Was all the hubbub about the District's intranet gaming plan a lot of hot air? That's the impression one might get after reading this report in the Washington Times, in which representatives from the D.C. Lottery say that most people they spoke with during a series of town halls on the matter were "supportive." more ›

Residents should take note of some minor changes to the remaining slate of public meetings regarding the District's online gaming program. more ›

If yesterday's Ward 5 town hall on the District's controversial new i-Gaming platform is any indication, it's not really the idea of online gambling that has residents put off -- but rather how the idea came to be and where the money it's supposed to generate will go. more ›

President Barack Obama, fresh off fielding the questions of Northern Virginians, will hold a Facebook town hall event this afternoon from California -- and he wants your questions! The theme of the event is “Shared Responsibility and Shared Prosperity” -- hmm, shared prosperity, eh? Sounds like the perfect opportunity to ask him why he felt the need to sell out the District on abortion funding, even though more income taxes go to our city than to his home/office. more ›

It's an old D.C. adage that regardless of the differences between us, we'll always have the weather, the Metro and the Redskins to gripe about. But if I had to add a fourth to that list of always-pertinent subjects, I'd probably suggest water. After all, it's a topic that affects everyone in town, and plenty of residents probably have good questions about what's going on with the water supply. The good news is that D.C. Water is embarking on a ward-by-ward tour answer such questions: the first installment of a city-wide town hall series in which General Manager George S. Hawkins and D.C. Water reps will share information about water quality, construction projects and customer service will take place in Ward 3 (inside the University of the District of Columbia's Windows Lounge -- that's on the second floor of Building 38 at 4200 Connecticut Avenue NW) tonight at 6:30 p.m. -- check out the entire schedule to see when Hawkins and company will be coming to your ward over the next couple of months. more ›

You, me, Vince Gray and lots of talk about budget shortfalls and education reform. Sounds good, huh? Gray's citywide town hall tour enters its second half tonight in Ward 1, where he presumptive mayor-elect will broadly assess the state of the city and take questions on his plans for it. So far, Gray's hit wards 5, 3, 7, and 2; 8, 4 and 6 are yet to come. Tonight's event runs from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School at 1100 Harvard Street NW. more ›

As news spread last night that D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee was resigning, presumptive Mayor-elect Vince Gray stood before hundreds of residents in a Ward 7 church talking about everything but the divisive education reformer. Very few people in the audience knew anything about the resignation -- which broke in the middle of the town hall -- and Gray stayed far away from it, even when an audience member hypothetically asked about the vetting process for a new Chancellor. As the town hall came to a close, Gray was whisked out of a back door, a security guard aggressively standing between him and Post reporter Mike DeBonis trying to query Gray on the resignation. It was the biggest story of the evening, and one closely associated with Gray's repeated claims that "education reform and collaboration" are not mutually exclusive, but he was having nothing of it. Gray will be saying something today at 10:30 a.m., though, when he joins Mayor Adrian Fenty and Rhee for a press conference. Be sure to stay tuned; we'll have a more thorough recap of the third of Gray's eight town halls later today. more ›

We were expecting some fire. A little passion. Some pointed questions, even. Something -- anything! -- about D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee. We got none of that. more ›

After a good start in friendly Ward 5 -- we've gathered some of the media coverage in our handy Google map above -- presumptive Mayor-elect Vince Gray's citywide town hall listening tour hits Fenty territory this evening with a stop in Ward 3. Gray barely broke 20 percent in the ward on primary day. (His best performance was at Precinct 138 near UDC, where he earned 26 percent of the vote.) Needless to say, Gray will likely face some pointed questions from residents who don't really feel comfortable with him as their mayor. more ›

We're betting that there's plenty of locals scratching their heads today, and we're joining them. The Post is reporting that Mayor Adrian Fenty has backed out of a highly anticipated one-on-one debate with challenger Vincent Gray on, of all things, education. The debate, hosted by the Young Education Professionals and expected to draw well over the room's 275-person capacity, would have allowed Fenty to lay out the case for his re-election based on the one issue that he staked his entire first term on, as well as allowing him to pressure Gray on deciding whether or not he would keep D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee if he were to be elected. more ›

The D.C. Water and Sewer Authority is set to do something it has never done before: Host a series of town hall meetings, co-hosted by D.C. Council members, to discuss water issues with the public. Tired of that chlorine smell? Still confused about lead pipe replacement? Wondering when the hydrant on your block will be repaired? Stop by one of these meetings, where WASA officials will be on hand to answer your questions. Wards 8, 3 and 5 are up first: more ›

By DCist Contributor Ryan J. Reilly more ›

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2007 Recap from Super!Alright! on Vimeo. Austinist attended a town hall meeting about proposed noise ordinances that could undermine the city's future as the Live Music Capital of the World, and lamented the possible loss of Texas's only feminist bookstore. Throughout the week, they interviewed a bunch of indie fashion designers and D-I-Y websites—Etsy, Ornamental Things, 31 Corn Lane, and Aorta Designs—for the upcoming Stitch Fashion Show. They also did... more ›

Good morning, Washington. The city is still reeling from the news that the U.S. Attorney's Office has indicted two employees from the District's Office of Tax and Revenue on charges of embezzling over $16 million. It's a staggering sum, and the Post cites officials who are calling it the largest theft ever uncovered in local government in the Washington area. The two women, Harriette Walters and Diane Gustus, are said to have used the money... more ›

Mark your calendars: WMATA put out a release earlier today announcing the dates of a series of six public meetings at which you can voice your opinions about the proposed Metro fare hikes, which would go into effect in January. The full set of proposed increases is here, but the basics include raising the base fare of Metrorail from $1.35 to $1.65, keep bus fares the same as long as you use SmarTrip cards (add... more ›

In their coverage of the Capital Pride Festival, which kicked off yesterday and will culminate in a parade and street festival this weekend, the Post gives an account of a town hall meeting on GLBT issues last night at Studio Theatre where Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) said he plans to introduce a bill legalizing gay marriage in the District within the next two years. Graham appeared on the panel with several other openly... more ›

The D.C. council is set to vote on legislation proposed by Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) tomorrow that would create exemptions to allow strip clubs displaced by the new Nationals stadium to relocate to Ivy City in Ward 5. As we told you previously, Ward 5 Council member Harry Thomas opposes the legislation and has offered several amendments to the bill, including one that was adopted that would give $3.6 million to improve the... more ›

>> We still haven't reached the end of the fire hydrant fiasco, it seems. Turns out that when WASA completed an inventory of more than 9,000 fire hydrants, they realized the city's hydrants are made by nine to ten different manufacturers -- a situation which could mean that if neighboring fire departments like Montgomery, Prince George's and Fairfax counties, which all use a standard hydrant, are dispatched to help fight a blaze, they could... more ›

We here in the Ist-A-Verse know that we're sensational, but it's very rare that we get a chance to be sensationalistic. This week, we've decided to have ourselves a little fun and try our hand at tacky tabloid headlines, using nothing more than our favorite posts from this week. Torontoist Special Report: Rosie to Trump: "Fire 300 Bicyclists for Fraud!" On DCist: Students Go Wild for Slogans, Secrets and Sexual Harassment The action was thick... more ›

Texas is thawing, the Northeast is freezing, and a sort of natural order seems almost restored to the Ist-A-Verse. Almost. Londonist HQ—that is to say, the city of London—was battered by heavy winds, making it a bad time to be a twelve-meter (nearly forty-foot) tall snowman. Still, not everyone decided to keep warmly covered. Meanwhile, back indoors, the Big Brother racism is now causing all kinds of headaches for international diplomats, and Londonist got into... more ›

After six years of adding to the eclectic flavor of the intersection of 18th and Florida NW, word comes to us this week that Staccato is closing its doors forever next month. Staccato has always sort of been the Little Club That Could, hosting aspiring musicians from a variety of genres in its no-frills, teeny, converted-townhouse venue. more ›

You don’t have to be a recently-disgraced member of the U.S. Congress to be a little freaked out about what breadcrumbs you’re leaving as you schlep around the World Wide Web. They can pretty easily be gathered and presto – you’re an instant demographic target, with preferences and interests neatly catalogued. Aside from whatever skeletons we’d like to keep safely tucked away in our closets, you can color us curious as to what our tastes... more ›

If you follow the comments on this site at all, you've probably noticed that one of the topics that stirs up much digital debate is Metro. Be they lovers or haters, DCist readers love to complain about it, compare it to systems in other cities (especially New York), suggest ways to improve it, etc., etc. Well, here's your chance to take your comments offline and address them to someone who can actually do something about... more ›

Some people in the D.C. area pride themselves on their ability to decode the wealth of acronyms that substitute for the English language in our nation's capital. Others have no tolerance for the labyrinth of words that make the underlying BS of corporate-speak sound sweet. And you know what? We love those people. more ›

In wanting to further refine his ability to predict what new music might appeal to you based on your current tastes, Tim Westergren, founder of the amazing streaming music service Pandora.com has spent the spring traversing the U.S. hosting town hall-style meetings to discover new and legendary artists and sounds at the grass roots level, taking in local venues and bands along the way. For the curious of the lot, Pandora is the webcast interface of the Music Genome Project, Westergren’s 10,000+ artist database which has rated over 100,000 songs drawing from all genres based on 400 different musical attributes such as tempo, instrumentation and vocal styles. Using this database, Westergren created an algorithm which takes your music preferences and returns other artists in the database with similar musical qualities (hear Tim describe how Pandora works in this podcast interview courtesy of TWiT.tv). So, if you’re a big Barry Manilow fan, Pandora can help you find other artists featuring blues influences, jazz influences, demanding vocal performances, acoustic sonority, and major key tonality to take you to your happy place. more ›

Today's Opinionist comes to DCist from local art blogger Kriston Capps. For all this time, D.C. Mayor Williams has billed himself as a supporter of big boxes in the District. During yesterday’s town hall meeting to discuss the fate of the city’s public library system, the Mayor revealed himself to be no friend to our most notorious big box—the Mies Van der Rohe-designed Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. And he made no new friends... more ›

It was on December 8 that Washington Times Metro columnist Tom Knott used his perch to describe an ongoing feud between Town Hall, a new and upscale watering hole in Glover Park, and the bar's neighbors. It was also in this infamous column that Knott described the stretch of Wisconsin Avenue where Town Hall has set up shop as a "red-light district" and, even more poetically, as such: ...a fading commercial strip that features two... more ›

We often flip through the Washington Times, sometimes for some comic relief, sometimes to see how the conservative newspaper views local news. In perusing its pages today, we came across a column written by Tom Knott, the Times' answer to the Post's well-known and well-liked Metro columnist Marc Fisher. Today Knott -- often known for taking some creative license with his writing -- describes a conflict between a neighborhood bar and residents who want it... more ›

Yes dear reader, you read right. For the simple task of spending seven hours tomorrow discussing how to create a "long-range vision" for the city in the areas of youth development, employment opportunities, the public library system, and affordable housing, the mayor will provide you with free food and entertainment and the chance to engage in some good old fashioned curmudgeonly public policy debate. more ›