>> Ocean City: Making it harder to score hookers on your beach weekend since 2007. [WTOP] >> Metro is going to start distributing free bottles of hand sanitizer in stations beginning next week, in an effort to prevent the spread of flu germs. Except only 2,000 riders at each station will get them, on a first come, first served basis. We’d like to suggest they distribute them based on filthiness. You should have to…

We can’t tell you how many emails we got this morning asking us if we knew what was being filmed on Q Street NW between 16th and 17th, right in front of Hank’s Oyster Bar. By the time our intrepid reporter arrived, the production was either being packed up for lunch, or for good, but we were able to find out that it’s in fact a shoot for a Chevy commercial. We’re not sure…

>> After the fire at Georgetown Public Library, DDOT warns that Wisconsin Ave. Southbound is still blocked at 34th Street NW, Northbound Traffic is blocked at Q Street NW. East-West Routes are and will continue to be congested >> Scads of dead or dying fish are surfacing in the Shenandoah River, again. [Washington Times] >> Arlington’s Booeymonger really means it when they say their parking is for 20 minutes only. [Andyland via DC Blogs]…

News on the DCist tip line and NBC4 is that the Georgetown Branch of the D.C. Public Library is on fire. The building, on the 3600 block of R St., NW, is currently under renovation. Beginning at 12:45 this afternoon, we could see the smoke from the western edge of Dupont. The library was built in 1935 and has a number of historical documents and paintings which fire fighters are trying to save. NBC4 reports…

At Overheard, we’ll go for any excuse to have a party. New Year’s? Obviously. Halloween? Let’s find a costume. Housewarming? Sign us up. Bank error in your favor? Sounds like an occassion for celebration to us. If you stock the refrigerator, we will come. Still, we don’t think we’ve ever been to a party with quite the sense of urgency as the one mentioned in this week’s quote of the week. And we agree with…

As sunny weather descends (or perhaps that should be in the past tense, now that we look out the window) on the Washington area, DCist’s thoughts turn to the plethora of outdoor activities that will soon be made not only possible, but enjoyable, by the temperate days. If you’re like us, you look forward to spring because it means the annual renaissance of local farmers’ markets. If you call yourself a Washingtonian, you’re already…

We’ve used the power of blogging to get potholes fixed, so why not use it to spur some local development? At least that’s what one blogger and Shaw resident is looking to do. The anonymous blogger behind Off Seventh — My Chronicles of Shaw is sick and tired of seeing properties in the fast-growing neighborhood boarded up and undeveloped, and he wants do something about it. He writes: My wife and I were heading to…

What up, DC? Here’s a few last minute big, long, hot, fat content sausages to shove in your mouths. >> Tonight’s cocktail hour talking points: Webb up 4 with 4% undecided, O’Malley and Ehrlich tied, Allen’s people hate bloggers even more than that emo bitchling Jared Leto, and, responding to the self-induced cashiering of his credibility, John Kerry decides there’s no better time to kick off aggressively campaigning for the 2004 Presidential vote than 728…

Three weeks ago the D.C. Council passed emergency legislation to deal with a spike in violent crime. Among the provisions endorsed by the council was the installation of 23 surveillance cameras throughout the District, at a cost of $2.3 million. But where would the cameras go? Police Chief Charles Ramsey indicated that he would allow Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (ANCs) — local neighborhood representatives — to propose sites which the police would then review. Today the…

So it’s hot out, if you haven’t noticed. And somehow, when it is hot out, life’s little inconveniences are that much worse. Like getting off the Metro, turning the corner out of the faregate, and finding an escalator that is not moving. And that is exactly what will happen today at several area Metro stations, undergoing scheduled escalator renovations. Though Metro might not be able to get the escalators up and running today, they are…