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

Bowser took over a city in 2015 that was flush with cash. No longer a sleepy political town, D.C. was establishing itself not just as a great American city, but as a global one. Yet despite $7 billion in annual revenue last fiscal year, one of the highest percentages of college graduates nationwide, and a per capita income among the highest in the country, the city still suffers from a stubborn achievement gap in its schools, stark unemployment in its eastern wards, and persistent and alarming crime in those same areas.

LEADING THE MORNING NEWS:

  • ICE agents arrest men leaving a church hypothermia shelter in Alexandria. [NBC4]

  • Audibuys naming rights for D.C. United’s future stadium; the Nats still wait. [WBJ]

  • Tales from prolific D.C. ghostwriter Barbara Feinman Todd. [WTOP]

  • “Smart cities” business accelerator in Herndon is taking applications. [WBJ]

  • One of the women featured in Hidden Figures, 98, on why she still loves math. [NBC4]

  • Bao Bao the panda’s baby album, before she moves to China. [NBC4]

  • A second D.C. elementary school has bedbugs. [NBC4]

  • An essay, with photos, on D.C.’s manhole covers. [GGW]

  • The Starbucks at 14th and G Streets NW caught fire. [Post]

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

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

  • Bowser will allow paid leave to become law without her signature. [WAMU, Times]

  • Congress runs out of time to derail D.C. assisted suicide law before it takes effect. [Post]

  • A new argument in support of D.C. statehood. [Times]

  • An early retirement for Metro’s 4000-series rail cars. [WAMU, Post]

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

  • A slew of D.C. artists share their selfies at Flashpoint’s new exhibition. [Express]

  • How a local duo financed their first film by flipping houses. [DCist]

  • For Georgetown Day School’s annual MLK Social Justice Teach-In Days, famed trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith brought his creative music to the classroom. [WCP]

  • George Saunders discusses his new D.C.-set novel Lincoln in the Bardo. [Gothamist]

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

  • The D.C. area nets 21 James Beard Award semifinalists. [WCP]

  • Zengo in Chinatown is closing soon. [WCP]

  • The 100 very best restaurants in the D.C. area. [Washingtonian]

  • The New York Times is interested in our strike today. [NYT]

  • Water & Wall closes in Virginia Square. [ArlNow]

  • Right Proper’sThor Cheston is a Belgian beer knight. [Post]

  • Turns out selling Girl Scout Cookies is pretty intense. [Thrillist]

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

  • Fight over proposed Airbnb regulations intensifies with new TV and digital ads. [WCP]

  • D.C. can tear down homeless encampments, but the homeless don’t disappear. [DCist]

  • Decades ago, planners imagined a highway cutting through D.C. neighborhoods. [GGW]

  • How will the U.S. State Department use the western side of the Walter Reed site? [WBJ]

  • Part of the grounds of the French Ambassador’s Kalorama home is for sale. [UrbanTurf]

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