If you’ve been complaining that Memorial Day weekend wiped out your wallet, D.C. art venues heard your pleas for something a little less draining on your finances. This weekend the city is chock full of free activities, from private gallery openings to neighborhood wide social events. Put on your walking shoes and check out the following: >> It’s time again for the annual Dupont Kalorama Museum Walk Weekend. Held on the first full weekend in…

It’s going to be a perfectly lovely day, maybe a little on the warm side even, with just a slim chance of showers later this afternoon. We should all, no doubt, have a little spring in our steps. And luckily for us we can, seeing as how we don’t usually comment on the goings on up on the Hill. If we did, we might be forced to face some ugly realities this morning. We might,…

Next Monday could be a tough day for the country — immigrant advocates have been pushing a nationwide work boycott to convince Congress of the economic power of the country’s million of illegal immigrants. Some local Hispanic leaders have expressed their opposition to the boycott, though, concerned that it may cause a backlash against immigrants and their cause. There are an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States. MLB Denies That Team…

The D.C. Water and Sewer Authority has some good news to report. After months of recovering from the lead-in-the-water scare, it appears that lead levels have fallen below acceptable levels for the first time in four years, the Post reports. A new chemical to help prevent antiquated lead service lines from leaching into the water system seems to be working. From the Post: The city’s water treatment plants, operated by the Army Corps of Engineers,…

Will D.C. residents soon breathe easier when it comes to indoor and outdoor air quality? Maybe. A couple of recent items suggest that we won’t be “waiting to exhale” much longer. City council member Jim Graham (Ward 1) has a poll on his blog (we see permalinks and comments, so it’s a blog) asking visitors whether the district should “act to eliminate smoking in indoor workplaces.” As of this morning, with 1,907 votes cast, the…

WTOP reports that the Chesapeake Bay Foundation has awarded $200,000 in grants to three local development corporations for the construction of environmentally sensitive landscaped roofs (“green roofs”) on office buildings to reduce runoff into the Potomac and Anacostia rivers, and ultimately into the Chesapeake Bay. Among the projects on tap is a 68,000-square-foot vegetated roof for the new headquarters of the U.S. Department of Transportation (shown here in a rendering from the building’s developer, the…

D.C. Council Rejects Hazmat Shipment Measure: After there was a lot of support for legislation that would bar hazardous shipments from being transported through the District via rail, the D.C. Council rejected the emergency measure. The Post reports that the mayor’s office believed that because of the way the legislation was written, it wouldn’t have been able to survive a court challenge. The bill’s opponents note that the most hazardous materials already bypass the city…

Now that the proposed baseball stadium in Near Southeast is getting a lot of attention, other projects along the Southeast and Southwest waterfronts are being highlighted. The Post gives an update on the plans of Fannie Mae, the home mortgage giant, to consolidate its downtown and Upper Northwest offices into one large new headquarters building near the Waterfront metrorail station. Fannie Mae plans on moving into new quarters at the Waterside Mall on M Street…

A day after flood waters shut down a metrorail operations room, a week after it admitted it was running out of electronic farecards and a month it was attacked for reducing late-night subway service to two-car trains all while increasing fares, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority seems to continue to anger riders. It is now arresting violaters of its no food and drink regulations. The Post reports that Metro Transit Police detained an Environmental…