Fans of Petworth bar Temperance Hall better get up there for their Sazerac cocktails as soon as possible—the bar is on its way out. Don’t throw out your arms in plaintive questions to the heavens yet, though. While the bar will go, a bar will stay; the property has been sold to the folks behind Columbia Heights’ The Wonderland Ballroom. Following a tip from Prince of Petworth, we caught the Wonderland owners, Matthew McGovern…

Good morning, Washington. Are ya ready for some embezzlement scandal news? Of course you are! This morning’s update comes not from the embattled Office of Tax and Revenue, but rather from the D.C. Public Schools front office, as the Examiner reports that Eugene Smith, the former director of internal audits for DCPS, entered a guilty plea yesterday to charges of stealing nearly $50,000 from a charter school account. Smith was fired by the school system…

A new report from the Brookings Institution shows that the D.C. metro area has the most “walkable places” per capita of any American city — one for every 264,000 people, beating out even New York City for walkability. Visiting Fellow Christopher B. Leinberger says that the Washington region could serve as the model for the direction the country’s other metro areas are heading over the next generation. The Associated Press already picked up on the…

>> D.C. Council members have rejected a plan to give a developer city-owned land worth $6 million on which to build a new Radio One headquarters. [WJLA] >> Five new restaurants are coming to Columbia Heights. [Prince of Petworth] >> Traffic was temporarily halted at Union Station this afternoon as Amtrak Police investigated a report of a suspicious package near Gate A in Union Station. Regular service had resumed by 4 p.m. [WaPo] >>…

Good morning, Washington. Recent increases in gun-related crime in the city seems to be today’s main topic of news, just as the Supreme Court may announce today whether it intends to take another look at D.C.’s handgun ban. D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty has scheduled a press conference this morning to address the District’s position on its gun safety law, but in the meantime the Washington Post is questioning the law’s effectiveness and just last…

Anyone who has spent time attending neighborhood association meetings in much of D.C. knows that 99.5 percent of the topics discussed there tend to revolve around the basic conceit that residents want a say in the kinds of businesses that are near them. More often than not that means putting pressure on existing businesses to operate in certain ways, but without a doubt a major topic of conversation at the meetings we’ve attended is…

Editors Note: We enjoyed the tour diaries J. Tom Hnatow wrote for us as part of These United States’ last tour, so we asked him if he wouldn’t mind doing it again as the band embark on their first ever intercontinental tour of the UK and Europe. He graciously agreed. This is the fourth and final installment of this series. The Paris entry: Thursday October 25th After our marathon, 14-hour, pre-dawn-to-post-dusk trek from Bath to…

Fascinating but frustrating. Those are the two words that most readily come to mind when describing David Grimm’s Kit Marlowe, Rorschach Theater’s latest production. The work’s plot is undeniably gripping, but the play is frequently hindered by a number of performances that, while certainly not poor, are strangely uneven. What results is too many moments where a scene builds in momentum and tension, but is ultimately derailed by a flat or off-beat line delivery. Some…

>> D.C. firefighters were called to a rowhouse fire in Columbia Heights this afternoon. The blaze broke out about 5:15 p.m. in the 1300 block of Otis Place, NW. [AP/WJLA] >> As if Adams Morgan could somehow be ruined by the introduction of beer and wine sales at a grocery store? Have they been to Adams Morgan? [Examiner] >> SmarTrip cards are now available at more Giant stores. [Free Ride] >> “Good lord, have…

You’d think potentially violent criminals would know by now: if you injure someone anywhere near your favorite hang out spot in Ward 1, Council member Jim Graham is going to swoop in and ruin the fun for everyone else. If the possibility of being locked up in the terrifying confines of the D.C. Jail isn’t enough of a deterrent, having all your friends be totally pissed at you for getting the place where they like…