It looks like Virginia's gunnin' for a fight -- pun intended. According to WTOP, Virginia has filed a brief in the Supreme Court challenging the District's gun ban, joining a number of states that are picking sides in what may be a historic decision on the reach of the Second Amendment. The case, which will be heard in March, could have a wide-reaching effect on gun laws and regulations nationwide. According to Virginia Attorney......

Last night, Fox 5 reported on an alarming attack of a gay man by six or seven men on the Metro. "Nathaniel," as he's referred to in the report, was riding alone on a train Friday night. As the doors closed at Metro Center, the group surrounded and beat Nathaniel, kicking him as he fell to the floor and yelling "faggot". Nathaniel managed to get off the train at the Smithsonian station, and he ran......

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.......

The world premiere of Sanctuary, a new work for amplified, computer-modified percussion ensemble by Roger Reynolds (b. 1934), took place at the National Gallery of Art on Sunday evening. It was an event, the sort of concert that gets noticed by Alex Ross: alas, the element that would have sealed its place in history, an angry riot by perturbed listeners, did not happen. The mistake that caused the failure to obtain a true succès de......

Salad days are usually something we look back on with a mix of nostalgia and embarrassment, but the folks at Chop't Salad are embracing them from the get go and celebrating them as soon as they kick off. How? Free salad. Penn QuarterChinatown's newest resident is throwing the doors of their first Washington location wide open today with free salad for all who stop by. The idea behind Chop't is customization. With a bevy of......

Being somewhat of a history buff, I remember being bummed when I first moved to D.C. to discover the National Archives were closed for renovations. A few years later, the doors opened again, and finally seeing these amazing, centuries old documents in person is something I won't forget. Flickr user FrogMiller took this crystal clear photo (with no flash, of course) of Mr. Hancock's famous signature. EXIF. Entrance to the Rotunda at the The......

It's been more than two years since rumors emerged that Dr. Dremo's, the Arlington landmark famous for its beer selection and now-outlawed outdoor beer pong, was closing to make way for condos. Now, the actual date is confirmed -- as of January 2008, Dremo's will be no more. From their website: Dr Dremo's will close the doors at the current location on Sunday, Jan 27th, 2 AM. We are actively scouting for a new location.......

Written by DCist Contributor Laura Logerfo For the central cathedral in a major city, St. Matthew’s somehow blends in. The Cathedral is surrounded by offices that stand nearly as high as the church, and its brick façade resembles that of adjacent buildings. It is situated near one of the busiest and trickiest intersections in DC, where Connecticut Ave., Rhode Island Ave., 18th and M Streets all meet. On weekends, city dwellers pass by the church......

MONDAY >> They put it pretty well themselves, and since it's all about them anyway, we're just going to repeat what the Black Cat had to say about their anniversary party tonight: "After 14 years of pouring you guys drinks, then picking up the glasses, working the doors, and sweeping the floors, we've decided that it's time to dedicate a night to ourselves. Black Cat staff bands, staff DJs, and staffers will be hanging out......

Former Editor-in-Chief Ryan Avent writes a weekly column about neighborhood and development issues. He'll be on vacation for the next two weeks; this column will return on August 19th. It’s been a hard summer for many loved and local businesses, some of which have been a part of the city’s life for decades. This week, long lines trailed down New York Avenue as customers waited to get a last meal at A.V. Ristorante. In June,......

Happy Father's Day! For those of you who have dads, are dads, or know dads, this one's for you, from all of us at the Gothamist network. It was a week of bizarre, embarassing headlines at DCist. The trial of the local administrative law judge who sued his cleaners for $54 million over a pair of missing pants left everyone shaking their heads. Then the capital city was nearly brought to its knees, twice, by......

>> A suspicious package at the National Postal Museum next to Union Station caused the area to be evacuated during the lunch rush today. Luckily -- or perhaps, unluckily, if you work for the bomb squad -- the offending package turned out to contain only a soiled diaper. The area was reopened by 1:30 p.m. On behalf of the city, DCist would like to thank you, fearless, put upon bomb squad members, for keeping us......

Last June, days of heavy rain flooded the downtown area, sticking the IRS building with a $30 million cleanup bill and costing millions more in disruption of business. Government officials met yesterday to discuss how they might prevent a Deluge '07 (or, more realistically considering we're already in the midst of the summer storm season, a Deluge '08 or '09) from wreaking as much havoc as Deluge '06 most certainly did, especially in regards......

The Masonic House of The Temple on 16th street has always left me with wondering what goes on inside, with its mysterious, and just a little bit intimidating, facade (think in-laid snakes over the doors). As musicmuse_ca captures in this beautiful shot, however, the temple turns out to house one of the oldest libraries open to the public in the D.C. area. Open free of charge since 1884, the library is clearly a book......

I recently meandered over from the School of Communications, where I teach at American University (disclaimer 1), to the art department, from where I graduated a couple years ago, back when it was still largely a painting program (disclaimer 2) to check it out the MFA Thesis Exhibitions. I'd heard a few accounts already; the word "postmodern" lumped in a few times. But it's easy to be a bit skeptical of a dismissive comment that......

FRIDAY: >> At 11 a.m. today or noon tomorrow, grab the kids and a box or twelve of tissues and head down to the National Archives for a screening of An American Tail. Part of their celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month, they're sharing the story of Fivel and his cheese-paved streets with the next generation. We can only assume they'll watch it over and over like we did, each time hoping Fivel doesn't go......

This morning DCist Ryan found a story in the New York Times about the lack of public restrooms in Gotham City. DCist Michael said he'd recently observed a tourist relieving himself in Washington Circle, and theorized that this might also be a problem in our nation's capital. I then asked if I could come forward and tell a story I had never told anyone. Way back in the twentieth century, as a high school kid......

It's not over yet folks: April is about to culminate with the biggest art weekend in recent memory. Artomatic and ColorField.remix continue to bring us a healthy helping of visual and performance art, and now we get one big, fat cherry of an art fair to top it all off this weekend, sprinkled with about a billion other shows placed to coincide with it, including one at a particular venue that deserves your attention. >>......

Hopefully, it was the continuing cold weather that kept people away from last week's concerts by the National Symphony Orchestra, rather than the pathetic provincialism of Washington audiences, wary of too much modern music. If the latter is true, the names of violinist Renaud Capuçon and cellist Gautier Capuçon should have been enough to get listeners through the doors. At the Friday night concert, they played the Brahms violin and cello concerto (A minor, op.......

MONDAY >> From the haunting depth she brought to The O.C., her captivating live shows, her work with Frou Frou and all the x factors in between, Imogen Heap and all her British goodness sold out tonight's show at the 9:30 Club. If you're hankering for a game of Hide & Seek, Craigslist has a couple options. Late show, 10 p.m. TUESDAY >> We're a bit surprised that the Trail of Dead show at 9:30......

MONDAY >>The alternately whimsical and dark Decemberists (who DCist caught the last time they came to town) perform their second show at the 9:30 club tonight in support of their recently released album The Crane's Wife. While this show is sold out, you can try your luck with both craigslist or enjoy the show from the comfort of your own couch on NPR. Lavender Diamond opens. 8:30pm >> Apples in Stereo will be playing with......

You know you are in for a night of indie rock when there is a line around the block of young adults in various colors and designs of vans and chucks, a multitude of black rimmed glasses, more than one kid who needs a shower, and a number of people who look as though they have yet to hit puberty. And this is great, fine really, unless this block and a half of people are......

Normally, Eating In is reserved for creating at-home recipes similar to dishes at restaurants within the Beltway. But during a recent trip to New York City, I was introduced to an Indian street food that I found completely irresistible. I'm convinced that a similar operation in late-night Adams Morgan would bring both Amsterdam Falafel and the Jumbo Slice to their knees. The long line outside the Kati Roll Company's store front is an indicator that......

For as long as we have been posting on transportation, you guys have been asking one question in the comments more than any other. When, oh when, is our dear Metro going to debut those new seating arrangements we've been hearing so much about? We showed you a few pictures a few weeks ago, but this week, Metro went live with the new designs, showing them off to the public and reporters on Monday morning.......

If the fiery hell holes of silent elevator shafts and devilishly high heat indexes have D.C. repenting with sweaty Hail Marys, there is an escape: find Alabama's finest photographer and sculptor William Christenberry at any of four art relief stations around the city. Cool A/C, (photographed) ice-cold Coca-Cola, and - Hallelujah - none of those famous Tuscaloosan chitlins! Get on up, lil' doggies, and drag yourself along on a Christenberry tour that's as Southern as......

Yesterday, we brought you the first half of our Georgetown markets series. We explored Sara's issues with pooches, Scheele's fixation on sticky reminders and the holy grail of a beer fridge in the deepest recesses of Georgetown Wine and Spirits. Today, we're tackling three new corner shops, and though collectively they still don't size up to a TJ's (or even have logoed brown bags), they do involve Leave It To Beaver, Turkish Delights (worthy of......

For months, we've been anxiously awaiting the new and improved rail cars Metro has been promising. The cars will have fewer vertical bars, which clog up the area near the doors in their current configuration. A commenter (who possibly works for Metro?) recently passed along a few pictures of the new cars, getting transit geeks and commuters alike even more worked up with anticipation. However, as we noted this morning, most of the cars that......

Maybe Metro's new door closing announcements should have come with a sterner warning. It turns out that swiftly closing doors cause most of the injury and property damage claims filed against Metro each year. As a result, WMATA expects to spend $31 million on legal settlements, many for such injury claims. “If there is one thing that can quickly bankrupt us, it’s this,” Metro board member Bill Euille told the Examiner. “We need to find......

On Tuesday I described the hellish experience of traveling on the crowded Metro in Caracas, Venezuela. Two days later and rich with insight into transit systems from the world beyond Washington, I've found the following in my commuting through Caracas: The Mad Dash Exists Outside Washington: You know that blind mad dash we all tend to make when we transfer in a multi-level station? That desperate run from the Red Line to the Orange Line......

Did it seem like Metro had a few more riders yesterday than usual? That's because it did: about 60,000 more than on a typical weekday, to be exact. As cited on WJLA's website, Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said more than 760,000 took to the rails on Thursday. She indicated that normal usage for any given weekday is around 700,000. Average or above-average, that's a lot of people. Why the spike? As noted in the......