FRIDAY: >> Octogenarian fiddler Joe Thompson (at right), said to be the last black traditional string band player, plays a free show at The Kennedy Center’s The Millennium Stage with fellow folk musicians Wayne Martin on fiddle and Bob Carlin, a clawhammer style banjoist. 6 p.m. >> Space rockers The Gulf sold out their D.C. show in April, and are coming back to play at the Red and the Black with the Joonies, Twin Earth,…

>> A Calvert, Md. dog saved its owner by performing the Heimlich manuever on her. Everybody loves an adorable animal story at 5:30 p.m. on a Tuesday. [AP] >> Giant local employer Fannie Mae expects it will lay off hundreds of workers in the wake of huge federal fines imposed in their accounting scandal. We’re sorry, unsuspecting Fannie Mae employees. [Examiner] >> Rounding out Washington’s Sports Coverage is Jordan Baker’s preview of the upcoming panda…

Today, the Washington Examiner returns to a theme we’ve noticed (and scratched our collective temple at) a number of times over the past year. It seems that Fannie Mae and the Urban Institute have conducted a survey showing that many District families are leaving the capital for the suburbs, due, according to the Examiner piece, to poor schools, excessive condo construction, and high housing costs. Says the article:Most housing booms are “primarily driven by the…

Although District residents may be seguing into fall’s business-as-usual pace, we’re reminded today that, one year after Hurricane Katrina, those who call New Orleans home are still caught up in loose ends and mired in disarray caused by Katrina’s aftermath. Area food folks remind us that people still need our help. As Metrocurean reported last week, local restaurants participating in Share our Strength’s Restaurants for Relief today, which include Evening Star, Tallula and Capitol Grille,…

The District has seen good times in the last few years. Business is booming and neglected properties and neighborhoods are seeing new investment. Crime has plummeted over the past decade, and corruption in the government has faded even as the city’s coffers have filled with new tax revenues. The ebbing of many of the city’s old problems has combined with the election year to place a new and intense focus on fixing the city’s…

Today D.C. socialite bloggers awake facing less competition, the city has its first official mayoral candidacy announcement, and a friend of DCist speaks about his experiences as a journalist in Iraq. Plus it’s looking to be beautiful outside. At left is the New River Gorge Bridge, the world’s second-longest and country’s second highest single-arch bridge, one of the highlights of this DCist’s recent visit to West Virginia. Northern Virginia Group Bidding for Nats: The Post…

FRIDAY: >> All weekend long we’ve got Filmfest DC! Check out the schedule here, and if you haven’t picked up a copy of this week’s City Paper, you really should, because they’ve got some good Filmfest coverage. >> If you’re feeling crafty, you won’t want to miss the Smithsonian Craft Show this weekend: there are 120 booths exhibiting and selling some of the nation’s finest arts and crafts. Just check out, for example, some of…

Any blogger worth their salt should know that the -ist family’s executive editor, Jen Chung, loves pandas. So Jen, here you go. We know you can’t see pandas at the Bronx Zoo (but there are red pandas there — our red pandas here in D.C. died after eating rat poison buried in their enclosure), so here’s the next best thing. We’re sure pandas in their natural habitat don’t have to deal with the construction…

Mayor Williams has made it known: He is not happy with Fannie Mae, the home mortgage loan giant that pulled out of an agreement to develop a new office complex at the Waterside Mall site in Southwest D.C. In fact, Williams and other city officials are trying to figure out if the District has any way get some money back. And one member of the D.C. Council says Fannie Mae could potentially pay $200 million…

Amid the media attention focusing on last week’s Inauguration, the Congressionally chartered home mortgage loan giant Fannie Mae announced it pulled out of its plans to move some of its staff to Southwest D.C. Hailed as one of the key pieces to spur redevelopment in the vicinity of the Waterside Mall on M Sreeet SW, a Fannie spokesman says “[t]he decision is one of several actions Fannie Mae has taken to reduce future costs in…