A morning roundup of news, opinion, and links from City Paper and around the District. Send tips and ideas to citydesk@washingtoncitypaper.com.

Miss Pixie’s furniture store on 14th Street is part estate sale, part installation art project. It’s also one of many independent D.C. retailers struggling to stay open. A combination of high rents, an infusion of chain stores, and a swayed consumer base that would rather shop at Amazon are all contributing to a retail squeeze-out. As one store owner says, “Lots of people stand in the store and look on their phones on Amazon. They don’t understand that it’s a gut punch for me.“

LEADING THE MORNING NEWS:

  • D.C. records 10.5 percent fewer homeless than last year, while the city’s housing programs for the poor are in great turmoil. [WCP]

  • Hundreds gathered for an impromptu protest outside the White House. [Post]

  • The Caps are out. [Post]

  • Today’s showers are light compared to rain expected Friday and Saturday. [Post]

  • See a dead bird on the sidewalk? The building above may have killed it. [WTOP]

  • New lawsuit claims Howard U failed students reporting sex assaults. [FOX5]

  • Thieves steal parking permits out of cars in Southwest. [WTOP]

  • Young man pours lighter fluid on his girlfriend and tries to set her on fire. [Post]

  • A man died of gunshot wounds in Northeast last night. [Post]

  • Family of Ayana McAllister, killed while home from college, waits for clues to her unsolved murder and organizes a scholarship in her name. [WUSA9]

RECENT CITY PAPER STORIES TO HELP YOU MAKE SENSE OF YOUR DAY:

LOOSE LIPS LINKS, by Jeffrey Anderson(tips? jeff.anderson@washingtoncitypaper.com)

  • AGKarl Racine weighs his options for possible probe into the Brandon Todd campaign. [WCP]

  • School lottery scandal gets worse. [Post, DCist]

  • Plucked: Bowserpulls controversial chicken ban/cat licensing bill. [WAMU]

  • Meet a Deputy AG: Rod Rosenstein rises to prominence. [WUSA9]

  • MPD drug unit recovers guns too. [Post, NBC4]

  • How community activists shake down developers. [Barras Report]

ARTS LINKS, by Matt Cohen(tips? mcohen@washingtoncitypaper.com)

  • This weekend, Union Market becomes a stage for BalletX dancers. [Express]

  • Watch a live performance of Den-Mate’s “Just So You Know.” [DC Music Download]

  • How the Keegan Theatre, and its in-house theatre company Constellation, have built a unique reputation in D.C.’s theater scene. [Post]

  • Bye Bye BET: Pioneering network is bailing out of D.C. [Times]

YOUNG & HUNGRY LINKS, by Laura Hayes (tips? lhayes@washingtoncitypaper.com)

  • Trump’s team calls Cork Wine Bar lawsuit a “wild publicity stunt.” [Washingtonian]

  • Also, Cork Wine Bar is combining businesses with its market. [WBJ]

  • Meanwhile, people are making Trump likenesses out of food. [Eater]

  • Peregrine Espresso opening a roastery in Northeast D.C. [Post]

  • Could New York’s Katz’s Deli be headed to D.C.? [WTOP]

HOUSING COMPLEX LINKS, by Andrew Giambrone (tips? agiambrone@washingtoncitypaper.com)

  • Raw sewage: What tenants of landlord Sanford Capital have to deal with. [WCP]

  • D.C. makes investments in affordable units at the Yards, near Nats Park. [Post]

  • Department of Housing and Community Development director on Kojo. [WAMU]

  • Bowser administration issues memo on lost federal housing funding. [DMPED]

  • Affordable development planned for Strand Theater site in Ward 7. [UrbanTurf]

  • Hop-back (that is, rear property extension) proposed for Petworth. [UrbanTurf]

  • Joe Biden’s son Hunter is selling his D.C. home for about $2 million. [UrbanTurf]

  • Woodley Park condo in Wardman Tower sells for a whopping $8.4 million. [WBJ]

  • “Eatertainment” incorporated into Half Street SE project near Nats Park. [WBJ]

  • Crunching the numbers on affordable units at Brookland Manor project. [GGW]

  • 15th Street NW bike lane near White House could get improvements. [GGW]

  • More on the “missing middle” echelon of housing types in the District. [GGW]

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