Are Political Identitie...

Sasha Issenberg, New York Magazine A few weeks before the 2008 election, Democratic strategists were running out of ideas for how to help Al Franken. His race against incumbent Minnesota senator Norm Coleman was a stubborn one: Even after some of the country’s highest ever per...

Why ObamaCare Is a Toug...

Lee Harris, The American During a press conference on December 17, 1940, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt justified his highly controversial lend-lease program by offering a simple analogy. When your neighbor’s house is on fire and he comes to you to borrow your garden hose,...

Boom!: Where to Buy Fir...

The Fourth of July means fireworks on the Mall, but also plenty of pyrotechnics in the District’s neighborhoods. City officials licensed 55 fireworks stands around D.C. this summer; all it took to set one up was a few forms, a $247.50 fee, and an inspection by the fire marshal. The...

The Needle: ¡Ay, Que C...

Yes, Actually, It Is Hot Enough For Me : Leave town. Now. That’s the only reasonable advice for how to deal with the early heat wave that’s suffocating the region today—it is, after all, still only spring. The high temperature at National Airport was 102 degrees , tying a...

The Fire This Time: How...

Around the country, the nation’s firehouses have continually played out bothersome race polemics . At times, the controversy has had to with the argument that fire departments were providing culturally biased firefighter exams, leaving applicants of color out in the cold. When...

The Needle: O.C., Not D...

Georgetown, NY : Turns out D.C. isn’t quite ready for the Gossip Girl treatment. A new series potentially set in Georgetown (called, appropriately enough, Georgetown ) is reportedly under development by O.C. and Gossip Girl creator Josh Schwartz . Now comes word, however, that...

Will DC9 Finally Reopen...

The 30-day suspension the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board doled out to DC9 has officially expired. At 1 p.m. today, the venue will make a second bid to reopen.  At a Nov. 17 hearing , the bar strove to have its suspension lifted early, but was rebuffed. “I don’t feel...

Saved From Complete Rui...

The Georgetown Public Library reopens Monday. (Photo by Michael E. Grass) If you happened to watch the Georgetown Public Library go up in smoke back on April 30, 2007 , you had to assume that the building and its contents were largely lost to the conflagration. There were fears that the...

British Burned D.C. 196...

On this day in 1814, the British burned Washington, following the American rout at Bladensburg . While public buildings like the U.S. Capitol and the White House were burned, private buildings were largely spared. You’ve likely heard the story about first lady Dolley Madison saving...

W Hotel, Willard Interc...

An underground transformer fire has caused two hotels in downtown Washington to be evacuated. Thick black smoke was seen pouring from the area, and DC Fire and EMS reported the fire had extended to the building. Both 14th and 15th Streets NW have been shut down between E Street and New...