The photo above shows the growing memorial to Sidney Drazin, the owner of the Comet Liquors in Adams Morgan. While the Post covered his death with a story last week, DCist was inspired by the candles, flowers and messages lining the store front on Saturday night to remember the Adams Morgan staple. This DCist stopped by Comet nearly every weekday to purchase cigarettes. Sid would hand over a book of matches and then say,…

Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, a Northern Virginia high school valedictorian was charged today in federal court with conspiring to assassinate President Bush. Abu Ali, 23, was a Falls Church resident and graduated from the Islamic Saudi Academy in Alexandria. From the AP, via the NY Times: The federal indictment said that in 2002 and 2003 Abu Ali and an unidentified co-conspirator discussed plans for Abu Ali to assassinate Bush. They discussed two scenarios, the indictment…

Last night, someone was murdered in the lobby of the Reeves Center, a District municipal building at the intersection of 14th and U streets NW. According to an e-mail posted on the U Street News listserv by Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham: Around 3 AM, in entranceway approach to the Club, a person was stabbed to death with a “sharp object” following an argument that began in the Club U with another person. This is…

The D.C. Council passed legislation today that bans trains carrying hazardous materials from traveling through the District. This from GovExec.com: The legislation — introduced by Councilwoman Kathy Patterson, D-Ward 3–requires rail and trucking companies to get a special permit before they can transport large quantities of extremely hazardous chemicals, such as chlorine or propane, through the nation’s capital. Several council members have said the legislation was needed because the Homeland Security Department refused to order…

WTOP is reporting that D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams has not decided whether he will sign the “First Amendment Rights and Police Standards Act of 2004” which was passed by a 12-1 vote in the D.C. Council last year. Art Spitzer of the American Civil Liberties Union said, “It’s not unusual for the mayor to take full time with a bill. I understand he’s been ill — maybe that stuff’s been pushed back on his…

In more protest news, seven of the 400+ protesters unlawfully arrested in Pershing Park during the September 2002 protests against the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank reached a settlement with the District of Columbia today in federal court. The seven plantiffs, including Adam Eidinger, his wife Alexis Baden-Mayer and her father Joe Mayer, will receive $48,000 each and a letter of apology from Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Chief Charles Ramsey. (The photo is…

It’s not clear if Elissa Silverman, the City Paper’s Loose Lips columnist, knew that her “Secret Santa” column late last year would be her final piece criticizing and poking fun at D.C. political figures. If she had known, we would have liked her to ‘present’ us with an announcement of her upcoming departure. Then we could have immediately applied for her awesome former job. According to the today’s print version of the City Paper, applicants…

Still looking for a way to help the tsunami victims? Instead of waiting for an ex-President to contact you, consider attending a live jazz and food sampling fundraiser at the U Street Northwest Sala Thai. According to the Washington Business Journal: On Jan. 10, Sala Thai restaurant will host a fund-raising event at its 1301 U Street location, with live jazz, free tastings from the menu and speciality drinks. Patrons are asked to make…

U Street NIMBYs beware! In a classic “take out the trash” move, the D.C. Office of Attorney General announced that it had settled a dispute with the managers of Club U, the go-go club operating out of the Reeves Municipal Center (at right) at U and 14th streets NW. Despite concerns from neighborhood residents, including Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham, about violence and suspicious activities going on in and around the club, Club U will…