On Capitol Hill, "March Madness" might refer to any number of psychoses. Surely a lot of college basketball fans took heart/umbrage in March 2006 when Duke (Cunningham) was sentenced to prison over charges of bribery, mail fraud, wire fraud, and tax evasion. Now Roll Call is rendering NCAA brackets in a language that sports-averse D.C. wonks will understand. The newspaper's Final Four, as represented by the Representatives associated with the top-seed schools that survived sports'......

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......

Roll Call had a subscriber-only story up yesterday about today's kick-off of an effort on the part of non-profit Trust for the National Mall to raise $350 million to revitalize Washington's top tourist destination. Students from Ann Beers Elementary School in Southeast are getting things going today by planting 3,000 daffodil bulbs in Constitution Gardens. Citing maintenance needs due to heavy use like cracked walkways and patchy grass, the Trust will be working alongside the......

In case you missed it in the briefly noted in this morning's news round-up, someone has been setting garbage can fires in Senate bathrooms for a few days now. On Wednesday there were four such fires between 10:45 a.m. and 2 p.m., thankfully quickly extinguished. Police say Wednesdays' fires are connected (duh). And it turns out that similar fires were lit last week. From (subscription-only) Roll Call:Three of the fires set Wednesday took place in......

After being removed from committee postings by his Republican colleagues in the Senate and being called upon to resign by the likes of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), embattled Sen. Larry Craig went "on vacation" with his wife Wednesday, according to the Washington Post. The fallout surrounding his guilty plea to lewd conduct in a men's bathroom in the Minneapolis airport has only intensified since Roll Call first broke the......

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters yesterday that he would definitely not bring the D.C. Voting Rights Act to the floor before September. This is pretty much what we've been expecting for the last week or so, but it's now officially confirmed. It's a little bit disappointing to have to continue to wait, but considering Reid also described the bill's status as being "close" to having 60 votes, which would be enough votes......

As you'll of course recall from back in late March, during the House floor debate on the voting rights issue, Rep. Louie Gohmert volunteered to represent the interests of the District's voters in the House of Representatives. Considering we still don't have a full voting member of our own, we kindly thanked the congressman by asking all of you to get in touch with Rep. Gohmert so that he could address your concerns personally.......

People around the country have long complained that politicians are full of it. Now their workplace is too. The story, apparently broken by Roll Call, is that on Wednesday, workers found at least three piles of poo (yes, actual poo) in the hall on the Senate side of the building, and possibly some more in a gallery overlooking the Senate chamber. There have been piles of questions about this - some have speculated it was......

>> Yesterday we wrote about the Amish market in Burtonsville being relocated next summer when the shopping center where it's located will be demolished. The blogger at Just Up The Pike seems to have information that the owner of an acre-sized plot behind Route 198 has expressed interest in leasing to the market, thus keeping Burtonsville residents sated with an uninterrupted supply of delicious Amish fried chicken. >> Private tour buses are set to......

Via Free Ride, which is running a photo we're totally envious of depicting Mayor Adrian Fenty with a mile-wide grin and D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton with what can only be described as a growl-like expression at Tuesday's Senate hearing on the D.C. Voting Rights Act, it's worth clarifying a change to the Senate version of bill for the sake of the ongoing conversation we've been having about its constitutionality. According to this morning's Roll......

The Post is reporting today that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) has announced that legislation to grant the District a voting seat in the House of Representatives will be debated again, and hopefully passed, in mid-April. Hoyer noted that the Democratic leadership is looking for ways to prevent last Thursday's debacle, when Republicans used a procedural motion to derail the legislation. D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton warned against any further Republican foot-dragging on the......

It was just two weeks ago that hundreds of District residents gathered to lobby Congress into passing legislation that would grant the District a voting seat in the House. There seemed to be some momentum; all that was missing was for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to schedule a vote. But as is often the case with the District's uphill quest for enfranchisement, the legislation has his a snag. Roll Call, via FreeRide, is......

Republicans can't even let the District have a symbolic victory, can they? Roll Call is reporting today that House Republicans are threatening to sue over a rule change passed Wednesday that allows D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and the representatives of U.S. territories to vote on amendments to legislation on the House Floor. Republicans claim that only states should have the right to vote on the House floor, and that the change grants the Democratic......

Woooeee. As noted in the Morning Roundup, the DCist staff party was a bit of a killer last night. Ask DCist Adam about his recipe for Tom & Jerrys. Or, alternatively, if you want to live, don't. Here's some bits and pieces to send you out the door and, if your weekend is anything like ours, into a frenzy of holiday parties. >> Be careful if you're headed out and around the Shaw Metro stop......

Wondering about the Next Kliman After yesterday's news that Todd Kliman was leaving the City Paper, we got to wondering about who his eventual replacement would be. Kliman -- like many food writers -- did not get the position from any formal "food writing" training, but from a love of writing and food. In a prior life, he was one of Howard University's coolest professors, and it took him a year to finally land a......

The vitality of thought is in adventure. Ideas won't keep. Something must be done about them. When the idea is new, its custodians have fervor, live for it, and, if need be die for it. Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) British mathematician and philosopher OK, so I won't necessarily die for my ideas (I'd make a horrible Vercingetorix or Imre Nagy), but you get the point. Starting DCist nearly a year ago, I had no idea......

Although the news today has been dominated by the tragic events in London, we have been planning to announce some changes here at DCist. Today we are sad to announce something you may have already heard: DCist co-editor Mike Grass will be leaving DCist. He'll be editing and developing the local pages of the Post's Express. Mike will also be leaving his job at Roll Call, where he's been since January 2003. Although we here......

File this story under the "Petty Politics" category. Via The Stakeholder, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's own blog, we find that Roll Call is reporting that Democratic financier and philanthropist George Soros, at right, has floated the idea of buying the Washington Nationals, recently having joined the ranks of one of the groups that submitted a bid for the team. Congressional Republicans, upon having heard the rumor, slyly implied that action could be taken against......

Bitten by a Bat? After an increase in rabid bats discovered in D.C., the Department of Health has issued a warning to watch out, the W.Times reports. DCist isn't really sure how you can avoid rabid bats, but if you do happen to come across one it's probably best to not taunt them or examine their teeth. Warmer weather brings out greater bat activity! From the W.Times: Those who think they might have been bitten......

Just a scant two weeks before the publication of Jessica Cutler's "The Washingtonienne," The Smoking Gun points us to the news that former Cutler paramour Robert Steinbuch (at left) is suing her for "invasion of privacy" and "severe emotional distress, humiliation, embarrassment, and anguish". The Smoking Gun has image files of the 21-page document, which does not ask for a specific amount in monetary damages. The "news" has also hit Roll Call's subscriber-only Heard on......

Washington, D.C., may not be a locale frequently visited by the flaws and foibles of A-List celebrities, but the nexus of power and politics nevertheless yields a generous supply of dish. Washingtonians know where to get their gossip, and they have a decent array of choice: such as kitten-with-a-whip Wonkette, the above-the-fray Reliable Source Richard Leiby, the unbuttoned back pages of The Hill and Roll Call's "Heard on the Hill," the window into vicarious living......

DCist reported a few weeks ago that Saturday breakfast service at the Market Lunch in Eastern Market was ending--and judging by the reactions of DCist readers and forum members over at eGullet, no one was happy about the decision. Well, good news for all you fans of blueberry pancakes and "The Brick": weekend breakfasts at the Market Lunch are back. Both The Hill (fourth item) and Roll Call report that Tom Glasgow, who runs the......

(From DCist contributor Kanishka Gangopadhyay) It seems that D.C. has had two reality show-related rumors in the last week. First, the rumors of the Real World coming to D.C. began circulating again thanks to an E! column, but they were quickly debunked. Now, Roll Call reports (website access is for subscribers only) that Fox producers have approached congressional leaders in an effort to procure internships for Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, stars of the network’s......

The lower terrace of the Capitol’s West Front will close to pedestrian traffic Sept. 22 when construction of stands for the 2005 inauguration ceremony begins, Roll Call is reporting. During the construction, entrances will be closed and public tours will be detoured. We've heard that according to a Sept. 10 memorandum issued by Architect of the Capitol Alan Hantman, the lower terrace will remain closed until mid-February 2005, after the stands are removed. The inauguration......

Counterterrorism security efforts on Capitol Hill have been taken up a notch with Senate leaders along with the Capitol Police agreeing that closing First Street between the Russell and Dirksen Senate office buildings "indefinitely" is a smart move, Roll Call and the Post report. City leaders are livid, with the mayor's spokesman saying: "This is not Beirut." Mayor Anthony Williams told the Post the "nervous nellies in Congress" are overreacting. The Post says the Williams......