The T Street Station Post Office is moving up the block, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton announced in a press release yesterday. The mail depot, she said, will be relocating to the Franklin D. Reeves Center at 14th and U streets. more ›

Despite the fact that the U.S. Postal Service will likely lose another $5 billion in 2012, any plans to shut down post offices will be met with a fight -- especially by members of Congress. Locally, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton is claiming some wins. more ›

In an email sent to constituents last night, Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham reported that the U.S. Post Office located at 1915 14th Street NW will be closing on December 31. more ›

If you thought that the U.S. Postal Service was done making cuts to its brick-and-mortar operations, well, you were mistaken: word comes today that the USPS is now considering shutting down around ten percent of its retail outlets nationwide. more ›

Yesterday, the United States Postal Service announced that next year's batch of collectible Forever stamps would feature a very Washingtonian scene -- a rendering of the cherry blossom trees in full bloom. more ›

While it's no secret that the financial troubles of the United States Postal Service will likely lead to the closure of local post offices like the one at 14th and T Streets NW, it's also having another effect that may have slipped under your radar: a reduction in the number of familiar blue collection boxes around town. more ›

The United States Postal Service has been looking for ways to cut back on costs for, well, years now. But one of the biggest drains on USPS' yearly budget is their brick-and-mortar postal offices, which, with massive cuts in labor and a movement to online services, are often understaffed and underutilized. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that the USPS was looking to move on closing thousands of offices -- and Prince of Petworth publishes an email from a reader who overheard that the post office at 14th and T Streets would be "closing in a few months." more ›

UPDATE: The package has been deemed non-hazardous by the Metropolitan Police Department. more ›

Earlier this afternoon, a suspicious package at a U.S. Post Office at 3300 V Street NE ignited into flames -- now there are some additional details on that story. Authorities have admitted that there were two suspicious packages which were discovered at the D.C. post office this afternoon -- neither package was opened, but one was thrown into a bin and caught on fire. The packages reportedly resemble the two packages which were addressed to Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley and flared up inside Maryland state buildings yesterday. more ›

Not to depress the whole lot of you, but this story in USA Today -- about how the United States Post Office is receiving more letters to Santa from children asking for basic needs instead of toys -- is one of the most melancholic news blasts I've read in some time. more ›

The elements apparently really had it in for the Postal Service last night. Not only was the Curseen-Morris Mail Processing Facility/Brentwood Post Office one of the many properties near Rhode Island Avenue NE which lost power due to the high winds, but the Post also reports that two postal employees suffered minor injuries after the wind blew out windows on as many as 30 mail trucks at the building. True to the creed, however, normal mail service is not expected to be affected in D.C. today. more ›

One service that managed to keep rolling during December 2009's big snowstorm was the Saturday mail delivery. But WTOP reports this morning that all D.C.-area post offices will be closed today -- there will be no mail delivery or collection. (Here's hoping you got all your Netflix provisions and pertinent tax documents in yesterday's mail.) more ›

No, literally. The Post reports that employees at the U.S. Post Office at 2 Massachusetts Avenue NE are suffering from a leak located somewhere in the undercarriage of the old building which is causing brown stains on the ceiling and an overwhelming sewage scent. Yummy! Not content with attempting to overthrow one of the District's busiest postal centers, the gaseous amalgam of odor is also attacking the Capitol City Brewing Company, also located in the National Postal Museum building. Attacking the mail is one thing; once our beer is threatened, something must be done. But just like The Fog, efforts to fix the atmospheric disruption will be convoluted: "embedded really strongly in the concrete," the source of the scent can really only be reached by digging holes into the walls and floors of the 95-year-old structure. more ›

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? more ›

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 --... more ›

We at the Gothamist network would like to express our heartfelt wishes to the people of Minnesota in the days after their tragic bridge collapse. We're not trying to discount the severity of the accident by making note of it in opposition to our usual -Ist lightheartedness – we just wanted to take a moment and recognize those affected last week. After the Minneapolis bridge collapse, Bostonist did a little research and found that Massachusetts... more ›

Flickr user wyntuition took this wonderfully lit long exposure from the top of 1201 Pennsylvania Avenue. The Old Post Office has a fantastic haunted feel here. What a great view from your office, but we have to hope our photographer won't be working nearly as late tonight! EXIF. more ›

It's a good year to be a last-minute tax filer in Washington. (As if there's ever a good time to send your hard-earned dollars to the government.) First there was Emancipation Day, now the District Office of Tax and Revenue is granting an automatic two-day extension for filling your D.C. income taxes. This short reprieve is in response to yesterday's wind and rain, which knocked out power around the area. Local tax forms are now... more ›

It seems like, all across the network, folks were up to no good. Maybe it was all the green beer from last weekend... Gothamist spent the week writing about New Yorkers behaving badly: at the post office, at the Garden, and at the fertility clinic. Calvin Klein may not be misbehaving, but he's just a little dirty, and in a completely different way than some NYC kitchens. SFist had its share of misbehave-rs, too, like... more ›

Morning Washington. Animals everywhere are breathing sighs of relief this morning after one giant creature makes a recovery and five little creatures get some justice. Ambika, the Asian elephant at the National Zoo was found with a blood clot yesterday, worrying the vets with what could have been a life threatening condition for the 59-year-old female. Luckily, the clot isn't dangerous, and Ambika looks to live will beyond the typical 50-ish year elephant life expectancy... more ›

In the comments for our post about the fire at the Columbia Heights Metro station, another CH problem caught our eye - mail. Apparently some Columbia Heightsters (or Height-ites?) have been having issues with their snail mail. more ›

>>You are hereby ordered to step away from the desk and immediately proceed to the DAM! venue of your choice. >>If you're way too cool for that, check out the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum's event tonight. The best part? The inventor of the majestic Klingon language will be on hand. Qapla! >> Apparently it's hard to run for president without being master of your domain. [Yeas and Nays] >>Get ready to find those horny... more ›

So suddenly it's chilly? Yesterday we were all sweaty messes, but today, with highs predicted to stay in the 60s, we're wearing sweaters. All this temperature-related confusion has led us to look longingly at the Southwest Airlines web site, since the airline finally began service from Dulles this morning. Cheap flights to Vegas are looking pretty sweet. And while we're of course very sad to be reminded of the demise of our hometown airline, we take some comfort knowing that the airline that replaced it actually trains its flight attendants be snarky. Who needs an assigned seat when you've got that much sass on your hands? more ›

Earlier this week Matthew Yglesias took us to task for referring to a "Mid-City" part of town when discussing a campaign for a new Trader Joe's near U Street. Matt is actually quite wrong to suggest "shady real estate cabals" are the architects of the term Mid-City, but the fault for his misinformation is likely ours. You see, last winter we ran a post mocking the MidCity Business Association's moniker, basically accusing them of trying... more ›

Remember when you used to go to a classmate's birthday party and Mom would hand out lists with things like "a red paperclip" and "an oak leaf," and then you'd break in your new Reeboks tearing around the streets and pestering the elderly neighbors so your team could make it back to homebase first with your collection? Well it seems the ever-growing community of Flickr users have found a way to recreate that game... more ›

Members of the Kirov Opera and its Orchestra, normally in residence at the historic Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, Russia, come to the Kennedy Center periodically to present touring productions of operas and other great pieces of music. Last night, we were in the Opera House to see the first performance of their staging of Giacomo Puccini's last and perhaps greatest opera, Turandot. It was an excellent show, with well-performed music and a splashy, colorful... more ›

The U.S. government is soliciting bids for a potential renovation of the Old Post Office building, the Pennsylvania Avenue landmark which has held government offices since 1899. The General Services Administration is soliciting bids from companies interested in "redeveloping the OPO and its annex, the OPO alone or the annex alone," but the press release makes clear renovation by the private sector is anything but certain: "If GSA determines through its review that redevelopment is... more ›

President Bush in his most recent State of the Union address said that he wanted to support the development of an "ownership society" where every American stands to benefit from the pride of owning something, whether it be a strong investment portfolio or a ranch with lots of brush to clear. In New York, D.C., and elsewhere, this ownership society includes the giant real estate conglomerates that hold a great deal of power in how... more ›

Good morning, Washington. This photo is from KimTheWolf who posted the shot of a bed of yellow daffodils near the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 25th Street NW in DCist Photos. Although temperatures will be pleasant approaching 70 degrees, Capital Weather says that for Sunday, temperatures will be "downright chilly" in the low 50s. Kansas Senator Warns D.C. to Watch Its Step: Sen. Sam Brownback, the Kansas Republican who chairs the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on... more ›