Category Archives: The Daily Feed

News, The Daily Feed
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Electrical Fires on H Street, Penn Ave Plague Capitol Hill

Photo courtesy of


‘Eastern Market Manhole’
courtesy of ‘Kevin H.’

Two big electrical outages in DC plague the Capitol Hill neighborhood this morning.  An electrical fire in underground conduit at 12th and H Street NE, and a generator fire at 7th & Penn Ave SE, have put two commercial strips in Capitol Hill in a bit of trouble this morning.  

DC Fire & EMS responded with a Foam/Hazmat truck to 12th & H last night around 11pm as the underground electric conduits had caught fire.  While they were able to, with Pepco’s help, put out the fire there quickly, the damage was done, and much of that area is without power. If you’ve got plans for Granville Moore’s, Sticky Rice or The Black and The Red later, you may want to call in ahead and make sure they’ve gotten power back.

In addition, a generator at 650 Penn Ave SE overheated, and that means that corner of businesses, from Peregrine Espresso, around to at least the Yes! Organic Market are out currently out commission. Peregrine announced that they are closing until Pepco restores power.
Now, they’re contacting one of the best panel upgrade services to help them get their power back up.

News, The Daily Feed
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Scorching Heat, Take Precautions

Photo courtesy of
‘By the light of 100 suns’
courtesy of ‘euphro’

The next two days, we’re in for some absolutely scorching heat. Capital Weather Gang is forecasting that we’ll hit 100 for Tuesday and Wednesday, and that relief, should it come, will mean low 90s again. In this sort of baking weather, please do try to look in on elderly or disabled people in your neighborhood.  Cooling Centers will be open from noon to six today and tomorrow, at One Judiciary Square, the Reeves Center, the King Office Building and 920 Rhode Island Ave NE to help those who are without any climate control.

The humidity will also play a factor in your discomfort on Wednesday, as the front begins to break. Today should be just awful, while tomorrow will be super extra extreme awful. Expect heat index values up near 110. While today’s 101°F forecast will not break the 103°F record set in 1999, tomorrow’s 100°F forecast will likely eclipse the 1991 record of 99°F.

Please take steps to make sure that you’re getting enough water today. If you’re looking for some exercise, take a swim, DC’s pools are free to all residents! Limit outdoor work during the heat wave, I promise the lawn can wait until Thursday or Friday when things will be a bit cooler. Look for storms by the weekend.

Business and Money, The Daily Feed
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Will DC Save Money, Live Better With Wal-Mart?

Photo courtesy of
‘Welcome to Wal-Mart – We have blue light special’
courtesy of ‘kowitz’

I didn’t think I’d see the day that Wal-Mart would move into The District; but then again I never thought Costco would move into New York City or that Target would inhabit Columbia Heights.

The ongoing effort for the retail giant/labor union foe to build a location within Washington, DC may have come to a head this week. After announcing a deal to build a 2nd store in Chicago, the Washington Post is reporting that Wal-Mart is now close to finalizing a deal open a store in Northeast DC.

Anonymous sources within Wal-Mart told The Post that a deal should be in place by this fall to open a store on New York Avenue NE near the intersection of Bladensburg Road. The proposed site is 11 acres wide and wouldn’t need any zoning changes, a problem that came up for previous sites Wal-Mart has checked out. With a reputation like Wal-Mart’s, the corporation is looking for a location that would require the least amount of hassling. Right now the proposed piece of land is home to various auto parts shops and the Skylark Lounge, a strip club.

I wonder which would be more despised: a strip club or a Wal-Mart?

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Thank You, Engine 17

Engine 17, DC Fire/EMS

The sound of my neighbor beating a pot with a spoon woke us about 4:30 this morning.  Getting up to see, there was a low haze in the air, and an odd smell.  Donald was dragging his hose into the alley behind our place and spraying against the fenceline behind the house on the far side of the alley.  I opened the window and asked if he needed a second hose, and he shouted, “Yes!”

I threw on some pants and went out to spray down the woodpile, while Jackie called for the fire department.  We couldn’t have been spraying more than 5 minutes when Engine 17 came down the street to assist.  They dug through the woodpile and sprayed down the whole area and got the last of the embers out.

This is a quick reminder: launched fireworks are dangerous things, trebly so in this dry heat, as they have a tendency to ignite everything around them.  Keep it to the legal sort that don’t fly.  Keep a fire extinguisher nearby.

The Daily Feed
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Stammen Struggles Early, Nats Try To Rally, Fall To The Mets


Photo by Ian Koski/Nationals Daily News

“A lot of good things happened in that game [today],” according to Nationals Manager Jim Riggleman, but the team still came up short with a 9-5 loss to the New York Mets in the Nation’s capital on Independence Day.

While Riggleman isn’t completely off base by saying the team had some positive moments (they did), there was still a dark cloud hovering over the Nats for the first 3.1 innings pitched. Starter Craig Stammen struggled to find control over his pitches and dug the Nats into a deep hole early in the game. Continue reading →

Entertainment, The Daily Feed
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We Love DC Does Top Chef DC: Episode 3

Photo courtesy of
‘Ribs009’
courtesy of ‘photopete’

When we last found our culinary heroes they were faced with challenges that would strike fear into any Top Chef contestant: Dessert & Grilling. Desserts spell death to a Top Chef contestant but I’m surprised that so many of the contestants were hesitant over grilling.

I know guys who can’t cook but are able to roast a steak or burger over an open flame. I agree with Tom’s take on the episode that perhaps these contestants are great Chefs- but not necessarily good cooks.

I’m afraid that the days maybe numbered for DC’s local favorite Timothy Dean. He’s been in the bottom four twice and I wonder how long his status as “the local” will keep him from packing up his knives?

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Capps Selected As All-Star, Zimmerman Up For Bid via “Final Vote” Fan Ballot

Photo by Cheryl Nichols/Nationals News Network

Reliever Matt Capps will be representing the Washington Nationals in the 2010 MLB All-Star game in Anaheim. This will be his first All-Star Game.

“You work your whole life for it,” Capps told The Washington Post’s Adam Kilgore. “To be voted on by the players, your peers and people you compete against, that makes it all the more special.”

The selection of Capps to the All-Star team is quite emotional for the pitcher having lost his father to a heart attack last October.

“It kind of hit me this morning when they told me,” Capps told Kilgore. “I wish he could see it. He’ll be with me.”

Capps is second in the major leagues with 22 saves this year.

The right-hander might not be the sole National representing Washington in sunny California for the mid-summer classic. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Happy Fourth of July from Nationals Park


Photo by Rachel Levitin

Happy Fourth of July to all residents in the greater D.C., Maryland, Virginia region. If you’re not already out getting your barbecue on or planting yourself atop that perfect spot on the National Mall, we do have some words from Nationals Manager Jim Riggleman regarding today’s Mets-Nats game live from the Nation’s capital on this, our Nation’s birthday:

“It’s very special. Washington was without baseball for a long time […]but Washington should have baseball. It’s a great thing that the Lerner family has brought baseball back to Washington and it’s all about what the country’s about. It’s patriotic, it’s Washington, D.C., it’s the capital, it’s baseball, it’s a beautiful day, it’s Sunday, it’s got all the making of a great day and baseball in Washington is very important, it’s our nation’s capital and it’s a perfect scenario.” Continue reading →

News, The Daily Feed, WMATA, WTF?!
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Citing Safety Concerns, Metro Pulls All 4000-Series Cars

Photo courtesy of
‘Metro couple’
courtesy of ‘logan.brown’
At just four minutes to midnight on July 4th, WMATA announced that all of the 4000-series cars on Metrorail were being removed for safety concerns related to their door motors. The timing, while awkward, may prove advantageous given the lower than average ridership week and the federal holiday. The 4000-series cars apparently have an issue with their door motors that can occasionally cause a door to open while the train is moving. Each of the 100 cars will need to have all of its door motors removed, inspected, cleaned, and replaced before the cars can come back into service. It’s expected to be a process that will take 2-3 weeks. Early next week is expected to be the worst of the situation, as cars will be coming back online in pairs as the work is completed.

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Nats Come From Behind to Beat Mets

Pudge Rodriguez Swings
Photo by Max Cook, We Love DC

Though Stephen Strasburg’s start this afternoon would be the shortest in his brief tenure with the Nationals, going just 5IP and giving up a pair of runs to the Mets, the Nationals would rally late and pick up a victory. Strasburg struggled early with control and location, and gave up a pair of walks in the top of a 37-pitch first inning that left the Nationals down a run. He would be lifted for a pinch hitter (oddly, it was J.D. Martin who would hit for Strasburg in the 5th) after 96 pitches and five innings of work.

Continue reading →

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Nats Finish First Half With 5-3 Loss to Mets

Tony Plush Shoes
Photo by Cheryl Nichols, Nats News Network

Tonight marked the halfway point for the Nationals’ season, and with a 35-46 record, a full ten game improvement over their 25-56 first half last year.  The bullpen tonight showed a bit of that ten game difference, with Joel Perralta, Sean Burnett, Miguel Batista and Doug Slaten combining for 5 2/3 of scoreless ball after starter Luis Atilano dug a 5-0 hole for the Nationals.  They’d scatter four hits in that span, and kept the Mets largely in check, hoping for an offense that would wake up.  In the ninth, they’d do just that.

Continue reading →

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed, We Love Drinks
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Friday Happy Hour: Moonshine Iced Tea

Photo courtesy of
‘Easy Day’
courtesy of ‘Samer Farha’

Welcome to the Friday Happy Hour, your single drink primer for the weekend.

For this holiday weekend which proudly celebrates our American independence, it might be treasonous to suggest you head over to British gastro-pub AGAINN for your happy hour, but there are two words guaranteed to make me do a happy dance in the world of drinks – tinctures and tea. Add moonshine, and well, say no more.

Ace bartender JP Caceres showed me how they are serving up a Moonshine Iced Tea cocktail with inspiration coming from the past – traveling medicine shows where old wives’ wisdom in the form of specially crafted tinctures cured all ails. Your bartender will mix up the base – 1 oz of your liquor choice, 1 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice, 1 oz simple syrup, and a highball glass is filled with crushed ice and tea. Here’s the fun part – you then get to choose from several different tea-based tinctures with delightful names (like Happy Tummy, Dawn Chorus, Easy Day) splashing a few drops into your drink to your own taste. The idea is to use some old-fashioned knowledge to self-medicate and experiment with different tastes depending on your mood. The results are lovely – flavors ranging from herbal, floral and vegetal with the alcohol just a side note to tea’s invigorating kick.

Ok, that sounds tempting Jenn, but what the heck are tinctures anyway?
Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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A Thought on Tyranny

Photo courtesy of
‘Spark’
courtesy of ‘Techhie’

Sunday, in addition to being We Love DC’s 2nd Birthday, is Independence Day, the day we celebrate our rights to be free from English interference and to self-govern.  Twitter user Keith Ivey remarked that this morning’s reading of the Declaration of Independence on NPR reminded him that many of these same grievances against King George might also apply to the District and her citizens.  Among the obvious ones, I would point out:

  • He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
  • He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
  • He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation

While there’s been no plundering of our seas, or burning of our towns, or cutting off trade, or quartering soldiers in our homes, the mistreatment of residents of the District is not to be so easily glossed over. Take some time this weekend to think about what rights exist for the states but not for the District.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

All men. Not just those in Virginia and Maryland. Remember that much this weekend.

The Daily Feed
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A little more equity for the 18-21 set

Photo courtesy of
‘chauffeur’
courtesy of ‘NCinDC’

The DC council has passed act 18-445 unanimously, removing the absolute restriction that a commercial driver’s license holder must be aged 21. There’s still some limitations that seem a little arbitrary; that license won’t allow the driver to command a school bus or any vehicle with more than 15 passengers, hazardous material, or weighing more than 26,001 pounds. If we view these things as so important that they require more competence and maturity then maybe they should be tied to experience and how long the license has been held, not an absolute age.

However it’s a good start on making equitable a process that already tests for knowledge and competency. Good on the council and the mayor for allowing folks old enough to die for their country to have equal opportunity to earn a living.

The Daily Feed
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Stage 5 Clinger Situation Ends With 5 Years in Prison

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘dno1967’

Back in January we told you about the woman charged with breaking into her ex’s house and camping out in the attic with some food and a toilet bucket.  She allegedly called her ex 100+ times in one evening and sent threatening text messages and e-mails when the other woman ended the relationship.  Well,  justice has been served and she’s now headed to jail for five years.

A judge sentenced Taylar Nuevelle to five and a half years for breaking into Janet Albert’s home and camping out in the attic for over 24 hours.  Let that be a lesson to you– in the heat of the moment after a breakup, maybe it seems like a good idea to go all bat-shit crazy and camp out in your ex’s attic, but there are repercussions.  Unfortunately, it seems this lesson hasn’t quite been learned, as Nuevelle’s lawyer says that the real lesson here is “don’t have a bad breakup with a lesbian judge.”  But I think we all can agree that the ice-bucket-as-toilet situation really pushes this from bad breakup to prison-worthy offense.

Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Win Tickets to Explore Leonardo’s Universe

Photo courtesy of
‘DSC_6846’
courtesy of ‘bhrome’

Our friends at the National Geographic Museum are giving WeLoveDC readers a chance to win some tickets to the July 8 lecture “Exploring Leonardo’s Universe” with special guest Dr. Bülent Atalay. Author of Math and the Mona Lisa and Leonardo’s Universe, Dr. Atalay offers a comprehensive look at Leonardo, his work, and his world. Both a scientist and artist, Dr. Atalay is uniquely qualified to give a comprehensive overview of Da Vinci’s art, discoveries, and the many ways his genius has influenced the world around us. The lecture is a companion event to the free exhibit “Da Vinci – The Genius,” currently showing at the National Geographic Museum.

We’ll be giving away two pairs of tickets today to the lecture; simply comment below and use a legit email address and your first name. We’ll draw our winners today at 1 pm. And don’t worry if you don’t win today – you’ll get another shot at some more tickets next week.

capitals hockey, The Daily Feed
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Caps Enter Free Agency Fray

Photo courtesy of
‘Dany Sabourin’
courtesy of ‘Yokitis’

After remaining quiet on “Free Agent Frenzy” day in the NHL yesterday, the Washington Capitals have begun making a small amount of noise this morning, signing goalie Dany Sabourin to a one-year contract. (Details not yet released by the team.) Sabourin was technically with the Bruins last season but spent the year in Providence/AHL with a 28-27-0 record, 2.67 GAA, .915 save percentage, and 3 shutouts. He dressed for the Bruins as a back up for two games in March. Sabourin played previously for the Flames, Canucks, and Penguins. Most of his NHL experience comes from his 2007-2009 stint with the Penguins, notching a 16-17-3 record with two shutouts.

It’s a surprising move for a well-stacked Caps net; with Varlamov probably stepping into the lead role, it’ll be interesting now to see who slips in as backup between Neuvirth and Sabourin. Most likely, the Caps are positioning to cover Neuvirth’s move to the NHL by placing a veteran minor leaguer with the Hershey Bears.

More signing updates as they come.

Music, The Daily Feed
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Photos: Welcome back, Fort Reno.

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘erin m’

I love Fort Reno. And I don’t mean in some, “Oh man, that’s a great event” sort of way. I mean…well, you remember that scene in “Say Anything” where John Cusack is holding up the boom box outside Ione Skye’s window? That’s how I feel about Fort Reno, the summer concert series that kicked off Thursday night. Fort Reno to me is summer. It is grass. It is picnics. It is kids and dogs and ice cream trucks and glorious sunsets and, most importantly, it is music.

Thursday’s show became the de facto kick-off for this year’s series after the threat of rain canceled last Monday’s concert, and a drummer’s broken arm forced the usual trio of bands to become a twosome–let’s hope that’s it for the curse-like events this year. The two bands, Gangland Buries Its Own and Sleeper Agent, stepped up admirably and gave a great welcome to this year’s concerts. After the jump, photos of the picnics,  the people, the glorious sunset and the music.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Foggy Bottom Escalator Backup


(Thanks to peroty for the mobile photo and heads-up)

If you’re aiming to get into or out of Foggy Bottom Metro station on the Orange Line this morning, be warned that at the moment two escalators are closed, and the only open escalator is going up. This, and one broken platform escalator, make getting out difficult, and getting in pretty much impossible (unless you like lining up for the elevator).

Alternatives: Farragut West, or Rosslyn + blue bus or 38B. We have, of course, been here before.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Scrappy Nats Pull It Together Against The Mets


Photo by Ian Koski/Nationals Daily News

“Don’t get too caught up in the calendar, but June is over.” Manager Jim Riggleman’s got a point there.

The Washington Nationals pulled off a bottom of the ninth 2-1 victory thanks to a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded and one out off the bat of Ryan Zimmerman. Up until then, the starting pitching on both sides proved solid and spectacular for the National League East rivals. It was a pitching duel for sure. Continue reading →