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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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Good morning from Washington City Paper! It’s Monday and it’s the Girl Scouts birthday. Let’s celebrate by buying a bunch of Samoas.

LEADING THE MORNING NEWS: UMD student arrested after threatening a mass shooting at College Park. [WTOP] Gaithersburg priest placed on leave after denying communion to lesbian D.C. woman. [WAMU] Letters with white powder mailed to BLT Steak restaurant. [WJLA] Big donor Jeff Thompson appears to have donated to candidates improperly. [Times] D.C. isn’t doing a great job of monitoring sex offenders. [Examiner] Councilmembers spent $33,000 on food. [Examiner]

YOUR DAILY QUALITY-OF-LIFE MEASUREMENT: On Friday, City Paper‘s Needle ticked up two points. The bad news: We lost an hour, thanks to Daylight Savings Time. The good news: A UMD college course will teach Beyoncé and Nikki Minaj. Take a look here.

SIX CITY PAPER STORIES FROM THE LAST 72 HOURS TO HELP YOU MAKE SENSE OF YOUR DAY:

Gray Admin: No Quid Pro Quo on Medicaid Contract: Loose Lips Alan Suderman follows up on the latest with Jeff Thompson, the D.C. contractor and donor who had his offices raided last week. Thompson runs a health care organization that received an increase in funding from the D.C. Council last year. “Much to dismay of Gray officials, the Washington Post editorial board ran a piece today declaring that the last-minute vote to increase the Medicaid bucks underscores ‘the need to do something about the unseemly nexus of contracts and campaign contributions in D.C. politics.'” Still, the administration says it’s done nothing wrong.

Old Georgetown Board Shoots Down Grace Street Project: Housing Complex’s Lydia DePillis stays on the case of the empty Georgetown lot. Neighbors have shot down a proposal for a seven-unit condo, though they may be amenable to something smaller. Still, DePillis wonders: “Does it really matter, from the city’s perspective, whether four rich people or seven rich people get to live in whatever gets built on that site? Big picture, no. It’s just frustrating to see supply constrained by the arbitrary and personal whims of people who happen to live next door.”

Dispatches from SXSW: The band Edie Sedgwick reports from Austin. Day 1. Day 2. Day 3.

Thanks Pho The Memories: Good Food, Fond Reflections on Fallen Chef at Vietnamese Pop-Up. Contributor Sam Hiersteiner attends the Vietnamese pop-up restaurant Pho U at Montserrat House, which was delayed after the death of Toki Underground chef Thang Le. “Acquaintances of the fallen chef, who were also seated at our table, talked a lot about what a kind, cool and creative person he was, as DJ Brian Liuplayed Shuggie Otis and Curtis Mayfield over the crowded and gently buzzing room.” And the food was good, too.

Adams Morgan Hardware Likely On the Way Out: New development in Adams Morgan means new retail spots are available. No big deal, except for one thing: “that was news to one remaining tenant: Araya Gebremariam, owner of Adams Morgan Hardware, which he says has been there for around 20 years (he bought the business in 2004). He’s been paying $2,798 per month for the 1,286 square foot space, but his lease expired last November, and he says he was notified that the new rent would be just shy of $5,000.”

Metro Board Meeting On Suicide Interrupted By Metro Suicide: A Metro meeting about suicide prevention was interrupted with news of a suicide at Foggy Bottom. The meeting was about the progress Metro has made in training station managers and conductors. So far they’ve trained 200 staffers out of 960 total.

CUTE KID PHOTO OF THE DAY: Boy With Lincoln

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

Ward 4: TOMORROW! Tuesday, March 13, 8 p.m.-10 p.m. at Domku, 821 Upshur St. NW (guest moderator: WPFW’s Gloria Minott)

Ward 8: Wednesday, March 14, 7 p.m.-9 p.m. at Georgena’s (formerly Players Lounge), 2737 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave SE (guest moderator: Channel 7’s Sam Ford)

At-Large: 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: Wednesday, March 21, location and moderator TBD.

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

• D.C. already has an anti-bundling law, and Jeff Thompson may have broken it. [Times]
• Post editorial board asks to see Councilmember Vincent Orange‘s money orders from Thompson’s network of donors. [Post]
• Colby King sees parallel’s between New York straw donor case and what’s happening in D.C. [Post]
• Gray spends $1 million to listen to the people. [Post]
• Peaceoholic’s co-founder almost kinda of related to the group’s architect. [Post]
• D.C. lottery contract, FUBAR. [Post]
• Where a D.C. United stadium might go. [Post]
• Gray won’t decide whether he wants to keep CFO Nat Gandhi until the budget is done. [Examiner]
• Examiner sees “pig out” in constituent service food spending. [Examiner]
• Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser deserves another term, says Jonetta Rose Barras. [Examiner]

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

• Local opinion on “growth,” whatever that means. [WTOP]
• Why the Howard Theater is worth the city’s dime. [L4L]
• D.C.’s parks need more planning. [RPUS]
• What’s been thought about for D.C. United at Buzzard Point. [Post]
• Hooray for bike wayfinding signs! [Washcycle]
• What’s hiding in Forest Hills. [Urbanturf]
• Carter G. Woodson home getting planned. [EastShawDC]
• Taking the guesswork out of bus timing. [TBD]
• Taller buildings mean living near your work. [Post]
• All the stats you ever wanted about parking tickets. [Washingtonian]
• Awesome ownership map of Anacostia. [RUSeriousingme]
• National Parks are a moneymaker. [WTOP]
• Lackluster homeownership market requires Sheridan Station changes. [GGW]
• Today on the market:All the bells and whistles.

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

• Click Track, the Washington Post‘s pop music blog, is dead. Its content will be divvied up between the Going Out Guide blog and the Style blog. [Post]
• Rush Limbaugh trashes Washington Post columnist Alexandra Petri for her “b-i-itchy” column, and Petri offers to buy him a sandwich. [Post]
• Louis C.K. pulls out of the Radio and Television Correspondents’ Dinner. [DCist]
• A stabbing shuts down Petworth nightclub Island Cafe. [WJLA]

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

• D.C. Councilmember Muriel Bowser racks up $1,700 bill at Sala Thai [Examiner]
• Shooting at Columbia Heights’ IHOP; stabbing at Petworth’s Island Cafe [Post , WJLA]
• Take a peek inside Bistro Bohem, opening this week. [Prince of Petworth]
• And check out Boqueria, also opening this week. [Thrillist]
• Another place opening this week: Petworth salami emporium Three Little Pigs [Urban Daddy]
• Five Guys, Black & Orange fall short of America’s most life-changing burger joint. [Esquire]
• D.C.-based FroZenYo is opening eight new stores. [Washington Business Journal]
• What to eat at Sweetgreen‘s Sweetlife festival. [Washingtonian]