Happy Christmas Eve, Washington. With the frenzy of last-minute shopping and travel out of the city largely complete, folks staying here for the holiday are being treated to a quieter, gentler D.C. than normal, and it turns out in more ways than one. Over the weekend the Post took a look at a recent decline in the murder rate, reporting that only nine homicides have been logged in the District in the 37 days since......

>> Congress finally, finally went home. [The Hill] >> CFO Natwar Gandhi is "deeply sorry" for the Office of Tax and Revenue scandal: "It's tearing me apart." [City Desk] >> An MPD officer has been arrested and charged in a federal child sex sting. [WJLA] >> Gallaudet University received more than $6 million from a Fredericksburg woman who left the bulk of her estate to the university. [AP via WTOP] >> Alexandria's lackluster Landmark......

Good morning, Washington. Think good thoughts for Tian Tian, the National Zoo's male giant panda and the biological father of Tai Shan/Butterstick. Tian Tian underwent eye surgery yesterday to remove inflamed tissue from one of his third eyelids. He's expected to make a full recovery, but in the meantime he'll have to live with the shame of being the one to expose this whole pandas having third eyelids monstrosity. DCist has always held a......

>> Congress has taken away D.C. CFO Natwar Gandhi's pay raise in the wake of the Office of Tax and Revenue embezzlement scandal. Happy Holidays, Mr. Gandhi! [WaPo] >> What kind of person steals a wheelchair? [NBC4] >> Free holiday EP from Vandaveer. [You Ain't No Picasso] >> Marvin is already expanding. [Prince of Petworth] >> Christopher Hitchens sings at the Reason Secular Christmas party. [via City Desk] Photo by AlbinoFlea......

In most any public or private sector job, losing $31 million on your watch is a surefire way to get yourself fired. CFO Natwar Gandhi's reputation for saving the city's finances has thus far protected him from what is to date the District's biggest corruption scandal. But his fortunes might be changing. Buried towards the end of an article from the Examiner today on an investigation into the tax refund scheme that milked the city......

Good morning, Washington. Yesterday afternoon Roll Call had the story of a potential suspect finally being identified in all those strange Senate bathroom fires from the last few months. Capitol Police Officer Karen Emory recently has been suspended in connection with the fires, although it still hasn't been confirmed whether she is definitely a suspect in the case. No charges have been filed, but color us a little disappointed if it turns out a......

Friday has arrived at last, Washington. Despite the federal holiday on Monday, it's been a rather long week for many of us - though of course, we couldn't hold a candle to the week that D.C. CFO Natwar Gandhi has had. The Post writes about yesterday's lengthy D.C. Council hearing into the tax office scandal, which lasted until 9 p.m. and where it was apparently revealed late in the evening that authorities are investigating the......

The overwhelming consensus so far at today's D.C. Council hearing on the recent theft of what looks to be $30 million-plus from the District's tax coffers? The scandal has damaged the reputation of the city government, and the council members are pissed. While most statements have clung to the nasty tidbits of information we already know (the enormity of the crime, that an auditor's warnings may have been ignored) and palliative cliches, council members provided......

Good Morning, D.C. Remember the news we told you about back in August, about an investigation into a potential prostitution ring at D.C. firehouses? Well D.C. Fire Chief Dennis Rubin acknowledged yesterday under fire from the D.C. Council that "sex for overtime" allegations in his department are "potentially true." The Council also expressed concern about the abnormally high rate of disciplinary action against African American firefighters in the department. African Americans were the subjects of......

>> Maryland police apprehended the prisoner who stole an officer's gun and escaped from custody from a Laurel hospital. [WTOP] >> Shortly after abandoning his run for the White House, Stephen Colbert ended up in a three-way tie for a seat on the Colonial Soil and Water Conservation District Board in Williamsburg. Sadly, he won't be able to serve if selected by a hat draw (seriously), because he's not a registered voter in the......

Let's check in with the widening Office of Tax and Revenue embezzlement scandal, shall we? Over the weekend, the Washington Post reported that two more tax office employees had been placed on leave from their jobs in connection with the alleged $20 million-plus fraud, though CFO Natwar Gandhi refused to identify them except to say they work in the real property assessment division of the office. Four senior managers have tendered their resignation since the......

Good morning, Washington. In case you didn't believe us when we first told you that this tax office corruption scandal was going to get bigger and badder as the week went on, just check out the trio of stories on offer from the Post this morning on the widening scandal. First and foremost, it turns out Harriette Walters and Diane Gustus allegedly worked together to steal $4 million more than originally thought, bringing the grand......

Good morning, Washington. It's Friday, and the city is still reacting to yesterday afternoon's announcement about how our new taxi meters are going to work. We already told you about the $4 flag drop, which many people are already saying is too high, and the fact that taxi roof lights will go on and off automatically to indicate whether a cab has a passenger, which everyone seems to agree is long overdue. One more thing......

Welcome back to work, Washington. Perhaps you're struggling to focus this morning, having only barely recovered from the weekend's Halloween festivities. Perhaps you just had a difficult time extricating yourself from your bed on this first cold morning of the year. Whatever the case may be, DCist recommends a strong cup of coffee with a dash of Rumbler to get your motor running today. The Rumbler is described as a "high-tech blaster" being used in......

Good morning, Washington. For those of you who were inconvenienced by yesterday afternoon's Red line mishap, we're sure you'll be glad to hear that the suspect who Montgomery County police chased into the tunnel got away. The whole incident started just after 2 p.m. when officers, acting on a suspicious-person call, spotted Michael J. Brown, a man known by area police and who is wanted in Baltimore for several charges of theft. After a chase......

When Thomas P. Jacobus, general manager of the aqueduct that provides water to the District, Arlington and Falls Church commented to the Post today, "Perhaps sometimes we don't do the best job we could of communicating," he summed up in a few words the main problem that has plagued the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority -- which delivers water from the Washington Aqueduct to customers -- over the last few years. And while it remains......

Yesterday's legislative action in the D.C. Council, typical of end-of-session days, was jam-packed with votes. Here's a few more you may have missed: >> The Council moved ahead on a bill that restricts interest rates levied by the so-called payday loan industry, an issue we've looked at before. The bill passed on an initial reading, and if implemented would place a 24 percent annual percentage rate cap on interest charged by lenders. The Examiner notes......

>> In case you missed this story in the Washington Post this morning, it seems another one of D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton's favorite long-term projects, expanding the District's Home Rule Charter to give the District budget and legislative autonomy, is actually getting some play up on the Hill. We can't even count how many times she's introduced bills like the two currently before the House, but it's been at least 15 years since Congress......

Good morning, D.C. Did you have a good weekend dodging and weaving between all those digestive disease specialists in town? We couldn't help but be impressed by the sea of 20,000 be-purple backpacked conference attendees, and kept hoping we'd meet one or two who could explain to us exactly what Crohn's Disease is anyway. WJLA was kind enough to remind us that Digestive Disease Week will have brought in $32 million to the District when......

It's going to be a bright and beautiful day here in Washington, and since we've had some less than sunny headlines so far this summer, we'd like to take a moment to point some good news. Believe it or not, your daily walks to work could actually begin getting easier. How, you say? Well we're just so glad you asked. It seems the city has begun spending money on rubberized sidewalks, which last longer than......

There's a weird little comment thread going on over at the Post blog Raw Fisher, where columnist Marc Fisher has highlighted D.C. CFO Natwar Gandhi's recent annual address to Congress. The District of Columbia makes little sense as a going concern. It can't tax most of the people who work in the city. It has enormous responsibilities, including a large poor population with overwhelming needs and a federal government that demands all manner of special......

According to word we have just received, the flat tax that Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) is hoping to force upon the District is receiving a second round of debate and consideration today. The District of Columbia Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which he chairs, has scheduled a hearing today to dicuss his flat tax proposal, and it will be receiving testimony from District CFO Natwar Gandhi, Brookings Institution scholar Alice Rivlin, and Terence Golden......

Last week brought rosy predictions as to how much revenue the new Washington Nationals stadium would attract. According to a study commissioned by District CFO Natwar Gandhi, the team stood to rake in $203 million in its first year and $190 million a year thereafter, making it the third highest grossing team in baseball. In fact, the predictions were so high that even baseball officials were left to express doubts: The projections greatly exceeded the......

We're always one to celebrate when the District is good at something. But today's news is bittersweet. We're really good, it seems, at having really bad air, or so reports the Washington Times. According to an updated EPA report, air quality in the District is the fourth worst in the country, ranking behind New York, California and Oregon based on tests for 177 air toxins, including lead and benzene. We can try and take solace......

News today has it that the U.S. Capitol Police seemed to have forgotten about the First Amendment on Tuesday night, when they arrested anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan and Beverly Young, the wife of a Republican representative, at the State of the Union address for wearing "expressive t-shirts." Ironically, Young's shirt was pro-military: "Support the Troops -- Defending Our Freedom." Capitol Police Terrance Gainer issued an apology and dropped the charges against the two. District Claims......

So, The United States is preparing to develop methods for generating fuel from switch grass. I don't know what switch grass is, but my gut tells me it's a lot like brush, and Bush stands to make a killing off this whole arrangement. There is a Better Way: So, Washington was host once more to the State of the Union. We continue to marvel at the fact that once a year, at a predictable time......

District political types and local journalists long waited for today -- the day the D.C. City Council would finally vote on the contentious stadium lease, the day on which D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams was to prove once and for all if he could round up key votes at key moments. Alas, it was not to be. As we reported late yesterday afternoon, Williams asked Council-chair Linda Cropp to postpone the vote on the stadium lease......

"Slowly but surely," D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams must be telling himself, "slowly but surely." That's the pace the new stadium has proceeded at since it was first voted on last December by the City Council on a 7-6 vote, having since seen furious debate over rent payments, bond financing, land and infrastructure costs, and design. But this afternoon the city is one step closer to the stadium. WJLA is now reporting that city officials and......

Welcome back, Washington. We hope you had a Turkey Day filled with food, family, and football triumphs. Now it's back to work, maggot! Hey, at least it'll be warm: today is likely to be rainy, but will have temperatures in the sixties. That's not bad for being on the cold side of Thanksgiving. Annapolis Fire Destroys Building, Costs Millions: The weekend's big news was the blaze that tore through Annapolis's historic district. No one was......

In a long-awaited decision that may boost the fortunes of the troubled new baseball stadium for the Washington Nationals in Southeast, the Supreme Court today ruled that local governments may expropriate homes and businesses to accommodate private development. Stemming from a case in which the local government of the city of New London, Conn., exercised their power of eminent domain over an economically-depressed area and replaced homes with a riverfront hotel and office buildings aimed......