Meanwhile in D.C.

You’ve heard, by now, the big news over at DCist. Exactly one week ago, a scrappy, vital link in the increasingly fragile local news ecosystem was unceremoniously snuffed out by a union-busting billionaire.

I’m deeply proud of the work we accomplished at DCist in my two-year tenure as editor-in-chief, which was made possible by the dedication and creativity of multitudes of writers who came before us. The archives of the site serve as a record of a growing city, an encyclopedia of 13 years of life in the nation’s capital that was by turns hilarious, enraging, informative, and never boring.

As a journalistic endeavor, we aimed to be a knowledgeable friend, a site where you could have found an enterprise investigation into failing playing fields and detailed coverage of inauguration protesters next to updates about the latest protest and information about how to stream free movies courtesy of the public library. In between, we dug up stories about a bartender who inadvertently got thousands of calls from C-SPAN viewers, chronicled how black yogis are changing the largely white yoga community, warned you not to let your dog poop on this guy’s lawn, and so much more.

Each day, we started that wide-ranging conversation with our “Morning Roundup,” a compendium of the stories that we were reading and thought our audience would want to peruse as well.  There’s still excellent and vital journalism happening around town. So until further notice, and without further ado, I’ll be rounding up dozen or so of the stories each day that continue to chronicle and change life in the District of Columbia.

• Meet 21 people who are doing interesting, important things around town. [WCP]
• In a meeting with the mayor, people pretty much just wanted to talk about garbage and rats. [Popville]
• The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts thinks the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge plans “lack grace.” [WBJ]
• Congress is trying to change how sexual assault is reported on the Hill. [CNN]
• “Visiting it is like going to a really macabre candy store–except instead of sweets, there are tapeworms.” [The Atlantic]
• 186 D.C. bars can serve alcohol until 4 a.m. on Veterans Day weekend. [ABRA]
• D.C. Council will pony up $36 million to add parking at Union Market. [GGW]
• Keep up with the latest in the District’s culinary scene via DCist’s former food editor. [DrinkDineDC]
• And drink to your home city or state at these themed bars. [WCP]
• In case you’re looking for $400 high tea or an $830 Mean Girls staycation. [Washingtonian]
• Georgetown’s West Heating Plant just became a historic landmark. [Curbed]
• Hustlerz 2 Harvesters is bringing urban agriculture east of the Anacostia River. [WCP]
• Councilmember wants to make it illegal to discriminate against abortion providers. [Popville]
• Reflections on DCist from the folks over at Greater Greater Washington. [GGW]
• A D.C. school is being investigated for failing to report a teacher’s suspected child sex abuse. [NBC4]
• More than 1,000 people who live around Union Station are without power this morning. [Post]
• SafeTrack is technically done, but Metro is still shutting down the Glenmont end of the Red Line for more than two weeks, starting at the end of the month. [Post]
• Reopening the perennial debate: who has the worst drivers in the region? [WAMU]
• The forthcoming Anacostia Busboys & Poets is once again delayed. [UrbanTurf]