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Federal investigators identified “connections and communications” between D.C. government officials and representatives of D.C. Chartered Health Plan, the company formerly owned by Jeff Thompson, who is at the center of the investigation into Vince Gray‘s 2010 mayoral campaign.

LEADING THE MORNING NEWS:

  • Gray supports legislation that would seal the records for people possessing an ounce or less of pot. [WAMU]
  • The mayor’s office is looking into a D.C. Parks and Recreation trip to a conference in Houston that cost taxpayers $54,000 during the government shutdown. [News4]
  • Preparations for the $60 million restoration of the U.S. Capitol dome got underway this week. [Post]
  • If D.C. is to keep up with population trends, the city needs to build residential units four times faster than it has been building them. [Housing Complex]

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

Encyclopedia D.C.: It was good, it was bad, it was definitely boozy: Pick up our latest issue to flip through our annual Encyclopedia of D.C. and relive the year that was.

Say What? A former political reporter in D.C. flees the city for Kentucky and slams the District.

Christmas Traditions: DGS Delicatessen is hosting a Christmas Eve feast that combines Jewish deli and Chinese staples.

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

  • Ron Machen says he’s found “connections” between Jeff Thompson agents and D.C. officials. [LL, Post]
  • Post ed board doesn’t want the attorney general election in 2014. [Post]
  • The Office of Tax and Revenue couldn’t control its own computer system. [LL]
  • How minimum wage supporters won big, despite losing on Walmart. [Housing Complex]
  • D.C. needs way, way more housing. [Housing Complex]
  • Council takes up sealing criminal records for marijuana possession. [WAMU]
  • Gallaudet snubs Union Market developer on project. [Post]
  • Howard U finally catches a break. [WBJ]

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

  • Watch D.C.’s share of the region’s population collapse over the decades. [R.U. Seriousing Me?]
  • Gallaudet snubs Union Market developer for campus-adjacent project. [Post]
  • Housing has been getting more expensive relative to income for 200 years. [Slate]
  • D.C. is the fifth-best city in America. Period. [Movoto]
  • JBG drops $17 million on a site by Nationals Park. [Bisnow]
  • A refutation of Richard Florida‘s “creative class” theory. [TNR]
  • This is what the Capitol will soon look like. [DCist]
  • Neighbors want to preserve green space as Brookland Metro area gets developed. [GGW]
  • Today on the market: Adams Morgan rowhouse—$899,000

ARTS LINKS, by Jonathan L. Fischer (tips? jfischer@washingtoncitypaper.com)

  • “Green Wheat Fields, Auvers,” one of Vincent Van Gogh‘s final paintings, will go on display at the National Gallery of Art—its first public viewing since 1966. [Post]
  • ICYMI: D.C. Cab is a terrible movie, but it’s our terrible movie. [Arts Desk]
  • D.C. Cab‘s shoot locations, then and now. [DCist]
  • What the dome of the U.S. Capitol will look like when it’s covered in scaffolding for two years [Post]
  • A very abbreviated history of the recently shuttered MOCA DC [Daily Campello]

FOOD LINKS, by Jessica Sidman (tips? jsidman@washingtoncitypaper.com)

  • Food writers dish on the best and worst of 2013. [BYT]
  • Where to find mussel deals [Eater]
  • Where to celebrate New Years Eve with something new [Post]
  • Vote on the can design for the DC Brau and United collaboration beer. [DC Beer]
  • Six ways to ring in the New Year [Zagat]
  • A year of kitchen swaps in northern Virginia [NoVa Mag]
  • Bar Louie opens in Crystal City next week. [ARLnow]
  • Bombay Club celebrates 25th anniversary with $25 lunch deal in January. [PoPville]