A popular program that allows D.C. public school students to receive tuition for private school education has had its funding cut under President Obama's 2013 budget. more ›

President Obama has included language in his 2013 federal budget that would allow the District to spend its own money when and how it wants. more ›

Mayor Vince Gray is running around Lower Manhattan today visiting all three major credit-rating agencies, lobbying for an increase in the District's municipal bond ratings, which have been unchanged since 2009. more ›

Metro's Board of Directors agreed yesterday to set dates for public hearings on a slate of fare hikes that could see the cost of just entering the system at peak hours rise from $1.95 to $2.10 and the maximum cost for a trip jump from $5.00 to $5.75. more ›

It was a rough year for government support of the arts in 2011. Federal and local governments scaled back their funding, in some cases forcing cultural institutions to make significant programming cuts. more ›

Four D.C. voting rights protestors, including the organizer of a week-old hunger strike, were arrested on Capitol Hill during a rally against anti-abortion language in a federal budget resolution. more ›

Well, damn it. Despite Martin Austermuhle's protestations yesterday, the federal government still looks like it's creeping toward running out of cash and going into shutdown mode. Hooray. Bad news for D.C. more ›

It's Wednesday, and Congress has yet to finalize and vote on an omnibus federal spending plan. You know what that means -- if something isn't done by Friday, the federal government could shut down, taking with it the District's government. more ›

The three protesters that launched a hunger strike yesterday for D.C. voting right and self-determination are planning on trying to meet with Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) today, in hopes of having him introduce a clean bill granting the District budgetary autonomy. more ›

When the District is short on cash, its leaders tend to places freezes on hiring and travel. Mayor Vince Gray just did the same. more ›

Taxi cab rates aren't the only thing that could be trending upward at some point over the next year. more ›

What have all the additional police, sanitation and traffic enforcement officers used in connection with Occupy DC cost the District? Almost $1 million, so far. more ›

Today, D.C. leadership stated that they "regret" they cannot support Rep. Darrell Issa's (R-CA) proposal to afford the city more budgetary control at the expense of abortion funding. more ›

Would you give up some autonomy to get some autonomy? That's a question District officials may soon have to answer. more ›

The writing was certainly on the wall for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library before its Sunday hours were last-minute scramble late last weeksaved on Friday. But big budget challenges remain for the city's library system. more ›

During a press conference held earlier today outside the Lincoln Theatre, the financially-strapped venue's board of directors unleashed several criticisms. Perhaps the loudest were about Mayor Vince Gray, who they claimed was refusing to take a meeting with them regarding the theater's funding situation. more ›

Representatives from the Lincoln Theatre's board of directors made their case in front of the historic theater this afternoon: without a $500,000 boost in operational funds from the city at the beginning of the 2012 fiscal year, they would likely be forced to close at the end of the year. more ›

At his monthly breakfast with the D.C. Council yesterday, Mayor Vince Gray and some of his top aides celebrated what they said was a huge step towards budget autonomy for the District -- a congressional spending bill that lets the city spend its own money. more ›

Long a symbol of both the potential and the pitfalls of the District's public school system, Cardozo High School will soon undergo a massive renovation and modernization. more ›

Despite the chaotic way in which it was passed yesterday, Mayor Vince Gray said today that he'd sign the proposal increasing taxes on District residents making more than $350,000 a year. more ›

One councilmember tore up the bill. Another called the whole idea a "vendetta." A third compared the debate to Alice in Wonderland. Tempers flared. Parliamentary procedure seemed non-existent at times. The term "class warfare" was bandied about. And Councilmember Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) somehow ended up on the same side of a tax debate as his colleague from Ward 2, Jack Evans. more ›

As the D.C. Council prepares to meet in its first session since it came back from summer recess and the last session before the beginning of the 2012 fiscal year, its members appear ready to raise taxes on some of the city's highest earners. more ›

In other, somewhat less obvious budget gap-related news: the District Department of Motor Vehicles will be raising rates on some transactions, including fees for residential parking permits and change of address requests. more ›

With a mere two weeks left in the District's 2011 fiscal year, D.C. CFO Natwar Gandhi told Mayor Vince Gray that he stumbled across an additional $89 million in cash today. more ›

In belt-tightening times, local jurisdictions look to suck as much extra money out of residents as possible. But what type of tax will bring in additional revenue without driving people away from that activity? Alcohol. more ›

The municipal soap opera involving a possible tax increase on the District's highest-earners took on new life this week with a report from the Post that D.C. Council Chair Kwame Brown, who has staunchly opposed any tax hikes, may be softening his stance. more ›

Just like any normal resident, the District government has a checking account from which it pays for daily operations. But according to Mayor Vince Gray, the balance on the city's checking account is a little low these days. more ›

If Mayor Vince Gray was looking for a way to put a little distance between himself and the D.C. Council, well, it appears he found it. After pocket vetoing a bill last night which would have delayed a retroactive tax on municipal bond interest, Gray was called out by Councilmember Mary Cheh -- and since, he's been chastized by the legislative body's Chair, Kwame Brown. more ›

Is the honeymoon between Ward 3 D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh and Mayor Vince Gray finally coming to an end? It appears possible after Cheh sharply criticized Gray for not signing a bill she authored that would have delayed a tax on municipal bonds. more ›