An anonymous reader sent DCist a series of photos of a D.C. Department of Public Works garbage truck driving through a recreation field in Rose Park in Georgetown last Saturday. The tipster described the truck as having hopped the curb to gain access to the "grass of a children's play area" in the park, and wondered whether this was safe. No one was injured, but a baby carriage in the foreground of the images certainly......

The Department of Consumer & Regulatory Affairs is officially launching a new blog next week associated with its Collegiate Off-Campus Housing Initiative, called ThisShouldBeIllegal.com. The basic idea of the web-based program, according to DCRA spokesperson Michael Rupert, is "to try and get college kids to make sure they are being rented to legally." Under D.C. law, your landlord is required to have a business license, and the process of obtaining one prompts an automatic safety......

The District Department of Transportation is hosting a city-wide public meeting tonight on the final draft of the District Draft Pedestrian Master Plan. If you still haven't had a gander at the plan itself, you can read it here. The plan includes a mix of efforts, including things like restriping crosswalks, changing signal timings, installing more Rapid Flash Beacons, and other tactics that target 61 "high hazard" traffic intersections. Some of the dangerous intersections and......

Mayor Adrian Fenty held a news conference yesterday to announce his support for emergency legislation that would ban the sale and use of all consumer fireworks in the District. The bill is set to be introduced to the D.C. Council on Tuesday. Setting off fireworks in the city during the July 4th holiday has long been a tradition in certain District neighborhoods, but has also been a source of safety concerns, not to mention noise......

Photo by katmere It started with the ping pong table outside Comet. Then it was the benches and patio table outside Marvelous Market. Now venerable local bookstore Politics and Prose has been dragged into the ongoing saga of ANC 3F04 Commissioner Frank Winstead's war against there being any reason for people to congregate on the sidewalk along a stretch of upper Connecticut Ave. NW. The bookstore's weekly email newsletter was sent out overnight, which......

The Post digs in to the D.C. Department of Transportation's plans to unveil a new pedestrian strategy today that aims to reduce accidents and injuries in the city's most dangerous intersections and crosswalks. The plan includes a mix of efforts, including things like restriping crosswalks, changing signal timings, installing more Rapid Flash Beacons, and other tactics that target 61 "high hazard" traffic intersections. Some of the intersections and crossings mentioned in the story include Howard......

Last summer we posted this video, which was put together by ANC 3F04 Commissioner Frank Winstead in an attempt to frighten his upper Northwest neighbors into doing something about the terrible scourge of the outdoor ping-pong table at Comet Ping Pong on Connecticut Ave. Many of our commenters laughed off Winstead's scaremongering, wondering why an ANC commissioner would want to come down hard on one of the only interesting new businesses to open in......

The Post's Clarence Williams alerts us to the new ad campaign from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments's Street Smart program, which aims to scare the bejeezus out of drivers and pedestrians in the hopes that we'll all be a lot more careful out on the road. A new study shows that on average more than 80 people die and 2,000 people are injured a year in pedestrian accidents in the Washington region. In addition......

Yesterday we briefly mentioned some new figures from Metro showing a big increase in assaults on Metrobus drivers. The number of assaults has risen from 36 in 2002 to 84 in 2007. Of the assaults last year, 56 were in the District, 21 were in Maryland and seven were in Virginia. "The assaults range from being spit on, to hit with sticks, bricks, poles, open hands, guns and knives to fondling and attempting to undress......

After a fire gutted Eastern Market last April, the stretch of 7th Street SE adjacent to the market building was closed off on weekends to accommodate vendors, construction of the temporary East Hall and reconstruction of the South Hall. In an interview on WTOP (link to audiostream) last week, Ward 6 Council member Tommy Wells said he wants to keep 7th Street that way. The Hill picked up the story on Wednesday, and the Hilleast......

Yesterday, I found it difficult to write about Washington's loss over the weekend to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It had nothing to do with the play on the field, which amounted to a carbon copy of the previous week's loss. Jason Campbell strove mightily to lead the team past their mistakes, only to be done in by mistakes of his own. A game changing moment came when the offense failed to obtain some badly needed......

After what was thought to be a succesful surgery, Redskins safety Sean Taylor died earlier this morning in Florida. His wounds -- a gunshot to his femoral artery, causing significant blood loss -- proved to be too much for his body to recover from. He was shot in what police are calling a home invasion on Monday. In a statement posted on the team's website, owner Dan Snyder said, "This is the worst imagineable tragedy.......

Good morning, Washington. It's news of the weird day today on DCist, as the Post tells the bizarre story of two 2nd-year engineering students from U-Va. who have been charged with the kidnapping of a man in Tysons Corner and demanding $500,000 in ransom. Both the two kidnappers and the victim are Chinese nationals who had been living with host families in Virginia while attending college. Police arrested Guanyu Lu and Baichuan Shu, both 19,......

It appears that tragedy has struck the Redskins. Emerging reports indicate that Washington Redskins Safety Sean Taylor has been shot in an apparent burglary attempt on his home, with one source claiming that Taylor is "fighting for his life". The Redskins have just released a statement confirming the shooting.Ashburn, VA - The Washington Redskins became aware of a situation this morning in which safety Sean Taylor was the victim of a shooting at his residence......

Good morning, Washington, and welcome back to what will be a rather short work week for most of us. While airports and train stations are sure to be jammed with holiday travelers this week, the city's roads and metro system should be a little less crowded than normal as folks head out of town early to celebrate Thanksgiving. Less congestion may not make much of a difference in road safety, however, if a new survey......

Good morning, Washington. Recent increases in gun-related crime in the city seems to be today's main topic of news, just as the Supreme Court may announce today whether it intends to take another look at D.C.'s handgun ban. D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty has scheduled a press conference this morning to address the District's position on its gun safety law, but in the meantime the Washington Post is questioning the law's effectiveness and just last......

What's That You Say? is our roundup of the best comments from last week's posts. So help us out and keep saying funny, interesting, and weird stuff. We know you can. ------ Speaking of weird, in regards to the manhole fire post, Jeffrey has this to say about the Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers in our city: If I've said it once, I've said it thousand times: this city needs to launch a fire safety......

Commenter Nate asked if we would look into what's been happening on the Red line lately, which he describes as having been suffering from "morning and/or afternoon delays every day for nearly two weeks now." Indeed, we've heard others grumbling about the Red line of late, which is usually one of Metro's speediest rush hour options. WMATA explains that the current Red line delays are due to ongoing work needed to replace pieces of......

We were alerted yesterday via the Art Law Blog that the U.S. Department of the Interior is gearing up to change motion and still photography rules on federally run lands. In an amendment to current regulations, three DOI agencies, the Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Services, and the National Park Service, will be authorized to charge standardized fees to and require a permit from commercial photographers who want to shoot in an area......

Now that it's getting darker earlier, bicyclists in the city need to be more careful about riding at night. But if you're like me, you've been putting off buying a safety light for oh, forever. So I'm planning on being first in line this Friday, November 2 at the Suntrust Plaza in Adams Morgan to snag free front and rear bike lights courtesy the Washington Area Bicyclist Association and DDOT. All you have to do......

Welcome to Friday, Washington. More reactions to the Metro Board's proposed fare hikes this morning, as The Examiner quotes the chairman of Metro's Riders Advisory Board claiming he'll be switching to driving from Rockville to Rosslyn at least two days a week if the increases go into effect. Do the proposed fare hikes make you think you'll change your commuting habits? Operator Error Blamed in Track Deaths: Another report about a terrible Metro accident from......

After two hate crimes this fall and a foiled attempt by a student LGBT group to deliver a petition to him, Georgetown University President John DeGioia announced last night that the school will have a dedicated LGBTQ resource center by next fall. Scott Chessare, co-president of Georgetown's LGBT student group GU Pride, called the announcement a win and said to the Georgetown Voice, "I don’t think we would have believed less than two months ago......

Happy Tuesday, Washington. The news broke early this morning that Judge Roy Pearson will reportedly lose his job, according to sources cited by the Post. Pearson, who infamously sued the owners of Custom Cleaners first for $65 million and then later for $54 million for misplacing a pair of his pants, is a District administrative law judge who has continued to draw a paycheck despite being taken off of his case work since the......

The new record for the longest amount of consecutive days without measurable rainfall at Washington National Airport is scheduled to end later today, as showers and possibly a pretty heavy thunderstorm are predicted for this afternoon. But CapitalWeather.com says this rain event won't be enough to make a dent in the area's drought, as the rain will be short-lived and the amounts modest for the most part. Still, it's been a while since you had......

The National Transportation Safety Board released its findings this afternoon from an investigation into the January derailment of a Green line train near the Mt. Vernon Square/Convention Center stop. The accident, in which the fifth car of a six-car train jumped the rails and hit a wall in the tunnel, injured 20 people and left around 60 passengers stranded in the tunnel for nearly 45 minutes. The Associated Press has the first word on the......

Written by DCist Contributer Josh Kramer The Eagle – American University: >>AU students lamented losing their Hollywood Video this week, which is holding a giant closing sale and selling all of its movies. It's unclear what will become of the space, conveniently located next to the AU shuttle bus stop and the Tenleytown-AU Metro station. >>Sgt. Zachary Tellier, a 1998 AU graduate, was killed by enemy fire while fighting in Afghanistan on the 29th of......

Jason Campbell couldn't miss, the defensive line looked like a wrecking crew, Carlos Rogers actually intercepted a pass (and returned it for a touchdown!), and Baby Jesus announced his preference for Joe Gibbs over Jon Kitna in a beating of the Detroit Lions so savage that Daniel Snyder had plenty of free time to stop worrying about the state of his football team, and start worrying about how the rides from his terrible theme parks......

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,......

Written by DCist Contributor Fredo Alvarez Campus Pride, the nation's largest non-profit student LGBT organization, this week launched its Campus Climate Index, an online report card that allows LGBT students from colleges across the country to rate their schools on their inclusiveness and support of LGBT students, employees and their allies. Schools are rated on a scale from one to five stars based on a voluntary survey. Of 80 public and private institutions that......

>> Via Mid-Atlantic Art News, nearly every one on the Washington Post arts staff has been slammed over last Thursday's article on art in the White House Green Room. The Seattle Post-Intellgencer blog calls Post writer Jacqueline Trescott's race labeling of Jacob Lawrence as "the greatest African-American artist of the 20th century" a "disgrace," the staff photographer inept, and most hilariously, Blake Gopnik, who gets skewered though he wasn't even involved with the article,......