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 Thursday and the dead-tree edition is hitting the streets! Go get your copy, it’s our best issue yet.

LEADING THE MORNING NEWS: Caps moving on to Game 7! [Post] The Post finds two black people who say they won’t vote for Obama because he’s now in favor of gay marriage. [Post] Homelessness up 18 percent in D.C. [WTOP] Chuck Thies: Okay, the rent may be too damn high. [NBCWashington] MPD Chief Cathy Lanier signs a new 5-year contract, her salary will remain the same at $253,000. [Times]

YOUR DAILY QUALITY-OF-LIFE MEASUREMENT: On Wednesday, City Paper‘s Needle fell 2 points. The bad news: the Blue line is the worst. The good news: RGIII trademarks his name. Take a look here.

SIX CITY PAPER STORIES FROM THE LAST 24 HOURS TO HELP YOU MAKE SENSE OF YOUR DAY:

Summer Music Guide: This week’s cover is all about the awesome music you will get to listen to this summer.

In Ward 5, Big Shoes to Fill?: LL’s column this week is a rundown of next week’s Ward 5 special election. He puts Kenyan McDuffie and Delano Hunter in the lead.

Blight Flight: Lydia DePillis follows up on the story of a couple of old vacant buildings owned by developer Douglas Jemal. Last month, she found he wasn’t paying the proper tax rate, and now she’s trying to find out why the buildings are sitting empty even as development is happening all around them. Turns out Jemal wants to raze the buildings—and they’ve been decaying so long that they may be beyond preservation.

The Butchers of Washington: Contributor Rina Rapuano tries to find out why D.C.’s butcher shops are so few and far between. “Selling meat at a farmers market or stocking a restaurant with naturally raised meat is one thing. A store—one that sells a highly perishable product and depends on people coming out rain or shine—is trickier. ‘It’s a totally different operation to run a retail store, because that’s what a butcher is. It’s a different animal,’ Manolatos says. ‘You need to have meat everywhere and products everywhere…I’ve been into a couple in Boston and other places, and it is a pretty sad selection. You need to really fill that case.'”

Is Police Chief Cathy Lanier Worth $11 Million?: LL does the math and discovers that MPD Chief Lanier could earn $11 million in pension funds over 40 years.

“Affordable Housing” Isn’t Just Taxpayer Cheese: “Yes, we often understand the term as applying only to below-market-rate housing paid for by public subsidies. But our market rate housing stock could and should be more affordable for more people, too—no city should roll over and accept that its young, mobile residents must leave in order to survive. And the District isn’t like every other city: It has perhaps the biggest mismatch between supply and demand, since building heights are capped by federal law and further restricted by zoning (much more so than in New York City). In D.C., developers are building luxury stuff because there’s demand, but also because land is expensive, and they can only build so many units, so each unit must be higher-priced in order for them to recoup their investment.”

CUTE NECKLACE PHOTO OF THE DAY: Job Fair by Matt Dunn

LINKDUMP AFTER THE JUMP!

LOOSE LIPS DAILY POLITICS LINKS, by Alan Suderman (tips? lips@washingtoncitypaper.com)

  • Police Cathy Lanier‘s boyfriend was getting some crazy overtime. [Times]
  • Lanier gets a new contract, btw. [Times]
  • Old timers in Ward 5 feeling pushed out, will vote next week. [Post]
  • Danita Doleman, INDIVIDUAL #4 in Harry Thomas Jr. court records, to plead guilty. [Times]
  • Why are the nice people having their medical marijuana growing licenses rejected? [Post]
  • How Lydia DePillis raised Doug Jemal’s taxes, forcing him to tear down historic buildings. [HC]
  • D.C. Council Kwame “Fully Loaded” Brown floats plan to keep bars open later on holidays only. [Examiner]
  • Anacostia Cab put on probation. [Examiner]
  • Car2Go and parking tickets. [TBD]

REAL ESTATE AND DEVELOPMENT LINKS, by Housing Complex blogger Lydia DePillis (tips? housingcomplex@washingtoncitypaper.com)

  • Rise in family homelessness. [Post]
  • Norman Jemal‘s side gig: Taking over New York with 7-Elevens. [NYMag]
  • Downpayment assistance on the decrease in D.C. [GGW]
  • Were pot vending rejections fair? [Post]
  • Performance parking is about management, not revenue. [RPUS]
  • “Appraisals are not very accurate.” [NYT]
  • Your house’s genealogist. [Urbanturf]
  • Does D.C. really need 15 people at a retail conference? [WAMU]
  • How much Car2Go paid to get you out of parking tickets. [TBD]
  • Naturally, mortgages in cities would be larger than the average across a state. [WBJ]
  • Today on the market: $745,000 for teeny tiny rowhouse.

ARTS LINKS, by Jonathan L. Fischer (tips? artsdesk@washingtoncitypaper.com)

  • The deal with the “Before I Die” chalkboard installation on 14th Street NW. [Post]
  • Moroccan photographer Lalla Essaydi discusses her images of women in the Muslim world, now on view at the National Museum of African Art. [Style Blog]
  • Members of D.C. indie-rock acts Imperial China and Black Clouds interview each other. [Vinyl District]
  • How DJ Chris Nitti keeps his sets “left of center.” [Pink Line Project]

FOOD LINKS will resume shortly.