Seventh Inning Wretch: Apparently Nationals fans are getting a reputation for doing things other than watching baseball while attending baseball games, including reading Kindles and newspapers and, a couple months back, doing taxes. I want to defend this as tantamount to queuing up an already-seen episode of The Wire as background noise while you catch up on the New York Times, but I just can’t. Eyes on the field, Nats fans! If you don’t, the team will probably come up with more dumb shit to capture your attention. -2
Howard’s Foggy Forecast: One member of Howard University’s board of trustees says the school is in deep financial trouble, while another says all is fine. Here’s one more view: The last time bond credit ratings firm Moody’s took a look at Howard, it gave it an A3 rating with a negative outlook. In other words: Not great. But it could be way worse. -1
Leak Soup: Following last week’s revelations about two National Security Agency surveillance programs, a group is organizing July 4 protests—-including one on the National Mall—-demanding the restoration of the fourth amendment. +/- 0
Mug Shot: Seriously, what’s up with all the sports memorabilia used in the Michael Brown sting? +2
Yesterday’s Needle rating: 33 Today’s score: -1 Today’s Needle rating: 32