The Examiner reports that renovations are underway at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, the central branch of the D.C. Public Public system. The improvements come after former Mayor Anthony Williams' proposal to replace the building with a new flagship library two blocks away on the site of the old convention center was first tabled by the D.C. Council and then shelved by the Fenty administration. Improvements to the outdated and long-neglected MLK Library......

The aftermath of tragic events always bring stories of harrowing plight and exemplary heroism to the fore. Instinctively, one recoils at pointing up any one single story for the fear of diminishing others--and in the wake of yesterday's horrifying tragedy at Virginia Tech we're sure to hear many stories that will test the limits of what we can bear. But one story that has emerged today has stuck with us, all the same. It has......

Good morning to those of you who are working today, on a day that many set aside to honor American Presidents with HUGE SAVINGS! and ONEOFAKIND DEALS! We trust that you made the best of your unjustly short weekend, and managed to stay on your feet on the skating rink sidewalks of our fair city. We applaud our neighbors who did their best to keep their portion of sidewalks clear and dry. Unfortunately, we......

Well, Washington, we seem to be stuck in a rut here. The country is mired in war, the Tysons tunnel debate drones on, and the weather remains nothing but frigid. Even the Grammys were stuck in the past. A show meant to honor the best music of the past year was dominated by The Dixie Chicks and Mary J. Blige? Red Hot Chili Peppers? Lionel F%&$ing Richie? Rest in Peace, Pop Music. Solid Year Expected......

OK, one more time, can someone explain to us the shrewd scheduling of the Super Bowl for Sunday night every year? We wake up on Monday, still stuffed with unhealthy amounts of sausage and seven layer dip, and more than a little bit hungover. How are we expected to work under these conditions? So we're making this proposal to The Man, right here, right now: make the day after the Super Bowl a holiday.......

Okay Washington, so the news from this weekend isn't so cheerful. Maybe it was the thousands of war protestors on the Mall, or the hundreds of disgruntled Sufjan fans denied tickets at the Kennedy Center Saturday morning. Or maybe it was that crazy wind last night. In any case, we're really reaching for the good news this morning. Cause Sugar's Not Enough: In another entry to the "Why Most of the World Thinks We're......

What's more fun than scraping snow off of a windshield or sidewalk? Scraping snow covered by a layer of ice! Now we remember the exciting potpourri of precipitation that makes a mid-Atlantic winter what it is. We hope your morning commute wasn't too much of a hassle. We also hope that many of you used the weekend to submit some more fantastic photos for DCist Exposed! With the deadline now passed, we can hardly wait......

Happy May Monday, D.C.! Oh, sorry, it's actually December. Forgive me for not realizing that, since it's slated to be a ridiculous 66 degrees today. Can anybody enlighten us as to what is going on? Anyone? For now, you can read a post over on CapitalWeather.com that "glaringly exposed the disconnect between television meteorologists and the climate science community," according to the site. Meanwhile, enjoy the weather! Virginia Parishes Break Away: Those Episcopalian churches in......

Welcome back from your holidays, DCist readers. We hope they were filled with turkey, or turducken, or whatever floats your boat. Around here, the long weekend seemed to be filled with totally awesome global warming. 65 degrees in November, anyone? Anyway, gloat over the Redskins' win as we ease you back into the working week with the news. Even More Reasons to Fear the Suburbs: Because, oh my lord, now they're ruining Christmas. The Post......

Morning, fair DCist readers. How was your weekend? Did you do any of the numerous activities in the area, like the homeless walkathon, or celebrating an elephant's fifth birthday? Did you go on a fruitless hunt for the elusive Wii? Or perhaps you got married in a Roman castle? You could have signed with the Cubs for $136 million! Whatever you did, we hope it was excellent. The start of this week seems to......

Got something to say, D.C.? Well, Opinionist is listening. That is, we're listening as long as your opinion is on the short side and somewhat interesting to read. Also, it doesn't hurt to be funny. After a brief hiatus (we were busy catching up on the new fall TV season) Opinionist back. DCist is currently accepting submissions for our Sunday Op/Ed section. We encourage thoughtful, critical, constructive and articulate first person op-eds about almost anything......

Editors Note: This week's opinion piece comes to us from the young people at Youth Action Research Group in Washington, D.C. A youth membership based organization, YARG organizes young people in the city to change policies around issues that affect the city's under represented youth population. Currently, they are working on improving D.C.’s youth employment training and placement programs. The following editorial was written by Jose Andrade, age 19, Nancy Cruz, age 16, Adriana......

I was surprised to see a man as liberal as Matt Yglesias argue that expanding the size of the Metropolitan Police Department from its current 3,800 officers to the proposed 5,100 would effectively help decrease crime in the District. I suppose I rarely expect liberals to be on the side of such dramatic increases in police power, given that militarizing a city or country doesn't often track well with pacifying it. Last week Matt claimed......

Reader Matthew Yglesias responds to a recent piece we posted on crime in the city. Want to add your own voice to this debate? Email Opinionist. Should the District respond to its high crime rates and current purported "crime emergency" by hiring more cops as several City Council members are proposing? Calm heads like DCist's Martin Austermuhle say no and they have the numbers to prove it. He points out that DC has traditionally had......

Another Sunday, another Opinionist. DCist is always willing to hear your thoughts/rants on life in the city and its environs. Email us. Today D.C. resident and driver Alex Lundry has some choice words on jaywalking. Being in a city that lives and dies over serious debates of national significance, I never imagined that jaywalking would be the thing to break me. Yet every day, I find myself grumbling, mumbling, and cursing about jaywalking to anyone......

After a brief summer hiatus, Opinionst is back. Please send DCist your thoughts, comments and critiques on almost all things related to our fair city. Bring it, guys! Today's opinion comes to us from 10-year D.C. resident Ian Buckwalter. Video Americain ended its tenure in D.C. last month, succumbing to high rent, diminishing business, and the factors that will likely doom most video stores: Netflix and video-on-demand. But when the Blockbuster on Columbia Road eventually......

DCist welcomes the first official day of summer with a special Opinionist piece by reader Rachel Demma. What are your thoughts on the sweatiest season in the city? Got any summer survival tips? Share what you love and hate about the season. Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? I could, but that would be pretty cruel. I have been thoroughly enjoying our long string of pleasant spring weather, and a glance at the......

So, we like to celebrate our little milestones here at DCist. We know, it's self-indulgent, but it makes us feel good to look back at the swath of D.C. miscellany we've cut in the internets over the past two years, and today you guys join us in our historical reverie. Just a few moments ago, we recorded our 30,000th comment, a dilly of a pickle left by frequent interlocuter WOV. The comment, WOV's 107th, was......

This Sunday's opinion piece was written by Kelly Mack. Feel like sounding off? Email us . Metro elevators are one of my obsessions. Without them, I wouldn’t be able to get around DC, because I wouldn’t be able to ride Metro. Elevators are essential to wheelchair users. Before leaving for work, appointments, or going out to dinner, I check the Metro website for elevator statuses. When elevators are out of service, I need to plan......

Today's Opinionist was written by Arlington resident Freya Estreller. Since the majority of my friends live in D.C., getting them to trek out to Arlington can sure be a tough sell. So what if I want to pay lower taxes and car insurance rates, live in a spacious house with a backyard, and drive my car that I park for free to Taco Bell at two in the morning? Does my social life really have......

Speak up, D.C. We know you have a lot to say, so say it here. DCist is accepting submissions for our Op/Ed section, Opinionist, which runs on Sundays. Send us your thoughtful, critical, constructive and articulate first person op-eds about almost anything and everything having to do with life in D.C. and its environs. Observations about city life, politics (local, national and international), arts, culture, food, music, metro, sports, et cetera are all valid provided......

The opinions expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily shared by other DCist editors or writers. This Opinionist is running today, because the film discussed opens in theaters tomorrow. Four and a half years ago, I ran from the basement of my office building across from Union Station to the street, where I stood and stared at the Capitol Dome, believing, with good reason, that I was about to witness its......

Today's Opinionist comes to DCist from local art blogger Kriston Capps. For all this time, D.C. Mayor Williams has billed himself as a supporter of big boxes in the District. During yesterday’s town hall meeting to discuss the fate of the city’s public library system, the Mayor revealed himself to be no friend to our most notorious big box—the Mies Van der Rohe-designed Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. And he made no new friends......

Today's Opinionist comes to us from local freelance writer Lisa Gschwandtner. DC is frequently described as "Hollywood for ugly people." People who live here tend to resent this characterization. I am not one of those people. Before I came to DC, I lived among the fashionable and the glamorous in New York, and I can say this: You can't compete with the 20-something girls employed by Conde Nast publications whose outfits belie their $30,000-a-year salaries.......

Why so shy, D.C.? We've had our say, and now it's your turn. DCist is accepting submissions for our Op/Ed section, Opinionist, which runs on Sundays. We encourage thoughtful, critical, constructive and articulate first person op-eds about almost anything and everything having to do with life in D.C. and its environs. Observations about city life, politics (local, national and international), arts, culture, food, music, metro, sports, et cetera are all valid provided they express your......

Instead of just my coat rack greeting me last week, I had a letter from Borger Management, the company that manages my apartment building and dozens of others in the District. Usually, the only things that are slipped under my door are package pick-up notices and take-out menus, so I was suspicious. In a craftily-worded letter, the company gave a full-out endorsement of the D.C. City Council's possible elimination of the current rent ceiling......

Today's Opinion on the flat tax in D.C. was written by Jonathon Schuster. On March 9 the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on DC held hearings to discuss Senator Sam Brownback’s (R-KS) idea of using the District as a testing ground for a national flat tax. Forget for the moment that Brownback is far from representative of the majority of District residents with his often extremist right wing statements (such as comparing abortions in America to the......

Back in 1960, when Eisenhower signed into creation the first agency charged with creating a regional rail system for Washington, the city must have looked remarkably different. Having been wholly reshaped by population growth and new construction during World War II and the years that followed, the greater Washington area was still less than half the size it is today. When the first Metro cars opened 30 years ago (nearly to the day), the area......

Today's Opinion comes to us from proud biker and DCist's tech guru, Tom Lee. You've probably never met me, but odds are that you have a grudge against me anyway. It's not that I'm a particularly objectionable guy. I'm generally pretty friendly, and if you and I were to run into each other I'm sure we could make some pleasant smalltalk about music or movies or the Redskins. But eventually my horrible secret would be......

We'll blame it on the weather. Opinionist is taking the day off from airing our gripes and concerns about D.C. and enjoying this early taste of spring. It's just so darn nice outside that we can't be bothered to blog about the city's parking problems or Metro Access woes. At any rate, don't let us stop you if you've got something to say. DCist is accepting submissions for Opinion pieces. We encourage thoughtful, critical, constructive......