At the beginning of June, the Washington Times launched a fancy redesign of their web site to incorporate a lot of overdue Web 2.0 features, like 400,000 specialized news feeds by topic (neat) and a bunch of new video and audio features (sure, OK). They also moved their nearly nonexistent local coverage into the A section, which we hoped might mean a new emphasis on local news, but so far that hasn't been the case.......

Earlier this year, newly minted Washington Times EIC John Solomon began making changes at his new place of employ. His first move was to bring an end to some of the Times' most sacred traditions: like deploying scare-quotes around the word "marriage" when preceded by the word "gay," and belittling a major national political figure and presidential nominee by referring to her constantly with her first name. Also, they resolved to be slightly less douchey......

City Desk apparently has a fantastic set of sources inside the newsrooms of the District's two main competing newspapers, and today they bring us updates on the layoffs that have been hitting the industry at almost every level. First, the Washington Times. According to a memo from new Editor in Chief John Solomon, the Times is finally looking to be a profitable operation, possibly in hopes of actually giving money back to primary owner Rev.......

The AP via Baltimore's WJZ-TV reports the issue of same-sex marriage rights in Maryland will pop up again next week. This time around, it's the state legislature and not the courts who get to rule on the matter. Back in September, the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled that laws banning same-sex marriages did not violate the state constitution. This contradicted a January 2007 ruling in the Baltimore Circuit Court that the laws were discriminatory and......

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 --......

With point guard Antonio Daniels out for 2-4 weeks with a sprained knee, the Washington Wizards were more than shorthanded going into Saturday night's game against the visiting Sacramento Kings. Rookie Nick Young started in Daniels' spot in the back court and scored five of the team's first seven points, but it was the hot hand of DeShawn Stevenson that led the Wizards to a 92-79 win. Stevenson played over 44 minutes and connected......

The Washington Times is reporting that the number of tickets issued by the MPD to drivers using cell phones without a hands free device has increased for the third straight year. In the first year after the law was enacted in mid-2004, the city dished out 7523 tickets. The following year the number rose to 8,358. This year, it's 9,484. The numbers raise a host of questions about the efficacy and enforcement of this law.......

As we are still recovering from the gluttony that was Thanksgiving, and since it was pretty slow news week in, well, everything, we are light on the transit news, too. But first, which D.C. Council Member likes to ignore laws? You get one guess and the answer is after the jump. Photo by AlbinoFlea......

This weekend the Capitals decided not to add a great goalie to pull them up from the dregs of the standings. After losing seven of eight games, the Caps were in last place. This gave them the first chance to pick up Ilya Bryzgalov, a goalie placed on waivers because he didn't enjoy playing backup on the Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks. Two years ago, Bryzgalov posted one of the greatest playoff shutout streaks in......

Although Gist has been around with varying lineups for almost twenty years, the current lineup of singer/guitarist Nayan Bhula, bassist Finley Martin and drummer Fred Burton have only been together for the past five. In that short time they've released two albums, Art is Now Human and Diesel City, the latter of which established them as an act whose sound could be simultaneously tied to the district and reflect their diverse backgrounds and influences,......

Ahh, rise and shine, Washington! It's another beautiful fall day, so stretch and breathe in deep ... but not too deep, unless you enjoy inhaling some of the worst air in the nation. Scientists are putting numbers on information our lungs already knew: the D.C. area "produces more carbon dioxide than several medium-size European countries," the Post reports. This is due primarily to Maryland's coal-burning power plants and our stand-still traffic, we make more carbon......

Good morning, Washington. It's only the end of September, but if drug store candy aisles are any indication, many of you are probably already thinking ahead just a little bit to the holiday season. What will you be for Halloween? Will you stay in town for Thanksgiving? What kind of Christmas bonus will you be getting this year? For some D.C. government employees, the answer to that last question is now up in the air.......

Good morning, D.C. If by any chance you're a contractor with the city, you may be in for a rude awakening this morning, as City Manager Dan "The Man" Tangherlini and Chief Technology Officer Vivek Kundra have ordered your cell phone to be returned. Apparently some non-employee contractors have been getting a pretty sweet deal from the District for some time in the form of free cell phones, the end of which will save the......

After letting us all enjoy a good summer break, next week the U.S. Senate will start debating legislation that would grant the District a voting seat in the House of Representatives. And in preparing for what is sure to be a spirited battle, big-name voting rights activists have recently stepped up the pressure with two back-to-back op-eds in Washington papers. Yesterday Maryland's former Lt. Gov. Michael Steele and former Oklahoma Republican Rep. J.C. Watts penned......

Good morning, Washington. Does your commute include the Wilson Bridge? If so, enjoy this morning's trip — it's the last speedy one you're likely to have this week. As Fox 5 details, some of the traffic around the bridge will be redirected beginning at 10 a.m. this morning. But the worst will be saved for overnight on Friday, when traffic will be reduced to a single lane. Hateful Vandalism Galore: What the hell is going......

Welcome back to work, Washington. We don't know about you, but we spent an awfully long time in the sun this weekend consuming too much food at various street festivals, so forgive us if we're still groggily pondering Saturday's news in WaPo that the fare change about to be proposed by Metro General Manager John Catoe is an "average increase" of 45 cents. That kind of increase would theoretically raise the base fare of a......

The Washington Times brings us the most, ahem, alarming piece of news we've seen this morning: that D.C. fire officials are investigating whether some firefighters have been running a prostitution ring out of several of the city's firehouses. Around a dozen employees from at least four firehouses are being investigated for involvement in the prostitution ring, which fire officials first learned of after a criminal investigation last month into claims that a sergeant exposed himself......

Jonetta Rose Barras: "The District government is spending millions to send children to a controversial special education residential facility in Massachusetts that uses electric shock to discipline students." Wow. Talk about an opening sentence. Rose Barras dedicated her column this week to the 10 District students who have been sent to the facility -- the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in Canton, Ma. -- arguing that its unorthodox methods of treatment are reason enough to bring......

We read all the local columnists, so you don't have to. This week we find meat-eaters being compared to Michael Vick, a lot of bum opinions on city schools and District residents being called "granola." Courtland Milloy: According to Milloy's Wednesday column in the Post, your choice to eat a hamburger isn't all that different than Michael Vick's decision to brutally fight, torture and kill dogs for money. "We'll kill a duck, deer, turkey --......

A new statue is heading to the National Statuary Hall Collection in the U.S. Capitol -- but it's not either of the long-requested two statues to represent the District of Columbia. Alabama has decided to replace one of its two statues, of Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry, a former congressman, Confederate general and professor who advocated for free universal education, with one of Helen Keller, the famed Socialist Party activist and the first deaf and blind......

Good Friday to you, Washington. Are you getting psyched for the weekend already? No? Did we mention how nice the weather's going to be yet? Predictions are for mostly sunny skies and low humidity levels on Saturday with below-normal high temperatures in the low 80s and overnight lows sinking down to, get this, the low 60s. It's like Christmas in August! District Plagued By Lead Concerns: It's sure starting to feel like we're having......

In case you missed the news yesterday, the Washington Post has devoted an extraordinary amount of front page column inches to the record breaking temperatures D.C. saw yesterday. At 12:05 p.m. on Wednesday, the temperature hit 102 degrees at Reagan National Airport, according to the National Weather Service, breaking the previous all time high record for Aug. 8, of 101 degrees, set in 1930. The oppressive heat also had a number of other newsworthy......

It's Washington's own version of The Big Dig, but it's much more secluded and (hopefully) isn't filling up with water. It's a multi-million dollar boondoggle that provides plenty of fodder for Congresscritters who wish to howl about federal spending. It's the Capitol Visitor Center, which has been under construction since 2001, and has increased in cost from $265 million at that time to $573 million today—which isn't too bad for a Federal project, right? The......

Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) never ceases to amaze us. When he's not looking to shutdown bars and clubs (whether he has a reason or not), he's proposing schemes to put strip-clubs anywhere but in his own ward. He's newest plan? Putting them under Dupont Circle. Yes, you read that right. Under Dupont Circle. The Washington Times is reporting today that Graham has floated the idea of relocating some of the strip-clubs forced out......

Good morning, Washington. If you haven't already, make sure to take the time to read one of the stories that ran over the weekend about one of the important legacies Lady Bird Johnson left behind for our city: the work of her Committee for a More Beautiful Capital, which created more park space and added D.C.'s signature tulips, daffodils and cherry trees to existing triangles throughout the city. The Post has an excellent overview......

After the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the District's restrictive handgun laws were unconstitutional in early March, Mayor Adrian Fenty was quick to promise a swift appeal. But when the full court declined to rehear the case two months later, thus forcing a potential showdown in the U.S. Supreme Court, Fenty was forced to slam on the brakes. Since then, he and his legal team have grappled with a vexing......

The D.C. Lottery will begin selling tickets for a new, short-term raffle today that has considerably better odds of a large payout than most other lottery games. The D.C. Millionaire Raffle will sell a fixed number of 250,000 raffle tickets at $10 a piece, each pre-printed with a six-digit number, from now until August 22, 2007 (or until all tickets are sold). One top prize of $1 million will be awarded after a drawing, as......

Maybe we just have a short memory, but yesterday was the first day of the summer that felt oppressively awful in that distinctly D.C.-ish way. Apparently we weren't the only ones — NBC4 says that a bunch of kids from the National Student Leadership Council who were visiting Capitol Hill became sick from the heat, requiring treatment in a Senate office building (they're all fine). Today promises to be two degrees hotter. Md. Teacher Sentenced......

We do hope you had a pleasant, relaxing, not too horribly hot weekend, Washington. Even if you didn't, chances are your Monday morning is shaping up to be less of a hassle than it is for the staff of Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA). Webb finally admitted over the weekend that he owns the gun that his aide, Phillip Thompson, was arrested for carrying into the Capitol in March. What kept him from clearing up......

Former mayor and D.C. Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) was back in court yesterday on charges stemming from two traffic stops last year, one of which resulted from what Secret Service officers say was erratic driving under the influence of alcohol. The full list of charges against Barry, 71, include driving while under the influence, operating a vehicle while impaired, operating an unregistered vehicle and misuse of temporary tags. The trial is scheduled to......