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......

Aside from donating to charity or saving for your child's college fund, the best use of $6.75 is the quarter-chicken platter with fries and salad at Skorpios Maggio's Family Restaurant (affectionately known as Skorpios) in Vienna.  Hot rotisserie chicken, dusted with a lemon peppery spice blend, served to you on a divided plate with thick cut steak fries and a simple lettuce salad covered generously in feta and dressed with oil and vinegar, and a......

The D.C. Council voted 10 to 3 today to give Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee the power to fire nonunion central office employees. Council members Marion Barry, Phil Mendelson and Harry Thomas Jr. were the only votes against giving Rhee the power to fire. Thomas tried to get the council to approve an alternative bill that would have affected fewer workers, but the Council voted that alternative down 10-3 as well. The Washington Post story......

It looks like Virginia's gunnin' for a fight -- pun intended. According to WTOP, Virginia has filed a brief in the Supreme Court challenging the District's gun ban, joining a number of states that are picking sides in what may be a historic decision on the reach of the Second Amendment. The case, which will be heard in March, could have a wide-reaching effect on gun laws and regulations nationwide. According to Virginia Attorney......

WTOP's Mark Segraves got a hold of a partial list of the folks who've been receiving tickets to use the city's free luxury box in the Verizon Center -- the one that the D.C. Council is so miffed they're being boxed out of -- and there's some fun tidbits he discovered.Most of those invited to D.C.'s Luxury Suite at the Verizon Center by Fenty either contributed the maximum $2,000 to Fenty's campaign or worked on......

Earlier this month the Post revealed that the majority of mail sent from the District is bastardized with a postmark reading "SOUTHERN MD." or "SUBURBAN MD.," a practice imposed soon after a 2001 anthrax attack in a D.C. postal facility. District officials and voting rights activists were none-too-pleased -- after all, if they take our postmark, what's next? Our women and children? Today, the Post Office relented. Under pressure from D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton......

Whenever the dirtiest plays in hockey history are discussed, New York Islanders fans malign Dale Hunter's hit on Pierre Turgeon. True, Hunter hit Turgeon from behind, without warning, as Turgeon raised his arms to celebrate a decisive playoff goal. True, Hunter separated Turgeon's shoulder, earning a (then record setting) 21-game suspension. Regardless, Caps fans will no longer have to listen quietly as Long Island residents insult our good name. That's because Islander Chris Simon has......

Say what you will about the $515.7 billion spending bill the House of Representatives passed yesterday, there is a silver-lining for the District -- the ban on the use of public funds for needle-exchange programs was finally lifted. For the past nine years Congressional Republicans successfully prohibited the District from using any of its resources to promote needle-exchange programs, regardless of their efficacy in combating the spread of diseases such as HIV/AIDS. As a consequence,......

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......

>> A winter weather advisory is in effect in parts of the area as freezing rain and sleet are expected to move in Thursday morning. [NBC4] >> A boy under the age of 10 was hit by a dump truck just after 4 p.m. at the intersection of 13th Street and Potomac Avenue SE. [WJLA] >> Um, so, forget about that Ron Paul blimp ever actually getting here, we guess. [Wonkette] >> "a multitude......

Last night, Fox 5 reported on an alarming attack of a gay man by six or seven men on the Metro. "Nathaniel," as he's referred to in the report, was riding alone on a train Friday night. As the doors closed at Metro Center, the group surrounded and beat Nathaniel, kicking him as he fell to the floor and yelling "faggot". Nathaniel managed to get off the train at the Smithsonian station, and he ran......

If you've taken a D.C. taxicab since the stroke of midnight last night, you may have been surprised by a cab driver insisting that you pay an extra $1 gas surcharge. Didn't the gas surcharge expire in September? It did, but last week the D.C. Taxicab Commission quietly passed an emergency measure to bring back the $1 fee, beginning at 12:01 a.m. this morning and lasting until 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, January 29, 2008. “Prices......

The Onion's regular American Voices segment takes on the D.C. HIV/AIDS epidemic today, proving once again that there is no holy mad cow disease too sacred for America's Finest News Source.......

A happy Friday to you, Washington. Hopefully you all made it in to work on time despite Metro having reduced the speed of their rail cars in several areas this morning. Speed restrictions were in place until 8:10 a.m. along portions of the Orange line in Maryland and Virginia, the Red line from Union Station to Silver Spring and from Shady Grove to Grosvenor, and the Green line from Branch Avenue to Congress Heights......

Good morning, Washington. The pernicious effects of this year's drought could continue to haunt the region during next year's holiday season, according to WTOP. Turns out that young Christmas trees and seedlings being grown in Maryland and Virginia were especially affected by the lack of rainfall, meaning that thousands of area children could suffer the indignity of having to make due with a sub-par decorative plant with which to entice entice Santa to leave them......

Happy Day-After-Thanksgiving, D.C. Normally we like to get you your headlines in the a.m., so we hope you'll forgive us for rounding up the news later in the day today -- we needed to spend the morning rolling our much fatter selves out of bed and calling our doctors for a new Lipitor prescription. What do you mean, it isn't necessarily a good idea to put gravy on pumpkin pie? Breaking News: People are Shopping!:......

>> D.C. Council members have rejected a plan to give a developer city-owned land worth $6 million on which to build a new Radio One headquarters. [WJLA] >> Five new restaurants are coming to Columbia Heights. [Prince of Petworth] >> Traffic was temporarily halted at Union Station this afternoon as Amtrak Police investigated a report of a suspicious package near Gate A in Union Station. Regular service had resumed by 4 p.m. [WaPo] >>......

When posters appeared on the GW campus early last month bearing the message, "Hate Muslims? So Do We!", some people laughed, others got offended, and the university got a ton of media coverage unrelated to its exorbitant tuition. Today the GW Hatchet reports that the students responsible for the posters have each received a $25 fine and probation. As you all may recall, the posters were part of a campaign to mock Islamo-Facism Awareness Week,......

Fox5 reported on Sunday that a member of their staff, Gwen Tolbart, was injured in a collision between her car and a Metrobus on Saturday night on her way home. Tolbart was thankfully not seriously hurt, but the bus driver, Harvey Carey of Lanham, has now been charged with failing to stay in the proper lane, which resulted in the accident. Fishbowl DC has posted an email from Tolbart in which she describes the experience,......

Written by DCist Contributor Josh Kramer The Hatchet — George Washington University >>The big news at GWU this week is that Freshman Sarah Marshak, who reported six swastikas being drawn on her dorm room door's whiteboard, actually drew five of them herself, which she has now said she did to bring attention to the first incident. Marshak, who is Jewish and a former reporter for the Hatchet, was informed she will most likely be expelled.......

>> Mayor Fenty has changed his mind and now says emails to and from city officials will be kept indefinitely. [WTOP] >> More Fenty decisions! He's considering a drastic change to the role of the hated D.C. Taxicab Commission. [Examiner] >> Several people on a Boston-bound flight out of DCA were taken to a hospital after complaining of feeling sick and were found to have elevated carbon monoxide levels. [WCVB] >> Jack Bauer spotted in......

It's always interesting to compare collegiate news coverage with larger news outlets whenever a story breaks out of a campus publication. In the case of today's news about the apprehension of one suspect in the recent spate of hate graffiti on the George Washington University campus, the differences are pretty tangible. Both the Examiner and the Washington Post have stories up about the arrest by University Police of an unnamed student for his or her......

With monuments and museums, Washington, D.C. is a haven for history buffs. But what do most of us really know about Virginia? The Kathy Harty Gray Dance Theatre will combine a history lesson with dance with two performances of “Women in Virginia and Other Favorites” this weekend at Northern Virginia Community College's Alexandria campus. The performance will include excerpts of the company’s touring program “Stories to Remember about Women in Virginia”, which covers 400 years......

>> Four D.C. firefighters were injured while battling a rowhouse fire at 619 4th St. NE this afternoon. [WTOP] >> A Jewish first-year GWU student and reporter for The Hatchet has found a series of swastikas drawn on her door. [The Hatchet] >> The leaders of a National Institutes of Health program recruiting minority D.C. high school students for science careers are disappointed that representatives of D.C. schools failed to show up for a......

Written by DCist Contributor Josh Kramer The Hatchet — George Washington University >>David Horowitz, organizer of Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, spoke Thursday night at GWU. Horowitz criticized the university and for its reaction to the students who hung ironically critical posters on campus, but spent most of the talk explaining the history of the Ottoman empire and what he believes is the rise of "Islamo-fascism." Horowitz also tried to claim that he is not a racist.......

Written by DCist Contributor Sarah Stonesifer The Diamondback – University of Maryland: >> Hartwick Towers, an off-campus apartment building, was the scene of a fire on Friday, Oct. 12. The fire has come under scrutiny by both students and city officials, as the building is not equipped with sprinklers and fire alarms did not function during the fire. Students were left on their own to find alternative housing until they were let back into their......

Sietsema responds, sorta Last week, we asked Tom for a clarification of the star-rating system. During his Dining Guide chat, he linked to his ratings code, which he posted this past Monday. One of the chatters had the same questions we had, "Have you ever considered a different system for your ratings? So often you will write a review where you rave about the food but mention something else (service, appearance) that you didn't like,......

The Associated Press is reporting that a dark cherry red Peterbilt tanker truck hauling gasoline was stolen at gunpoint this morning in Baltimore. ABC News follows up with word that police believe it to be a straight-up robbery and not connected to terrorism in any way, but that the Joint Terrorism Task Forces from Washington and Baltimore are assisting local Police in the investigation as a precaution. The suspect was last seen driving the truck......

The new record for the longest amount of consecutive days without measurable rainfall at Washington National Airport is scheduled to end later today, as showers and possibly a pretty heavy thunderstorm are predicted for this afternoon. But CapitalWeather.com says this rain event won't be enough to make a dent in the area's drought, as the rain will be short-lived and the amounts modest for the most part. Still, it's been a while since you had......

We'd like to waste about $800 sitting in traffic this year, please. That, at least, is the average annual cost for Marylanders who choose to drive during peak periods, (yet another) new Texas Transportation Institute tells us via Capitol News Service and WTOP. The total congestion cost, the study says, is $3.1 billion annually. We can think of some pretty good things to do with an extra $800. And they have nothing to do with......