Don’t Blame the Reporters!: The Washington Post Company may face a credit ratings downgrade from Moody’s. But for once, it’s not being blamed on writers, photographers, statisticians or any of the other journalistic types Wall Street usually picks on. Instead, it seems, proposed changes in student loan guidelines could hurt business at Kaplan, the profitable education division that pulls in the majority of Post Co. revenue. Luckily, LaVar Arrington‘s blog content is already paid for. -2

Even More Expensive Coffee Ahead: What recession? Washington will be one of 12 markets for Starbucks Reserve “ultra-premium, single-origin coffees.” Tall cups start at $2.95; a half-pound bag will set you back $12.50. The first of the reserve lines comes from the Galapagos Islands. “Sometimes we encounter a truly rare and special coffee,” says the firm’s vice president of coffee and global procurement. And sometimes we understand why dimwit globalization protesters throw things through windows! -3

The Pimps of Petworth: Police made a significant number of prostitution arrests over the weekend near the intersection of Georgia Avenue and Taylor Street NW. But even as hookers were being rounded up, the up-and-coming neighborhood scored a marketing coup: One dispatch from the scene noted that around a dozen arrests took place in front of the once-blighted area’s Yes! Organic food store. +2

So Much for the Smoke n’ Ride Program: Suburban Falls Church announced that financial woes have forced it to cancel its eight-year-old GEORGE bus service ferrying riders to nearby Metro stations. The town’s police, however, don’t seem to have any similar resource problems: Cops arrested 13 people for smoking in “non-designated areas” of local Vietnamese restaurants. -3

Yesterday’s Needle rating: 42 Today’s score: -6 Today’s Needle rating: 36