DC Cops Charge Marion Barry With Stalking

'I’m tired of being pawn in political game,' grumbles Vince Gray

(NEWSER) - Washington Mayor Vincent Gray and several city council members were among 41 people arrested at a Capitol Hill protest against the budget deal yesterday. Gray and his colleagues were charged with unlawful assembly for blocking passage on the street and were taken to a Capitol Police facility before being released late last night, Politico reports. More»

Bill passes 11-2, could be struck down by Congress

(AP) - The Washington, DC, City Council voted today to legalize gay marriage in the nation's capital, handing supporters a victory after recent defeats in Maine, New York, and New Jersey. Mayor Adrian Fenty has promised to sign the bill, which passed 11-2, and gay couples could begin marrying as early as March. Congress, which has final say over Washington's laws, could reject it, but Democratic leaders have suggested they are reluctant to do so. More»

See, Kanye, this is an interruption the crowd actually liked

(NEWSER) - A stuffy DC city council hearing might not be most people’s idea of a romantic place to get engaged, but maybe the chance to be a YouTube celebrity made it all worth it for Andy Hertzberg and Andy Rollman. That, or they were hoping to drum up sympathy for the cause of gay marriage, which both were there to give public testimony about. Either way, it worked. More»

(NEWSER) - Marion Barry’s lawyer says the woman he was arrested for stalking on Saturday is his ex-girlfriend, and that the two had been together earlier that day, the Washington Post reports. Police say they took Barry into custody after a woman said he was “bothering her”; ex Donna Watts-Brighthaupt says she didn't try to have Barry arrested and that he was pulled over for a traffic violation, though she does have “tons and tons of evidence” that he was stalking her. More»

(NEWSER) - Marion Barry—the controversial former DC mayor and current council member—had a successful kidney transplant last night, the Washington Post reports. Barry, 73, who had been on dialysis for 3 months, announced a week ago that he was experiencing kidney failure likely brought on by a 20-year battle with diabetes and hypertension. The donor was a 47-year-old female friend. More»