Emergency & I: Durand Ford Jr., whose father died of a heart attack while it took a D.C. ambulance 40 minutes to arrive on the scene, is suing D.C. Fire and EMS. The night Ford’s father died—-New Year’s Eve 2012—-more than 50 firefighters had called out sick. -3

#work #work #work #work: Finally, D.C.’s most famous and most neurotic rapper can boast he has a No. 1 album. Wale‘s The Gifted notched the top spot on Billboard‘s album list, but he still found time to bitch about his haters on Twitter. +/-0

Hoppy July 4: Washingtonians drank more beer in 2012 than they did in 2011, gulping down 28.3 gallons per capita. Meanwhile, Maryland and Virginia only consumed 23.2 and 26.7 gallons per capita, respectively. Take that, states! +2

Hot or Not: If you’re sick of all that rain we’ve been getting, consider this: During heat waves, Washington can feel hotter than Death Valley. -1

Yesterday’s Needle rating: 73 Today’s score: -2 Patriotic bonus: +5 Today’s Needle rating: 76