If you don’t want to pay a toll, just don’t leave the city. Information is sketchy at best, but the federal government may soon propose a toll on cars entering the city via the 14th Street bridge, reports The Examiner. According to the story, the proposal seems to be nothing more than another one of those fabulous pipe dreams feds float from time to time for improving our city. Like Sen. Sam Brownback’s “flat tax”…

As the Senate prepares to vote today over whether to close debate on legislation granting the District a voting seat in the House of Representatives, no one can safely say whether the votes will be there to head off a threatened filibuster. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) made his opposition to the bill painfully clear in a floor speech yesterday, and voting rights activists have been scrambling to gain enough Republican allies to reach…

Sen. McConnell, On Tuesday the Senate is set to take up legislation that would grant the District a voting seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. And though the measure passed the House and enjoys wide support in the Senate and among the American people, you’ve threatened to use procedural road-blocks to prevent it from coming to a vote. Please don’t. Sen. McConnell, in opposing a measure that would grant the District’s 600,000 residents a…

In their coverage of the Capital Pride Festival, which kicked off yesterday and will culminate in a parade and street festival this weekend, the Post gives an account of a town hall meeting on GLBT issues last night at Studio Theatre where Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) said he plans to introduce a bill legalizing gay marriage in the District within the next two years. Graham appeared on the panel with several other openly…

Happy National Freedom to Marry Day, everyone! And that means everyone: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and straight. We figured with Valentine’s Day approaching we’d give you a bit of a rundown on just how state-sanctioned your love is depending on if you live in a commonwealth, state or district. This year’s NFMD brings mixed news for gay couples wanting to enjoy wedded bliss, or at least all the swag from their Crate and Barrel registry….

If today’s PETA protest left you wishing for more skin with your politics, then Universal Gear up for more. Whitman-Walker Clinic’s yearly gay pride festival, Capital Pride, is back for another year, and—with all the new venues and expanded events—it is bulging at the seams. While it actually kicked off last weekend with a contest for Mr. CapitalPride Leather and a panel on “Building Bridges without Destroying Identities,” the festivities and other related events run…

According to word we have just received, the flat tax that Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) is hoping to force upon the District is receiving a second round of debate and consideration today. The District of Columbia Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which he chairs, has scheduled a hearing today to dicuss his flat tax proposal, and it will be receiving testimony from District CFO Natwar Gandhi, Brookings Institution scholar Alice Rivlin, and Terence Golden…

Today’s Opinion on the flat tax in D.C. was written by Jonathon Schuster. On March 9 the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on DC held hearings to discuss Senator Sam Brownback’s (R-KS) idea of using the District as a testing ground for a national flat tax. Forget for the moment that Brownback is far from representative of the majority of District residents with his often extremist right wing statements (such as comparing abortions in America to the…

There a lot of things that could happen. But only a few actually do happen. This may be one. A few months back we reported that Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) was tossing around the idea of using the District as a testing ground for a flat tax. Given that he chairs the Senate’s Appropriations Subcommittee on the District of Columbia, has presidential aspirations and nowhere else to use as his own personal “laboratory,” this has…

As they say: nothing is sure in life but death and taxes. And in the District, those taxes are high. That may change, though. According to an article published in the New York Sun today, Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), who chairs the Senate’s Appropriations Subcommittee on the District of Columbia, is mulling introducing a flat tax in the District. His intentions are not so much noble as they are inquisitive, though. Brownback referred to the…