Talkin’ Bout the Money: Court documents released in today’s guilty plea by a former Vince Gray campaign aide (as opposed to Tuesday’s guilty plea by a former Vince Gray campaign aide) indicate the winning effort accepted money from at least one “straw donor,” who gave funds actually provided by someone else. Which has the potential to move the federal investigation of the campaign out of “Oh, isn’t this Sulaimon Brown stuff kind of amusing,” and into more serious territory. For now, though, we’ll stick to the amusing stuff: Brown used some of the money the Gray campaign gave him to pay his Geico bill. -4

Getaway Bike: Those red Capital Bikeshare rides all over town aren’t just useful for getting from your job on the Hill to your kickball game; they’re also good for robbing people. Or so someone allegedly demonstrated Tuesday night on East Capitol Street, rolling up on a woman talking on her iPhone and snatching the device out of her hand without even stopping. The bikes aren’t the fastest ones around, but apparently they’re fast enough. Authorities say it was the first crime committed using Bikeshare, but we doubt it’ll be the last. -2

Anchors Away: Yet another D.C. local news station is losing its longtime sports anchor. Fox 5’s Dave Feldman is fleeing Wisconsin Avenue NW for San Francisco, where he grew up. Feldman follows Channel 9’s Brett Haber and Channel 4’s Lindsay Czarniak, who also left their posts recently. Why? Blame ESPN, which is where Czarniak went, anyway. -1

Busted: How much money does it cost to get Metrobuses to show up on time? At least $5 million, according to a plan the transit agency released today. Some routes will add more accordion-style double buses, others will switch from fixed timetables (which are, let’s be honest, essentially transit slash fiction) to schedules that say “a bus will be there every 10 minutes.” You’re probably still better off buying a bike, but hey, it’s a start. +1

Yesterday’s Needle rating: 48 Today’s score: -6 Today’s Needle rating: 42