And so it was — the U.S. Senate voted today 57-42 in favor of closing debate on legislation that would grant the District a voting seat in the House of Representatives, three short of what was needed to prevent a Republican-led filibuster. The measure, which passed the House in April, is now likely dead, and another attempt to correct a 200-year injustice has been thwarted. Of course, the legislation could be re-introduced, but it won’t…

In just a few months, fans will finally get a glimpse of the new $611 million baseball stadium rising in Southeast. No longer will they simply be looking at an artists rendering — they’ll get to see the new concourse, the stands, the suites and the field for themselves. And today the Post’s Marc Fisher poses an interesting question — beyond the bricks and mortar, what should the team’s owners offer inside the stadium? After…

Back in the day, people would gather to lobby, write letters and protest for a cause. These days, all it takes is access to a computer and a creative approach to using online tools. And while the fight for District voting rights has involved a good amount of old-school tactics, online activists have more resources at their disposal than ever before. Newly-elected Shadow Representative Mike Panetta has been leading this fight in recent years, employing…

Just when we’d started to forget the entire rigamarole about getting the new stadium for the Nationals, we get today’s Post article on the lucrative sale of its naming rights. It’s not so much that we should be surprised that the stadium may be named after a corporation — it’s that the District won’t see a penny of the money that the chosen corporation splashes all over the publicly financed $611 million project. Reads the…

Today will be mostly cloudy with a 50 percent chance of showers and highs in the upper 60s. Baby Porcupine Makes Debut at National Zoo: A baby porcupine born earlier in April has made its debut at the National Zoo. Although not born with fully developed spines, the National Zoo points out that the baby quills were sharp enough to stick into a leather glove after they had dried. See this National Zoo page for…

As readers of DCist may well know, the on-going saga as what to name RFK Stadium continues, even though city officials promised on the day of the Nationals home opener that the stadium would officially be christened “Armed Forces Field at RFK Stadium.” Being that the deal has not yet materialized, another name may now be in the running. In an opinion piece posted on Fox News’ website yesterday, CATO Institute policy analyst, blogger, and…

Thirty-four years after the last D.C. baseball team slunk out of town, the Washington Nationals play their first-ever home game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at 7:00 p.m. (TV: UPN 20). As if that isn’t exciting enough, the Nats arrive with a stadium-warming surprise gift: a winning record (5-4) and a two-game win streak (all road games, no less (of course)). It’ll be no small task to keep those winning ways going: The Diamondbacks, even shorn…

Just in the nick of time, Mayor Anthony Williams announced early this morning that a deal had been worked out for RFK’s naming rights. While the formal announcement isn’t expected until 11:30 a.m., Williams appeared on both WTOP and Fox 5 News this morning and hinted that RFK would become the “Armed Forces Field at RFK.” Under the terms of deal, the military would pay $6 million over three years for recruitment kiosks and signage…

Stadium Naming Deal Close to Complete: The Post reported on Saturday that a deal to sell the naming rights to RFK for the next three years may be completed before the Nats home-opener this Thursday. The possible winner? Not the dedicated democracy activists looking to tag RFK the “Taxation Without Representation Field at RFK Stadium,” who to date have raised $36,549 in pledges, but rather the National Guard. The Guard, with over 300,000 members nationwide,…

Stadium Re-Naming Moves Forward: DCist reported last week that local pro-democracy activists are pushing to have RFK Stadium, currently searching for a $1.5-$2 million a year corporate sponsor, named the “Taxation Without Representation Field at RFK Stadium.” The initiative’s initial goal was $10,000 by April 3, but overwhelming support for the idea pushed them to up the ante to $20,000 and now $51,000 by April 14, the date of the Nationals home opener against the…