The Anacostia River, which has been blamed for altering the gender of fish and producing a funky smell, just got funkier. The Post is reporting that raw sewage is flowing into the Anacostia River from a leak in a major sewer line that carries untreated waste from a pumping station in Southeast Washington, D.C. Thanks, WASA! The cause and size of the leak was not immediately known, and WASA's chief engineer claimed it was the... more ›

Good morning, Washington. Remember last week, when we were wondering what kind of a plan a criminal had after stealing a tanker truck hauling gasoline in Baltimore? The truck was later found parked on South Capitol Street in Southwest D.C., drained of about 7,000 gallons of No. 2 diesel fuel. This morning we learn that the missing gasoline was found at a Chevron station in Southeast Washington, which police are now investigating. Weekend Protests Saw... more ›

After FOX5 first broke the story last night, reports popped up all over today about how former mayor and Ward 8 Council member Marion Barry was the victim of a burglary at his home about a month ago, while he was traveling for a few days in China. That he was there addressing an association of Chinese mayors is humorous (presumably it was some sort of Scared Straight program), but that's not what's makes this... more ›

Exciting news this fine morning for the many Washingtonians who draw their paychecks from the USDA — you may still be paid after you die. The Post reports that the The U.S. Department of Agriculture distributed $1.1 billion over seven years to the estates or companies of dead people, though granted, they were actually all farmers instead of government employees. Now we just have to figure out the best way to pretend to be a... more ›

Just how do you recruit a 19-year-old woman to live in a studio apartment atop a big chair in Southeast Washington? This was the incredible feat achieved by Charles Wendell Curtis, who the Post profiles in an obituary today. Curtis was the man who built Anacostia's 19 1/2 foot tall Big Chair in 1959 to promote his family's furniture store. The original chair -- when built touted as the World's Largest Chair -- was replaced last year by an aluminium replica, after time and weather had taken its toll on the mahogany version. But it maintains its status as an area landmark. more ›

Just when we'd started to forget the entire rigamarole about getting the new stadium for the Nationals, we get today's Post article on the lucrative sale of its naming rights. It's not so much that we should be surprised that the stadium may be named after a corporation — it's that the District won't see a penny of the money that the chosen corporation splashes all over the publicly financed $611 million project. Reads the... more ›

According to the Post, D.C. Schools Superintendent Clifford Janey has recommended closing six schools by August and having seven others lease underused space to charter schools. The school board is planning on holding hearings on the closures -- euphemistically referred to a "rightsizing" -- before a final vote on June 28. School officials, facing under-enrollment in 70 of 147 schools, are planning on shedding some one million square feet of space by this fall and an additional two million by Fall 2008. more ›

For the second time in the past few days, a Virginia House of Delegates committee has killed a bill that would authorize a quarter-cent sales tax increase dedicated to funding Metro. The bill, which was introduced in the Virginia Senate and passed there 36-3, was denied in a House Finance subcommittee last week but was allowed to come before the whole committee yesterday for another vote. It failed there by a count of 11-8, increasing the likelihood that no increase will be authorized before the end of the legislative session on March 11. The increase would only apply to the five Northern Virginia jurisdictions served by Metro, and it would be part of a regional effort to secure regular system funding and match a proposed $1.5 billion allocation to Metro introduced by U.S. Representative Tom Davis (R-Va.). more ›

Barry draws a lot of double takes these days. He gets them when he's working on a T-bone steak at Players Lounge in Southeast Washington, or when he's shaking hands outside his campaign headquarters on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, or when he's pushing a shopping cart through the Safeway on Alabama Avenue SE. He looks more frail than the last time he was in the public eye, the waistline of his pants cinching under his belt, his swagger slowed by age and circumstance.