Happy Almost Holidays, Washington. With both Monday and Tuesday counting as a holiday for the federal government this year, most of D.C. is staring down a nice, long holiday break today. Even if you don't celebrate Christmas, federal holidays are great for a lot of other reasons besides a day off - you don't have to feed parking meters, for instance. But The Examiner reports that that fact isn't stopping people from shoveling coins into......

Straight women and gay men all across D.C. were presumably disappointed by the news that came out over the Thanksgiving holiday that Brad Pitt had dropped out of the production of State of Play, a big-budget political thriller set to begin filming here in Washington this winter. You may recall that Pitt had stopped by the Washington Post newsroom in September to do some research on the character he was slated to play in the......

>> A gas main break closed Route 1 in Alexandria this afternoon. Expect delays. [WaPo] >> The suspicious death of a two-year-old Silver Spring boy has been ruled a homicide. [WTOP] >> Authorities have arrested and charged a Clinton, Md., woman with attempted murder and other arson-related charges for her involvement starting fire in a Gaithersburg apartment building on Thanksgiving morning. [NBC4] >> An Oak Hill Thanksgiving: "Just days before, a riot broke out......

George Mason capped a successful holiday week by beating South Carolina yesterday to take third-place in the Old Spice Classic in Orlando, Fla. Will Thomas paced the Patriots with 22 points and 11 rebounds, solidifying his place on the All-Tournament team. George Mason kicked off their tournament with an 87-77 win over 18th-ranked Kansas State. John Vaughan's 21 points led the team, which put all five starters in double figures. Folarin Campbell's 25 points made......

After a long holiday weekend it's always nice to check out the DCist pool to see where our regular contributors have been off to, cameras always in tow. Though we'll no doubt hear a "it's not in D.C.!" complaint from someone, it's nice to see what our readers find outside the Beltway on occasion, especially for those of us who were stuck in the city over Thanksgiving. Chip py the photo guy took this......

Good morning, Washington, and welcome back to work after a nice long holiday away. We hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving vacation as much as we did ours. That is if you can take a long enough break from all the online shopping you'll supposedly be doing from your desk today to tell us about it. Stay tuned until the week before Christmas for your next update on the holiday shopping habits of Americans -- we......

In Los Angeles, LAist most definitely celebrated Thanksgiving like no other. After all, one has to keep up all the energy to keep on walking the line at the Writers Strike and fighting the unfortunate return of the wildfires in Malibu, which single handedly destroyed over fifty homes within the first 24 hours. National outlets may be covering the fires, but CNN also found it is easier to buy a gun than fruit and......

As we are still recovering from the gluttony that was Thanksgiving, and since it was pretty slow news week in, well, everything, we are light on the transit news, too. But first, which D.C. Council Member likes to ignore laws? You get one guess and the answer is after the jump. Photo by AlbinoFlea......

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!:......

Word of mouth is considered an important marketing tool these days; call it what you will, but it's still a great way to hear about new music, movies, TV, whatever. Usually the best way to find the good stuff is to talk to somebody whose opinions you respect, but sometimes just random folks can tell you about neat new stuff — some person at a party, a friend of a friend, or whoever. And sometimes......

Happy Thanksgiving, Washington. The streets are quiet this morning in the capital; one cab driver remarked to this writer that it was his favorite day to drive in the city -- no traffic, no tourists, and everyone he picks up tends to be cheery and a big tipper. The forecast in D.C. today is calling for an unseasonably warm high of 72 degrees, with a solid chance of afternoon showers and gastrointestinal distress. What's the......

>> A turkey was spotted in the drive-through of a Dunkin' Donuts in Hagerstown this morning. [NBC4] >> Dana Milbank interviews a turkey. Or, he is the turkey? [WaPo] >> Three people, including two firefighters, were injured today when an ambulance collided with an SUV in Mount Pleasant. [WJLA] >> A fire at the at Dunn Loring-Merrifield Metro station earlier is causing delays on the Orange line in both directions. [WTOP] >> Anyone driving......

We here at the DCist constantly extol the virtues of living in a city with abundant resources of all kind. Do you need to see an awesome show at a small venue? Check. Do you need to look at physical copies of the country's most important documents? Check. Do you have a need to see Matthew Lesko now and again? Got it. Other than that whole "vote in Congress" thing, D.C. probably has what you......

My mother and I used to think we were so clever sneaking out of the house after the post-pumpkin pie haze to spend our tryptophan relaxing time at the movie theater, while our extended family lay sprawled on the couches in front of the boob tube ... until a few years later when the entire world caught on and every theater had lines around the block on Turkey Day. Lucky for you, we're in Washington,......

Regarding Thanksgiving customs, going around the table saying what we’re thankful for is about as basic as it gets. If it seems too basic, this year you can consider adding a new dimension to the tradition by reading for the table what our Presidents have been thankful for. Thanks to the Pilgrim Hall Museum in Massachusetts, all the Thanksgiving Proclamations are available online. That means we have access to Proclamations dating from the Continental Congress......

Still in the office, D.C.? Yeah, us too. We hope you're only sticking around because you don't need to travel this holiday season. If so, enjoy the empty halls, bask in the quiet, and call it a day early. If not — well, good luck on the roads and at the airport. It sounds like they're going to be predictably nasty. There Seems To Be Some Sort of Holiday Occurring: And consequently you can......

With D.C.'s record standing at 2–2 in Kitchen Stadium – a win and a loss against Bobby Flay and Masaharu Morimoto each - Sunday night’s Thanksgiving-themed episode of Iron Chef America pitted Agraria’s head chef Ricky Moore against the Chairman’s newest Iron Chef, Michael Symon. From the beginning, the odds seemed stacked against Iron Chef Symon, who felt the pressure to earn his first victory after having won the Next Iron Chef competition. Add to......

The rush to get out of D.C. to family Thanksgiving celebrations has already begun, but if you're still reading DCist, you're probably still at work and planning on leaving within the next 72 hours. Whether opening up that military airspace will really make a difference at Washington area airports remains to be seen, but WMATA has announced a special Thanksgiving weekend schedule that could stand to help out many of you trying to take public......

Because of the Thanksgiving holiday, our picks here at DCist look a little slim this week. Fear not, the authors will return to our city next week with more books they think you should buy as holiday gifts. In the meantime, enjoy and be thankful for your pie. MONDAY: Mr. The Greatest Generation, Tom Brokaw, is back to give us another "epic portrait" of a defining era in U.S. history, this time the 1960s in......

Good morning, Washington, and welcome back to what will be a rather short work week for most of us. While airports and train stations are sure to be jammed with holiday travelers this week, the city's roads and metro system should be a little less crowded than normal as folks head out of town early to celebrate Thanksgiving. Less congestion may not make much of a difference in road safety, however, if a new survey......

After a weekend full of concerts, there is not much to mention this week, for obvious, turkey-related reasons. Still, if you find yourself in town this week, there will be a few things to hear, although tickets may be hard to find. >> On Monday (November 19, 7:30 p.m.), French violinist Nicolas Dautricourt will be hosted by his country's embassy, La Maison Française. The attractive, all-modern program is bookended by the Poulenc and Debussy violin......

Maybe we're cheeseballs, but we love the Annual Turkey Ceremony, the moment when the president "pardons" a lucky turkey (plus an alternate) who then becomes the official National Thanksgiving Turkey and gets to spend the rest of its days on some farm at Disneyworld or something like that. Sure, it's capricious and cutesy, but who cares! Turkeys are funny looking, and presidents posing with turkeys are even funnier. This year will mark the 60th anniversary......

If you're not looking forward to setting your Thanksgiving or Christmas table with your best Ikea acrylic, you might want to take a short road trip this weekend to get some new wares. The Valley Craft Network, a 26-year old association of professional artisans and craftspeople, is holding its annual holiday studio tour this Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nestled in the Middletown and Pleasant Valleys west of Frederick, Maryland, the......

>> Pope Benedict XVI will make his first visit to the United States as pontiff in April next year, with his first mass to be held at the new Nationals stadium here in D.C. [AP via WTOP] >> Four people who were stabbed Sunday afternoon during a soccer game near RFK are expected to be OK. [AP via WJLA] >> The Maryland House of Delegates this week will take up Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan......

Pie and helping people are two of our favorite things. Thanks to the folks at Food and Friends, the two are brought together with their Slice of Life program. The charity--which provides meals, groceries, and nutrition counseling to people in the D.C. area with AIDS, cancer, and other major illnesses--is holding a pie sale, just in time for Thanksgiving. Generous people (and pie lovers) can help out by purchasing their holiday pies from Food and......

We know it’s not quite Thanksgiving yet, but our mouths are already watering with the thought of all that turkey and stuffing goodness. Alongside those thoughts are ones of what wines to pair with our cornucopia of delights. With all the different flavors and components on the table it may seem impossible to choose just one white and one red. But do you really want to get into the intricacies of pairing different wines with......

Your classical music schedule will be busy for the next two or three weeks, through Thanksgiving, and you have the chance to hear almost as much for free as you do buying tickets. BIG GUNS: >> Emmanuel Pahud is one of the leading flutists of the younger generation. He will be in Washington this week, beginning with a recital with his regular pianist collaborator, Eric Le Sage, at the Phillips Collection on Wednesday (November 7,......

Being somewhat of a history buff, I remember being bummed when I first moved to D.C. to discover the National Archives were closed for renovations. A few years later, the doors opened again, and finally seeing these amazing, centuries old documents in person is something I won't forget. Flickr user FrogMiller took this crystal clear photo (with no flash, of course) of Mr. Hancock's famous signature. EXIF. Entrance to the Rotunda at the The......

Good morning, Washington. It's Columbus Day, the least observed of all the federal holidays -- or is that Veterans' Day? Unless you work directly for the government or your job is absolutely dependent on it being open for business, odds are about even you're sitting at your desk at the usual time this morning, as a trade-off for getting to take the Friday after Thanksgiving off. It's also, of course, a controversial day, and is......

Good morning, Washington. It's only the end of September, but if drug store candy aisles are any indication, many of you are probably already thinking ahead just a little bit to the holiday season. What will you be for Halloween? Will you stay in town for Thanksgiving? What kind of Christmas bonus will you be getting this year? For some D.C. government employees, the answer to that last question is now up in the air.......