Whether we like to admit it or not, most of us are Monday morning quarterbacks when it comes to local government. Whenever the District’s government does something foolish, many of us are quick to assume that we could do better. Well, now we have a chance to prove it. During last year’s mayoral campaign, the D.C. Appleseed Center ran a campaign soliciting resident input into the city’s most pressing problems. From the 1,500 submissions they…

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….

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…

If you’ve ever wondered how D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton keeps fired up, it’s not just the indignity of being denied full voting privileges in the House — it’s race-walking and low-calorie smoothies. According to an article published yesterday in The Hill, Norton does her best to stay in shape, exercising and eating well to ensure that she never goes soft on anti-voting rights Republicans: On weekends, or days when she has more free time,…

Yesterday Mayor Fenty made his way to the far north end of the city with plans to demolish a brand new home. Why would the mayor and neighbors invite the media to see the shiny, $1.5 million building dismantled piece by piece? The answer lies in an almost farcical gaffe on the part of city officials and the federal government’s control over lands in the District. We’ve mentioned it briefly before, but the full story…

Just when you thought the District’s public schools were facing enough hurdles these days. The Examiner reports that most of the Ward 3 public schools were without telephone service yesterday, in what appears to have been an error on the part of DCPS. The outages ocurred after DCPS gave the District’s Office of Finance a list of phone numbers they supposedly weren’t using anymore. The disconnects began March 8 under the city’s Zero Usage Project,…

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….

Batten down the hatches, Washington. Proving that no good spell of weather goes unpunished, we’ve now got some major storms headed our way. Two separate storm lines, to be precise, are barreling down on the metro area as we speak, the first having just begun, and the second, more powerful system, expected between noon and 5 p.m. With winds at 30 mph, we’d suggest upgrading your umbrella to something more than cheap and crappy. District…