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

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Mayor Muriel Bowser‘s budget proposal would provide a good deal more funding to homeless services, partly through a sales tax increase.

LEADING THE MORNING NEWS:

  • The Green Team scores straw poll wins in Ward 4 and Ward 8. [Loose Lips]
  • A new Whole Foods is coming near Howard University. [WBJ]
  • Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie wants to raise the smoking age to 21. [WTOP]
  • The Red Line commute was especially bad this morning. [Post]

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

Distance Education: Parents face grueling commutes as school options grow.

A Long Way From Home: This winter was supposed to be different for D.C.’s homeless families. Here’s what went wrong.

Back on the Scene: How local writer Katherine Heiny returned with a dazzling collection of short stories.

LOOSE LIPS LINKS, by Will Sommer (tips? wsommer@washingtoncitypaper.com)

  • Muriel Bowser‘s budget includes tax hikes, budget cuts, plans for homelessness. [LL, Times, Post]
  • LL, now on your TV every week. [FBDC]
  • Bowser picks win straw polls in Ward 4 and Ward 8. [LL]
  • How did the District’s homeless crisis get even worse? [Housing Complex]
  • Streetcar “is on a diet.” [Post]
  • School renovations get a backseat to Duke Ellington. [Post]
  • More on new deputy mayor Courtney Snowden. [WAMU]
  • The Wal-Mart conundrum. [WAMU]
  • More on the District dropping handgun lawsuit fight. [WAMU]

HOUSING COMPLEX LINKS, by Aaron Wiener (tips? awiener@washingtoncitypaper.com)

  • Streetcar expansion, Metro funding, homeless services, MLK Library: The mayor’s got a budget. [LL]
  • The long-rumored Harris Teeter at 965 Florida Ave. NW will in fact be a Whole Foods. [WBJ]
  • How Mount Pleasant got its name. [Ghosts of DC]
  • With greater choice, D.C. kids are commuting farther to school. [City Desk]
  • Possibilities for 16th Street NW bus improvements: dedicated lanes, signal optimization, off-board fare collection. [SALM]
  • Nationals Park is only the sixth most expensive baseball stadium to live near. [UrbanTurf]
  • Why is a growing Wilson High School getting its funding cut? [GGW]
  • Today on the market: Dupont 2BR penthouse—-$849,000

ARTS LINKS, by Christina Cauterucci (tips? ccauterucci@washingtoncitypaper.com)

  • How local author Katherine Heiny went from years of silence and pseudonymous YA novels to a dazzling debut of short stories [Arts Desk]
  • Actress Tonya Beckman learned her role for Forum Theatre’s Passion Play in less than two weeks. [DC Theatre Scene]
  • Wale‘s planning a secret D.C. show for tomorrow. [Arts Desk]
  • The Smithsonian has an app that visualizes the flesh around the skeletons on view at the National Museum of Natural History. [Post]
  • A conversation between Arlington cartoonist Richard Thompson and Calvin and Hobbes‘ Bill Watterson [Cul de Sac]
  • What your favorite go-go song says about you [Post]
  • Local teen writer Daniela Shia-Sevilla impressed the crowd at the PEN/Faulkner gala with a poem on the challenges of being a young woman in the world. [Post]

YOUNG & HUNGRY LINKS, by Jessica Sidman, is off today (tips? jsidman@washingtoncitypaper.com)