...oh wait, they actually just spied on peaceful anti-war and anti-death penalty activists. The Post is reporting today that the Maryland State Police actively infiltrated meetings and demonstrations held by war and death penalty protesters during the administration of Gov. Robert Ehrlich (R). The kicker? "The surveillance continued even though the logs contained no reports of illegal activity and consistently indicated that the activists were not planning violent protests." And then there's this:A well-known antiwar......

The park in downtown Washington, D.C. named for John "Black Jack" Pershing tends not to do justice to the man who achieved the highest rank of any person ever to serve in the United States military. In 1919, in recognition of his remarkable career and service in the Great War, Congress elected to promote General Pershing to the rank of General of the Armies—a position created especially for him. These days his namesake park, located......

When Mayor-elect Adrian Fenty announced last week that he'd chosen Cathy Lanier, a 16-year veteran of the Metropolitan Police Department, to replace Charles Ramsey atop the police force, local media didn't do much more than throw together a few details on her history and her ideas for fighting crime in the District. The City Paper, though, started digging. The paper trail they uncovered on Lanier makes for relatively interesting reading by City Paper standards, though......

Call it good luck -- outgoing Ward 3 council-member Kathy Patterson might have a second shot after being defeated by colleague Vincent Gray (D-Ward 7) in the race for council chair. The Examiner is reporting today that among many of the personnel changes that are expected in the coming mayoral administration of Adrian Fenty, Patterson might be taking over as deputy mayor for public safety and justice. If we couldn't have her on the council,......

It was in April 2000 that tens of thousands of anti-globalization protestors marched the streets of the District, protesting the secretive meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank and the policies that emerged from them. Police presence was heavy, given a nervous sense that Washington could go the route of Seattle, which just months prior had been the scene of an epic battle between protestors and police that had provoked an imposition of......

D.C. being the place that it is, big protests such as those that took place this last weekend are a dime a dozen. Complaints of excessive use of force by police officers are just as recurrent, with protestors often charging that overzealous police officers step in to make arrests too quickly and offer few apologies or admissions of wrongdoing thereafter. This weekend seems to have been different in that regard -- WJLA is reporting that......

You're the mayor. Through both sheer fear and skilled negotiations the City Council and U.S. Congress bow to your every demand. Your city coffers are suddenly flush with millions of dollars in surplus. What do you do? What do you do? In yesterday's Outlook section, the Post toyed with this quasi-realistic scenario and offered a variety of Washingtonians the chance to play God with the reported $300 million budget surplus the District is set to......

More than two years after 400-plus peaceful protestors were illegally arrested in Pershing Park during anti-globalization protests, a new District law protecting public assembly and the freedom of expression has gone into effect. The First Amendment Rights and Police Practices Act of 2004, whose enactment was spearheaded by Councilwoman Kathy Patterson (D-Ward 3), was signed on Jan. 27 of this year and took force on April 13. The law declares that protestors have the First......

In more protest news, seven of the 400+ protesters unlawfully arrested in Pershing Park during the September 2002 protests against the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank reached a settlement with the District of Columbia today in federal court. The seven plantiffs, including Adam Eidinger, his wife Alexis Baden-Mayer and her father Joe Mayer, will receive $48,000 each and a letter of apology from Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Chief Charles Ramsey. (The photo is......

With the Inauguration a little more than a week away, D.C. Council Chairman Linda Cropp is sending a bill to Mayor Anthony Williams for approval that would strengthen the rights of protesters in the District. From the Post: The bill sets crowd control standards for police that prohibit preemptive actions, including using police lines to encircle and trap demonstrators and using wrist-to-ankle restraints on nonviolent demonstrators. From the Post's brief on the Council move, it......

Some details are emerging about activist groups' plans for protests during Bush's second inauguration. According to emails we've received, Pro-Life Groups have applied to hold a protest on the Mall, conservative groups are applying for a protest at Freedom Plaza (a center of protests in 2000), and ANSWER has applied for a permit for a protest in Pershing Park. Also, groups have begun planning a variety of feeder marches and the National Lawyer's Guild is......

D.C. police have been in a touch of hot water lately. First, DC Indymedia reports on some discontent from police conduct during Adams Morgan Day on Sept. 12. Apparently a man calling himself "Mr. Care" was harrassed by a police officer upset with his anti-Bush signs, which our Indymedia friends helpfully post online. Second, a federal judge has ruled that Police Chief Charles Ramsey and his assistant could be held liable for the illegal mass......