Local fishing stores and environmental experts say they’re seeing an uptick in angling activities.

The 11th Street Bridge Park project could become a reality as soon as 2017 or 2018.

D.C. ranked as the 8th best city for recreational activities. Thus, you should skip out of work early, go outside, and play some kickball or something.

Come mid-2013, a new $300 million 11th Street Bridge will cross the Anacostia River. But what will happen with the old bridge that the new spans will replace? You’d be surprised to see what one D.C. office has in mind.

The annual National Night Out is set to kick off this evening, with a host of neighborhood gatherings sponsored by the Metropolitan Police Department to choose from. The yearly event is designed to raise awareness about street crime and encourage residents to meet their neighbors by joining in on any of the planned events, or just by staying outside in their front yards or porches late in an effort to deter criminal activity. Mayor Fenty…

>> Mayor Adrian Fenty has chosen Clark Ray to serve as the city’s director of the Department of Parks and Recreation. Ray was previously the Director of the Mayor’s Office of Community Relations and Services. >> D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier has called for her third summertime “All Hands on Deck” initiative for Monday and Tuesday, to coincide with Tuesday’s National Night Out. The last “All Hands on Deck,” when Lanier requires all MPD…

FRIDAY: >> Tired of putting those great costume ideas on the back burner till October? Dying for a chance to wear a costume without wearing a jacket over top? Three Stars vets New Rock Church of Fire feel the same way. Tonight, join NRCOF, D.C.’s The Gaskets and Richmond’s The Invisibles at the Rock & Roll Hotel for July-O-Ween. Incognito fun, rip roaring rock from all three bands, DJ sets, drink specials, a costume contest…

>> “Hundreds of guests at the Washington Plaza Hotel were evacuated this morning after smoke filled the hotel’s basement because of an overheated sump pump.” [WaPo] >> “The greens at East Potomac Golf Course are looking more brown these days due to a mix up by a government contractor who mistook herbicide for fertilizer.” [WJLA] >> “Sajani Shakya, a 10-year-old Nepalese girl who jeopardized her status as a “living goddess” by traveling to the…

There’s been all kinds of crazy stuff found on Google’s new StreetView application, which we wrote about before – guys who appear to be peeing on the side of the road, climbing fences into houses, and so on. While D.C. won’t be getting StreetView for a little while longer, there is still some strange stuff to be seen with good ol’ Google Maps. Joyriding has long been a problem in D.C., where (usually) kids steal…

Ever since he took office after eight years of Mayor Anthony Williams’ tenure, the question has burned in our minds: Will D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty continue Williams’ tradition by opening the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation’s public swimming pools with a cannonball dive? He’s been asked the question a number of times already, but always with a different answer. First Fenty said maybe his twin sons, Matthew and Andrew, would do the honors. Then…