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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

  • DCPS Forces Out 413 Teachers and Staff

    • Good morning sweet readers! Women’s soccer, you are a harsh mistress. See you again in 12 years. News time:

    I Too Shall Now Shun That Which I’ve Helped Create: Longtime political insider Bernard Demczuk takes a page from Tom Lindenfeld’s playbook and announces via a Post op-ed that he’s through being part of the political system that he’s helped create. “I do not want to raise large sums of money for politicians. I have come to feel like an enabler — part of the problem, not part of the solution.” Demczuk advocates a bunch of ideas to clean up politics that’ll never happen, including capping donations at $25.

    AFTER THE JUMP: Council Spirit Broken; IMPACT Rolls On; Pedicab Problems…

    Turn to Face the Strange: The Gray Lady takes a look at the District’s unease in the face of changing demographics. “The shift is passing without much debate, but it is leaving ripples of resentment in neighborhoods across the city, pitting some of the city’s long-term residents, often African-American, against affluent newcomers, most of whom are white, over issues as mundane as church parking and chicken wings.” The Times checks in on H Street NE, where some long-time black business owners feel like they are being near-forcibly removed (and which the photo caption on the story initially misidentified as H Street NW). “This process was imposed on us, and now it’s driving us out of here,” said [Pamela] Johnson, sitting in a Jamaican restaurant on H Street, which now has new sidewalks, stylized street lamps and shiny streetcar tracks. “We see this as the city’s way of gentrifying these corridors.”

    And What a Spirit It Was: “Committee shuffle, scandals break D.C. Council’s Spirit” declares the Examiner‘s Freeman Klopott, who says the ongoing federal probes and last week’s committee shake up has “cast gloom over the D.C. Council and threatens to create lasting antagonism among the lawmakers.” The story continues, “Many staff members, including those untouched by the most recent switch, already feel that the change has hampered their ability to do their jobs. ‘I worry about advising my boss to go up against the chairman,’ one staffer told The Examiner. ‘If I advise [the council member] to do so, I fear we could lose our committee.’ For the public that means controversial pieces of legislation may not get passed, and if the council is hit by new scandals it may not be able to cope, one council member said.” Meanwhile, Jonetta calls Council Chairman Kwame “Fully Loaded” Brown “delusional.”

    IMPACT Marches On: The legacy of former Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee lives on at DCPS, which cut loose 5 percent of its teacher workforce last week for receiving low evaluations. Both the mayor and the council chairman issued vague statements in support of IMPACT, and the WaPo editorial board gives a slow, steady clap.

    In Other News:

    • Pedicab problems escalate on the National Mall. And Mayor Vince Gray says they should be regulated, but isn’t sure exactly what they are: “They’re like bicycles, but they’re not bicycles. They’re like automobiles, but they’re not automobiles.”
    • Mary Cheh finds city money to help troubled animal shelter.
    • Cheh also “says all the right things and has all the right friends on the D.C. Council,” says Patch.
    • Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr.‘s response to the A.G.’s lawsuit is expected today.
    • Simmons: personal responsibility sorely lacking in D.C.
    • Neighbors feel neglected by AU’s campus plan.
    • Business owners: Adams Morgan crowds are out of control.
    • After landing seat on Metro board, Ward 4’s Muriel Bowser pledges to ride more often.
    • MPD officer rehired, again.
    • Ward 8 mans gets construction job.
    • Post editorial board is glad the District’s march toward online gambling has slowed.

    Gray sked: TANF “Sweat Equity” project launch, 117 Wayne Pl. SE, 10 a.m., Covenant House AT&T Foundation check presentation, Covenant House Community Service Center, 11 a.m., African American Civil War Memorial opening, 1295 Vermont Ave. NW, 12:30 p.m., Cabinet meeting, One Judiciary Square, 3 p.m., Desk work and staff meetings, 4:15 p.m.

    Council sked: Recess.