Our women and children? Today, the Post Office relented. Under pressure from D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton......

>> The 1930s-era Hecht's building in Northeast has been bought by a Philadelphia developer who plans to incorporate the historic structure into a new retail hub off New York Avenue. [WaPo] >> D.C.’s State Education Office established new criteria for free- and reduced-price-meal programs in an effort to increase enrollment. [Examiner] >> Construction has begun on Alexandria's 167-acre Potomac Yard development. [Washington Business Journal] >> The death of musician Casey Calvert last month outside......

Big news from the Washington Post: D.C. Attorney General Linda Singer has resigned after less than a year on the job. Singer tendered her resignation this morning, having reportedly been frustrated for months with her role in the Fenty administration. Fenty has been relying more heavily on General Counsel Peter Nickles, whom the mayor has apparently now named as the interim attorney general. The timing of Singer's departure, just months before Supreme Court arguments are......

If you think the Montgomery County 911 system has problems, D.C.'s 911 office isn't likely going to be having an easy time of it this week either. On Saturday the Examiner ran a small story about how D.C. Council member David Catania (I-At large) had to make a 911 call early Friday morning and says he received "textbook badgering treatment" from the operator. Catania placed the 911 call after being awakened by the sounds of......

The thinly veiled sexism oozing out of today's Examiner column by veteran local politics observer Harry Jaffe is hard enough to take, but to whomever thought up this gem of a headline, be they copy editor or author, DCist salutes your willingness to go boldly where no human beings in the 21st century were thought to be capable of going anymore. Yes, if the recent Office of Tax and Revenue scandal has taught us......

Good morning, Washington. Are ya ready for some embezzlement scandal news? Of course you are! This morning's update comes not from the embattled Office of Tax and Revenue, but rather from the D.C. Public Schools front office, as the Examiner reports that Eugene Smith, the former director of internal audits for DCPS, entered a guilty plea yesterday to charges of stealing nearly $50,000 from a charter school account. Smith was fired by the school system......

We've reached another Friday, D.C., but if those light flurries that accompanied you on your way into work this morning gave you visions of a leisurely Saturday snowball fight, you'll likely end up disappointed. Very little accumulation is expected from these flakes, and the weekend will see temperatures back in the upper 40s, with a possibility of some light rain on Saturday morning, according to CapitalWeather.com. If this update doesn't satisfy your weather nerd urges,......

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......

If the powers that be think we're going to go easily or quietly, they're wrong. The Post today exposed a devious little plan to chip away at the District's identity, starting with phasing out the city's postmark and replacing it instead with one bearing the name of our northern neighbor, Maryland. According to a Post study, of 235 letters mailed from every quadrant and zip code within city limits, only 24 -- 10 percent --......

Good morning, Washington. We hope you had a pleasant and restful evening despite the howling wind and bitter cold. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee had a bit of a rough night last night herself, as she was greeted by throngs of angry Ward 5 parents at the first community meeting that allowed her to present the school closures plan to the public. Ward 5 D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. had set up the separate meeting......

>> The law firm that uncovered widespread fraud at Enron is now investigating the tax fraud case at the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue. [WTOP] >> The swear word directed at Mayor Fenty by Council member Marion Barry, revealed. [City Desk] >> "So if giving CNN yet another chance to screw up major debates is the first mistake, then allowing Wolf Blitzer to moderate one of them (Anderson Cooper the other, meh) is......

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......

A happy Friday to you, Washington. Hopefully you all made it in to work on time despite Metro having reduced the speed of their rail cars in several areas this morning. Speed restrictions were in place until 8:10 a.m. along portions of the Orange line in Maryland and Virginia, the Red line from Union Station to Silver Spring and from Shady Grove to Grosvenor, and the Green line from Branch Avenue to Congress Heights......

A day after the Washington Post put a number as high as $2.46 million on the amount of money that was stolen from the Office of Tax and Revenue in 1999, the last year that current D.C. Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi was the head of the office, at least two D.C. Council members are starting to test the waters by suggesting that Gandhi ought to resign. At-large member Kwame Brown and Ward 1 Council......

Good morning, Washington. Yesterday afternoon Roll Call had the story of a potential suspect finally being identified in all those strange Senate bathroom fires from the last few months. Capitol Police Officer Karen Emory recently has been suspended in connection with the fires, although it still hasn't been confirmed whether she is definitely a suspect in the case. No charges have been filed, but color us a little disappointed if it turns out a......

The enraged D.C. Council on Thursday circulated the first photo released to the media of former Office of Tax and Revenue employee Harriette Walters, who stands accused of masterminding the theft of at least $31 million from the District's property tax coffers. Walters is pictured wearing one of the many dresses she is said to have purchased from Neiman Marcus with her ill-gotten money. You can also see her tax office employee badge. No other......

>> 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......

Let's check in with the widening Office of Tax and Revenue embezzlement scandal, shall we? Over the weekend, the Washington Post reported that two more tax office employees had been placed on leave from their jobs in connection with the alleged $20 million-plus fraud, though CFO Natwar Gandhi refused to identify them except to say they work in the real property assessment division of the office. Four senior managers have tendered their resignation since the......

Good morning, Washington. In case you didn't believe us when we first told you that this tax office corruption scandal was going to get bigger and badder as the week went on, just check out the trio of stories on offer from the Post this morning on the widening scandal. First and foremost, it turns out Harriette Walters and Diane Gustus allegedly worked together to steal $4 million more than originally thought, bringing the grand......

Good morning, Washington. The city is still reeling from the news that the U.S. Attorney's Office has indicted two employees from the District's Office of Tax and Revenue on charges of embezzling over $16 million. It's a staggering sum, and the Post cites officials who are calling it the largest theft ever uncovered in local government in the Washington area. The two women, Harriette Walters and Diane Gustus, are said to have used the money......

Add one more major D.C. government corruption scandal to the list. NBC4 is reporting that the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington is set to announce a major public corruption investigation involving District city workers and the theft of about $16 million in property tax money. The Washington Post has the details on the indictments, which accuse two D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue employees -- Harriette Walters and Diane Gustus -- of fabricating tax refund......

>> This week's arts pick goes to the Curator's Office, who will be hosting performance artist Kathryn Cornelius in her first private gallery solo show, Common Ground. Cornelius, who has taken her wry performances around the world, will display two videos and two photograph series that show her searching for a kind of inner spirituality in an overconnected, digital world. Jeffry Cudlin writes in the exhibit brochure, "In these pieces, Cornelius appears silent, collected......