Just days after he hit a pedestrian with his car here in D.C., conservative columnist Robert Novak has announced that he has a brain tumor. Novak's paper, the Chicago Sun-Times, reported the news earlier today. Novak said he was diagnosed on Sunday with a brain tumor and will soon begin treatment at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He issued the following statement: "On Sunday, July 27, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor. I......

Just to add some fuel to Martin's argument that yesterday's Robert Novak traffic incident is no laughing matter, the Post has some much better reporting up than WJLA's early word. Turns out the victim is actually 86 years old, not 66, and he is currently homeless and has been living in a shelter. Clifford Liljenquist's injuries are apparently not severe, but were complicated by his age and history of homelessness.......

There was plenty of snickering in the media yesterday about Robert Novak's very literal run-in with a pedestrian. Heck, we snickered ourselves silly, and even Jon Stewart couldn't resist making jokes — "You know what Washington needs? More vigilante bicyclists!" (see video above). As we mentioned earlier, today WJLA is reporting that the victim of Novak's negligence might be worse off than originally thought:The victim, a 66-year-old Don Lilkinquist, appeared somewhat incoherent, said the......

Though it is District law that cars must stop for pedestrians in every crosswalk, let's be honest -- very few actually do so. When I choose to walk to work, I'm often left to navigate the harrowing crosswalk at Connecticut Avenue and Wyoming Avenue NW, where even a sign reminding drivers of their responsibility to stop is regularly (and at high-speed) ignored. Council member Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) is hoping to change that. Cheh's office......

The Edmund Burke statue on Massachusetts Avenue and 11th Street NW is a perfect case for the Revisiting Series. Not only is the face on the bronze statue unfamiliar, but even if a passerby—vehicular or pedestrian—did somehow recognize Burke’s mug (or could catch a glimpse of the “BVRKE” on the base), they would still most likely be curious as to why one of history’s most vocal anti-revolutionaries has been immortalized in the capital city of......

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......

>> Starting in January, the so-called Humpback Bridge on the George Washington Parkway will be revamped to be hump free and more pedestrian friendly. [WTOP] >> Mayor Fenty's administration tripled the number of employees making $175,000 or more from this time last year. Five of those employees, including the mayor himself, make over $200,000. [Examiner] >> Last night's fatal shooting of a man in the Barnaby Terrace neighborhood brings D.C.'s 2007 homicide total for......

Good morning, Washington. The weather-related headlines today are all generally pretty disappointing -- The Post proclaims that "Rain Likely to Dampen Area But Not Douse the Drought", and others have followed suit. But waving like a lone reed in the pessimistic sands of weather prognostication is CapitalWeather.com, who just minutes ago put up a prediction, based on a brand new model, suggesting that "several factors are finally lining up to bring the potential for......

The annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund begin on Friday, and the city will see a number of changes in traffic patterns and road closures this weekend as a result. Here's what you should plan around: Streets closed to vehicles: Beginning at 8 p.m. on Friday, October 19, until 2 a.m. on Sunday, October 21 * Pennsylvania Avenue, NW between 17th Street and 20th Street, NW * 19th Street, NW......

Good Morning, Washington. In an apparent attempt to rule the D.C. media landscape through terror and intimidation, the Washington Post has published the scariest local news story we've ever read this morning: apparently, these disgusting-looking creatures called camel crickets are infesting area basements due to the lack of moisture in the ground thanks to the region's rather serious drought. Described as "a mix between a spider and a cricket" and accompanied by disturbing photographic......

Good morning, Washington. What a difference a day makes, right? Just yesterday we were complaining bitterly about the heat and about when administrative law Judge Roy Pearson would finally be brought before the panel that will decide his fate for a hearing. But both problems have been resolved, as if by magic, while we slumbered. The current temperature outside is 57 degrees in our nation's capital, with an expected high of 66. And Judge......

According to D.C. officials, about 700 pedestrians a year are hit by cars in the District, which factors out to about two a day. Wikipedia says there are currently about 580,000 of us living here, so that means the next time you step outside your door you have about a 1 in 83,000 chance of getting hit by that idiot who always runs the red light down the block. Given those rather grim odds,......

Just in time for the evening rush hour, MPD has sealed off four blocks of downtown to pedestrian and vehicular traffic. The officers we spoke to said that a suspicious package is to blame, and that the closed area stretches from K St. to M and from 15th to 17th. If you work in the affected area you'll be permitted to walk out of the area, toward its nearest edge — but otherwise the......

>> A power outage at Union Station has been resolved, but not before it made everyone's commute home totally miserable. [WaPo] >> A pedestrian was struck by a police cruiser on Wisconsin Ave. NW this afternoon. [WTOP] >> Nats' new park on schedule, on budget. [MLB.com] >> Get your premature convention center hotel construction watch blogging over here. [Renew Shaw] >> A member of "retiring" Rep. Jerry Weller's staff comes to blows over having......

Protest over national vs. regional chains, the never-ending debate over the place of cars and bicycles in our metropolises, professional sports scandals, remembering a solemn day, and being issued a search warrant - it all happened across our sites this week! Another banner week at Chicagoist started off with daily reports from food writer Lisa Shames on her attempt to eat only locally grown and raised foodstuffs all week as part of a farmers market......

After some much needed R&R (that's rest and relaxation, not roads and rails), Transit on Thursday returns to Washington only to find that all hell has broken loose on Metro. The Sliver Line extension to Dulles, looking good when we left, is turning into a first rate debacle, and clouds of smoke seem to be drifting though the tunnels on just about every line. We can't turn our backs for even a few seconds, can......

After two long months of being shut completely for a major overhaul, the Frederick Douglass Bridge, aka the South Capitol Street Bridge, finally reopened to commuters this morning. DDOT actually reopened the Anacostia River crossing one week ahead of schedule overnight. When was the last time you remember a major construction project being finished early? Overall, it looks like the strategy to close the bridge completely, despite its inconveniences, was a good one. By......

Hey Washington -- ever feel like you just don't have enough to worry about when it comes to walking down the street in your own neighborhood? Sure, there's the muggings and other crime, the street harassment, the killer Metrobuses, the screwed up pedestrian signals, the bicyclists vs. the drivers, and the occasional jaywalking sting, but really, who couldn't use one more thing to add to the list of stuff that makes you never want to......

How, oh how, do we reduce congestion? That is the one question that public officials, policy-makers, and commuters throughout the D.C. have been wrestling with for as long as we can remember. The answers proposed have reflected the diversity of the people asking the question: wider roads, more transit, denser housing, bike lanes, pedestrian-friendly streets, all of the above... You name it, and it's been put on the table at one point or another.......

The man whose rampant flagging (or pantsing, depending on who you ask) attempts around the Vienna metro stop last fall had women buckling their belts a little tighter appears to be back at it, though this time around he's gotten more aggressive. According to NBC4, Police said a man tackled the 50-year-old woman about 10:30 p.m. as she walked along a footpath near the 9500 block of Lagersfield Circle. According to police the man grabbed......

If D.C.-area drivers are not known for their road skills, neither are local police known for enforcing the laws that might alter this behavior. We have no empirical proof that the cops of the region turn any particular blind eye to traffic violations. A few hours in a car during the evening rush, though, or even a spin through the many anecdotes posted in DCist comment threads should be enough to convince you that drivers......

It's been top national news all day, but we're still in shock over the tragedy that occurred last night at Unifest, the Union Temple Baptist Church's large soul-food festival along Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE. A woman drove her car through the crowded festival and struck at least 40 people. Thirty five people were taken to hospitals, seven with severe injuries. Two of the injured were children younger than 3. The mayhem happened at......

>> Vandals armed only with a U-shaped bicycle lock and a sense of irony managed to trap about 40 commuters on the Virginia Railway Express Monday near Woodbridge, when they locked the metal gates from the pedestrian bridge at the Rippon station. The gates, which the VRE removed Tuesday, were originally put there to keep vandals out of the station. [AP via NBC4] >> Post columnist Courtland Milloy makes a compelling case for abolishing......

Good morning, Washington. International politics watchers will no doubt spend their day today assigning meaning to the resignation of British Prime Minister Tony Blair. They'll speculate about the future of the Labour party, and draw conclusions regarding the possible consequences to the war in Iraq. Here at DCist, we toil with no such weighty topics. Nay, we'll spend our day fantasizing about what it must be like to live in a country where a massively......

As of yesterday, Metro was placed among the many city agencies with pricey downtown digs currently being considered for more a affordable address. Mayor Fenty approached Metro yesterday with the idea of selling its eight-story headquarters at 600 5th St. in Northwest and relocating to a new, state-of-the-art facility at the Anacostia Metro station. Fenty and city officials say that such a move would provide an economic boon to both the downtown and Southeast areas,......

After reporting last week on a slew of misaligned walk signs plaguing the city, we couldn't stop spotting them everywhere. At Florida Ave. and R St., NW, and Pennsylvania Ave. and 8th St., SE, all eight pedestrian signals were pointing away from oncoming foot traffic -- surely a dangerous state of affairs. While we originally speculated strong winds were responsible, several readers tipped us off on the most likely culprits: construction and delivery trucks. After......

This weekend DCist began noticing a handful of the city's "walk" signs knocked completely off-kilter. The storms and fierce winds appear to have moved several crossing lights out of alignment with crosswalks, in some cases leaving pedestrians clueless as to who has the right of way. We saw tourists, as well as long-time residents, hesitatingly searching for the proper signal at the intersection of Florida Ave./22nd St. and Q St. in Northwest. The walk signal......

Put the champagne on ice, kids. The Nats, at 4-9, are threatening to climb out of last place for the first time since last June, ahead of struggling Philadelphia. Both teams are 4.5 games back, but the Nats have one more win thus far. Try washing down your $90 million payroll with that, Phils fans! After a dreadful first turn through the rotation, the Nats starters have rebounded with some impressive performances as of late.......

So we're guessing by now, you've all seen the orange light bars that have been installed on Metrobuses to make them more visible to pedestrians. After seeing them the first time, we have to admit, our reaction was less than optimistic. Can a noisy, 50-foot long hunk of red-white-and-blue glass and steel be any more visible? Whether it's an oblivious pedestrian or a careless driver that is the cause of an accident, would a 12-inch......

Good morning, Washington. How about this weather, huh? We couldn't believe our ears when we heard some friends complaining about the warmth yesterday. "Sure, it's nice," they said, "But isn't it a little early to be this nice?" Bah! Well, take solace, warmthophobes: it'll be cooling down to the more April-appropriate sixty degree range soon enough. Webb Denies Giving Gun To Aide: Details regarding Webb aide Phillip Thompson and the gun he brought to the......