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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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As if Metro trips to the suburbs don’t already feel long enough, Metro passengers on a Sunday-night train in Cheverly found themselves stuck on the tracks for two hours.

LEADING THE MORNING NEWS:

  • Jack’s Boathouse fight could be headed to court. [Housing Complex]
  • Accused drug dealer representing himself not the most competent litigator, but maybe most dramatic. [Post]
  • Venues could be using catering licenses to skirt alcohol law. [Post]
  • Maryland teen killed in D.C. met her murderer online, according to police. [WJLA]
  • New New Republic not purging Jewish writers after all. [NY Mag]
  • Neighbors, Councilmember Tommy Wells fighting more coal at Capitol Power Plant. [Times]
  • Still more lottery hijinks. [LL]

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

Photo of the Day: Friday, Three Things.

Lil’ Ian MacKaye: A parody Twitter account reimagines Fugazi frontman Ian MacKaye as a 13-year-old girl.

Licentious Plates: BATMAN, BARACK, and KOALA are all on a list of banned D.C. vanity license plates.

Don’t Spill: Handwritten menus at Shaw’s Table took between 60 and 75 hours to make.

He’s Staying: Despite controversy, Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough isn’t going anywhere.

LOOSE LIPS, by Loose Lips columnist Alan Suderman. (tips? lips@washingtoncitypaper.com)

  • Is Nat Gandhi gone in a few months? Anonymous source tells Jonetta as much. [Examiner]
  • Jack Evans is still in Gandhi’s corner, though. [Examiner]
  • Mark Segraves going to channel 4, Tom Sherwood not retiring. [City Desk]
  • CYITC audit coming soon. [Examiner]
  • Dorothy Brizill does not have a high opinion of Jim Graham. [The Mail]
  • Catholic University fighting birth-control mandate. [Times]
  • Charter school founder charged with fraud. [Examiner]
  • Shooting leads to questions about catering. [Post]

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

  • D.C.’s most expensive house on the market [UrbanTurf]
  • The important stuff in Metro’s modernization plan [GGW]
  • The Yards’ Twelve12, aka Harris Teeter building, moves forward. [WBJ]
  • In up-and-coming zip code 20011, prices have dropped considerably since 2007. [UrbanTurf]
  • Muriel Bowser, Vince Gray clash at affordable housing rally. [GGW]
  • What we can learn from what Minneapolis learned from studying bike crashes [Atlantic Cities]
  • Weigh in on DDOT’s plans to overhaul the Pennsylvania-Potomac SE intersection. [Hill Rag]
  • Today on the market: Potomac Ave. investment opportunity. Bystanders not included.

ARTS LINKS, by Ally Schweitzer (tips? artsdesk@washingtoncitypaper.com)

  • The 2013 Helen Hayes Awards nominees are here! [Theatre Washington]
  • Toby’s Dinner Theatre racked up eight nominations for its production of The Color Purple; Signature’s Dreamgirls, Studio’s The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, and Folger’s The Taming of the Shrew also fared well. [Post]
  • The Washington Performing Arts Society hires a new president: Stanford Live director Jenny Bilfield [Post]
  • … and she’s friends with the Post‘s classical music critic, Anne Midgette. Well, that might complicate things. [Post]
  • Howard University might be better known for its medical and law schools, but it’s also an “incubator for cinematographers,” writes Anne Hornaday [Post]
  • Gallery owner Randall Scott on why he chose to open up shop on H Street NE [East City Art]
  • Local ensemble Misun drops another track, “Battlefields” [Soundcloud]
  • Barnes & Noble aims to close up to one third of its stores nationwide. No word yet on whether D.C. area stores will be affected. [Washington Business Journal]
  • Illustration: cleaning the Hillwood Museum [Washingtonian]

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

  • Where to find high rollers [Eater]
  • “CHEF” among banned D.C. vanity license plates. [City Desk]
  • Top 100 restaurants participating in Restaurant Week [Washingtonian]
  • How to detect wine fraud [Drink DC]
  • Barrel-aged cocktails at BLT Steak [Post]
  • Masala Express opens in Arlington. [ARLnow]
  • Tash House of Kabob opens on Barracks Row. [PoPville]