...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......

Oh, hey there, D.C. Yeah, we're a little grumpy this morning, now that the brilliance of Friday and Saturday's summer-like weather has turned into a drizzly, chilly late fall Monday morning that makes us just want to stay in bed all day. But please, don't take our failure to greet you in our usual friendly manner as any kind of slight or disrespect. Especially since, according to the Times, petty disputes are exactly the kinds......

It's rainy, it's windy, and every day it gets colder. But it could be worse, Washington — you could be Anthony Mereos. The Silver Spring man is facing a $80,000 fee for illegally clearing trees from land he purchased for $65,000 (he denies cutting the trees down). Mereos had intended to use the land to build a home for his family. But wait! It gets worse: [Mereos' laywer Shawn] Whittaker said the county is using......

If you're looking for a change of pace and need an industry that is sure to remain in business for years to come, consider escalator repair. Taking after DeVry and ITT Tech, Metro has kicked off a $1.5 million training lab for escalator repair, writes the Post. The lab will train the next generation of escalator repairmen, who, as we all know from experience, will have no shortage of work anytime soon -- on......

Good morning, Washington. Thanks to everyone who came out to Unbuckled last night — we had a great time and hope that you did, too. Particular thanks to Middle Distance Runner, The Vita Ruins and BlueState, all of whom provided great music throughout the night. We hate to ask anything more of you, but if anyone's got photos that are destined for Flickr, do us a favor and tag them as unbuckled4. Williams Pledges Support......

And so ends the suspense -- Adrian Fenty is the Post's pick for mayor. Though Fenty has held a comfortable lead in recent weeks, the Post's endorsement was seen as Linda Cropp's final chance in what has become a hard-fought campaign. Today's endorsement is sure to give Fenty the win next Tuesday, with the Post recognizing his "can-do quality" and his "vision of the city that challenges the best in people." And maybe to add......

Sex-Slave Trafficking Ring Broken Up: We'd always heard rumors that certain massage parlors in the District offered, ummmm, "happy endings" and other such services. Apparently, the rumors were true. Federal officials yesterday arrested 31 people along the east coast involved in a sex-slave trafficking ring that forced Korean women to work as prostitutes in massage parlors and spas, some of which were located in the District. Four men were arrested in the District following raids......

Chalk it up to some interesting cropping by the Washington Times photo staff, but a picture published today by the paper of Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich makes him look frighteningly like Big Brother from George Orwell's classic, 1984. Kinda freaky, isn't it?......

As we detail below, the D.C. Council has taken a step towards making us safer. Well, making us feel safer, at least... Council Passes Anti-Crime Measures: The D.C. Council passed a series of measures aimed at curbing the recent uptick in violent crime, handing D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams a victory while upsetting civil liberties and youth activists, reports the Post. The legislation would move the existing juvenile curfew up to 10 p.m. from midnight, require......

We've all seen the signs around the District -- by city law, pedestrians in crosswalks without crossing signals have the right of way. But will we ever get caught zooming through intersections while pedestrians try to cross? According to the Post, we just might. Provoked by the 10 pedestrian deaths so far this year, police have started going undercover to enforce the District's pedestrian laws, often to the chagrin of city drivers oblivious to......

Good morning, D.C. Check out this lovely shot of the Capitol by Grundlepuck. The statue looks sad, or at least concerned — perhaps it's contemplating the fate of Rep. Bob Ney, the self-proclaimed "Mayor of Capitol Hill." According to the Post, Ney's just been further implicated in the Abramoff scandal. Duncan Drops Out Of Race: The Democratic field in the race for the Maryland governorship. Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan has withdrawn from the race,......

And we thought calling gay folks "sexual deviants" was so yester-decade in these parts. Apparently not. There is controversy and commotion in Metro's Board of Directors, where Maryland member Robert Smith called gay people "sexual deviants" on a cable access show last week, reports the Washington Blade. Council-member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), who is gay and serves on Metro's board, has demanded that Smith resign. After a June 15 meeting where Graham raised the issue......

FEMA announced at a news conference this morning that it is fully prepared to handle the traffic disaster expected to begin mid-afternoon today as a result of heavy holiday weekend travel. "With more than half a million people potentially caught in traffic this Memorial Day Weekend, we are standing by and ready to assist in every way we can," said a spokesman yesterday.Relief workers will be stationed along area highways with MREs and bottled......

Good morning, D.C. In addition to scattered showers and thunderstorms, today brings news that the Circulator bus line is nearing its millionth passenger. Not too shabby — although the city's busiest buslines put up those kinds of numbers every month and a half (probably less, given the age of the linked numbers). But officials say that Circulator ridership has been increasing steadily; assuming the service survives the looming Tourmobile legal apocalypse, its planned route around......

Millions of dollars of security improvements just don't seem to be enough -- Metro is asking that riders be their "eyes and ears" in protecting the transit system against terrorist attack, writes the Examiner. To that end, Metro's System Safety and Risk Protection Department and Transit Police have announced a series of Emergency Management Outreach events, the first taking place tomorrow from 7:30 - 9:30 a.m. at Union Station. We feel we've done our part......

Six months on, and we're still not calling him Tai Shan. He's Butterstick, and he basked in even more attention than usual yesterday as he turned six months old. A hefty 27 pounds and boasting a newly-blackened nose, Butterstick has been all the rage in the District as of late -- those who haven't yet seen him in the flesh have opted instead for the voyeuristic Panda Cam, watching and awwing his every move. While......

A snippet of news from Maryland today is the stuff that dream Morning Roundup's are made up. Funny and off-kilter, but real. It seems that some Maryland residents are a little peeved at what has come to be known as the state's "flush tax," writes WTOP. In order to raise money to upgrade the state's sewage treatment plants to protect the vulnerable Chesapeake Bay from pollutants, Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich this year endorsed a new......

Whoops. A little snafu in the DCist newsroom has thus far left us without our daily news roundup. Given that no good day starts without a general overview of the news, we're turning an omission into an opportunity -- we're going to live-blog today's roundup. So, stay tuned. Every few minutes or so we'll have an update. Update: Let's see what the Post has to offer this morning. Some minor election in Virginia seems to......

Somewhere Joe Camel and the Marlboro Man are rolling in their graves. Yesterday afternoon the Committee on Health of the D.C. City Council endorsed legislation that would make all District bars and restaurants smoke-free by January 2007, according to WJLA. The bill, written by Council-member David Catania (I-At Large) offers exemptions for outdoor areas, cigar bars, hotel rooms, retail tobacco outlets, research projects on the effects of smoking, and businesses that can demonstrate economic......

Once a butterstick, now a "solid little Tonka truck," the baby panda that has transfixed attention on the District's National Zoo and provided much-needed fodder for slow news days is six-weeks old today, almost half-way to the 100 days at which it is officially named. Zoo vets examined the cub yesterday for 14 minutes, reports the Post, weighing it in at four pounds and noting that teeth and open eyes are the next developments......

So the Nats are having a little post-All Star Game slump. In any city, fans would blame the players, the managers, the umpires, anything. Here in Washington, where the beloved Nationals have electrified a baseball-starved populace? It's the fans, like the one at right that Justin DC snapped a pic of at Monday's game against the Colorado Rockies. The bandwagoners, to be exact. Writes the Post: When the bandwagoners first showed up -- yapping on......

By now, all the visiting law students have settled into D.C. -- the first-years at government or public interest jobs, the second years at pristine frosted-glass-and-Italian-marble law firms. Although law students may have brought more mind-numbing conversation and generally more anxiety with them into the city, they have also brought their student organizations, which can throw some events of interest to those for whom the LSAT is just a twinkle in the eye. The American......

Good morning Washington, WAMU reports that the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments has declared it a Code Orange air alert day, but we can't seem to find any information on MWCOG's website about the air alert besides some general information. It's going to be hot again with highs around 90. Storm Report: We hope you survived the storm yesterday. (As for us, we got soaked trying to seek cover in a metrorail station, and......

Of course. Bike to Work Day, in which this DCist is participating, had to fall on the one day this week where rain is a foregone conclusion. Hopefully a little precipitation won't dissuade area cyclists, though. In this rainy DDOT traffic cam shot of Massachusetts Avenue and Whitehaven Street, it doesn't look that there are many bikers out and about this morning. Did you bike through the rain? Congress Seeks to Overturn D.C. Gun Laws:......

The work week is half over, and we're now starting down the hump towards another beautiful weekend. Today, however, will be partly cloudy with a chance of rain in the morning with highs again only in the 50s. This photo of Rosslyn is by Tim Fritz. Rosslyn To Get Taller: Notoriously lifeless Rosslyn -- once referred to as a "visual belch of landscape" -- may soon be getting a 39-story building, unless D.C. buffs and......

It seems that the governor of our oft-neglected neighbor to the north -- the first Republican governor Maryland has had in 36 years -- is having little luck in shaping state politics these days. Recent legislative moves in the state's Democratic-controlled General Assembly have pushed progressive causes that favor labor over industry and may force Gov. Robert Ehrlich into the uncomfortable position of using his veto power -- and possibly having it overriden. The Baltimore......

A Republican member of the Maryland House of Delegates has promised to find ways to force a vote on legislation he authored making English Maryland's official state language, reports the W. Times. Del. Pat McDonough of Baltimore County said yesterday that if his legislation fails to make it out of the House Health and Government Operations Committee -- it currently has only nine of 13 votes needed for passage -- he will find ways to......

Did DCist readers spend the night fighting the crowds at the Irish pubs in the area, or did they buck the St. Patrick's trend and head for some of DCist's alternative choices? Any notable stories to share for the day, which is looking to be partly sunny and in the mid-50s? Alston Murder Suspect Arrested:As we reported last night, a suspect in the murder of Wanda Alston, head of the D.C. Office of Gay, Lesbian,......

Following a national trend towards capping medical-malpractice awards, D.C. doctors have asked the city to limit the jury-awarded sums that they claim have pushed medical liability insurance premiums to unsustainable highs and are forcing them to consider moving out of the District, reports the W. Times. In a press coference yesterday, the Medical Society of the District of Columbia -- which represents 1,800 D.C.-based physicians -- said that the average malpractice award of $584,338 has......

While the sun may be shining on Capitol Hill right now (as you can see in this DDOT traffic camera shot from Pennsylvania Avenue and Second Street SE) it won't be a pretty weekend -- so much more reason to head over to the Washington Convention Center tomorrow or Sunday and drop $71 for the Sixth Annual D.C. International Wine & Food Festival. (More details on this and more to come in our weekend picks,......