In the last month of campaigning for an At-Large seat on the D.C. Council, challenger David Grosso spent $82,000 on mailers targeting Councilmember Michael Brown (I-At Large).

Councilmember Michael Brown (I-At Large) doesn’t want to talk about the theft of over $113,000 from his campaign, but his opponents want to make it an issue in the race for his seat.

D.C. resident Carolina Alcalde was struck by a tree while riding on her motorcycle during last Friday’s violent storm. Paralyzed from the mid-section down, Alcalde’s friends are raising funds for what they say will be a costly recovery.

Councilmember Michael A. Brown (I-At Large) announced today that a former staffer had spent campaign funds without authorization.

A draft House spending bill has cut $53 million in 2013 funds for the Eisenhower Memorial Commission, signaling more troubles for the controversial Frank Gehry-designed memorial.

Yesterday the D.C. Council approved Mayor Vince Gray’s 2013 budget on a first vote, though it made some changes to the spending plan. Extended bar hours are in (kind of), affordable housing has been saved, more traffic cameras are coming, and the city will get better at collecting fines.

The D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics is stuck in the unenviable task of conducting two sets of elections in the next two months—the April 3 primary and the May 15 Ward 5 special election. But while the former is fully funded, the latter runs the risk of not happening at all if Mayor Vince Gray and the D.C. Council don’t come to an agreement on a larger spending bill.

While a local philanthropist kicked in $7.5 million of his own money to help fund repairs on the Washington Monument in the wake of last August’s earthquake, the National Cathedral is still some $18 million short in its own fundraising efforts for needed repairs.

A Ward 5 ANC is getting back some of the money that was stolen from it by a member earlier this year.

Alan Suderman’s rundown of Councilmember Harry Thomas’ bank records has given us all a chance to marvel at the Ward 5 representative’s enjoyment of Hooters, satellite television and 7-Eleven on D.C.’s dime. But there’s one expense not mentioned in Suderman’s story that’s also worth noting.