With point guard Antonio Daniels out for 2-4 weeks with a sprained knee, the Washington Wizards were more than shorthanded going into Saturday night's game against the visiting Sacramento Kings. Rookie Nick Young started in Daniels' spot in the back court and scored five of the team's first seven points, but it was the hot hand of DeShawn Stevenson that led the Wizards to a 92-79 win. Stevenson played over 44 minutes and connected......

You may have heard by now of the scandal brewing in the Capitol Café (the small eatery in the basement of the Capitol building). If not, here's the skinny: Indiana Congressman Mark Souder (R) allegedly wanted a toasted turkey sandwich real bad; Café worker Kennison Battle (known as Mohammed) allegedly gets to work on sandwich but makes fatal error of grilling aforementioned sandwich; Souder allegedly tries to correct Battle, who allegedly attempts to set it......

Who says the Washington Wizards didn't improve over the offseason? Last night DCist made our first trip down to the Verizon Center this season and noticed plenty of changes; fancy new press credentials (now with marketing slogans!), shiny, new flat screen monitors in press row in section 104, that snazzy $50 million scoreboard that puts a whole new spin on the Kiss-Cam and a new red carpet themed video set to Kanye West's "Bigger,......

The National Symphony Orchestra is about to lose its captain, when Music Director Leonard Slatkin steps down at the end of this season. Slatkin is clearly not ready to retire, although he has hinted that he is all too ready to move past the discomforts of his tenure in Washington. He will split his time among the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic in London, and the Pittsburgh Symphony, as well as teaching at Indiana......

The Mancuso-Suzda Project, an adventurous local avant-garde jazz duo, is currently serving as artist-in-residence at Strathmore. The program selects a different local performer each month and provides educational and performance opportunities in order to cultivate local talent in the fine arts. Previous artists-in-residence include Laura Burhenn of Georgie James, jazz harmonicist Frédéric Yonnet, jazz percussionist Kush Abadey, singer/songwriter LEA, and Celtic harp player Lily Neill. Like so many groups these days, the Mancuso-Suzda Project came......

FOUND Magazine has a knack for revealing the beautiful underbelly of America, the forgotten parts of our everyday lives. Highlighting things like the hateful note you left the person parked in your precious parking spot, your laundry list of to-dos, that love note you didn’t find the courage to send, or those rejection letters that you didn’t want to hold onto, FOUND is the curated hamper for everything not worth collecting. That is unless you......

In news that will make hard luck single guys everywhere feel better about themselves, Wizards forward Andray Blatche was arrested yesterday for soliciting sex from an undercover police officer in Thomas Circle. This isn't the first run in with trouble for Blatche since joining the Wizards: he was carjacked and shot in the chest during his rookie year. Compounding the issue for Blatche is the fact that he currently has a 5-year, $12.5 million......

While SFist cringed at the fatal dose of crime littering the Bay Area, it found solace in Hillary Clinton's San Francisco campaign headquarters opening, which featured loads of exposed mammary glands. In other news, SF Taxi Commission ruled that Satan's cab must keep its (in)famous medallion number, 666; and in an un-fashion-forward frenzy, San Francisco Fashion Week (chortle) bars bloggers from covering and getting smashed at their shows and parties, respectively. Also, they found a......

FRIDAY: >> The Millennium Stage Conservatory Project concludes this weekend at the Kennedy Center. Promising young musicians from the nation's best conservatories will be giving free concerts in the Terrace Theater: Eastman School of Music (tonight), Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University (Saturday), and Shepherd School of Music, Rice University (Sunday). All concerts begin at 6 p.m. and can also be experienced by live simulcast through the Millennium Stage Web site. >> Garrison Keillor brings......

Summer is almost here, and that means it is almost time to roll up the carpets and send the Classical Music Agenda on vacation. So enjoy the music while you can. In particular, this is the last week to take in a performance of the best production from Washington National Opera this season, Janáček's Jenůfa. My review called this opera "essential viewing for anyone who cares about music drama." Performances remain only on Monday (May......

Welcome to May, Washington. It's beautiful outside and will stay that way throughout the week. In fact, checking WUSA's weather forecast this morning, we smiled at all the pretty suns and mild temperatures. The clearest meteorological message, though, is the helpful "Warm" and "Nice" written neatly across the image. Not too shabby. It's also nice weather for balloting. Today, voters in Wards Four and Seven head to the polls to elect new D.C. council members.......

The Washington Wizards did what they had to do last, beating the Indiana Pacers on the road 98-95. The win cemented the 7th seed in the East for the Wiz, setting up a rematch of last year's exciting series with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs clinched the 2nd seed in the East by virtue of their win over Milwaukee and Chicago's loss in New Jersey. Here's how the series will shakedown, schedule-wise: Game 1......

Last time we live blogged the House debate on District voting rights, things didn't go too well. We're hoping for a bit of an improvement today. From what we've heard on the Hill, debate kicks off at 10:30 a.m., and the legislation has been split up into two separate parts -- one covering the actual voting seats both D.C. and Utah would receive and the other dealing with the minor increase in annual spending the......

What was once an entertaining season for the Washington Wizards has quickly gone down the proverbial drain so fast most people are afraid to ask "What's next?" In the last 12 days, the team has lost Caron Butler and Gilbert Arenas for the season, lost the third seed in the Eastern Conference playoff picture, lost the Southeast Division crown to the Miami Heat and also lost six in a row, with four of those......

College basketball fans on the Hilltop and in College Park are pleased, while the ones in Foggy Bottom probably wish they hadn't turned on the TV. The Hoyas pounded Belmont and will face Boston College, while the Terps handled Davidson and will face Butler, and the Colonials were clobbered by Vanderbilt, losing by 33. And over at the DCist Reader-Staff Bracketfest, Kyle Mahaney is in the lead, having picked every game except Butler over......

In the area around the D.C. Courthouse on Indiana Avenue NW near Judiciary Square, and we suspect elsewhere in the city, there are massive plumes of steam coming from the grates in the sidewalk. We usually don't pay any attention to the steam that regularly comes up from the grates around town, but thanks to the cold, cold, Vostok-esque weather, these are reaching higher than the surrounding buildings. Walking through them is like flying in......

Pardon the comparison, but Trinidad and Tobago's surprise tie with Sweden on Saturday was the "Cool Runnings" moment of the 2006 World Cup. It was in that 1993 movie that a Jamaican bobsled team surprised the competition at the 1988 Winter Olympics in an event usually dominated by teams that have, you know, snow and ice. And such was the shock when Trinidad and Tobago, ranked 47 internationally and playing a man down, performed with......

FRIDAY: The Mozart Year is almost halfway over — the man's birthday was January 27 — but classical concert programming continues to celebrate it. Opera Lafayette gets in the game tonight and tomorrow (June 2 and 3, 7:30 p.m.) with a concert performance of Mozart's first important opera, Idomeneo, at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center in College Park. The vocal cast promises to be excellent, including an up-and-coming young singer named Millicent Scarlett, who......

For the Washington Wizards, it's "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again." With an injured Caron Butler, the Wizards have lost four in a row going into tonight's game against Chicago, who are fighting for their own playoff lives. The fifth seed, which only a week ago looked like a sure thing, is no longer guaranteed. The team is banged up, but that's no excuse at this time of year. As of......

Good morning, D.C.! It's Friday and the weather is beautiful. Shouldn't you be playing outside? Yeah, us too. Well, if you can't sneak away from your computer for some physical activity, you can at least sneakily watch others get theirs: WTOP is reporting that George Mason's afternoon practice is going to be webcast live, beginning at noon. You can tune in courtesy of NCAASports.com and Indianapolis' WISH-TV. Immigration Protest Draws Students To Ballston: The Post......

When the NBA calendar turns to March, teams are either start thinking about lottery choices or jockeying for playoff position. The Washington Wizards, after a slow start to the season, seemed to find their groove in February and catapulted themselves back into the playoff race, currently holding a precarious grip on the sixth seed in the East. Tonight on ESPN, they take on Allen Iverson and the Philadelphia 76ers, who currently trail the Wizards......

The Washington Wizards appear to have turned the corner. Last night's 84-79 win over the Indiana Pacers gives the Wiz wins in eight of their last 11 games and puts them one game under .500 for the season. The Pacers, who have now lost six in a row, played their first game with recent acquisition Peja Stojakovic, acquired last week for the ever-disgruntled Ron Artest. Peja scored 17, but was mostly ineffective last night, shooting......

The District's shopping landscape has undergone some alterations over the past few weeks. With the addition of boutique Sosan and a shiny new space for Nana, you have two new reasons to avoid the mall. Even if it still is freezing outside. Sosan: As much as we love Woodley Park, for a while it has felt like the District's equivalent of Indiana (the crossroads of America). Now, instead of just appreciating Woodley's location for its......

The Washington Wizards started last week one game below .500 and facing four games in a span of six days that threatened to send their season into a tailspin if things went badly. After an overtime win at home on Tuesday against the woeful Raptors, the team failed to gain any momentum, losing three games to Eastern Conference rivals Indiana, Chicago and Miami. Getting destroyed on national TV to the Pacers was bad, but......

>> Although it's (finally) playoff time in MLS, most of the discussion around DC United centers around 16-year-old Freddy Adu. Last week he complained publicly about his playing time, or perceived lack of it. The next day, Adu met with team officials in an effort to clear the air, but apparently he did not apologize, so he was suspended for United's playoff game on Friday against the Chicago Fire, which ended in a listless......

Ah, the halcyon days of summer in the District. It's disgusting out there. The air is as thick and soggy as a piece of french toast made by a six-year-old, but nowhere near as delicious. Animal instinct tells us to head directly for the nearest cool, dark cave and commence with the removal of clothing. But we are not animals. We are civilized urban aesthetes. We shall head to the cinema. We shall bathe......

EAST GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Greetings from the hometown of Gerald R. Ford. While former President Ford was born in 1913 as Leslie King in Omaha, Neb., and he grew up with his adopted family in Grand Rapids, this inner suburb of Michigan's second-largest city on its welcome sign claims Mr. Ford as a hometown son because the former chief executive and his family once resided in leafy lakeside community. Now the suburb is......

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Greetings from southern Indiana, where this DCist has been traveling the past day. The home of Indiana University, Bloomington was the setting for the movie "Breaking Away." If you've seen the movie, you know how hilly and forested the beautiful countryside surrounding the town is. More recently, Bloomington became famous for one more thing: being the home of the Subway where Jared Fogel got his start in advertising. According to the story,......

>> Wins on Friday against the free falling Cleveland Cavaliers and on Sunday against the Charlotte Bobcats coupled with an Indiana Pacers loss at Miami have moved the Wizards into 5th place in the Eastern Conference playoff race with just two games to go. The Wizards overall record now stands at 45-35 and the team has won four in a row since their five game losing streak. With the Pacers two games back with only......

Simply put, today is a good day to be a sports fan in Washington. Not only do we have the Nats home opener (more on that later) but last night the Wizards clinched their first playoff appearance since 1997 with a 93-82 win over the visiting Chicago Bulls. At long last the franchise has erased the failures of players like Mitch Richmond, Jerry Stackhouse and Michael Jordan, each of whom failed to lead the......