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Chaz Powers tends bar at the Pug on a Monday night. The bar, which opened three years ago, is one of H Street's new businesses: Photo by Kristin McGrath

Looting and arson devastated H Street's businesses during the riots following Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in 1968. In the past few years, seemingly overnight, the neighborhood has reemerged, rebranded as the “Atlas District” (named for the Atlas Theater, which reopened in 2006 after closing in 1976), a place travel guides refer to as having a night life.

The Olympic Caldron glows at the opening ceremony for the 2010 games in Vancouver, Canada.: Photo by Matt May, courtesy of wikimedia commons.

Team USA celebrated Evan Lysacek's upset win to capture the gold medal in the men's figure skating long program, but it was South Korea's "Queen" Kim Yu-na who carried the weight of a nation's celebration last night after she skated to the first place slot.

Pictured here is David Loeb. He said that Loeb’s Deli is one of the three ‘real’ delis in the district.

As generic eateries populate the streets of D.C., traditional delis are becoming a thing of the past.

ROCKVILLE, Md. – Days after the storm that dropped nearly 30 inches of snow on the D.C. region, Dawit Cherenet, Hana Cherenet and Fasika Wondem were trying to free their car from the layers of slush that made the wheels spin. Just yards away, traffic rushed by on Veirs Mill Road, which had been cleared days ago. Their street, Robindale Drive (view map), has not been plowed.

Dawit Cherenet, Hana Cherenet and Fasika Wondem of Rockville, Md., attempt to free their car, which has been stuck since Friday.: Photo by Kristin McGrath

Journalism experts are challenging the myth of the fourth estate, the news industry completely free from government funding in the United States, and are calling for fresh ways of funding new media through the government.  

A recent report from the USC Annenberg School of Communication revealed the U.S. government has a tradition of funding independent media through postal subsidies, public notices and tax breaks.

Tai Shan, the superstar panda at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., will be leaving his birthplace to fulfill his important role in sustaining the panda population of the world. On Jan. 30 a celebration will be held at The National Zoo to honor the panda. Tai Shan is the first panda to be born at The National Zoo that survived more than just a couple of days.

An agreement between The National Zoo and the government of the People's Republic of China states that every giant panda cub born at The National Zoo is property of China. These American-born giant panda cubs are to be sent to Wolong's Beifengxia Base in Ya'an, Sichuan, sometime after the cub turns two.

Zookeepers put honey on crates to stimulate panda development.: photo by Lauren Orsini

The grand ballroom at the Marriott in North Bethesda, Maryland is a big place.  Usually used as a meeting space for conferences or events, the room can hold up to 1,000 people at a time.  On this particular Monday, the ballroom was crowded. 
The grand ballroom at the North Bethesda Marriott on Monday, January 18: photo by Joseph Liu

Despite being the most visited national park in the U.S., the National Mall needs between 350 and 400 million dollars worth of maintenance.: photo by Sean Connolly.

It's called "America's front yard," but the National Mall's reflecting pools, green spaces and park facilities are in a state of disrepair.

The National Park Service, in collaboration with several agencies, has drafted the National Mall Plan to lay out future rehabilitation and improvement to the Mall.

But some critics say the current plan is not enough.

There were no throngs of protesters or supporters lining the halls of the Wilson building. Demonstrators did not distract the police officers, chatting idly around the windswept Freedom Plaza beneath a clear December sky. The council chamber did not explode with emotion and applause, nor did the room echo with howls of anger when the vote was cast. Yet despite the calm and civil circumstances, the D.C. City Council's 11-2 passage of a bill legalizing same-sex marriage Tuesday was a dramatic moment in the battle over the definition of marriage in the District.

Council members before vote on D.C. same-sex marriage bill.: Photo by William W. Cummings, American Observer

Photo from Flickr user stevendepolo

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