According to ProPublica's Recovery Tracker database, the District of Columbia has received the most money per capita than any other state since the federal stimulus plan was enacted in 2009. more ›

We were all set to write off the Associated Press's latest attempt (via WTOP) to recycle the "National Mall is a National Disgrace" story template, which has been a favorite of the local media for years now (for examples, see last year's versions here and 2007's here). We all already know that the National Mall is looking pretty banged up, with cracked walkways, dead, trampled grass, dying trees and mud making what should be the country's pride and joy look shabby and depressing. We also already know that when President Obama tried to steer $200 million out of his stimulus package to renovate the National Mall, it was killed by the House. But the AP's Brian Westley and Brett Zongker have done a nice job of reporting out the story behind the story: that members of Congress routinely earmark money for national parks in their home states, while torpedoing such efforts for the Mall, which, by virtue of being located in the District, doesn't have any powerful members of Congress to fight for it. Here's the meat:

All told, Congress sent home more than $181 million in earmarks through the park service budget last year _ an election year _ according to data compiled by the group Taxpayers for Common Sense and analyzed by the AP. Nearly half that money was driven by lawmakers who were on the House and Senate appropriations committees. more ›

Yesterday's Post Metro section was all over the influx of federal stimulus funds making their way into the District, Maryland, and Virginia, and the jobs that said money is providing -- complete with all the colorful graphs and maps you'd expect. more ›

Now that the dust has cleared on the passing of President Obama's infrastructure package, it's now time to measure what's going where locally. It's important to keep in mind that most of the investments which the stimulus is paying for will not be immediately felt. Rather, the plan is a long term effort to create and save jobs; as such, most upgrades won't be seen until at least 2010. Additionally, a large number of the funding allocations are difficult to estimate, due to competition for grants and complex funding mechanisms. more ›

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