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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Good morning from Washington City Paper! It’s Monday! Let’s do this.
LEADING THE MORNING NEWS: Mayor and councilmembers head to a Vegas retail convention. [WAMU] They’ll be talking to restaurant groups about getting eateries at the St. Elizabeths site. [Times] A wet week ahead. [NBC4] Virginia voter ID bill passes. [Times] D.C. may have trouble getting out of No Child Left Behind thanks to poor accounting of grant money. [Examiner]
YOUR DAILY QUALITY-OF-LIFE MEASUREMENT: On Friday, City Paper‘s Needle shot up 7 points. The bad news: Justice Stephen Breyer robbed again, this time in Georgetown. The good news: Bipartisan appreciation of Chuck Brown. Take a look here.
SIX CITY PAPER STORIES FROM THE LAST 24 HOURS TO HELP YOU MAKE SENSE OF YOUR DAY:
Bill Clinton, George Stephanopoulos Subpoenaed in D.C. Lottery Case: The hits on this case keep coming. Now the former president and his advisor have been subpoenaed by the city, because former city employee Eric Payne—who’s suing the city because he says he was unjustly fired—said he talked to Clinton about finding new work.
Dupont Underground May Go Temporary: LDP continues to find that temporary is the new permanent. The folks who have the rights to the space want to turn it into a “world-class” art space, but they don’t have the money, so they’re looking to retrofit it into a space more welcoming to temporary art while they figure everything out. Maybe.
Trent Franks on Abortion Bill: “D.C. Is Not the Issue”: Sudip Bhattacharya talks to Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) about why he’s introducing an abortion ban bill in D.C. “It’s the pain of the child, and when people make the District of Columbia the issue they’re missing the point,” Franks said before escaping into an elevator.
Flying Dog v. Marion Barry: Sigh, there are so many things one could make fun of Marion Barry for, that it’s a shame people keep relying on old jokes about crack. Flying Dog brewery used the decades-old tale to advertise its first canned beer—and was summarily requested to stop advertising with Barry’s image attached to the product.
New Korean Bell Garden Opens Near Wolf Trap: “The enormous bells used for such monuments trace back to the Shilla Dynasty, are made of bronze and other metals and can weigh as much as 17 tons. The bell at Meadowlark was cast in Korea and shipped to the U.S., and is housed in a pavilion with traditional upward arching eaves. A sign in Korean labels it the ‘bell of peace.’ The garden also includes a gazebo, pond, woodenjangseung totems from Jeolla Province and stone harubang statues from Jeju Island.”
Theater J’s Ari Roth Writes a Play…About Me: “Me” being Arts Desk Editor Jonathan L. Fischer. The play is about as good as you would expect.
COOL PHONE BRO PHOTO OF THE DAY: Girl With A Green Phone by Matt Dunn
LINKDUMP AFTER THE JUMP!
LOOSE LIPS DAILY POLITICS LINKS, by Alan Suderman (tips? lips@washingtoncitypaper.com)
- Marion Barry, or someone pretending to be him on Twitter, says he got a blood clot on his way to Vegas but is recovering [@marionbarryjr]
- Convicted felon Harry Thomas Jr. is happy Kenyan McDuffie is replacing him. “The ward is in good hands.” [Times]
- Vince Gray and Kwame “Fully Loaded” Brown bring home the bacon to Ward 7 [Post]
- Metro retains law firm for independent investigation of Florida Ave. non-deal involving Jim Graham and Omar Karim. [Post]
- DC officials in Vegas trying to lure retailers to one of strongest economies in the country [WAMU]
- Gray in Vegas looking for restaurants to come to St. Es [Times]
- Barry’s lawyer pwns beermaker [DCist]
REAL ESTATE AND DEVELOPMENT LINKS, by Housing Complex blogger Lydia DePillis (tips? housingcomplex@washingtoncitypaper.com)
- Lydia DePillis is off today.
ARTS LINKS, by Jonathan L. Fischer (tips? artsdesk@washingtoncitypaper.com)
- Go-go scholar Kip Lornell and Ward 7 Republican Ron Moten on Chuck Brown [Post]
- A Chuck Brown mural emerges in Petworth. [Prince of Petworth]
- Lenny Campello is compiling every scrap of news he can find on Artomatic. [Daily Campello]
- When is it an art collection, and when is it just stuff? [D.C. Docent]
FOOD LINKS will resume shortly.