The 911 phone call placed by At-large Council member David Catania last week -- the one during which he claims he received "badgering treatment," but the 911 office said he was frantic and unintelligible -- has been released by WTOP. more ›

All of the DCist editors get hundreds of press releases every week, but Music Editor Amanda Mattos and I probably get more than most. We're always happy to receive information from publicists about events or stories affecting the D.C. metro area -- they often make our jobs easier, in fact. But fairly often, we receive press releases that, to put it lightly, cause us to question the mental faculties of certain publicists. For months now,... more ›

You may have already heard about the small group of ANSWER Coaltion members who staged a lunchtime event Thursday to protest the District's attempts to get them to stop gluing posters on to utility boxes. Two demonstrators, one an Iraq war veteran and the other the mother of another veteran, were arrested on charges of defacing public property. DCist Tom stumbled on to the scene and snapped these images with his phone -- it's... more ›

After only two days since the official start of the school year, the police have already been called to Southeast D.C.'s Ballou Senior High School. WUSA reports that a fight broke out in the school's cafeteria on Tuesday. No one was seriously injured, but the incident resulted in five arrests. It's just the latest problem for one of D.C.'s most chaotic schools. Back in 2003, you'll remember that Ballou was closed for more than... more ›

In case you're working downtown and wondering what the heck is going on with all those ambulances, turns out firefighters were rescuing a man who had a medical emergency while operating the crane pictured at right at about 150 feet in the air. It's unclear what kind of emergency the man was having, but according to eyes on the ground, at just after 12:30 p.m. rescuers finally had the man down from the crane and... more ›

Last Chance for A.V. Sad, we know. Get it before it becomes a half-empty office building. Restaurant Week Starts August 6 There are a few good things about Washington in August. First, it's so damned hot and soupy that there are about 100 times fewer tourists. Second, Congress leaves town and tons of governmental types take vacation, so town slows down considerably, leaving rush hour slightly less enraging. Third, it's when the summer version of... more ›

Starting today, the funnies page in the Washington Post will be looking a little different: Mary Worth, Cathy and Broom Hilda have been given the boot to make room for Agnes, Brewster Rockit: Space Guy! and Brevity. Who could have foreseen that America's appetite for comics about stupid, nosy and/or shrew-like women would ever subside? We guess that Cathy's audience eventually found reading the strip to be a little too self-deprecating. There'll be a... more ›

Because nothing says "fun times" like terrifying giant panda-costumed folks traveling in a motorcade and handing out single-use cameras across the metropolitan area, we just had to alert you folks to the zoo's newest promotional event.

Starting Friday, October 13th, in order to celebrate the grand opening of the Fujifilm Giant Panda Habitat and Asia Trail, the fine folks at the Zoo and FONZ will be taking the panda show on the road.

Apparently, the 13th through the 15th, according to the press release sent our way, "two FONZ volunteers will don giant panda costumes and distribute Fujifilm QuickSnap cameras to 400 people at each of 12 locations throughout the Washington, D.C. metro area." Which -- do you really think these are "FONZ volunteers" so much as "people who probably for nefarious reasons owe FONZ a lot of money"? Because donning enormous panda costumes for fifteen hours doesn't sound so much like something people are scrambling to do. But maybe that's just us.

Additionally, three random people who show up to the locations will be receiving a ticket that entitles them to a VIP tour of the new trail, a digital camera and, best of all, a "private visit" with Butterstick and his folks. What do you think a "private visit" with a bunch of pandas entails? Cracking open a few cold ones and watching the game? Cuddling? Sitting around, staring blankly at each other, trying to think of clever things to say? The pressure!

In order to figure out where the panda van motorcade will be stopping around town, you can head over here, where somebody has painstakingly put together several rhyming clues as to where it will be each day. We're counting on our Flickrites to capture these special moments.

Tasteless-yet-totally-awesome graphic brought to you by the Photoshop skills of Tom Lee

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If you do, or just enjoy hearing them, you may want to attend the Roast of Anthony Williams on October 18th at the Marriott Wardman Park. The event is part of a Southeastern University gala, and for the low price of $250, will feature jokesters like Adrian Fenty, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Councilmembers David Catania and Jack Evans, GWU President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and Broadway actor and D.C. native... more ›

Tonight is the night -- we'll be celebrating Butterstick's one-year of cuteness at Chief Ike's Mambo Room in Adams Morgan, 1725 Columbia Road, NW. And in his honor, we've gotten some good drink specials lined up -- $5 Captain Morgan drinks, $4 Paulaner Hefeweizen's, and $3 Pabst drafts. From what the zoo folks tell us, Butterstick loves his Pabst. There will also be some good music on both floors. more ›

Written by DCist Technology Editor Tom Lee. more ›

Happy Fourth of July, Washington! We hope you've got a good spot staked out for watching the fireworks. And we hope you've been having a good time not working — your morning roundup writers certainly have. That's because there's practically nothing to round up. With the local media mostly off for the holiday, the news is slooow. But that's not such a bad thing; we should all be manning grills, not computers. Here's to a Fourth that's pleasantly-paced, safe, and doesn't involve riding Metro to the mall. Legislators Claim Smoking Ban Success: Montgomery County legislators Isiah Leggett and Phil Andrews say that the county's smoking ban has been good news for its restaurants, according to WTOP. They cite a 19 percent increase in sales over the last two years as proof. Ban opponents say that this is a faulty measure, however. They maintain that since 77 percent of the county's restaurants were already smoke-free, the overall sales increase is largely meaningless. Zoo's Panda Party Planned: As you may have heard, the zoo is throwing Butterstick a birthday party on Sunday. Looks like the press release just went out: WJLA reports that "there will be entertainment, educational programs, children's activities and best of all, free cupcakes for the first one-thousand visitors." Educational programs? Nuts to that. You should come to our party for the Stick instead — we promise you won't have to learn anything. And we'll see what we can do about the cupcakes. Second Gorilla Dies At Zoo: It's not a good week to be a D.C. gorilla. On Saturday a gorilla named Kuja died during the implantation of a "cardiac device" — now another, older animal named Mopie has collapsed and died. The exact cause of death isn't yet known, although Mopie was known to have heart problems, but he seemed to be in good health as recently as Monday. Briefly Noted: Fourth of July weekend off to a violent start... Ocean City riptide proves to be deadly... Area should be back to full power by tomorrow morning... Evacuation plan to be used to help clear the city after tomorrow's fireworks... This Day In DCist: One year ago today the news was just as slow as it is today. And by and large we took the day off, too — but DCist cofounder Mike Grass did take the time to write some Fourth of July impressions. Image posted to DCist Photos by Flickr user commonroman. This entry written by DCist staff member Tom Lee. more ›

Written by DCist Tom Lee, on the road in the wilds of western North Carolina. more ›

This week saw the official introduction of our newest service to make all of our social lives that much easier -- Last Call. For those of you that missed the news, our tech guru Tom Lee has set up a system through which you can check Metro arrival times, movies, weather and open tables at area restaurants by simply sending us a text message with your query. We're working to iron out any hiccups, so... more ›

Today's Opinion comes to us from proud biker and DCist's tech guru, Tom Lee. more ›

Today and tomorrow, we'll be taking the opportunity to look back at the year in D.C. and the year in DCist. We'll retrieve for you what we've determined are the best and most interesting DCist pieces in dining, arts, music, and news. This year we've written over two thousand posts (generating over ten thousand comments), and we figured the best way to start the reminiscence was to bring back for you the most read DCist... more ›

Editor's Note: This week's agenda was compiled by DCist staffers Kyle Gustafson, Tom Lee, and Sommer Mathis. more ›

This post is by DCist contributor Tom Lee. more ›

Happy Thursday, D.C. Well, if another day of high humidity and the threat of thunderstorms could be "happy"... In good travel-related news, scheduling your restroom trips on flights to and from Reagan National Airport just got easier: the restrictions on leaving your seat within thirty minutes of takeoff or landing have been lifted in the wake of a restructuring of the Department of Homeland Security. Created in response to the 9/11 attacks, the regulations... more ›