Can you survive on $4.44 a day for food? Like D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton before him, star chef Mario Batali is having trouble. more ›

A group of activists milled about outside the Wilson Building this morning urging elected officials to raise funding for the District's social safety-net programs in the coming budget for fiscal year 2013. more ›

Over the course of the four months that they remained at McPherson Square, Occupy D.C. protesters complained of growing income inequality throughout the U.S. Little did they know that they were camping out in one of the most unequal places in the country. more ›

A new report from the Urban Institute says that while the D.C. area weathered the late-2000s recession "relatively well," the region still endures a stubbornly high unemployment rate and a poverty rate of about 8 percent. more ›

How many District residents are considered poor? Enough to fill both RFK Stadium and Nationals Park, and still have folks leftover. How many Washingtonians are living in extreme poverty, making less than $5,300 per year for a single person? About 47,000 residents, or nine percent of the city's population. And what would it take to lift the District's low-income residents out of poverty? A full-time job paying between $12 to $15 an hour. These are some of the takeaways from an interesting report published today by the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute assessing the state of the District's poor and what it would take to raise their standards of living. more ›

This week, the District got two pieces of news that don't work well together. more ›

Bryan Singer spent something like $200 million a few years back trying to revive the Superman movie franchise. Shaikh Nasir’s Malegaon ka Superman came somewhat more frugally: about two grand. But every rupee of that modest sum is on the screen. He shoots on a handheld digicam. A "dolly shot" consists of three guys stabilizing him and pushing him forward on a bicycle while he clutches the camera with both hands. And he sure isn’t going to hire a stunt double for Sheikh Shafique, the poor, scrawny bastard he’s cast as the Last Son of Krypton. more ›

>> The District's poverty rate is the highest in nearly a decade, and the employment rate for African American adults is at a 20-year low. [WaPo] >> ACK! OMG! The Hair! The Hair! Blood on the Hair! [Princess Sparklepony] >> bam! smack!@ Pow! [craigslist] >> WASA says it has repaired the two holes that were leaking raw sewage into the Anacostia River. [WaPo] >> Adam Clampitt has filed papers to run as an independent... more ›

"The trouble with radicals,” goes a quote widely attributed to early 20th century economist Thomas Nixon Carver, “is that they only read radical literature, and the trouble with conservatives is that they don’t read anything.” That both sides of the political spectrum have proven that to be a lie will be apparent tomorrow tonight at the Trover Shop on Capitol Hill, which is hosting The Hill’s Sixth Annual Political Book Fair. Participating authors include current... more ›

Former Editor-in-Chief Ryan Avent writes a weekly column about neighborhood and development issues. The Washington Highlands neighborhood of the District of Columbia is terra incognita for many Washingtonians. Tucked up against the District’s southeastern border with Maryland’s Prince George’s County, the area is walled off from the rest of the city by Oxon Run Park, the Anacostia Freeway, Bolling Air Force Base, and the Anacostia River, not to mention the yawning gap between its economic... more ›

Former Editor-in-Chief Ryan Avent writes a weekly column about neighborhood and development issues. I don’t suppose it would surprise most District residents to hear that there are sharp differences in income between the city’s neighborhoods and racial and ethnic groups. We see it all around us, but especially in those parts of the city where the lives of the haves abut and intermingle with those of the have-nots. These gentrification frontiers are often a locus... more ›

Tom Knott: Once again, Tom Knott has managed to take what seems to be an isolated incident and turn it into evidence that liberalism of any sort is just evil. This week, Knott recounts the badly-handled trial of a Liberian immigrant accused of raping a seven-year-old girl in Montgomery County. Due to some bad decision by the trial judge, the charges were eventually dropped, though the county has stated that it will appeal. Regardless, it's... more ›

MONDAY: Freelance journalist and award-winning author Kieran Doherty will be at Olsson's in Old Town Alexandria to discuss her latest book, Sea Venture: Shipwreck, Survival, and the Salvation of the First English Colony in the New World, which chronicles the ship that went on to rescue Jamestown, even after most of the crew almost died in a hurricane. 7 p.m. Chasing Che author Patrick Symmes decided to go chasing Fidel Castro's former classmates when he... more ›

Former Editor-in-Chief Ryan Avent writes a weekly column about neighborhood and development issues. Over the past few weeks, events have conspired to place race squarely at the center of the debate over public education in the District of Columbia. After appointing Michelle Rhee the first ever Chancellor of District Schools, Mayor Fenty found himself faced with a barrage of criticism and innuendo from the Washington Post drawing attention to the fact that she was not... more ›

Written by DCist contributor John Harlow Earlier this week, Georgetown announced the appointment of Michael Eric Dyson to the university's faculty. A controversial media figure - Dyson was notably involved in a public spat with Bill Cosby, when he called the comedian's comments on race and poverty during a 2004 NAACP award speech "dangerously naive and empirically wrong" - and prolific author of nearly a dozen volumes of social and cultural theory, Dyson may be... more ›

They’re back in the limelight, and dressed to impress. After wooing fans up and down the coast on stage and TV, Hello Tokyo is now tackling the fashion industry. The D.C. based pop rockers have recently completed a photo shoot to be featured in Fashion Fight’s Poverty’s (FFP) 2007 Lookbook. What is Fashion Fights Poverty? “Featuring national and international designers who employ ethical means and practices in their design and manufacturing processes to produce products... more ›

Since 2003, D.C. residents have been able to pick up a copy of the now bi-monthly newspaper Street Sense from a local vendor for a dollar. Inside, one finds in-depth reporting on issues of homelessness and poverty, profiles of vendors -- members of the homeless who make 75 cents off every paper sold -- information on services by shelters, veterans groups and other organizations, book reviews (the current issue tackles John Edwards' Ending Poverty in... more ›

It's summer and our beloved Arts Editor is away this week, so the agenda is a little on the short side. Here are a few things to see. >> We have written before about the Washington Project for the Arts\Corcoran's Experimental Media project. Starting this week, WPA\C is hosting a new show called SiteProjects DC. Curator Welmoed Laanstra has asked 15 local artists to create site-specific outdoor artwork, both installations and performances, through July 28,... more ›

"Martin O'Malley signed the nation's first living wage law on Tuesday," read the Post this morning. Seems a little unfair, seeing as how the District passed its own living wage legislation back in January of 2006, a law which mandated that any firm receiving a District government contract in excess of $100,000 must pay its employees a minimum of $11.75 an hour. The Maryland law is similar; state contractors are required to pay workers $11.30 per hour in metropolitan areas such as Baltimore and D.C. and $8.50 per hour elsewhere. Governor O'Malley also happened to be a member of the Baltimore City Council back in 1994, when the city passed a landmark living wage law. more ›

>> Both the Examiner and the WaPo have stories today about the dreary work ahead for D.C.'s deputy mayor for education, Victor Reinoso. A recent report released by the Children’s Advocacy Roundtable which shows that 32 percent of children in the District of Columbia are living below the poverty line -- twice the national average. The report also highlights the high number of youth victims of violent crime and the high obesity rate among... more ›

Dear Hillary Clinton and Dick Cheney: feel free to do embarrassing things in public today. D.C.'s celebrity (and we use that term loosely) photogs are probably following around real celebs -- well, at least Angelina Jolie. Yesterday the Examiner gave us the heads-up on a litany of famous-outside-the-Beltway folks traipsing around town this week. So if you're a little tired of running into Nicolas Cage filming National Treasure 2, keep your eyes peeled for these... more ›

>> Looks like this morning's hellish Red Line delays were caused by an electrical malfunction involving the much-storied third rail. Sparks and smoke were first reported on the tracks between Dupont Circle and Woodley Park Stations at 7:15 a.m., forcing both north and southbound trains to share one track for two hours. Delays continued after the issue was resolved, as backed-up passengers filtered onto inbound trains. [Washington Post] >> One blogger tells the harrowing tale... more ›

While D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty officially pays tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. today at the University of the District of Columbia, one question comes to mind -- how well has the District actually guarded and promoted King's legacy? Given the state of a library and an avenue named after the famed civil rights fighter, not too well. The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library stands as a contradiction at the corner of Ninth... more ›

The opening night of Washington National Opera's final production of the fall, Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly, offers yet another opportunity to wonder why in the world this opera remains so popular with American audiences. Most opera fans, myself included, love this opera because the music, especially for the title character, is some of the most memorable that Puccini penned. However, the libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica tells a story that should inspire disgust.... more ›

is not your typical D.C. production. more ›

MONDAYEver wondered what it’s like to spend every day in the company of toothless, semi-retarded, supine bunny rabbits? You know, the sort that are fuzzy, cuddly and sometimes cute, but dumb as a box of rocks? Go see Helen Thomas discuss her new book Watchdogs of Democracy?: The Waning Washington Press Corps and How It Has Failed the Public. Olsson's Books & Records, 418 7th St. NW., 7 p.m. TUESDAY The popularity of the CSI... more ›

It's hardly a secret that the American people tend towards the larger side. It's even less a secret that obesity correlates with poverty -- the poorer the American, the more likely that they will eat unhealthy foods. And as the Washington Times reported yesterday, donations to local food banks seem not to be helping the problem any. more ›

What's new(est) with Wolf Parade? These brothers of Brock, peers of Pitchfork and travelers on the Arcade Fire turnpike are going strong. Yet they also maintain that aura of youthful poverty and subsequent spiritual wealth that's critical to their frenetic, idealism-tinged sound. Their EP drew buzz and their debut long player, Apologies to the Queen Mary, confirmed it. The group’s got almost as many side projects as members, with Arlen's AIDS Wolf and Krug's Thunder Cloud (or is it Swan Lake?) and Sunset Rubdown. Hell, they even picked up Dante DeCaro, formerly of Hot Hot Heat. These Canadians sure know how to stick together and be prolific. Speaking of which, where's the next Arcade Fire album... more ›

When the Minuteman Project set up shop in Herndon late last year, their ongoing crusade to act as a defense of last resort against illegal immigration brought national attention to the very local issue of day laborers. Day laborers -- primarily Hispanic, mostly illegal -- have long gathered in front of businesses and alongside busy roads, waiting to picked up by employers seeking landscaping or construction work. Their presence had been such that last August... more ›

In a perfect world, DCist would purchase its holiday gifts straight out of "Fantasy Gifts" section of the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book catalogue. Unfortunately, we lack the $3.5 million to purchase the Jetsonian M400 Skycar for Dad and the $1.5 million to lock up the private Elton John concert for Mom. Considering both our relative poverty and our reluctance to be a Cell Phone Bandit copycat, we must turn to other – significantly cheaper –... more ›