>> Maryland police apprehended the prisoner who stole an officer’s gun and escaped from custody from a Laurel hospital. [WTOP] >> Shortly after abandoning his run for the White House, Stephen Colbert ended up in a three-way tie for a seat on the Colonial Soil and Water Conservation District Board in Williamsburg. Sadly, he won’t be able to serve if selected by a hat draw (seriously), because he’s not a registered voter in the…

The high point of this week in classical music is surely the Lieder recital by the superlative German baritone Christian Gerhaher and his regular pianist collaborator, Gerold Huber, sponsored by the Vocal Arts Society at the Embassy of Austria (October 11, 7:30 p.m.). Gerhaher’s most recent Lieder recording is a knockout, and his program for Thursday night is devoted entirely to songs by Robert Schumann. THE SYMPHONY: >> Riccardo Chailly brings his La Scala Philharmonic…

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 –…

Former Editor-in-Chief Ryan Avent writes a weekly column about neighborhood and development issues. Over the past few weeks, events have conspired to place race squarely at the center of the debate over public education in the District of Columbia. After appointing Michelle Rhee the first ever Chancellor of District Schools, Mayor Fenty found himself faced with a barrage of criticism and innuendo from the Washington Post drawing attention to the fact that she was not…

Another classic installment of the 434-part Better Know a District series from the Colbert Report last night saw host Stephen Colbert question whether Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) realized that when he voted for the D.C. Voting Rights Act, it applied to Washington, D.C., and not his home state of Washington. Just another example of how Colbert is doing his part to keep our disenfranchisement in the public eye. Smith was also willing to admit…

In honor of National Burger Heritage Awareness Month, our favorite Internet travel buddy Gridskipper opted to run a post lauding the awesomeness of Washington’s hamburgers. We have no quarrel there; they are awesome, and we feel it completely appropriate to exalt their bovinity. Hmm. Bovinity. Where have we heard that word before? Bovinity, bovinity, bovinity, bovinity… But Gridskipper’s list is certainly respectable — incorporating true burger all-stars like Colorado Kitchen and Tallula — even if…

If you work on the Hill you might still have time to run over to the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Rm. 342 for the hearing Equal Representation in Congress: Providing Voting Rights to the District of Columbia before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. The hearing, scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., will include testimony split into two panels, the first with Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), Mayor…

Last night Fairfax’s Rep. Tom Davis (R) sat down with Stephen Colbert to better know Virginia’s “Fighting” 11th District. While it was great to see another local politician step up to the plate, Davis seemed a little befuddled by Colbert’s style. For example he likes the Doobie Brothers, but has no idea what a “doobie” is, and probably won’t be participating in any program to tag and track Republicans. Whew! Maybe Davis’s performance just…

This week we’d like to congratulate the -ist network’s Mother Hen, Gothamist’s Jen Chung, who found herself a recipient of Wired Magazine’s Wired Rave Award. If that doesn’t sound terribly exciting, keep in mind another recipient was J.K. Rowling. Yep, that’s right, the -ist network and Harry Potter now have something in common. Go us. Austinist has a chat with the ever-fashionable Golden Girl Rue McClanahan, and managed to catch some local fashionistas making…

Last night congressional delegate and all around bad-ass Eleanor Holmes Norton made another appearance on the Colbert Report. Once again she epitomized “in on the joke.” While Colbert complained that creating two new seats sets back his ongoing effort to “better know” 434 members of Congress, Norton generously extended the city’s good will; “I’m prepared on their behalf, on behalf of the people of the District of Columbia, either your apologies for making fun…