‘boxes’
courtesy of ‘volcanojw’

We’ve heard a lot about the process of TBD heading towards launch. First it was an unnamed Politico project with Jim Brady attached, then more names were attached, then the announcement of the new name.

How about a little insight into how one of the director of community engagement, Steve Buttry, ended up at such a venture? His wife, author Mimi Johnson, penned this essay about how Butty came to walk away from the print business and  head towards the online journalism world.

I never worked in newspapers – though I considered a photojournalist path briefly – but I was a newsprint reader and loved it. I didn’t stop getting the paper daily till this year. What she had to say about what led her household to stopping daily delivery and how it impacted them mirrored my experience.

I no longer rely on an editor to pick and choose what news I will read. My news is no longer a day old. The only limit is the time I will give it. I hit links off my Twitter stream. I troll newspaper web sites. I visit all-digital news sites. Newspapers have cannibalized their product to make ends meet for so long, I’ve lost nothing in the way of quality.

It’s a  great essay. Former and current print readers will feel a resonance. Those of you who have never known anything but online might get a hint of why some of us get a little wistful for the newspapers we loved decades ago, and which seem to have been leaving us longer than we’ve been leaving them.

‘a closer’s windup’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

And on the coldest day at Wrigley Field so far this season Livan Hernandez said, “Let the Nats Win.” And it was so.

Okay, so maybe he didn’t really say that. But it happened.

The Cubs (10-11) spent Tuesday night demonstrating their greatest weakness – a one-dimensional offense relying on the home run – and Jim Riggleman’s Nationals (11-10) reaped all the benefits.

Livan allowed one run on six hits over seven innings, raising his impressive ERA from 0.75 to 0.87, which is still pretty gosh darn impressive. Capps pitched a scoreless ninth, which was also his ninth consecutive save. Long story short: the Nats out-pitched the Cubs.

Yes, that really happened. The Nats out-pitched the Cubs. They even scored a few runs while they were at it, leading the Nats to their eventual 3-1 victory.

Nyjer Morgan lived up to his lead-off man title by tripling to left center in his first at-bat. Ian Desmond singled to bring Morgan home, and Cristian Guzman followed that up with an RBI triple to center. Talk about the top of the line-up getting it done (something the Cubs offense is incapable of doing so far this season on a consistent basis). The Nats had all the runs they would need to win  three batters into the entire game, without Ryan Zimmerman.

With that said, the Nats close the series at Wrigley this afternoon with a 2:20 game time before heading to Florida to face the Marlins.

Luis Atilano (1-0, 1.50) will get the start for the Nats and Ryan Dempster (2-0, 2.60) will take the mound for Chicago.

‘309_0909’
courtesy of ‘dbking’

This afternoon, Vincent Orange reportedly resigned from his position at Pepco, most likely after a decision to take a run at the City Council Chair position. Orange ran for Mayor in 2006, but fell badly short, getting just over 3,000 votes in the primary. Orange would face At-Large Councilman Kwame Brown in the primary this fall. One of the other potential candidates, Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans, stated that he was not likely to run for the position.

‘2008’
courtesy of ‘NCinDC’

It looks like DC’s on its way toward a real estate comeback, thanks in no small part to the tax credit for new buyers ($8,000) and return buyers ($6,500). The big question is: after the tax credit ends, will the buyers continue to buy? The credit amounts to a significant carrot for potential new buyers, and without it, it’s hard to see the rate of sales continuing on its upward trend much past June without an extension on the incentive. Sales volumes were up, 9.2% region-wide, as were average prices, up 4.9% to $357,983.

Given the number of real estate signs I’m seeing on my drives through the District, I’d say there’s a decent supply now, as opposed to two months ago, when there was hardly anything worth picking up. Buying? Selling? What are you seeing out there right now?

‘GUNS AMMO PAWN LOANS’
courtesy of ‘rutlo’

Even though the District has given up the ban on semi-automatic handguns, and allowed for the storing of loaded guns in one’s homes, with proper permitting, that’s not enough for Senator Cranky Old Man John McCain (R-AZ) and Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) who want a Second Amendment Enforcement Act which could strip the District of any ability to regulate firearms within its borders, forcing the city to default back to the Federal standard, including the ability to open-carry in the city.

You can call Sen. McCain’s office at (202) 224-2235, and Sen. Tester’s office at (202) 224-2644, if you wanted to make your voice heard on the issue.

‘French Market Stop No.1 – Riverfront Streetcar, New Orleans, LA’
courtesy of ‘Ed Siasoco (aka SC Fiasco)’

It appears the crossroad of DC’s venture back into becoming a Streetcar city has been reached. The first modern street car is scheduled to make its District street premier next week in a DC Streetcar Showcase on Wednesday, May 5 at City Center DC (the site of the old convention center), according to a tweet from DDOT earlier today.

The Showcase schedule is as follows:

• Wednesday, May 5, 11am – 7pm
• Thursday, May 6, 11am – 7pm
• Friday, May 7, 11am – 7pm
• Saturday, May 8, 11am – 5pm

Additional Showcase-related events include:  a seminar on streetcar propulsion technology, hosted by DC Surface Transit (DCST), on Thursday, May 6, 2010, 5-7pm, at the Renaissance Hotel, 999 9th Street, NW and an extra excuse for celebration at Union Station’s National Train Day “party” on Saturday, May 8, 2010, from 11am – 4pm.

Visit DDOT DC’s website for more information.

‘Verizon Center // Washington DC’
courtesy of ‘AchimH’

Update 3:05 pm: Both sides are expected to officially sign a purchase agreement in the upcoming keep, ultimately transferring the ownership over the course of a month to six weeks maximum.

As of now, there is only an agreement and no paper work has been signed. “What we really wanted today is to say we have basically reached an agreement with Ted,” family spokesman Robert Pollin told the Washington Post. “I wanted to get it out to our employees. We just wanted to get it all out so we can plan for a transition that would be smooth, and for the employees to understand where we are.”

Wizards ownership would provide Leonsis complete control of the Verizon Center, perhaps even gearing up a shift toward an increase in hockey related arena revenue, says the Post.

Original Posting: The family of the late Abe Pollin will be selling the family’s share of both the Wizards and the Verizon Center to Capitals owner Ted Leonsis. For on-going updates of this breaking news, visit the Washington Post’s latest on the announcement made by the Pollin family earlier today.

‘Pitcher-catcher celebration’
courtesy of ‘afagen’

There are two ways to look at last night’s game and the upcoming series with the Cubs: either the Nationals came to Chicago at a good time or the Nationals came to Chicago at a bad time. After a 10^th inning loss to the Cubs at Wrigley, I’d say last night was on the “bad time” part of the vantage point at-hand.

The Cubs were 9-10 going into the game and the Nationals were 10-9. The Cubs have a miserable bullpen that’s been killing their season, not to mention a lack of run support when they need it most from the top of their line up. The Nationals have Zimm out for the count and have been having a less than lack luster beginning to the season when it comes to starting pitching. What both clubs have are knock out closers (Carlos Marmol and Matt Capps) and the ability to send the ball to the stands.

It’s safe to say that at this point in the season these teams are pretty comparable when compared to each other, according to the statistics. Continue reading →

‘IMG_1827’
courtesy of ‘”G” jewels g is for grandma’

I had no idea this spinoff/replacement for “Cribs” existed. Then again, I always thought the term crib kinda sucked, for reasons that “Teen Cribs” makes even more clear: you really want your home to be associated with the place that a baby sleeps? What’s the message here, that you can’t get feed yourself and crap in your pants? Kinda lame when you’re an adult, but a teen who still can’t regulate your own bowels? Maybe look into home schooling and don’t televise this issue…

ANYWAY. Via VoxPopuli, I came across this link on the Georgetown Metropolitan about an episode of MTV Teen Cribs that looked inside a house in Georgetown. The episode is online and the ‘crib’ in question starts at about 14:30 – just click the third “tick mark” on the slider bar, though you might want to check out the second clip – it’s just over the river in Potomac Falls and includes a guest appearance from not-a-Redskin-anymore Jason Campbell.

‘Launch issue of “DC Agenda” the successor to the Washington Blade’
courtesy of ‘dbking’

Great news this week from the world of DC media… the Washington Blade will return on Friday with its original name and URL. The laid-off staff of the Blade formed a corporation and bought the intellectual property at the bankruptcy auction in February, clearing the way to bring the paper back. The DC Agenda name will be used as the name of the Blade‘s entertainment section.