Hoping to diffuse controversy over a special Congressional panel charged with investigating the federal government’s shortcomings in the response to Hurricane Katrina, Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert has tapped local Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) to be the panel’s leader. The panel has been a flashpoint of debate in recent days, with Congressional Democrats claiming it would “whitewash” what have come to be perceived as substantial failures in the federal response to the storm and…

August came and went, the Nats inaugural season is coming to an end, yet no developments have come in the long-running bidding war for the ownership of the team. Last we checked, eight contenders were in the running, and bids as high as $450 million were rumored. Since then, silence. Until now. Conflicting information exists regarding how many bidding groups are still in the running (ESPN’s Peter Gammons says it’s down to three, the Post…

We awake this morning knowing that Londoners are slowly recovering from the terrorist attacks that yesterday killed at least 50 and left hundreds more injured. We here at DCist are with them in thought, and can’t do enough to thank our peers at Londonist for their continuing reporting. For more reaction from the D.C. blogging community, check out DCBlogs, the source of the above image. As for us, well Washington, brace yourself — what’s…

File this story under the “Petty Politics” category. Via The Stakeholder, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s own blog, we find that Roll Call is reporting that Democratic financier and philanthropist George Soros, at right, has floated the idea of buying the Washington Nationals, recently having joined the ranks of one of the groups that submitted a bid for the team. Congressional Republicans, upon having heard the rumor, slyly implied that action could be taken against…