Temperatures are expected to remain well below freezing again overnight, which can mean danger for the District's homeless population. The city has put out a reminder to call their Hypothermia Shelter Hotline should you spot anyone trying to sleep outside when it's this cold. By calling 1-800-535-7252, the Shelter Hotline can provide transportation to emergency shelters and distribute items such as blankets, gloves and jackets. If you live outside the District, Express has compiled a......

Good morning, Washington. We hope not too many of you were making your way into the city from Montgomery County this morning, as two separate water main breaks forced road closures in Takoma Park and kids to get the day off from school in Germantown. We'll admit it -- we're pretty envious of the students at Fox Chapel Elementary School, who get to spend the day doing whatever they please while we had to show......

The Metro board didn't spend their entire day on the fare hike issue Thursday. They also voted to spend $450,000 to develop a proposal to add an eastern entrance to the Rosslyn station. Metro says the new entrance would include three new high-speed elevators, an underground station mezzanine and passageway connection, and an emergency stairway. Since the preliminary plans are still to come, the precise location of the entrance is still unknown, especially considering how......

Good morning, Washington. Getting going on a Monday is normally difficult enough, but we were having a few technological difficulties this morning as well, so thanks for your patience and bear with this truncated Morning Roundup while we get up to speed. Tax Scandal Triggers Reviews in Counties: Neighboring jurisdictions are apparently taking D.C.'s tax office scandal to heart and initiating big reviews of their agencies. Property tax revenues are slated to be scrutinized in......

>> Anacostia is in the running for an award from HGTV to come in and help the community complete revitalization projects. [Free Ride] >> Well, The Scott is back to gitcha now, boys! [Wonkette] >> Arlington County Police are saying they believe the person responsible for two recent gropings at the Rosslyn Metro station could be the same man who committed four plastic bag attacks earlier this year. [WTOP] >> I-95 was closed in......

From DCist Contributor Oscar Bunoan It's often said that bad luck comes in threes. In Vietnam, for example, a photo of three people represents bad luck. However, Vietnam is a restless, 22-hour flight away and Greg Cahill (owner of the successful Whitlow’s on Wilson) and Jonathan Williams (Whitlow’s general manager) are not superstitious men who rest their beliefs in ancient folklore. No self-respecting restaurateur, especially these two locally respected entrepreneurs, would conceive their restaurant on......

Good morning, Washington. The city is still reeling from the news that the U.S. Attorney's Office has indicted two employees from the District's Office of Tax and Revenue on charges of embezzling over $16 million. It's a staggering sum, and the Post cites officials who are calling it the largest theft ever uncovered in local government in the Washington area. The two women, Harriette Walters and Diane Gustus, are said to have used the money......

Mark your calendars: WMATA put out a release earlier today announcing the dates of a series of six public meetings at which you can voice your opinions about the proposed Metro fare hikes, which would go into effect in January. The full set of proposed increases is here, but the basics include raising the base fare of Metrorail from $1.35 to $1.65, keep bus fares the same as long as you use SmarTrip cards (add......

Imagine this -- the District could have hybrid taxicabs before it even resolves its long-running dispute between meters and the zone system. Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) yesterday introduced legislation that would offer a one-time tax credit to encourage the purchase of hybrid or alternative fuel vehicles for use as taxicabs. The legislation would also establish a set of goals for converting the city's taxicab fleet to hybrid vehicles -- 5 percent by 2009 and......

Good morning, Washington. More news today on the Virginia abusive driver's fees front, this time even closer to home. Arlington residents will be cheered to hear that an Arlington County General District Court judge has ruled that Virginia's abusive-driver fees are unconstitutional. Judge Dorothy H. Clarke is the fourth District Court judge in Virginia to make such a ruling, but the first one in Northern Virginia. Naturally, the state will appeal the decision, and this......

MONDAY: The Beauty Myth author Naomi Wolf will be at the Arlington County Public Library in Shirlington to read from her new book, The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot, in which Wolf outlines how events of the last six years parallel steps taken in the early years of the 20th century's worst dictatorships such as Germany, Russia, China, and Chile. 5 p.m., free. TUESDAY: Erudite actor Alan Alda will......

Clockwise from top left: Comet Ping Pong, Red Rocks, 2 Amys, Bebo There are many factors that affect a pizza. The type of flour used for the dough. The temperature of the oven. The quality of the toppings. The skill and hands of the maker of the dough. The vigilance of the pizzaiolo (the person manning the oven). D.C. may not be known as much of a pizza town, but a few of the......

Former Editor-in-Chief Ryan Avent writes a weekly column about neighborhood and development issues. Things used to be clearer for Fairfax County. It used to be known as the epitome of upper-middle class suburbanity, even earning name-checks in popular novels and songs as such. With acres and acres of rolling hills covered in leafy suburbs and landscaped office parks, it was a quiet complement to the quirky inner suburbs of Northern Virginia and the dense chaos......

If you live in Virginia and take public transportation into Washington every day, WMATA is looking for you. Metro’s Riders’ Advisory Council needs commuters from Virginia to fill three vacant positions on the Council, two from Fairfax County and one from Arlington County. To be eligible for the positions, you need to live in either Fairfax or Arlington counties, ride bus, rail and/or MetroAccess, and not be a Metro employee, contractor or elected official. You......

>> Tragedy strikes the best little bar in Arlington! According to a MySpace bulletin, some miscreant has run off with Galaxy Hut's kareoke equipment, effectively squashing DCist Amanda's favorite way to spend a Thursday night. Why would someone do such a thing? Especially since wherever they take it is sure to have an inferior beer selection to the equipment's original home. Do your part and go spend some money at G Hut so they can......

>> Arlington County Police are urging women to be extremely cautious while walking, especially late at night, after a fourth woman was attacked by a man who tried to place a plastic bag over her head. The attacks are believed to be attempted abductions, and at least one of the victims was groped. [WTOP] >> Ten Reasons WashingtonPost.com is Poorly Designed. [Goodspeed Update] >> If you go to the National Gallery on a holiday,......

We don't enjoy wallowing over desperately ironic turns of events in the Metro region here at Transit on Thursday. OK, that's a lie. But we do sympathize with the folks who it turns out may have gotten duped by the Great Virginia Commuter Compromise of 2006-2007. Also this week, new lanes approved for the Beltway, 95, and 66, while Maryland comes up a little short on its own transportation funds. Photo by el swifterino......

While thousands of District residents braved wind and rain on Monday to demand that Congress pass legislation granting the city a voting representative, one congressman went a step further and introduced legislation that would similarly give the District two senators. Well, kind of. The legislation, introduced by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.) -- yes, that Louie Gohmert -- calls for the retrocession of all District lands not containing a federal building or monument to Maryland. In......

>> Is the Rock and Roll Hotel haunted? While John Edward (not Edwards) or a similarly qualified expert has yet to confirm it, the staff says they've seen and heard a few eerie things. The owner explains that the club stands on the site of an old funeral home. Maybe they couldn't get prime Indian burial ground real estate. [via Wonkette] >> The D.C. Sports & Entertainment Commission hosts a community meeting tonight to discuss......

If it seems as though the saga surrounding the fate of Arlington pool hall and taphouse Dr. Dremo's has been dragging out for years, it's probably because it has. From a concentrated effort by Arlington County to shut the bar down due to (admittedly) leaky roofs, to the ongoing efforts by Elm Street Development to get the County to approve the sale of the site (along with next-door Taco Bell) for condominiums, Dremo's has been......

The debate over voting rights for the District's delegate in Congress is bubbling up at the very beginning of the 110th Congress. Under the newly minted Democratic-controlled Congress, it seems we here in Washington are closer than ever to obtaining full-fledged representation in the House of Representatives. This morning at the ceremonial swearing-in of the Congressional Black Caucus, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi specifically mentioned D.C. voting rights in her remarks, prompting a standing......

We start off this Monday morning with the very sad news that Star Foster, a co-editor of sister site Phillyist, passed away unexpectedly on Sunday morning. Phillyist will be going dark for a few days out of respect for Foster, who was with the site since its inception. Here at DCist, and across the -ist network, we offer our condolences and thoughts for her friends and family. Gallaudet Taps New President: The board of......

Jim Webb and George Allen might be stuck in a tight battle for the Virginia Senate seat, but no such contest existed for a constitutional amendment forbidding same-sex marriage or civil unions. As the Post is reporting, the amendment — one of eight across the country — was approved by an overwhelming 57 percent of Virginia voters, somewhat proving the power of the commonwealth's social conservative tendencies. And even though Northern Virginia has tended towards......

The news coming out of Transit on Thursday has not been good over the last few weeks. We've lost our man Dan at Metro, Virginia balked (again) on fixing its transportation mess and Maryland might be selling its transportation future to old political cronies. This week, however, we are excited to offer you a few crispy nuggets of good news. Metro goes express and gets the first batch of new rail cars, some unexpected......

Last Sunday, Michael Grunwald took to the pages of the Post to discuss, and malign, the District's building height restrictions. His piece is an interesting read, but Grunwald's analysis of how the restriction has affected the city is fairly spotty, as Mark Jenkins notes in a City Desk post from yesterday. For one thing, it's difficult to say that height restrictions have created a space crunch in the city, when for so long so much......

Last week, we had a nice long chat about the maddening idiosyncracies of the D.C. taxicab system. The Examiner reports today that at least some of the difficulties associated with cabbing around town might be gone in the near future. Cab Commission Chairman Causton Toney has said that his organization is "seriously considering" the elimination of the zone system in favor of metered fares. The city is awaiting the results of a six-month study comparing......

If we've learned one thing from the effort to extend the Orange Line through Tyson's to Dulles Airport, it's that two billion and change can buy you a pretty substantial amount of rail transit. Or, if you please, it can buy you 18 miles of road. The Inter-County Connector passed its final hurdle today, receiving official federal government approval and allowing construction to begin on the highway in the fall. The road will travel from......

Windfall City? Last week, we discussed a report from an Arlington County task force recommending that Crystal City undertake some significant improvements after the Defense Department moves thousands of its office workers out of the complex. Officials advocated a shift toward residential development and the destruction and replacement of some of the office buildings. Now it appears that such a strategy could yield a windfall for Arlington County. According to Economics Research Associates, which......

Good morning, Washington. Marine Corps Marathon registration opens at noon today, so those of you ready to take on the 26.2 should be ready to get your information in. There will be a number of DCists doing their best to join the field this year (the presale password is "dehydration"). Yours truly will not be among them, but we wish all entrants the best. At right is a photo of Wilson Bridge construction; no reason......

Continued strong growth in the Washington area appears to have established a consensus, among all but the most crotchety exurban lawmakers, that local jurisdictions need to be active in addressing current and future transit needs, even if that means acting autonomously (as opposed to attempting to tackle every transit problem regionally). Last week, Transit on Thursday discussed, once again, the trolley project making headway in Arlington County. Today, the Post has a story on how......