Congress has probed the Interior Department and come out with hard allegations that members of the department have gotten drunk, used drugs and had sex with officials for the oil companies they allegedly regulate. The reports charge that those responsible for dictating where the oil companies can drill have let the drillers take them to parties at hotels and received their illicit gifts. The government receives and resells a percentage of all oil drilled by......

We've always wondered:Where the police have reason to believe that a suspect is concealing cocaine between his buttocks cheeks, is it reasonable under the Fourth Amendment for the police, at the scene of the arrest, to reach into the suspect's undershorts and seize the cocaine as a search incident to the suspect's arrest?While this might sound like a late-night joke between first-year law students, it's actually a question the U.S. Supreme Court is set to......

Channel 9 reporter Bruce Johnson has broken the story on the dust-up at the Washington Post this past week. Classical music critic Tim Page, winner of a Pulitzer prize, has long been one of the best writers in the Style section, making the paper's shrinking coverage of classical music all the more shameful. In response to a mass email from the staff of Ward 8 Council member Marion Barry, which was sent to Page apparently......

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......

MONDAY >> Were you out of town this weekend, wishing you were home soaking in the goodness that was the DAM! Festival? Fear not. Tonight there is one more show, and it happens to be the festival's biggest. The chanteuse to give all other indie chanteuses a run for their money, Cat Power, is taking the 9:30 Club stage with the Dirty Delta Blues, and a little help from openers Childballads. $25 or your......

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Indie: Sunshine A group of astronauts are on a suicide mission to save a dying Sun, lest the earth perish as well. While it may sound like a plot suitable for Michael Bay's Armageddon 2: Bigger and Hotter, in the hands of director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) and his 28 Days Later screenwriter, Alex Garland, it may......

Someone mentioned it in comments, but now we have confirmation. Tonya Bell, the woman who has been charged with aggravated assault after getting high on crack cocaine and driving her car at a high speed into a crowded street festival in Anacostia, hitting 40 people, had been employed by a temporary staffing agency that placed her in a position as a receptionist for former mayor and D.C. council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8). A letter......

Good morning, Washington. We hope you had a safe weekend and were able to enjoy the cooler weather on Sunday thanks to the rain brought in by remnants of Tropical Storm Barry. The respite from the heat, which looks like it may last through Wednesday, is one of the few things we can find to be upbeat about as we go over today's headlines. As you've already heard, Tonya Bell, a 30-year-old woman from Oxon......

>> Vandals armed only with a U-shaped bicycle lock and a sense of irony managed to trap about 40 commuters on the Virginia Railway Express Monday near Woodbridge, when they locked the metal gates from the pedestrian bridge at the Rippon station. The gates, which the VRE removed Tuesday, were originally put there to keep vandals out of the station. [AP via NBC4] >> Post columnist Courtland Milloy makes a compelling case for abolishing......

We gotta say, Mother Nature is a moody lady. She gives us Saturday's near-perfect conditions to watch the Idiotarod in all it's idiotic glory, then follows up with Sunday's frigid bluster. This week, she's gonna drop the winter hammer again, with highs in the thirties and – dare I say – the possibility of snow. Stay tuned to DCist to see if the forecast warrants scaring up the ol' Snowpacalypse Warning System. Alleged Cocaine Dealers......

Hey D.C., watch where you step. It's still icy out there, but today's temps should reach the 40's, melting the remaining ice for at least a while. Some kids are still in luck with a few school delays this morning, mostly in the Virginia suburbs. Here's hoping the warmer conditions mean drivers can stop acting like it's locusts, not snow, crunching under the tires. Chief Inspector Also Convict: Clearly D.C. doesn't have any problem with......

Good chilly morning to you, Washington. Our neighbors to the north have officially got themselves a new rock-star Governor, as Martin O'Malley was sworn in yesterday afternoon in Maryland to the sounds of the Saw Doctors, an Irish rock band that flew from Dublin for the event, and later to his own band, O'Malley's March, at his inaugural ball. Not that we're jealous or anything, but does anyone know if Mayor Fenty plays an instrument?......

>> District darling Marion Barry has entered a plea of not guilty on charges surrounding his September traffic stop. Police allege the Ward 8 Councilman was intoxicated and driving an unregistered vehicle when they pulled him over near the White House. Barry says federal authorities are trying to " http://wtop.com/?nid=596&sid=974583">embarrass and discredit" him. Sounds like tough work for the Feds. In the past year alone Barry plead guilty to federal tax evasion and tested positive......

Can you stand all the excitement that comes along with sifting through so many election results, race by race, this morning Washington? For political junkies like us, and we're sure, like many of you, last night was an up way past our bedtimes, whiskey-infused, edge of our seats, shouting about the relative quality of cable news commentators' hair dye jobs kind of time. And it's not totally over yet. But before we get to the......

If you do, or just enjoy hearing them, you may want to attend the Roast of Anthony Williams on October 18th at the Marriott Wardman Park. The event is part of a Southeastern University gala, and for the low price of $250, will feature jokesters like Adrian Fenty, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Councilmembers David Catania and Jack Evans, GWU President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and Broadway actor and D.C. native......

San Francisco is proud host of a new reality show called "How to Get the Guy" that's unfortunately not a descendant of Will and Grace, Queer Eye, The L Word, American Idol etc. Also a biodefence lab is coming to the East Bay and SFist teaches wine pairing. Getting on the wrong train sucks. Getting on the wrong train and becoming the victim of what will later be described as a "stabbing spree" really sucks.......

The debate now seems to be settled -- Maryland has the worst drivers out there. According to the Washington Times, last month alone Marylanders were responsible for 64 percent of the traffic violations caught on the District's traffic cameras, while D.C. residents accounted for 20 percent, Virginia 9 percent and all other states 7 percent. Of course, we are just kidding that this number may say something about Maryland's drivers. Some of them seem......

Marion Barry has gotten into trouble time after time. This time, the former mayor-for-life is being tried for not paying his taxes for six years, and, by extension, violating the terms of his plea agreement by testing positive for cocaine and marijuana use. Though he served six months in jail for cocaine possession in the early 1990s (and, somehow, was elected as mayor for a fourth term thereafter), it seems that he has yet to......

People celebrate birthdays, holidays and anniversaries. This evening we acknowledge the day that an event and a phrase now embedded in the consciousness of the District were born. That's right, folks. Today is the 16th anniversary of then-D.C. Mayor Marion Barry's infamous crack-cocaine bust. Props to D.C. Metblogs for reminding us about this evening-of-note -- we had honestly forgotten to make the dinner reservations and buy the gifts. What would District residents do without having......

Last week we considered how Marion Barry's supporters would defend against the recent accusations that he failed a drug test late last year, a revelation that could land him in prison for 18 months. Today's online newsletter from DC Watch features more debate on the matter, and new approaches to backing the former mayor. The Post today described Barry's longstanding struggles with drugs, alcohol, and women, noting that the Ward 8 council-member has consistently lost......

OK, we promise. This will be our last braise of the winter season. With the relatively warm weather we've had, one might think that our Dutch ovens have gone into hibernation until next year. But as with death, taxes, and Marion Barry's cocaine use, another cold snap is inevitable. What's more, DCist is willing to bet that a few of our readers received some porcelain-enameled steel in their stockings over the holidays. So, when we......

It was almost hard to believe the news was true -- Marion Barry, in hot water over alleged cocaine use? Again? It tested the mind -- Why would he run such a risk? Why would he put an otherwise quiet yet steady year-long stint on the D.C. Council in jeopardy? Why threaten his ability to positively shape his own legacy, to retire from District politics more as an effective legislator than as a discredited former......

The Washington Post reports this evening that former Mayor and current D.C. Council member Marion Barry has again run into trouble with drugs. In a court-ordered drug test that followed a guilty plea on misdemeanor tax charges, Barry tested positive for cocaine use. The positive test increases the chance that Barry will serve time for his six-year failure to file tax returns. Barry was convicted of misdemeanor possession of cocaine in 1990.......

What's with teens these days? Leave it to WJLA to do some undercover reporting to find out. In a story posted on the website, the station's probing news team embedded itself with teens in Maryland to find out exactly what makes them tick, what secrets they posses, and what they do on their free time. Not to say that the results are somewhat alarmist, but, oh hell, that's exactly what they are. Read for yourself:......

Good morning, Washington. It looks like the dreary weather of the last few days has cleared out - today will be partly cloudy with temperatures in the mid 50s with no rain expected through the weekend. Unfortunately the dry weather came just a bit too late for this year's high heel race which nonetheless went forward last night in wet conditions. There are a few photos of the event already posted to DCist photos. Hearing......

Everybody knows that one of Johnny Cash's malevolent alter egos shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die, but it's less frequently remembered that another of his gritty creations was overtaken by the authorities -- after snorting cocaine and shooting his unfaithful woman -- down in Juarez, Mexico. (He made a good run but he run too slow.) And few probably take much time to note that the namesake of El Paso's......

The Shenandoah Valley has beautiful scenery, but an ugly problem: methamphetamines. The Post says that Viriginia officials are trying to get a better understanding of the use of "poor man's cocaine" in the area. In the past five years, meth has become the No. 1 drug seized along the north-south corridor between Winchester and Harrisonburg, a belt that parallels Skyline Drive as well as Interstate 81. What stumps local authorities is that the deadly wave......