SFist saw Christmas Day turn tragic after a Siberian tiger escaped from her pen at the San Francisco Zoo, killing a visitor and mauling two others. Phillyist counted down the top ten items on Philadelphia's New Year's wish list. Gothamist looked at the wooden bikes being offered for NYC's first bike share program on Governors Island. LAist received a Christmas present in the form of a drunk Santa Claus in a g-string. Bostonist launched......

Good morning, Washington. We're getting off to a late start this holiday week morning, which is really just as well, since there's not too much local news to report anyway. But let's get the ball rolling with a few stories ... Police have shut down yet another brothel operation in Glover Park. This time, it's the Venus Spa at 2352 Wisconsin Ave. NW. Where oh where will the guys who work at the Russian......

Torontoist discovered their city's most ridiculous holiday lights setup, with 80,000 lights and two––two!––synchronized music routines. Naturally, they snagged a video. Chicago tragically loses one of its most recognizable neighborhood icons, the pigeon man of Lincoln Square. LAPD leaves body in car at crash scene, then tows it. Massachusetts plus mullet equals PR mayhem. Londonist sleeps in a Haunted plague pit. UC Berkeley students strip naked and race through campus, NSFW floppiness ensues. Phillyist......

Good Morning, Washington. In an apparent attempt to rule the D.C. media landscape through terror and intimidation, the Washington Post has published the scariest local news story we've ever read this morning: apparently, these disgusting-looking creatures called camel crickets are infesting area basements due to the lack of moisture in the ground thanks to the region's rather serious drought. Described as "a mix between a spider and a cricket" and accompanied by disturbing photographic......

The 2nd year of the District's Awake! Music Festival is making it's grand sophomore entrance tomorrow night in clubs across town. News about the festival is traveling far and wide, with a sponsorship and podcast from everybody's favorite online radio station, WOXY, an interview on the local news, and more. A few last minute changes have been made to the festival — namely the unfortunate cancellation of Cloud Cult's set, and of the Rock &......

Just this week, GQ published their annual "50 Most Powerful People in D.C." list. Populated by the likes of Condoleezza Rice, Nancy Pelosi, Karl Rove and Tim Russert, the list better describes the movers and shakers in "Washington", but not the District. And since we're snobs about local news and happenings, we threw together a little list of the people who really exercise influence in or over the lives of people who live and work......

We at the Gothamist network would like to express our heartfelt wishes to the people of Minnesota in the days after their tragic bridge collapse. We're not trying to discount the severity of the accident by making note of it in opposition to our usual -Ist lightheartedness – we just wanted to take a moment and recognize those affected last week. After the Minneapolis bridge collapse, Bostonist did a little research and found that Massachusetts......

We've got two words for you, D.C.: beer pops. That's right, beer pops. WTOP, along with a number of other local news outlets, has coverage of an innovation being brought to market by an Alexandria restaurant. The folks at Rustico may not be the first to come up with the idea of ale-on-a-stick, but they're the first purveyors of it we know of in the D.C. area, and we salute them for it. Here's......

Good morning, D.C. If you're like us (and presumably since you're reading this, you are), you love to follow local news, especially for those few stories that come up every now again that manage to combine two of the local media's favorite tropes: fear mongering and funny names. For example, just when you thought the intersex fish problem in the Potomac had drifted off into the ethereal plane of being old news, the Sierra Club......

Good morning, Washington! So c'mon: be honest. Did you bike to work today? With scattered showers predicted across the region, we suppose it's understandable if you didn't. We hope you feel at least a little guilty anyway, though -- particularly those of us who did end up biking through potential drizzle. We guess we'll give a pass to Paul Wolfowitz though -- even if he did ride his bike to work today, he won't......

The nation is still transfixed on the latest coming out of Blacksburg, especially the startling images and words that have come out of the package Cho Seung-Hui apparently sent to NBC News between his two shooting sprees. It's also of course talking about the day's two biggest stories coming out of Washington: The Supreme Court's decision to uphold the so-called partial-birth abortion ban, and the start of Congressional testimony by embattled Attorney General Alberto......

Good morning, Washington. Today is the day of the Voting Rights March. If you can, gather at Freedom Plaza at 2:30 p.m. to march to the capitol with your friends from DCist and other Washingtonians. Or, just meet us for the rally planned at 4 p.m. at the Capitol Reflecting Pool. Either way, we hope you make it out for at least one hour to show your support for District voting rights. Don't let this......

Former Editor-in-Chief Ryan Avent writes a weekly column about neighborhood and development issues. Except for the last two weeks, when he was on vacation. Amid the cascade of (welcome) local news stories chronicling the growing momentum for District voting rights, one tangential piece in the Post, a Saturday essay from staff writer Philip Kennicott, stuck out to me. My attention was assured, specifically, when I read the following passage concerning a symposium which took place......

This chilly April weather appears to have frozen more than just flowers overnight here in Washington -- local news coverage has turned cold and stopped moving as well. It's a bit of a slow news Friday so far, so we'll take this as an opportunity to give a shoutout to the hard working copy editors on the WaPo's Metro desk. We couldn't easily skim through all of the days' stories if you didn't write such......

Pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers beware! As we mentioned this morning, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments' annual Street Smart Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Campaign kicked off yesterday. In addition to a flurry of ads on the radio, billboards, buses, and local papers, this campaign will also include a month of increased enforcement of traffic laws by local police. We’re not sure which to be more worried about, the potential jaywalking tickets or the relentless march......

While you were busy reveling in November sweeps cliff-hangers and specials, the shape of local news was being transformed. With familiar faces leaving, editorial staffs shrinking and other assorted wackiness, it's been a busy month for D.C.'s media bigwigs. We're here with the highlights for those who still supplement their fake news with homegrown headlines. The first hint of the month-long mix-up came when Channel 4's sports institution George Michael declined to renew his contract.......

>> Whatever this "new local news television show" is, they certainly have a firm grasp of exactly the sort of people who check the Missed Connections on a daily basis: The same people who would just die to get on television. [FishbowlDC] >> Washingtonpost.com's Dan Steinberg needs your help to shoot DC United's Nick Rimando with a water gun. Really. [D.C. Sports Bog] >> Will Augusto Pinochet ever be held accountable for the Sheridan Circle......

Yesterday, the D.C. Council decided to table emergency legislation to hike their own salaries, already the second-highest in the nation. In the discussion of the bill, first introduced by Chairman Linda Cropp at the urging of D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams, the margin of pay increases slowly declined as the hours elapsed, a likely response to public criticism of the proposals. The first move, which came in response to criticism of a proposed 51 percent pay......

So it's fortunate for us that WETA Radio's local news call-in show The Intersection keeps inviting our esteemed Sports Editor, Matthew Bourque, back on the air to drop his mad knowledge of all things sporting like it's gonna cause 3rd degree burns. And that's hot, yo. So tune into WETA at 90.9FM (or listen live on the interwebs) at 11:50 a.m. to hear Matt discuss everything from new Nationals manager Manny Acta's managerial style, Soriano's......

>> Following the footsteps of Beck, Middle Distance Runner sent out an e-mail announcing a secret show tonight at DC9. They'll be playing with Cloud Cult and Hot IQs as part of the DAM! Fest Hangover party. Festivities start at 9 p.m. >> We've got wood. Today the Capitol Christmas tree started its journey from Washington State to D.C. where it will be adorned with 3000 kids' crappy hand-made ornaments. Even Mom knows when it's......

It's a drizzly Thursday morning out there, D.C., and it seems like every ... single ... local news headline ... we've run across has to do with this Tuesday's election. Rest assured, we'll have DCist's own election guide for you later this afternoon, but we'll also have plenty of our regular music, food and other odd goodies. Because lord knows we could all stand a break from the Midterm Midtacular (hat tip to The Daily......

Much as we hate to admit it, D.C. isn't known for being a particularly great Halloween town. When a list of the area's best Halloween events prominently features a concert at the Kennedy Center, it's pretty obvious that the true potential of the holiday is being wasted. Sure, there are good parties to be found, but as a city we don't even get any haunted public transportation. It's outrageous! But there are a few wonderfully......

Good morning, Washington, and welcome to another beautiful fall day. Let's start it with a question for the group — which of the following better exemplifies the proud tradition of local news: WTTG's repeated pre-commercial teases last night warning that "this teddy bear is responsible for the deaths of thousands"? Or this snippet of audio from The Simpsons? Richmond Nixes Transportation Funding: The Virginia Legislature's special session is off to an unproductive start, as the......

Sometimes The Onion is scarily prescient. Just yesterday I was browsing through the site on a whim and got a chuckle out of this story, titled "Verizon Introduces New Charge-You-At-Whim Plan". Then, while browsing through the local news, I came across WTOP's story about a new surcharge that Verizon is about to introduce. The stories even carry the same date. Like I said: scarily prescient. But enough Onion-admiration; let's move on to the Verizon-bashing. The......

Good morning, Washington. It's not local news, but we'd be remiss if we failed to mention the story that's at the top of every media outlet's coverage this morning: Iraqi insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been killed by a precision airstrike. The news comes approximately four years after the military's first opportunity to attack Zarqawi was inexplicably abandoned. What this means for U.S. security, Iraqi democracy or the midterm elections, we couldn't guess —......

In a media-heavy city like Washington, one might pay heed to the Chicago Tribune's story from yesterday afternoon announcing that a senior law enforcement official told ABC News, "It's time for you to get some new cell phones, quick," in reference to the government's tracking of calls with whistleblowers and other confidential sources. Makes you wish that Qwest expanded their service to the news media, if not the entire country, right? Williams Endorses Cropp:......

As if a rainy Monday wasn't enough, we get a partly cloudy Tuesday, too. It's May, the "April showers" should be wrapped up, already. How about viewing May flowers behind a backdrop of blue sky, not slate gray? A little cheery history for all you Muppet fans out there: on May 9th, 1955, University of Maryland alum Jim Henson's first show, Sam and Friends, debuted on WRC-TV here in Washington. Sam and Friends laid the......

May sweeps officially began last Thursday night, and, by now, are in the full swing of things. In addition to being treated to the usual stunts networks pull out for the ratings period that determines advertising rates, viewers can also look forward to more salacious than usual local news stories. Local ABC affiliate WJLA kicked off their sweeps stories with an expose on "The Ugly Side of The Picture Perfect Body". On Monday, they broadcast......

For those of us who compulsively pore over world almanacs, sports record books, and specialty dictionaries to extricate facts, numbers, and lists that double as security blankets, the Washington Post's "District Extra" section is a treasure trove. The District Extra is one of many local sections that the Post issues each Thursday to convince its area readers that the very national hometown newspaper is, well, keeping it real. But the Raymond Babbitt in us skips......

There's been plenty of grist for the sensationalist local news mill this year, between the robbery scare and subsequent police crackdown in Adams Morgan and the budding crime wave in Georgetown. Regardless, many Washingtonians are quick to disregard the breathless news segments as more of the same from the 11 o'clock doomsayers. As actual crime numbers for the year to date pile up, however, it does appear that the District might be struggling to continue......