Hoping to head off an effort by Congress that would gut the District's new gun regulations completely, Mayor Adrian Fenty announced yesterday that he was proposing a number of changes to mollify pro-gun activists unhappy with the current restrictions. In a press release, Fenty detailed the changes he was seeking to the emergency regulations imposed after the Supreme Court found the District's handgun ban to be unconstitutional in June. The changes would include allowing residents......

The battle between Congress and the District over the city's gun laws continues today. As we told you about yesterday and the Post wrote today, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is grappling with two bills related to the District's new gun regulations. On the one hand is legislation sponsored by a number of conservative Democrats that would dump the regulations all together; on the other, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton submitted legislation......

Well that was quick. We just got word that the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform apparently has scheduled a markup tomorrow on legislation that would gut the District's current gun regulations. As you can read earlier, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large) have tried to preempt Congress, but the committee doesn't seem too impressed. We don't yet have a time for the markup, but the folks at......

As we mentioned this morning, today the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is holding a hearing to discuss legislation that would do away with the District's newly-issued regulations on gun ownership. According to the pro-gun crowd, the city's regulations are still restrictive enough to violate the Supreme Court's June decision holding the District's handgun ban to be unconstitutional. Of course, Congress stepping up to re-write local gun laws isn't anything new; the twist......

The questions surrounding the sudden resignation of Dr. Michael Williams, Medical Director for the District's Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department, continue. As we mentioned in today's Morning Roundup, no one seems to know why he resigned, even though Williams intimated there was a specific reason when asked by the Washington Post. Now D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At large), who serves as chairman of the Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary, has released......

Mayor Adrian Fenty this morning formally nominated Peter Nickles to be the District's permanent Attorney General. The move was widely expected; Fenty had been visibly lobbying D.C. Council members on behalf of Nickles, who has been serving as interim AG for almost six months, and the Post called it official on Tuesday. “Peter Nickles has done a fantastic job for the residents of the District in his interim capacity,” said Mayor Fenty. “In just a......

The Examiner reports on a new bill before the D.C. Council that would levy a $25 per month tax on all private employee parking spaces. The legislation is the brainchild of Ward 1 Council member Jim Graham and At-large member Phil Mendelson, and is designed to discourage employees from driving in to work even though they have access to a parking space at their office. It's an interesting idea in theory. Last week when we......

Good morning, Washington. Supporters of Gov. Mike Huckabee and Sen. Barack Obama are riding high off their caucus victories in Iowa last night, but locally, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty continues to suffer some bumps in the road after one year in office. Just weeks after the resignation of Attorney General Linda Singer, Fenty's former deputy chief of staff, Neil Richardson, has also resigned. Richardson, who was a key Fenty aide during his mayoral campaign, had......

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......

Big news from the Washington Post: D.C. Attorney General Linda Singer has resigned after less than a year on the job. Singer tendered her resignation this morning, having reportedly been frustrated for months with her role in the Fenty administration. Fenty has been relying more heavily on General Counsel Peter Nickles, whom the mayor has apparently now named as the interim attorney general. The timing of Singer's departure, just months before Supreme Court arguments are......

>> D.C. Fire Chief Dennis Rubin is reportedly fine after he was involved in what the department is calling a very minor traffic accident in Adams Morgan. [NBC4] >> Members of Shiloh Baptist Church in Shaw officially filed suit in their effort to oust current pastor Rev. Wallace Charles Smith, who they claim has mismanaged the church's assets. [FreeRide] >> Asylum Skate Shop to be replaced by unnamed fresh casual food establishment. [Penn Quarter......

Good morning, D.C. There's no denying it's hot enough to cause real discomfort, but is it too hot to reasonably believe that two young girls willingly got inside the closed trunk of their father's car to play? That is one of the questions before a Massachusetts judge in the case of a D.C. man who pleaded not guilty yesterday to reckless endangerment and assault charges after police responded to a neighbor who spotted the two......

Yesterday's legislative action in the D.C. Council, typical of end-of-session days, was jam-packed with votes. Here's a few more you may have missed: >> The Council moved ahead on a bill that restricts interest rates levied by the so-called payday loan industry, an issue we've looked at before. The bill passed on an initial reading, and if implemented would place a 24 percent annual percentage rate cap on interest charged by lenders. The Examiner notes......

The WaPo's Marc Fisher has the latest update on the saga of D.C. administrative law judge Roy L. Pearson and his $65 million lawsuit against local dry cleaners Custom Cleaners for misplacing his favorite pair of pants. We first told you about this story back in early April, and it has since gained worldwide attention from people who like to read about stories detailing acts of unbelievable arrogance and stupidity. Like us. Fisher brings word......

Several hundred citizens turned out on Monday evening in support of the effort to quickly rebuild Eastern Market, and to share their feelings on a temporary location for the displaced vendors. Mayor Adrian Fenty, At-large council members David Catania and Phil Mendelson, Ward 6 council member Tommy Wells, city administrator Dan Tangherlini, and District 3 School Board member Lisa Raymond turned out to show their support too, as well as to canvass the opinions of......

Today Mayor Adrian Fenty takes his school takeover plan back to the D.C. Council, where it's expected to get final approval. Earlier this month, the council voted 9-2 to give Fenty control of Washington schools, with wide berth to appoint a school superintendent who would report directly to the mayor and an elected school board serving only in an advisory capacity. Under the proposal, the council would maintain line-item budget control, be able to set......

Mayor Adrian Fenty's plan to take personal control of D.C. Public Schools took one important step forward today, and may yet take another. In a 9-2 vote that took the proposal out of committee, the Washington Post reports the Council gave the takeover its first official blessing, paving the way for a first reading vote that could still happen in an extended session today. The committee vote took place after Lisa Comfort Bradford, a candidate......

It may be cold and rainy, but there's still plenty of reasons to smile on this fine Friday morning. Maryland and Georgetown won, VCU triumphed over Duke in one of those only-in-March exciting final two minutes, and ... oooh, right. Sorry about that GWU. Ouch. How are your brackets doing this morning, Washington? More of course will be coming later from our crack team of sportsologists. Voting Rights That Much Closer: DCist already reported on......

Is D.C. Councilman Phil Mendelson attempting to change his image with a need for speed? Will Virginia EVER do anything about transportation? Can Metro finally convince Maryland to set aside dedicated funding? The answers to these question and more in this week's edition of Transit on Thursday Friday. Photo by ccperkdog......

Wednesday, when a genial Police Chief Cathy Lanier met with the public, she addressed many sundry concerns about getting officers more time for crime prevention and increased face time with residents and business owners. Of course, with these lofty goals come a familiar set of barriers, among them paperwork. Lots and lots of paperwork. Apparently carrying a gun doesn't exempt you from the tiny-cut-giving task of shuffling paper after just about any arrest or incident.......

UPDATE: Sam in the comments points out that the WMATA web site has no current service alerts posted, so it appears the Mt. Vernon Square station is now open. Anyone been over there this morning? A few more details are available from the Post this morning about yesterday's Green Line derailment, though it's still not known when the Mt. Vernon Square stop will re-open. In all 20 people were injured, all of them minor except......

UPDATE: We've now gotten word from intrepid boy reporter Kriston Capps that the D.C. Council's Committee on Education, Libraries and Recreation voted to table Bill 16-734, in a motion brought by At-Large Councilmember Carol Schwartz, which carried 3 to 2 with Marion Barry, Schwartz and surprise vote Vincent Gray against Kathy Patterson and Phil Mendelson. What does this mean for the future of Williams' library plan? Hard to say. Tabling a bill is usually a......

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......

It's going to be a perfectly lovely day, maybe a little on the warm side even, with just a slim chance of showers later this afternoon. We should all, no doubt, have a little spring in our steps. And luckily for us we can, seeing as how we don't usually comment on the goings on up on the Hill. If we did, we might be forced to face some ugly realities this morning. We might,......

What a night, eh Washington? If you're like us, you were up late listening to Kojo and Jonetta break down the election results as they came in on WAMU. Our favorite moment of the evening came just before 10 p.m., when Mayor Williams told co-host Jonetta Rose Barras she was crazy to suggest that anyone believed he had waited too long to decide if he would seek a third term. For the record Jonetta —......

We've followed the candidates for the last 16 months, and today is the day everything will be decided. We opted not to endorse any candidates, but we are going to put our betting skills to work and pick the winners for the D.C. races. Mayor: Love him or hate him, Adrian Fenty is taking this contest. Not only has he led competitor Linda Cropp in the polls since late July, his recent endorsement by the......

Everyone else has taken their shot, so why not the City Paper? Today the weekly's local politics column, Loose Lips, threw its support behind a number of candidates for next week's D.C. primaries. But more surprising than the picks was the biting tone in which they were delivered -- this is no Post endorsement, they seemed to remind us. Columnist James Jones sided solidly with candidates that bucked the establishment and railed against those beholden......

Brown Not Out: Well, we're a little red-faced today. Yesterday we guessed that mayoral longshot Michael Brown was bowing out of the race. He did, after all, send us an email in which he announced that a press conference held yesterday would include "major announcement regarding his plans for the future." Coupled with his fast-shrinking campaign finance account, we thought, "This guy is toast." How wrong we were. Brown didn't duck out of the race.......

The Examiner has a story today that kind of boggles our noggins. It seems A. Scott Bolden, candidate for the At-Large seat on the D.C. Council, is upset with his opponent, current councilmember Phil Mendelson, for emailing a newsletter to about 1,000 consituents last week. Bolden argued that the emails constitute a violation of D.C. election laws, which prohibit councilmembers from mailing more than 99 newsletters or press releases at a time within 90 days......

Today the City Paper's Loose Lips column draws our attention to something we have suffered for far too long -- comment spam. And no, it's not the Jonathan Rees and his inane ramblings (or those of his curious aliases). It's the real stuff. According to LL, At Large D.C. Council candidate A. Scott Bolden's blog has been quite popular with comment spammers, so much so that the comment sections of some entries feature little else......