President Obama stopped by Taylor Gourmet this morning to participate in a roundtable discussion on small businesses. No word yet on whether he ordered a sammie. more ›

House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King (R-N.Y.) says he'd rather not meet with the Colombian prostitute in the middle of the scandal that ensnared the U.S. Secret Service last month. more ›

The Secret Service agents who dragged the agency into a pit of scandal after soliciting prostitutes while in Colombia were body-obsessed "stupid brutes," according to the sex worker at the heart of the story. more ›

The uproar over a dozen Secret Service agents and officers who solicited prostitutes while on duty in Cartagena, Colombia earlier this month is now the source of some tension between the United States and Colombia's top diplomat here. more ›

President Obama told Jimmy Fallon in an interview that will air tonight that he finds the uproar over a dozen Secret Service officers accused of soliciting prostitutes earlier this month while on duty in Colombia to be "a little distracting." more ›

Two of the 11 Secret Service personnel who allegedly solicited prostitutes and escorts last week while on duty in Cartagena, Colombia were identified yesterday. One, David Randall Chaney, was on Sarah Palin's detail in 2008. more ›

The New York Daily News has rustled up a photo of the sex worker in Cartagena, Colombia who reportedly sparked one of the biggest scandals in the history of the U.S. Secret Service after two agents allegedly refused to pay her her going rate. more ›

The Secret Service announced that it has let go three of the 11 agents suspended for alleged misconduct while in Cartagena, Colombia last week ahead of a visit there by President Obama, The Washington Post reports. more ›

As the Secret Service continues to investigate its agents' solicitation of prostitutes while in Colombia ahead of a recent presidential trip there, the more we're learning about the sex trade in that country. more ›

The U.S. Secret Service agents at the center of a Colombian sex scandal allegedly bragged to the prostitutes they hired about their work protecting President Obama. more ›

President Obama said he'll be angry if allegations about Secret Service agents hiring prostitutes in Colombia are proven true. Meanwhile, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) says he'll be watching the agency's internal investigation. more ›

Up to 12 Secret Service agents were recalled from Colombia late this week after allegations surfaced that one may have been involved with a prostitute. more ›

If the Republican nomination battle between Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum seems a little staid, think of it as an epic battle between two mythical warriors: Javelin vs. Petrus. Sounds little sharper, eh? more ›

UPDATE: NBCWashington reports that the package has been declared safe, and pedestrian access around the White House should be opening back up soon. more ›

This sounds like it must be a joke, but apparently, it's not. Infamous White House crashers Michaele and Tareq Salahi were stopped in a limo by Secret Service officers near the White House Wednesday night, the Associated Press is reporting. The incident occurred at the same time that President Barack Obama was hosting his second state dinner, this time in honor of Mexico's president. more ›

The massive Nuclear Summit heading to the Washington Convention Center next week is bringing along with it major road closures, barricades, checkpoints, bus rerouting, the shuttering of an entire Metro station, and all sorts of other headaches for the Mt. Vernon Square, Shaw and Chinatown neighborhoods. For all the specific details on what will be closed and when, see our earlier post and map. more ›

There was a brief suspicious package investigation around 15th and E streets NW on Wednesday evening, in the area of the Ellipse. As so often happens, the package, which turned out to be a plastic bag with clothes in it, was cleared so quickly we didn't even have a chance to report on it before the incident was already over. But as it turns out, there was more than package on display last night. The Post reports that the man who owned the bag of clothes had discarded it because he decided to go for a naked jog on E Street.

"He wasn't yelling or protesting. Just going for a jog," Wiley said. more ›

Truly charming news out of Hagerstown: the AP via WTOP reports that the Secret Service detained a Maryland man who showed up to one of Sen. Ben Cardin's health care reform town hall meetings with a sign reading, "Death to Obama." And wait, it gets even charming-er! The sign also reportedly read, "Death to Michelle and her two stupid kids." Thanks for classing up the joint, unidentified 51-year-old Maryland man. We're sure everyone appreciates your erudite contributions to the health care reform debate. more ›

As expected, the U.S. Secret Service, along with regional transportation officials and the MPD, unveiled their plan yesterday to close all Potomac River bridge crossings on Inauguration Day. The announcement also included the above map, which shows plans to close off almost 3.5 square miles of downtown Washington to vehicular traffic starting at 3 p.m. on January 19 until the morning of January 21. You can download PDFs of both the Law Enforcement and Public Safety Public Affairs Subcommittee Joint Transportation Plan and the Secret Service Security Plan at the D.C. government's Getting There web site. Both documents contain extensive information on road closures and restrictions throughout the inaugural celebration period. Maryland and Virginia also have special web sites set up with the latest information. Below the jump, you'll find excerpts from the recent announcements that include lists of road closures and traffic restrictions. Of special note for those of you planning on walking down to the National Mall for the inauguration will be the list of pedestrian access points -- you'll want to pick which way you plan to walk before you set out that morning, or you may find yourself stuck.
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Blogger, itinerant rock critic, and former NPR Arts Editor Bill Wyman had a fine piece in yesterday’s Washington Post introducing the Moby Quotient, the formula he and, uh, “hyperbolic geometry” expert Jim Anderson have devised for quantifying exactly how egregiously a given artist has sold out when they license one of their songs to an advertiser. (Moby, in case you don’t know, won the dubious honor of having this formula named after him for his... more ›

The six protesters at American University who were recently charged with crossing a police line and disorderly conduct for blocking the path of Karl Rove's car (seen above) will pay $100 fines to settle the charges. As we mentioned earlier, arrest warrants were issued by the Secret Service for the protesters only last week, many months after the original April 3 incident and long after the students involved had served the 40 hours of... more ›

This one has been covered already by a few of our fellow bloggers, but it's almost too good to pass up. Yesterday Wonkette reported that departing White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove was looking to get even with some students at American University who had the tenacity to show him their asses. See, back in April Rove gave a speech before the university's College Republicans, meeting with some feisty protestors as he made... more ›

In the case of Marion Barry vs. "The Enemies of the People," Barry, it seems, always comes out on top. The "Mayor for Life" has been cleared of the last of his traffic charges after the D.C. attorney general's office filed court papers electing not to go forward. The Ward 8 Council member was pulled over by U.S. Park Police for driving too slowly on Dec. 16. In June, Barry was acquitted of driving under... more ›

When Open Circle Theater company announced it would be reworking Jason Robert Brown’s Songs For A New World to revolve around the Iraq war, it was hard to squelch images of flag-waving, canons booming, and rewritten lyrics resembling "I’m not afraid of anything/be it religious extremists, guns or sand." Fortunately, Open Circle’s take has much more sincerity, skill and imagination driving their interpretation, though ultimately, the work stands up better unadorned. Songs, which recently was... more ›

As Sommer mentioned earlier this week, I was fortunate enough to have been invited to speak on a panel on D.C. voting rights at the YearlyKos Convention, a huge gathering of progressive activists and bloggers in Chicago. This morning I will be sitting alongside D.C. Shadow Rep. Mike Panetta, Danny Rose from DC Vote and Kesh Luddewhetty of DC for Democracy, all of whom will detail the current fight for voting rights, where it stands... more ›

Good morning, Washington. Enjoy that cool temperature outside while it lasts (60° right now!), because the heat will be back before you know it (i.e. this weekend), so much so that you'll probably need to switch on the old A/C come Sunday. Mayor Fenty's nominee for Schools Chancellor, Michelle Rhee, knows a little something about sitting around in expectation of feeling the heat herself right now -- there's the questions about the secret way Fenty... more ›

Former mayor and D.C. Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) was back in court yesterday on charges stemming from two traffic stops last year, one of which resulted from what Secret Service officers say was erratic driving under the influence of alcohol. The full list of charges against Barry, 71, include driving while under the influence, operating a vehicle while impaired, operating an unregistered vehicle and misuse of temporary tags. The trial is scheduled to... more ›

>> In wake of yesterday's tragedy, Virginia Tech has canceled most of its spring sports events. [ABC 7] >> Two Secret Service officers have been injured in an accidental shooting outside the White House, inside the southwest gate security booth. Secret Service spokeswoman Kim Bruce said one officer was injured in the leg and the other received a shrapnel wound in his face. It's not clear how the accidental shooting took place. The Secret Service... more ›

Ah Easter. A day traditionally filled with brightly colored eggs and the bunnies that inexplicably lay them, a fat honeyed ham, and clusterbombs. Well, the last one may not be a tradition yet, but the Vineeta Foundation and a coalition of other peace advocacy groups including Code Pink, DAWN, Voters for Peace, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Coalition for Justice and Accountability, Democracy Rising, US Campaign to End the Occupation, Backbone Campaign, After Downing St., Iran Coalition... more ›

We mentioned in it the roundup, and our search for really great still shots of what went down has come up empty so far (though thanks to all the AU students who've sent us photos and personal accounts directly), but this video is making its way through the series of You Tubes, and it's worth sharing. You can read the WaPo's account of the "citizen's arrest" attempt/protest action carried out by a group of... more ›