Category Archives: News

News, The Daily Feed
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Harry Thomas referred to the US Attorney

Photo courtesy of
‘Councilman Harry Thomas and BNCA President Caroline Petti’
courtesy of ‘tbridge’

The District’s Attorney General Irv Nathan revealed a report this morning that alleges significant malfeasance on the part of sitting Ward 5 councilmember Harry “Tommy” Thomas Jr.  The report alleges that Councilman Thomas “converted” $300,000 in taxpayer funds to funds for personal use, and the complaint has been subject to a civil suit for more than $1M in damages, the legal limit for the statutes.

In addition, the AG referred the matter to the office of the US Attorney for investigation, which would add criminal prosecution to the civil action.  Councilman Thomas has announced a 3pm Press Conference on the steps of the Wilson Building. Details forthcoming.

A recall of Thomas, just elected in November, would require 10% of the registered voters in Ward 5, or approximately 6,100 valid signatures.

Life in the Capital, News, Special Events, The District
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Legal Analysis on the Jefferson Dance Restrictions

Photo courtesy of
‘Jefferson Memorial’
courtesy of ‘qr7d88 (Alex) *mending*’

Summer is a time for re-runs and apparently that goes for protest events too. Adam Kokesh and others have indicated their intention to show up at the Jefferson Memorial this Saturday at Noon for a repeat performance of last Saturday’s civil disobedience. There’s over 2500 folks RSVPed on Facebook, though that seems to include folks who are going to boogie remotely in solidarity.

I already weighed in with my opinion on how I thought the protesters should have responded during their arrest and a number of you weighed in with your position on me getting stuffed. I thought a more useful follow-up would be from someone with actual law knowledge so I reached out to Kevin M. Goldberg who has helped us out with speech law before.

Kevin is Special Counsel at Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth where his area of expertise is First Amendment, FOIA and IP issues, making him a good person to turn to about this. Plus he still takes my calls. He’s also a regular contributor to their CommLawBlog where you can find items like his recent piece about “copyright trolls” and the BitTorrenters who don’t so much love them. If you’re getting your Gaga or Hangover 2 fix via less-than-legit channels this might be the kind of thing you’re interested in reading about.

For the moment, though, let’s talk about doing the monument boogie. Take it away, Kevin.

Don first contacted me Sunday evening with the idea of a guest piece about the Oberwetter decision. That’s Oberwetter v. Hilliard, the case that Adam Kokesh and the other protestors were responding to when they had their Jefferson dance-in this weekend. His suggestion for a primary focus was the subject of that case’s odd-sounding finding: That the inside of the Jefferson Monument is not a public forum.

This isn’t a the first time Don and I have discussed this subject. I teach Journalism Law at George Mason University and talking about when, where, and how the government can and cannot legitimately restrict your speech gets sizable attention in my lesson plan. Not that long ago Don audited my class to make sure We Love DC can try to enjoy a long and lawsuit free existence. Ever since he’s been contacting me as his “expert” on speech law. (Note to self: update email filters)

This event was no exception and we exchanged a few emails about the details of the Oberwetter case and this more recent event. While I can assure you that nothing would make me happier than to show Mr. Whiteside up both publicly and violently, I have to say that I can’t. We’re in total agreement here on two counts: (a) it’s unfortunate that (b) the Court of Appeals probably got this right.

How can that be when anyone’s free to walk into the memorial any time of night or day? How do two people slightly left of Marx on speech rights come to a conclusion like that one? Well, let’s discuss.

Continue reading →

Adventures, Essential DC, Life in the Capital, News, People, The Daily Feed, The District
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Help Dog Find Its Owners

This little cutie was found Sunday afternoon in an alley near 16th NE. His rescuers describe him as “ridiculously sweet, trusting, quiet, and well-behaved” and as much as they’re enjoying his companionship, they’re hoping to reunite the pup with his family ASAP. If you recognize him, please email founddogdc@gmail.com.

Adventures, All Politics is Local, Essential DC, Life in the Capital, News, People, The Daily Feed, The District
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Help Find Lost Dog Sassafras

YouTube Preview Image
It’s been 6 weeks since beagle-jack russell mix and kill shelter rescue, Sassafras, escaped from her daytime caretaker in the AdMo area. Since then, her family and dedicated volunteers have hung 2000+ posters, received 4500 phone calls, created a “Find Lost Beagle Sassafras” blog, posted numerous tweets, facebook entries and listserv entries, brought in two professional trackers, and united the DC dog community to help find Sassafras. As a result, there have been numerous reported sightings of Sass with the latest at Rock Creek Cemetery on May 11, but she has yet to be reunited with her family.

In their search to find Sass, the owners have uncovered both the positive and negative facts of recovering their dog, including the need of having the pet doors locked at night.

1) The city department charged with disposing of dead animals, does not notify pet owners even if the dead animal has tags and other easy identification.

2) While many area shelters post pictures of animals brought to their shelters online, the DC shelter does not, even though they have the capability. Continue reading →

History, News, People, The Daily Feed
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Inside Operation Dark Heart

Photo courtesy of
‘Nada News by Pepe Medina’
courtesy of ‘Newspaper Club’

On Thursday evening, May 12, join Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer at the International Spy Museum as he discusses his book “Operation Dark Heart” and the controversy it stirred up. Shaffer was a Defense Intelligence Agency senior intelligence officer who returned to active duty after the 9/11 attacks in 2001. During that 30 month period, Shaffer commanded a DIA operating base and conducted two successful undercover combat tours in Afghanistan. The objective of those tours? Searching for senior al-Qaeda leadership figures by recruiting informants and gathering intel.

His appearance at ISM so shortly after the events on May 1 is purely coincidental but timely. Continue reading →

News, The Daily Feed
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From the Nine, One: DC Elects Vincent Orange

Orange

For many 6 of DC’s 8 wards, yesterday’s lightly attended special election had just one question on the ballot: who should serve as At-Large Councilmember for the District, and offered a slate of candidates.  As was expected, the populace was fractured in their voting, and no single candidate took more than 30% of the vote.  In the end, Vincent Orange needed just 12,216 votes to capture the seat.

Republican Pat Mara had a very strong showing, surprising many, with 11,096 votes.  Interim At-Large Councilmember Sekou Biddle disappointed many with just 8,842 votes.  Bryan Weaver rounded out the top four candidates with 5,665 votes.

Full election results are available from the DCBOEE.

Adventures, All Politics is Local, Essential DC, Life in the Capital, News, The Daily Feed, The District
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Georgetown Waterfront Update

Photo courtesy of
‘Video: Scenes from around flooded Georgetown waterfront’
courtesy of ‘brownpau’

Despite yesterday’s fears, the 9pm high tide came and went without the Georgetown waterfront breach reaching K Street. As of 8:30am this morning, the Georgetown Waterfront is still completely shutdown with very, very limited access. The K Street side of the Waterfront is filled with emergency flood repair vehicles, workmen, Pepco vans, etc., all awaiting instructions from site surveyors. Local buildings continue to monitor their basements and lower level garages for flooding and seepage.

I managed to gain access to the 31st Street walkway that leads to the waterfront, and saw a heavily pumping Potomac river and the front side flooding. While the flood barricades along 31st street were all in tact, I could see where the waterfront walls leading into the fountain area had been breached. At that time the river was below fountain area level, and I could see some evidence of water being pumped out of the fountain pool back into the river.

All Politics is Local, Essential DC, History, Life in the Capital, News, The Daily Feed, The District
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Union Station Birds Target New York

I was in Union Station this morning, waiting for a train and zoning off, when I noticed a striking difference between the Acela’s DC, Philly, NYC and Boston overhead posters. While all the posters feature a stylized Acela train speeding through each city’s unique skyline and all hang from the rafters in very similar positions, the New York City poster was the only one covered in bird poop, especially towards the bottom of the poster.

Upon noticing this difference, I began looking for some simple explanation for this avian vandalism. Perhaps the NYC poster was simply, and unfortunately, hanging in an already popular bird hang out? No. No birds insight. Perhaps the NYC poster featured some sort of bird attracting color? Nope. Posters were all fairly similar in color scheme.

After surveying the poster scene, I could come to no other conclusion then that the Union station pigeons, sparrows and starling clearly dislike Amtrak’s NYC Acela poster, and NY by association, and they have decided to express their 2nd amendment rights by strategically bombarding it with their poop. Case solved.

History, News, Special Events, Technology, The Daily Feed
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Discovery Coming to Udvar-Hazy

DSC_7957

In case you missed it, NASA announced today – the 30th anniversary of the space shuttle program and the 50th anniversary of the first manned spaceflight by Russian Yuri Gagarin – that the space shuttle Discovery will make its final home at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center as part of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum collection. The 27 year-old orbiter is the longest-serving shuttle of the retiring space fleet and has flown every type of mission during its career.

It will take a place of honor that is currently occupied by the Enterprise as the original ‘test’ orbiter relocates to its new home at the Intrepid Museum in New York City. The Enterprise has been in place since the opening of the center in 2003.

Discovery flew a total of 39 missions, from satellite deliveries to the Hubble, DoD projects to the Russian space station Mir. It retired after returning to Earth on March 9. The venerable orbiter has spent a total of 365 days in space and  flown a number of special missions, including the 100th shuttle mission in 2000 and was the first shuttle to fly under an African-American commander.

It will be several months before Discovery is delivered to Udvar-Hazy. “An acquisition of this importance happens rarely in the life of a museum,” said Air and Space curator Dr. Valerie Neal. “It is an honor and privilege to welcome Discovery into the national collection, where it will be displayed, preserved, and cared for forever.”

News
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Mayor, Councilmembers arrested in budget-related rally

Gray Being Arrested
Photo by @IMGoph

Mayor Vince Gray and several councilmembers, including Michael A. Brown and Muriel Bowser, and council candidates including Sekou Biddle, were arrested this evening by the US Capitol Police for failing to disperse in an orderly fashion after a protest outside the Senate Hart Office building spilled onto Constitution Avenue.

More from DCist.

News, The Daily Feed
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Shutdown would put UDC semester in jeopardy

Photo courtesy of
‘Part of UDC’
courtesy of ‘spiggycat’

When local news yesterday started to tick down a list of DC personnel who would not be working yesterday, the obvious came up: DPW won’t have trash pickup, nor will their parking enforcers be operating, DDOT’s pothole crews will stop, all staff blackberries will stop operating.

The one I hadn’t considered was the University of the District of Columbia.  With over 5,000 students, the shutdown of the University may put graduation in jeopardy for many, if the shutdown drags on for any significant length of time.  If the semester is never completed, that may leave many students forced to pay for an additional semester in order to graduate, and in the case of visa students, may have more complications.

Continue reading →

News, The Daily Feed
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Storm brutalizes area

Photo courtesy of
‘Harvest Moon Thunderstorm’
courtesy of ‘MudflapDC’

Unless you sleep like the dead, you know about the line of storms that ran through the area about 4:45am this morning, which woke me out of a solid slumber.  The rain pounded against our windows, the wind whistling through the windows.  According to the Capital Weather Gang, a line of tornadoes moved from Upper Marlboro to Marlton in the 5am timeframe.

So go easy today, DC, everyone’s been up since way too early.  Hope none of you lost branches or had awful drives in today.

News, The Daily Feed
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Ceremonial Dirt at CityCenter

Ceremonial Dirt at CityCenter
Photo by Sylvia Brown, used with Permission

There’s nothing I miss about the old convention center.  It made Moscone Center’s North and South halls feel airy and light, and the exterior was deeply ugly and unfriendly.  I cheered loudly when they imploded it back in 2005.  The site has been a parking lot, a bus station and a tennis court since then, but today the formal construction process for a new multiblock development on H Street between 9th and 11th got underway today with a ceremony at the site.

Of course, since the whole surface is asphalt, and while construction has actually started, they had to truck in the dirt so that they council could demonstrate their digging skills. I’m not sure why this still has to happen, other than the ridiculous photo op, but here we are.

The development is fairly substantial, covering 10 acres on the eastern end of the downtown, with a $700M financing package courtesy of the Qatari Diar Investment Fund, a part of the Qatari sovereign wealth fund. The move is the first for the QDIF in the US, which also has a stake in the new Shard building in London.

News, The Daily Feed
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Weaver willing to do the Dirty Jobs according to video

Photo courtesy of
‘Cup cake eating contest – Columbia Heights Day 001’
courtesy of ‘squidpants’

So far, from the advertising perspective, the At-Large campaign has been pretty bland. Lots of standard fare all the way around. Some have been upset by campaign ads near editorial material, in the Current newspapers for example, but overall the content of the ads is nothing to write home about. Trite sayings, promises that are rarely backed up, and logos that aren’t exactly inspiring.

That’s no surprise, though, as campaigns generally aren’t won or lost on logo design or ad placement, they’re won and lost on numbers. Stuck with a money deficit and an attention deficit as many reporters and pundits call this a Biddle vs. Orange race, Bryan Weaver has put out a campaign video spoofing the material done by Mike Rowe’s Dirty Jobs television show. It’s a pretty entertaining watch. It’s after the cut. Continue reading →

News, People, Special Events, The Features
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We Love Sports: The U.S. Armed Forces Wheelchair Basketball Game

Photo by Rachel Levitin

Billy Demby travels to Walter Reed Medical Center to coach their wheelchair basketball team two times a week for two hours at a time. Demby, a Vietnam veteran and bilateral amputee himself, coached the All-Marine wheelchair basketball team to win gold in the 2010 Inaugural Warrior Games before starting with Walter Reed a couple years back.

The 2011 Walter Reed wheelchair basketball team is one of many participating in the Wounded Worrier Project. The Wounded Warrior Project is a non-profit organization founded in 2002 dedicated to honoring and empowering wounded warriors. Walter Reed’s team is also one of three teams who have participated in the U.S. Armed Forces Wheelchair Basketball Game two times since the game’s inaugural event last year.

This year’s U.S. Armed Forces Wheelchair Basketball Game was played Thursday, March 31 at American University’s Bender Arena and Demby’s Walter Reed players took the court against the National Rehabilitation Hospital Ambassadors.

Continue reading →

News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Nationals drop opener to Braves 2-0

Opening Day

With weather more suited to the British Open than Opening Day, Nationals Park was still crowded with tens of thousands of fans to watch the team’s 2011 debut.  Though coffee and hot chocolate were more likely than ice cold beer (so much so that the upper deck ran out before the game’s halfway mark), that hardly deterred the nearly sellout crowd.  The Nats’ offense was just as cold as the stands, though, as they failed to do string together much of anything against the Braves’ Derek Lowe.

Lowe kept the Nationals in check, surrendering just three hits in 5 2/3 innings, striking out six and walking just two.  The Nationals had two solid chances with runners in scoring position against Lowe.  Jayson Werth (1-4) singled in the first, and went to third on a looping single from Ryan Zimmerman(1-3, BB), a dividend of the Nationals’ speed upgrade and the coaching of Bo Porter.  Lowe buckled down and retired LaRoche (1-4) and Morse (0-4) and ended that threat.

Continue reading →

Education, Essential DC, Life in the Capital, News, The Daily Feed, The District
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Where Do Those Darn Potholes Come From?

Last week, Mayor Gray and DDOT kicked off Potholepalooza 2011, our city’s intensified efforts to fill those tire-busting, shock killing road hazards. In an effort to let our powers combine, DDOT is asking DC residents to tell them about neighborhood potholes that need fixing. You can target these car nightmares and curse inducing potholes by phoning in (311), going online, tweeting or emailing DDOT.

According to VDOT’s Pothole Hunter Phil Itwick, these little f*ckers are caused by water that gets into the pavement and expands and contracts with the changing temperatures. Mr. Itwick gives a fantastic, and entertaining, explanation on how potholes are fixed on both a temporary and permanent basis. Definitely worth the watch.

News, The Daily Feed
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Franklin Tower roof fire mostly extinguished

Photo 2
Photo courtesy of Carl Weaver

HVAC equipment on top of the Franklin Tower Buildings at 14th and I St NW caught fire this morning, producing large amounts of black smoke this morning around 10:30.  Fire Department spokesman Pete Piringer says that they have gotten the fire knocked down and under control this morning, but the building had to be evacuated as a precaution.

Adventures, Entertainment, Essential DC, Fun & Games, Life in the Capital, News, Special Events, The Daily Feed, The District
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Blossom Kite Festival Rescheduled to Sunday, April 10

Photo courtesy of
’44th annual Smithsonian Kite Festival’
courtesy of ‘cruffo’

Last weekend’s postponed kite festival has been rescheduled for Sunday, April 10th from 10am until 4pm. Check the event’s official website for updates on the day’s  activities. If you’re looking for a kite, Sullivan’s Toy Store and Art Supplies (3412 Wisconsin Avenue NW) store has plenty in stock.

Adventures, Entertainment, Essential DC, Fun & Games, News, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Cherry Blossom Kite Festival Postponed

Photo courtesy of
‘National Kite Festival’
courtesy of ‘soulfotography’

Due to pending inclement weather, the Blossom Kite Festival, originally scheduled to take place on Sunday, March 27, has been postponed. Stay tuned to the festival’s website for further updates; the kite festival’s new date will be announced on Monday, March 28.