Fight the Power: Scholars of social movements have seen it before—first, a moment of triumph, then, the whole thing descends into bickering. And so it is that the day after Mayor Vince Gray and a quorum of the D.C. Council were arrested by Capitol Police in a protest of D.C.’s lack of autonomy and voting rights, the question on people’s minds Tuesday was, “Where were the rest of the councilmembers?” (The answer appears to vary by member.) That didn’t stop Gray from doing a run of national media interviews, probably surprising some cable news anchors who assumed Adrian Fenty was still mayor. Our prediction: The attention still won’t stop the rest of the country from forgetting the whole thing in a few days. But it can’t hurt to try. +1

The Needle and the Damage Done: The budget deal, bad as it was, turns out not to be quite as bad as initially feared. While President Obama brushed aside D.C.’s local budget autonomy and the access poor women might have to abortions (“John, I will give you D.C. abortion“), Democrats did manage not to fold on another Republican budget rider, one that would have banned the city from spending its own money on a needle exchange program. Last year, the program reportedly gave out more than 100,000 needles, which probably made it worth fighting for. +2

Special Delivery: What our obese society needs more of these days is exercise, and what it needs less of is calories. So news that the IHOP in Columbia Heights will soon be delivering pancakes, eggs, and—most caloric of all—Bacon ‘N Beef burgers to neighborhood residents should be bad news. But let’s face it: Sometimes you really want some pancakes, and sometimes, you really don’t want to have to leave your couch to get them. +2

Space Oddity: Space is, as Star Trek taught us, the final frontier. For the space shuttle Discovery, though, Fairfax County will have to do. The shuttle will reside permanently at the Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center, near Dulles Airport, when the program is terminated permanently soon. More futuristic than the space shuttle: You will, someday, be able to take Metro to go see it. +1

Yesterday’s Needle rating: 54 Today’s score: +6 Today’s Needle rating: 60