District Links

Happy Monday. The talk of local DC watchers over the weekend was a report that said some prisoners would be eligible for early release under DC Council legislation by Charles Allen, chair of the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee.

TGIF! The District’s new public campaign financing is making a force out of small-donor campaigns, helping close the fundraising gap between challengers and incumbents.

Happy Thursday. Across the city, 13 schools, including both traditional public and charters, are closing the achievement gap 10 times faster than their peers — and a local education advocacy group says the success could spread by…

Good Wednesday morning. About two dozen of the most hyperactive opponents of embattled Council member Jack Evans met last night in Dupont Circle for a happy hour hosted by a band of progressive activists who comprise the Sack Jack group.

Good Tuesday morning. There’s a new date for the congressional hearing on statehood: Sept. 19.

Good Monday morning. The Ward 5 family homeless shelter will open next month, Curbed reports …

TGIF! Everywhere-man Bill Rice snapped pix at a Brandon Todd fundraiser last night, with Mayor Muriel Bowser in attendance. Joining the Green Team crowd: Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, who called Todd an “important ally,” Rice tweets.

Happy Thursday. DC often touts its Certified Business Enterprise program as helping boost “small and local” companies win government contracts.

Happy Wednesday. DC Office of Planning chief Andrew Trueblood is proving adept at tiptoeing around the city’s development polemics when facing a skeptical, potentially hostile crowd.

Good Tuesday morning. There is a new citywide tenant union, launched during a town hall at All Souls Church in Columbia Heights on Saturday.

Happy Monday. At the mayor's press conference today on crime, a reporter counted seven murders in four days — a grim tally that recalls the violence of the 1990s and early 2000s.

TGIF! Council member Kenyan McDuffie’s cousin is listed on a document as heading a firm that would score $3 million from a no-bid gambling contract, WaPo reported last night.

Good Thursday morning. The race for the Ward 7 DC Council seat is already shaping up, with two candidates filing papers to run and one advisory neighborhood commissioner with an exploratory committee saying she will decide “very soon” on…

Good Wednesday morning. Sterling Tucker, the first chairman of the Home Rule-era DC Council, died at 95, the council announced yesterday via Twitter.

Happy Tuesday. Last week’s flash flooding highlights the importance of “resilience planning,” the city’s Office of Resilience says.

Happy Monday. In Gallup's first-ever national poll on DC statehood, 64% oppose the idea, according to results released today.

TGIF! The drip-drip out of the federal investigation into Council member Jack Evans continues, with subpoenas handed out to two Metro board members.

Good Thursday morning. You’ve heard of McMillan, the famously stalled redevelopment project that was recently upheld by the DC Court of Appeals. There are lesser-known projects in the District also stymied by neighborhood resistance.

Happy Wednesday. Two close votes stand out from yesterday's DC Council meeting: one to narrowly approve a sports gambling contract shrouded in controversy and another that saved Jack Evans from further humiliation.

Happy Tuesday. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson has divvied up the spoils from Jack Evans' soon-to-be-dead Finance and Revenue Committee, and some council members are unhappy with where key agencies are heading.