When last we checked with the National Gallery of Art's Sculpture Garden Ice-Skating rink, the official start of the season had been indefinitely delayed due to "technical difficulties with the ice-making equipment." But good news has at last been posted to the rink's web site: it's now set to open on Thursday, December 10, "weather permitting." Tomorrow's forecast looks pretty safe for skating, so we're optimistic. more ›

Outdoor ice-skating at the National Gallery of Art's Sculpture Garden rink may be a uniquely Washington activity for working off extra holiday calories, but it won't be an option this Thanksgiving weekend. According to the ice rink's guest services office and a note on their web site, the Sculpture Garden rink remains closed due to "technical difficulties with the ice-making equipment." A representative explained that while they hope repairs will be completed within 10-14 days, there is a chance that the rink may not open at all this season – typically mid-November to March – if the problem turns out to be more extensive. While the Pavilion Cafe remains open, we're hoping ice-skating will be back soon. more ›

WRC/NBC4 has been rebroadcasting only MSNBC programming for the last few hours (Chris Matthews is on right now), and the station finally put up this announcement on its web site at about 5:15 p.m. "Due to major technical problems, News4 at 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. will not be seen. Please tune in to News4 at 6 p.m. with Jim Vance and Doreen Gentzler." A call to the harried NBC4 newsroom confirmed that they are still planning on broadcasting a 6 p.m. newscast, but didn't yield much more info than that. We're trying to track down exactly what the technical problem was that knocked out the entire broadcasting mechanism for the local news station, and will update later on. more ›