Photo by Bullneck

Is this really the shit D.C. says? While you ponder that, here’s the news you missed this week.

• Monday was the official celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, allowing us to stop and marvel at the many fantastic photographs of his memorial.
• As the week started, Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) became one of Rush Limbaugh’s objects of affection as unfounded rumors continued to spread that the District was sending its rats to Virginia. (Limbaugh’s biggest supporters are an emotive bunch, as Cheh learned by reading their emails.) And despite repeated claims to that no rats were being sent anywhere outside the city, Virginia Attorney General Ken “The Cooch” Cuccinelli refused to admit he was wrong, and he was joined by a Maryland legislator in being on the opposite side of the truth.
• It was a busy week for the Occupy Wall Street movement, as protesters descended on Congress for a day of relatively uneventful protests before trying to raise a ruckus at the Supreme Court and call out their mayors at a local conference. (One New York-based protester complained of the lack of confrontation with police, prompting a response from us on the merits of being the nation’s capital.) But in the biggest news of the week, a Republican congressman scheduled a hearing for next week in which he plans on having local and federal officials explain why the Occupy D.C. encampment at McPherson Square has been allowed to remain for so long.
• In local politics, two local activists announced a ballot initiative to ban corporate contributions to political campaigns, Harry Thomas, Jr.’s seat was finally declared vacant, the D.C. Council voted to limit the number of medical marijuana cultivation centers in any one ward and the District joined 11 states in backing President Obama’s healthcare overhaul. In Uber news, D.C. Taxicab Commission Chairman Ron Linton again defended his sting on a driver while Cheh criticized it.
• A big newsmaker was the day-long online protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act, which saw everyone from Wikipedia and Google to some local supporters call on Congress to scrap the bill. Of course, this being D.C., there wasn’t anyone we could reach out to on the Hill to make our voices heard.
• In other news, a local philanthropist pledged $7.5 million of his own money to fund repairs on the Washington Monument, we shot back at claims that D.C. isn’t a tolerant city, discovered that we’ve got some pretty rich one-percenters, picked apart the reasons why the Post’s Sally Jenkins landed an interview with Joe Paterno and heard the tragic news that an infant girl had died after having been left on the doorstep of a home in Northeast D.C.
• In food and drink, Mood Lounge got its liquor license back, food trucks saw more freedom down the road under new rules published by the city, we profiled the minds behind 13th Street Meats and saw three local bars make the list of the country’s top 100 beer bars.
• In arts and entertainment, we criticized the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema’s definition of “D.C.” (they later clarified it), said goodbye to Gold Leaf Studios and welcomed Artomatic back.
• And of course, a cheetah!