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. Today in 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s famous novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published.

LEADING THE MORNING NEWS: WMATA workers plead guilty to stealing $445,000 in coins from fare machines. [Examiner] Mayor Vince Gray‘s campaign received more than $100,000 in donations from Jeff Thompson‘s network. [WAMU] D.C. dropped three slots on list of top cities for bedbug infestation. [WTOP] Former tax examiner sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for stealing $415,000. [Examiner] WMATA workers have used department credit cards to buy luxury goods. [Post] Today is the first day of spring, some people say. [WJLA]

YOUR DAILY QUALITY-OF-LIFE MEASUREMENT: On Monday, City Paper‘s Needle dropped seven points. The bad news: 10 years ago, the city stopped testing for lead where it was sure to find it. The good news: Rush+. Take a look here.

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

No Thompson-Related Subpoenas For Atlanta Mayor: LL knows donations from the network of  mega donor Jeff Thompson made it to the campaigns of non-District pols. So are those folks getting served subpoenas too? Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley‘s office isn’t responding to questions, but LL got Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed‘s flack on the line: She says there have been no communications from the feds. “Reed received lots of  money from Thompson and those connected to him in Atlanta’s 2009 mayoral general election and runoff, which Reed won. LL counts at least $40,000 in donations from Thompson, his companies, their employees, relatives of their employees, and so on.”

Annals of Stalled Projects: 26 Townhomes Getting Started In Rosedale: Sometimes Housing Complex’s Lydia DePillis just rides around to see what’s going on. In this case, she found an empty grassy lot that may finally—after nearly 20 years—get turned into town houses.

The Agony And Ecstasy of Mike Daisey: Contributor Chris Klimek writes his own take on how the beleaguered Mike Daisey—a performer of “nonfiction”—ended up on your favorite yuppie’s public radio show This American Life, and lied about what he did and didn’t see in Apple factories in China. “Look, iPhones are popular. Theater isn’t, not really. That’s the key to how Daisey’s judgment broke down—not when he wrote his monologue, but when he repeated its most spectacular allegations on a news show, absent the kind of packaging that clues in the audience that, for example, a David Sedaris essay is not be taken as hand-on-the-Bible factual. Daisey had actually succeeded in making people pay attention to an issue he cares deeply about. And Apple, under pressure that built partially as a result of Daisey’s story, is now releasing supplier lists and making more aggressive audits of its plants. That’s more important than whether Daisey visited 10 plants or three.”

James Beard Award Finalists Include Some Of D.C.’s Finest Restaurants: Fiola! Komi! Rasika! Etc.!

Courtland Milloy Says Men Ought To Be Involved In The Abortion Debate: And “[…] not just the crazy white men in the Virginia General Assembly.”

Edie Sedgwick Goes To SXSW, Day 10: They’re still there. Things are getting mundane. “My bandmates go to see The Magnetic Fields, or try to. I go to an old friend’s house for dinner. She and her husband, like many locals, are doing all they can to avoid SXSW. We eat a stir-fry. The tofu is very dry and firm, like the tofu at a restaurant. I’m accustomed to relatively moist tofu when dining at home, so I ask my friend how she dried her tofu. She says that she wraps it in cloth and puts a weight on it ‘for hours.’ When I ask how heavy the weight is, she hands me an iron cylinder about as hefty as a bowling ball. ‘That’s really fucking heavy!’ I exclaim, unafraid to use profanity to express my great surprise.”

MOODY PHOTO OF THE DAY: WMATA Worker

BE THERE OR BE SQUARE: City Paper will be sponsoring a series of D.C. Council candidate debates this month.

At-Large: TONIGHT! Tuesday, March 20, 8:30 p.m.-10:30 p.m. at the Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW (guest moderator: NBC4’s Tom Sherwood)

Ward 7: Monday, March 26, Ray’s the Steaks East River, 3905 Dix St. NE, 7 p.m.-9 p.m. (guest moderator TBD).

LINKDUMP AFTER THE JUMP!

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

  • The mystery of Proteus Spann [Times]
  • Lotto man Emmanuel Bailey also gave money orders [Post]
  • Photo gallery of dictators Canuckian writer compared to Marion Barry [HuffPo]
  • Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh to introduce legislation banning money orders today [NBC4]
  • Mayor Vince Gray says the plan has “merit.” [Fox5]
  • Does Jeff Thompson own a southeast hair salon, which gave to Gray’s campaign? [WAMU]
  • Red top meters may not be here long [Fox5]

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

  • The houses, they’re disappearing. [Redfin]
  • Even as more people come out to buy houses. [Post]
  • While most of American can’t afford it these days. [Post]
  • Buy a Dupont B&B. [Urbanturf]
  • Is there really anything to the Eisenhower flap? [Archpaper]
  • Is Silver Spring concrete thick enough, or isn’t it? [Examiner]
  • MRP gets started on Washington Harbour ice rink. [Patch]
  • PN Hoffman planning 5,000-seat music hall for Southwest Waterfront. [Examiner]
  • What you should know about the new Metro map. [GGW]
  • Problems at Park View Rec? Shut it down. [ParkViewDC]
  • Today on the market: Please call Mr. C.

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

  • At Mike Daisey‘s talk at Georgetown University Monday night, he said he wants to apologize to Ira Glass, and he acknowledged that he did not correct reporters who assumed he was telling the truth about what he saw at Apple factories in China. “It would have been so much more open to admit, no, I’m a moron…” he said. “It’s such a rookie mistake.” [Post]
  • Peter Marks: “Did [Mike Daisey] realize how literally people like me took his declaration that the events he’s been describing for months onstage had happened to him—and how intrinsic that belief was to our embrace of the story?” [Post]
  • Newt loves cherry blossoms. [WJLA]
  • The Smithsonian’s “Art of Video Games” exhibit has drawn 18,000 people since it opened on Friday. [Post]
  • Mural overhaul at BloomBars! [Prince of Petworth]
  • A preview of the Washington Women in Jazz Festival [DCist]

FOOD LINKS, by Young & Hungry columnist Chris Shott (tips? hungry@washingtoncitypaper.com)

  • Some things to expect at Rasika West End, opening next week. [Zagat]
  • Take a peek at La Forchetta, opening April 2. [HuffPo]
  • Traveling food truck restaurant Uncurbed DC is popping up at the former Singapore Bistro space. [Prince of Petworth]
  • Three Little Pigs is now closed on Tuesday. [Facebook]
  • Mike Isabella‘s Bandolero is hiring. [Twitter]
  • Reflections on all the weird shit served at Rogue 24 recently. [City Eats]
  • Actress Eva Longoria dines at Scion. [Celebrity Gossip]
  • White House chef Sam Kass is bald and beautiful. [Times of India via Examiner]
  • A laundry list of local restaurants that don’t suck. [Washington Flyer]
  • A new spin on ice cream and cake in the suburbs. [Post]