When news broke last week that the Lerner family was witholding rent payments on the new baseball stadium because they claimed it wasn't fully complete, many residents were predictably peeved. But today the Post is reporting that the D.C. Council may take a step that will similarly annoy everyone else who attends Nats games -- they might raise taxes on tickets and concessions to cover the rent shortfall. The legislation, introduced during one of the......

August will soon be upon us, Congress is about to duck out of town and the only thing most people can talk about is presidential politics. But that's not stopping the District voting rights movement, which continues to push forward in its fight for full voting representation in Congress. On Tuesday the D.C. Council voted on legislation calling for electronic signs to be placed outside the Wilson Building and Nationals Park that will tally the......

Hooray? The Post is reporting that the D.C. Council endorsed legislation yesterday that would place electronic signs at the new baseball stadium displaying the amount of federal taxes paid by District residents while not having any voting rights. In theory, the signs would make the point to baseball fans that Distrist residents are not only not formally represented in Congress, they are also taxed to boot. While we've long pushed for the council to take......

After all the good reviews of the new baseball stadium, the owners of the Nats seem more than happy to flaunt their newest city-built acquisition. And what better way than an open house? This Friday and Saturday the team is hosting a big open house for fans and residents alike, kinda like the housewarming party you throw when you move into a new place. Well, if your living room fit 41,000 and had a 5,000......

We know. After the D.C. quarter debacle, we're getting the message -- voting rights is just too controversial an issue for the American public. According to the Post, the owners of the Washington Nationals feel that an electronic billboard listing the amount of federal taxes paid by District residents that the D.C. Council wants to place in the new ballpark is too "political" and "controversial" for baseball fans. As you may recall, late last year......

Whether Radiohead or the Pope, tickets for some events in the Washington area just aren't easy to come by. The process usually looks the same — the sale day comes; thousands of expectant buyers suffer server mishaps or are shuttled into virtual waiting rooms as sellers try to deal with the online version of a stampede; tickets sell out in minutes; mere minutes later they show up on Craiglist or through ticket brokers for a......

Short of making opening day at the new baseball stadium "Ride Metro Here and We'll Give You $100 Day," city officials and team owners are still trying to find a way to deal with what is likely to be a traffic and parking crush come March 29. According to the Post, the team is estimating that they will need 5,000 parking spaces for season ticket holders. Of those, 1,200 are being handled by the city,......

Remember the days when then-Mayor Anthony Williams claimed that a new stadium for the Washington Nationals would only cost $400 million? Yeah, so do we. Unfortunately, those days are long gone. According to the Examiner, higher-than-expected costs for land acquisition around the new stadium along South Capitol Street have pushed overall costs up by $43.2 million, meaning that by opening day the new stadium may end up costing closer to $700 million. The increased costs......

Remember those billboards that popped up in the 1980s that counted up the national debt, dollar by dollar? Pretty scary, huh? Well, District voting rights activists want something similar for their cause. Today the D.C. Council held a hearing on legislation that would allow the city to place two large LED billboards -- one outside the John A. Wilson Building and the other outside the new Washington Nationals stadium -- that would display the amount......

Sure, it's December and we're all preoccupied with holiday cheer and making plans for that one New Year's party that will finally be worth the all the hype. But even though they've suffered some setbacks this year, D.C. voting rights activists are pushing the cause through the holiday season. On Thursday, December 6, the D.C. Council will hold a hearing to consider legislation that would place large electronic billboards outside the John A. Wilson Building......

The folks over at Dulles Metro extension are breaking out the construction tools … and the credit cards. $900 million of the $2.83 billion price tag of the initial 11.6-mile leg is in that Transportation Department spending bill tied up in Congress and under threat of veto by President Bush. But with or without the money, officials plan to start work, reports The Examiner. Is it just us, or does this violate everything you ever......

Local LGBT activists are upset over a document distributed by the Washington Nationals, according to City Desk. The document details the team's Vendor Procurement Program and features Major League Baseball's affirmative action policy, which includes this portion:The Licensee shall not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment or against any service recipient or applicant for services because of race, color, ethnic status, religion, sex, age, national origin, disable veteran status, Vietnam era veteran status,......

>> "Monument Realty filed a federal lawsuit today against Metro to stop the sale of the transit agency's land near the Washington Nationals' new baseball stadium, escalating a dispute that threatens to disrupt the opening of the ballpark next spring." [WaPo] >> Check your old Mega Millions tickets. [WJLA] >> "Well, then you can't have the apples." [why.i.hate.dc] >> Carroll Co. school lockdown lifted, two males being questioned after student threatened to 'shoot up'......

Just this week, GQ published their annual "50 Most Powerful People in D.C." list. Populated by the likes of Condoleezza Rice, Nancy Pelosi, Karl Rove and Tim Russert, the list better describes the movers and shakers in "Washington", but not the District. And since we're snobs about local news and happenings, we threw together a little list of the people who really exercise influence in or over the lives of people who live and work......

Good morning, Washington, and welcome to a world with a new home run record. That's right: Barry Bonds hit his 756th career homer last night against our very own Washington Nationals. We're sure there are some mixed feelings among the Nats today about being immortalized in a video clip that'll likely be replayed for decades to come. Four Shot During National Night Out: Last night was the National Night Out, a crime-prevention event where citizens......

Go home. Tell your boss it's for your own safety. Maybe it's the heat or people who are waiting to go on summer vacation, but it seems that there's madness in the city. I should have known it was getting bad when I spotted this tree with a ring of cheese curls around it. The madness certainly seems to have infected Todd Kliman of Washingtonian. If you didn't catch his chog this week, you......

Former Editor-in-Chief Ryan Avent writes a weekly column about neighborhood and development issues. Not too long ago this site, along with the D.C. Council and much of the rest of the Washington area, was actively debating the incentive package for the new Washington Nationals stadium. At the time I was well aware of the questions about costs and benefits and was familiar with research on the subject suggesting that new stadia did not boost metropolitan......

>> "A federal appeals court ruled today that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, must report to prison shortly to begin serving his 30-month sentence for lying to federal investigators about his role in leaking a CIA officer's identity." [WaPo] UPDATE: Man, we honestly thought that first comment was a joke for a minute! Bush has commuted Libby's prison sentence. >> Please Add L2 to NextBus, K? Thx [The......

Though the Washington Nationals are well into their third season in the District and moving into their second year under the ownership of Ted Lerner, fans have had plenty to complain about -- the team's record, concessions at RFK and the $611 million stadium debacle. With yesterday's announcement of a new ticket pricing scheme for the team's new stadium, set to open next April, add one more gripe to the list. Prices for the stadium's......

Fans had plenty of great things to say about the Nationals season opener at RFK last week: the hats, the weather, the midday beer-drinking. They also had some gripes. In addition to the unfortunate loss, one key complaint was, naturally, traffic. The Post noted that, "In the stands, Nationals fans complained. About parking-lot traffic, snack booths and long lines for just about everything, including hot dogs and ATMs." When the Nats move into their new,......

They have a saying in Paris that describes the fast pace of life in that city: Métro, boulot, dodo, meaning that life consists only of an endless repetition of subway rides, work, and sleep. Life in Washington is harried, too, but sometimes you need to stop as you dash through the L'Enfant Plaza station at rush hour on a Friday in January. Who is playing the famous Chaconne from Bach's D minor partita so well......

For a while there, the folks at Metro were using the tagline, "Metro Opens Doors" to market all the transit services they offered. While that particular slogan seems to have fallen by the wayside, this afternoon gives us the opportunity to resurrect it, if slightly altered: Metro Opens Baseball Season. Baseball fans across the city will be ditching work early and heading over to RFK for the Washington Nationals' home opener, at 1 p.m against......

>> Bad news: The Sex Worker Art Show at the Rock and Roll Hotel has been cancelled due to inclement weather. Check the HIPS website for news of a possible reschedule date. >> The Washington Nationals issue a call for people who want to be the Racing Presidents! Yes, it's fun fun FUN for the home crowd as Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, and Teddy Roosevelt square off for a battle of base-running supremacy. Will YOU step......

Ever since the District agreed to build the Washington Nationals a brand-new, $611 million stadium, pretty much everyone in the region who owns a sports team has been demanding a handout of their own -- D.C. United has announced plans to build itself a new stadium on Poplar Point in exchange for the development rights of the surrounding land, and even the Washington Redskins have expressed interest in moving back to the city. Now Abe......

While the new stadium for the Washington Nationals slowly rises from the ground, city officials gathered yesterday to break ground on the renovations slated for the Navy Yard Metro station. The station, which can currently handle 5,000 passengers an hour, will undergo a series of changes to allow for an additional 10,000 passengers an hour to flow through on game days. Everything seems to be coming together for the new stadium, right? Well, not really.......

You'd think that the a city just recovering from one bout of stadium shellshock would approach building a whole other new stadium carefully. Not the District. They're looking to build two more. Today Marc Fisher updates us on two stadium projects we reported on long ago, neither of which seemed destined for completion given the legislative conniptions the D.C. Council had to go through just to get the new stadium for the Washington Nationals off......

As Nationals fans, we are but flecks of dust blowing in the wind. A tiny, insignificant bit of marginalia scribbled in the tome of baseball lore. That's what researchers found in a poll released yesterday by AP-AOL Sports. Out of the 2,002 people polled, the 32 percent that claimed to be baseball fans were asked several questions, including "Which Major League Baseball team do you root for during the regular season?" A whopping one percent......

The writing was on the wall. After weeks of speculation, the Nationals made the official announcement Saturday afternoon: Frank Robinson would not be back as manager next year. As Robinson had expressed interest in returning and had requested a three-year contract extension, the decision of the Nationals to decline his request means that, effectively, the 71-year-old was fired. He has announced that he will not be seeking further employment as a manager. To say......

Mayor-to-be Adrian Fenty is probably marveling at the sheer irony of the situation -- a project he voted against may become his first challenge as the District's chief executive. As the Post reported last weekend, the development plans for the area around the new stadium have largely fallen apart, virtually assuring that the April 2008 opening date will find the Washington Nationals playing in an area that remains desolate and under-developed. The problem? Developer Herb......

Cameras Receive Mixed Reviews: Over the weekend the first four of 48 planned surveillance cameras went live in the District, promising to help police handle an on-going crime emergency. But how useful might they be? Not very, according to the Washington Times. Officials in other cities that implemented the cameras argue that they don't do much in helping stop crime, an experience that proven in our northern-most suburb, Baltimore: Baltimore, for example, set up......