Back to Business, Jan. 3

This week is the 1 year anniversary of the DC bag tax. The bag fee is nickel and diming at its finest: for most people, it's not worth shopping across the border to avoid the fee. However, a Giant Grocery right on the border (on the MD side) reported an unexplainable uptick in business this time last year. At least a number of residents had beef with the principle. Of course, you can always bring bags to the store to avoid the 'fee', but that's a hipster thing. But-the idea is not going away: This year, San Jose, CA (population near 1 mil.) jumped on the bandwagon and banned plastic bags.

DC also gets a new mayor: Vince Gray. He represents a return to the status quo: Gray put the long-time teachers who were fired for alleged incompetence to the top of the rehire list. This is good old DC. Although shifting demographics should have favored the "progressive" (Adrian Fenty*), many of the 'new residents' of DC actually vote absentee ballots in their home state. This left the 'authentic' residents to decide the fate of the bike-lane-and dogpark-loving mayor.

*Lost the Democratic Primary, Won the Republican Primary by write-in, but declined the nomination. On Election Day, Fenty won some Northwest precincts through an insurgent (and not endorsed) write-in campaign.