Scott McCabe became a well-known name to local news consumers over his seven years on the Washington Examiner’s crime beat. Although the newspaper shuttered its weekday tabloid and local coverage last week, McCabe isn’t quitting his regular beat coverage of fugitives, stupid crimes, and everyday lawlessness. Only now, he’s blogging.

D.C. Crime Stories was going to stay under wraps for a couple of weeks, but McCabe was motivated to go live yesterday morning after an altercation on his block in College Park left a woman with bloody cuts and led to the arrest of a male suspect.

McCabe says he plans to aggregate overnight crime stories and will continue to encourage the same types of reader tips that the Examiner used in its “Most Wanted” feature to help capture 53 fugitives. He’s also indulging his interest in the history of crime: He’s already blogged about a famous Chicago mob hit and the exploits of Dog the Bounty Hunter.

McCabe hopes local publications will take notice of D.C. Crime Stories, and though it’s barely more than a day old at this point, he thinks readers who followed his earlier work will remain interested. “There’s a need in D.C. for more crime reporting,” he says.