Good morning, Washington. Supporters of Gov. Mike Huckabee and Sen. Barack Obama are riding high off their caucus victories in Iowa last night, but locally, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty continues to suffer some bumps in the road after one year in office. Just weeks after the resignation of Attorney General Linda Singer, Fenty's former deputy chief of staff, Neil Richardson, has also resigned. Richardson, who was a key Fenty aide during his mayoral campaign, had......

Just a few days from now, the critically acclaimed HBO series The Wire will kick off its fifth and final season. Considered one of the best and most realistic portrayals of crime and corruption in a struggling city (Baltimore, in this case), the show traces the thin line that divides the good guys from the bad. Whether cops stealing stacks of cash during drug busts or thieving dockworkers pooling together money for a stained-glass window......

Good morning, Washington. Well, this is it: the holidays are finally, tragically over. You're once again sitting at your desk. And now we begin the slow, terrible death march toward spring, with only brief, inadequate celebrations of Presidents' and MLK Day to sustain us. Stay strong, D.C. — we'll get through this. Can You Hear Me Now? Hello? Hello?: The ball dropped, the phones came out and... nothing. "Y2K8 Bug" doesn't sound very catchy,......

You didn't think we could get through the last few days of 2007 without one more Smithsonian scandal, did you? The Post has a lengthy report today on National Museum of the American Indian's retiring director Rick West and the whopping $250,000 of Institution funds he spent on travel and luxuries. Although West can account for some of the travel -- going to visit Indian reservations, meeting donors -- much of it is vaguely characterized......

Good morning, Washington. The week surrounding the holidays is almost always a certifiably slow news period, so you can bet good money every local media outlet in the country is shamefacedly relieved to be able to find their own angle on the terrifying fatal San Francisco Zoo tiger attack. Sister site SFist has the roundup of Bay Area coverage, and the Examiner steps up to the plate with the D.C. version of the story --......

Welcome back, Washington. We hope those of you who celebrate Christmas had a holly and/or jolly one, and that your stock of material possessions has been satisfactorily increased. As you might expect, not too terribly much happened while you've been away. Davis Mulls Eighth Term: Sure, it was published yesterday, but we imagine many of you may have missed the Post's analysis of whether Tom Davis will seek another term as congressman for Northern......

Metro fares aren't the only thing going up in price in D.C. If you're in the habit of purchasing a copy of the Washington Post from a vending machine or a sidewalk hawker on your way to work in the morning, take note: the cost of the daily paper is about to go up by 15 cents. The Post's newsstand price will become 50 cents beginning on Dec. 31. The company cited a decline in......

Good morning, Washington. With the Christmas holiday looming, things are slowing down in workplaces around the region. Well, most workplaces, anyway — D.C.'s firefighters seem to be keeping plenty busy. Yesterday, of course, there was the fire at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Since then there's been a two alarm fire at the Chinatown Red Roof Inn, and this impressive gathering of firefighters just south of Logan around 6 p.m. last night. Here's hoping......

Hilda Mason, 91, who served more than 20 years on the D.C. Council, died yesterday at Washington Hospital Center. The Post has an obituary up (which perhaps unsurprisingly but a little creepily appears to have been largely written some time ago, as it notes at the bottom that one of its authors passed away in 2006), which details Mason's status as the grand dame of local D.C. politics, having served on the Board of Education,......

Good morning, Washington. If you experienced a power outage at some point on Sunday, you were not alone. Strong winds averaging close to 40 mph knocked out power to as many as 100,000 customers across the metro area yesterday. While not much ice or snow ever materialized during the weekend's storm, Sunday's chilly wind made for an uncomfortable time walking through downtown D.C. for many holiday shoppers -- we spotted at least one woman near......

A 15-year-old has been arrested in connection with running down MPD bicycle officer Brian Bobick with a stolen limousine on Thursday. The Post is reporting that Bobick, 30, remains in critical but stable condition after being struck by the limo on the 4200 block of Ord St. NE, and that he pushed his partner out of harm's way just in time. More disturbing is a report from WTOP's Mark Seagraves that the arrested teenager who......

The Post is reporting that in an 8-2 vote, Metro's finance committee has approved a series of fare hikes at their full meeting today. The plan they approved was the one recently offered by Maryland members of the board, which is less expensive for suburban customers who park and ride. The vote basically guarantees that the full board will approve the fare hikes later today. Here's how the new fares will break down: >> The......

Everyone knows that JFK once described the District as a city of Northern charm and Southern efficiency, but the same could be said about our winter weather contrasted with the complete incompetence of those who try to drive in its result or clear it from the roads. Beet juice or not, there's ice on the roads and sidewalks. Walk and drive with caution. Torture Doesn't Work: Guess what? Punishing Virginians with large fees – between......

Now that the gloves have come off in the relationship between the D.C. Council and Mayor Adrian Fenty, it's apparently time for more of their amusingly petty disagreements to become public. The Post has a hilarious story in today's District Extra about a brewing battle over exactly how the city's allotment of free Wizards tickets will be distributed. Turns out last week the mayor's office slyly attempted to pick up all 24 tickets for the......

WJLA brings word that Victor Kolako, the former Metrobus driver who was convicted of striking and killing two pedestrians on February 14, has been sentenced to one year in jail. Kolako was found guilty on two felony counts of negligent homicide in the Pennsylvania Ave. accident. The widower of one of the victims, Greg Schoenborn, has also filed a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit against Metro in U.S. District Court. The sentencing decision is potentially......

If the powers that be think we're going to go easily or quietly, they're wrong. The Post today exposed a devious little plan to chip away at the District's identity, starting with phasing out the city's postmark and replacing it instead with one bearing the name of our northern neighbor, Maryland. According to a Post study, of 235 letters mailed from every quadrant and zip code within city limits, only 24 -- 10 percent --......

As the region continues to mourn the loss of Sean Taylor, some hopeful news has come to light in the search for his killer. Over the course of the week, officials have stated that they have "no reason" to believe that Taylor was anything more than the random victim of a botched burglary. However, in a story broken by the Miami Herald, a relative of Taylor's has announced that three men have now been detained......

December 1 is World AIDS Day, and several vigils and protests are planned in D.C. today and through the weekend to mark the occasion. In the wake of the recent report by the D.C. HIV/AIDS Administration calling the HIV infection rate in the city "a modern epidemic," over 40 protesters are planning to drape themselves in red tape and stage a sit-in on the White House sidewalk by Lafayette Square at 2:30 p.m. this afternoon.......

A happy Friday to you, Washington. Hopefully you all made it in to work on time despite Metro having reduced the speed of their rail cars in several areas this morning. Speed restrictions were in place until 8:10 a.m. along portions of the Orange line in Maryland and Virginia, the Red line from Union Station to Silver Spring and from Shady Grove to Grosvenor, and the Green line from Branch Avenue to Congress Heights......

Good morning, Washington. Given that A Charlie Brown Christmas was on TV last night, this story seems especially rough. Apparently some folks stole $1500 worth of Christmas trees from the Boy Scouts that were selling them. Remember kids: leave your clearly marked tree receipt out for Santa if you want your presents delivered promptly and with a minimum of additional paperwork. Latest On Taylor Murder Investigation, Funeral: The Post reports on the few details......

A day after the Washington Post put a number as high as $2.46 million on the amount of money that was stolen from the Office of Tax and Revenue in 1999, the last year that current D.C. Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi was the head of the office, at least two D.C. Council members are starting to test the waters by suggesting that Gandhi ought to resign. At-large member Kwame Brown and Ward 1 Council......

Still in the office, D.C.? Yeah, us too. We hope you're only sticking around because you don't need to travel this holiday season. If so, enjoy the empty halls, bask in the quiet, and call it a day early. If not — well, good luck on the roads and at the airport. It sounds like they're going to be predictably nasty. There Seems To Be Some Sort of Holiday Occurring: And consequently you can......

Good morning, Washington. Yesterday afternoon Roll Call had the story of a potential suspect finally being identified in all those strange Senate bathroom fires from the last few months. Capitol Police Officer Karen Emory recently has been suspended in connection with the fires, although it still hasn't been confirmed whether she is definitely a suspect in the case. No charges have been filed, but color us a little disappointed if it turns out a......

The enraged D.C. Council on Thursday circulated the first photo released to the media of former Office of Tax and Revenue employee Harriette Walters, who stands accused of masterminding the theft of at least $31 million from the District's property tax coffers. Walters is pictured wearing one of the many dresses she is said to have purchased from Neiman Marcus with her ill-gotten money. You can also see her tax office employee badge. No other......

As we mentioned in the Morning Roundup, the murder count in D.C. for 2007 stands at 169 as of today, which is the same number of total murders the city saw in 2006. The Post is reporting further that the 169th murder occurred over the weekend, and its victim was 25 year-old Timothy Spicer, a short-order cook at legendary U Street eatery Ben's Chili Bowl. Spicer's murder looks to be the result of a carjacking......

Friday has arrived at last, Washington. Despite the federal holiday on Monday, it's been a rather long week for many of us - though of course, we couldn't hold a candle to the week that D.C. CFO Natwar Gandhi has had. The Post writes about yesterday's lengthy D.C. Council hearing into the tax office scandal, which lasted until 9 p.m. and where it was apparently revealed late in the evening that authorities are investigating the......

Good Morning, D.C. Remember the news we told you about back in August, about an investigation into a potential prostitution ring at D.C. firehouses? Well D.C. Fire Chief Dennis Rubin acknowledged yesterday under fire from the D.C. Council that "sex for overtime" allegations in his department are "potentially true." The Council also expressed concern about the abnormally high rate of disciplinary action against African American firefighters in the department. African Americans were the subjects of......

The Post is reporting that a Chinese food deliveryman was shot and killed in Southeast over the weekend, the second such killing in recent months. Hong Zhi Wang, 29, was delivering food at 10:30 p.m. Sunday in the 1300 block of Barnaby Terrace when he was shot in the neck. The latest killing came less than three months after another deliveryman from an Asian restaurant was robbed and murdered. Ling Mao, 36, was found......

Good morning, Washington. Not too upset about the coming Metro fare hike, are we? WJLA is reporting that only four people showed up to last night's hearing on the measure. Of course, the meeting was held way out in Reston and was only the first of six opportunities that Metro riders will have to voice their opinion on the price increase. Maybe you're just biding your time. Tax Scandal Grows Even Bigger: This is......

Howard Kurtz's WaPo column today concerns the kerfuffle over Tim Page's angry email to Ward 8 Council Member Marion Barry's office that we told you about yesterday. As you'll recall, Page, who writes about classical music for the Post, received an unsolicited press release from Barry's office about the city's deal with Specialty Hospitals of America to purchase the Greater Southeast Community Hospital. Page then fired off an angry email in which he called the......