Some rather surprising media news to share this afternoon: Howard Kurtz, who has been a reporter and columnist at the Washington Post for 29 years, will be leaving the paper to join online news site The Daily Beast as its Washington bureau chief. Kurtz, who is also the host of CNN’s Reliable Sources, will report on and analyze national politics and media in his new position. In an official statement on the Daily Beast’s site,…

Normally, we complain mightily when the District of Columbia is lumped in with the states in rankings of best or worst of whatever. Being entirely urban, D.C. just isn’t suited to being included among lists of states that are a mix of urban, suburban and rural areas. Compare us to other cities, sure, but for the most part, results of state rankings that include the District end up painting a skewed picture of where we…