Now is the time of year when we all get to start complaining about how stupid standard time is and how walking out of our offices last night into pitch black darkness was weird and uncomfortable and made us confused about what time happy hour was supposed to start. That is all. ‘Fat Gap’ Between Whites and Blacks in D.C. High: We’ve certainly talked about the income gap between whites and blacks in our city…

Good morning, Washington. Can you feel the excitement in the air? That’s right: it’s Taxi Decision Day. Will District residents get a shiny new meter system, or have to make our peace with zones for the foreseeable future? Or will we be treated to a metered zone hybrid/abomination? It’ll be just a few hours until we find out. Immigration Measures Elicit Passion, Lawsuits: The Post reports on the scene in Prince William County, where…

The Alexandria City Council passed a bill on Saturday that would effectively ban smoking in restaurants in the city. The council has to vote again on the measure, which makes changes to use permit regulations that would require restaurants to go smoke free, before it would go into effect, and that vote isn’t planned until after the next Virginia General Assembly session ends. Alexandria officials are hoping the General Assembly will pass its own state-wide…

Ever since legislation was introduced in the D.C. Council that would mandate vaccinations for the HPV virus, the issue has moved to the forefront of the public health debate around the country. With an increasing number of states considering a mandatory vaccine — at least 20 to date — debate has raged between advocates that believe that a vaccine could prevent a serious public health crisis, opponents who claim that it infringes upon the rights…

This week the transit world has been peppered with tidbits on trains, buses, cheap bastard Northern Virginians that will ruin Metro for us and should be voted out of office as soon as possible (phew!) and abandoned children….

In the complicated scheme of Metro’s multi-jurisdictional funding, there are some counties in Maryland and Virginia that we could term “freeloaders.” They’re the transit equivalent of the roommates that never pay for the beer but have no trouble drinking it. Let’s call them Anne, Howard, William and Loudoun. Metro’s Board of Directors yesterday expressed its annoyance that Anne, Howard, William and Loudoun, which add 73,500 daily riders to the already congested system, aren’t paying…

We did a double take upon hearing that members of the Virginia General Assembly objected to the prayer that opened the session this past Friday. Then we learned about the content of the prayer. We were less surprised. During her invocation, Rev. Deborah Peevey was heard to say, “Holy One, convict those who are using their power not to lead or to guide but to harm the gay and lesbian citizens, a small minority in…

New legislative excitement from Richmond! The Post reports that the Virginia General Assembly is considering a bill that has raised the ire of gun-rights advocates accusing proponents of a hunting-blood alcohol level clarification measure of trying to limit their Second Amendment protections. From the Post: … Senate Bill 1149 further clarifies the state code so that a hunter who had a blood alcohol content of .02 would be guilty of a misdemeanor. That’s tougher than…