POST Local

Nothing like a good old-fashioned “file burn.” (D.C. Police Union/D.C. Firefighters Association) New questions emerge about the apparent burning of city personnel records last Friday: City Paper and the AP have an e-mail sent by a police official to various people in the department’s recruiting division — including an assistant chief — reminding them that “the file burn will be tomorrow morning at 1000 hours.” The police department announced today its internal affairs unit is investigating; the fire and police unions have asked the independent inspector general to probe the matter.

In other news:

Protesters organized by D.C. Vote tried to take their neighborhood gripes to House abortion bill’s sponsor — but his office was closed (D.C. Wire, Politico)

Three of four planned medical marijuana dispensaries get ANCs’ thumbs-up (DCist)

Save the boundary stones (GGW)

Sulaimon Brown speaks: “Mayor Gray should resign immediately if not sooner” (D.C. Wire)

Handy (dcwithoutindictment.com)

Barry in 2009, while facing questions about questionable earmarks and contracts. (Manuel Balce Ceneta - AP) Tomorrow, D.C. Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) will appear with leaders of an ad hoc group called “Say Sorry Barry” at a church in his ward.

“Say Sorry Barry” wants Barry to apologize for his recent comments targeting Asian shop owners and Filipino nurses. Among those scheduled to appear at the event is David Chung, a member of the city Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs commission, who sharply criticized Barry and his previous non-apology apology at a D.C. Council hearing last month.

Will Barry give the public apology he has thus far skirted? Probably, if history is any guide.

(Mike DeBonis - The Washington Post) Last week, some Georgetown residents received a Mayor Vincent C. Gray-signed note pointing out that he “directed” city transportation officials to “repair a sinkhole and restore the brick sidewalk” near at 30th and N streets NW.

Don’t call them “thank you” notes. Call them “you’re welcome” notes: “I trust this work was done to your satisfaction,” said the note. “Please continue to let us know how we can improve your quality of life.”

These aren’t workaday, throwaway notes, either. They’re on high-quality cardstock with an embossed District seal. They appear to be autopen-signed — the signatures on two notes I reviewed were identical but in slightly different positions.

I’ve seen wedding invitations shabbier than this. Quite a few, actually.

Brown’s rule: If it doesn’t go to a nonprofit, it’s not an earmark. (Matt McClain - FOR THE WASHINGTON POST) “Earmark” has been a dirty word around the John A. Wilson Building for a few years now, dating back to 2009, when D.C. Council Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) was revealed to have used budget earmarks to send city funds to nonprofit groups he had created and controlled. Two year later, we learned that earmarking played a role in former member Harry Thomas Jr.’s theft of city funds.

So Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown (D) was somewhat perturbed when I used the E-word in my Saturday story with Jonathan O’Connell on how the council’s latest budget gets the gravy train flowing to Brown’s home Ward 7.

In the interest of clarity, Brown has a point: This year’s budget language doesn’t contain earmarks of the type abused by Barry and Thomas. Those widely used earmarks set aside city funds for certain nonprofit groups, including arts organizations and social service providers. Often the groups were named specifically, sometimes they were specified more generally; in any case, then-Chairman Vincent C. Gray (D) put an end to the practice in 2009.

A week after his death at age 75, arrangements for a public farewell for D.C. musical icon Chuck Brown are starting to come together.

According to daughter Cherita Whiting, plans are in place for an all-day public viewing at the Howard Theatre next Tuesday, May 29. A funeral service will follow on Thursday, May 31. The venue has not been determined, but Whiting said it is likely to be held at either the Washington Convention Center or Verizon Center.

Further details are expected to be released soon, she said.

More from The Washington Post:

— Chuck Brown’s music captured spirit of un­or­tho­dox church

— The night “D.C. lost its president”

— His musical legacy: ‘Chuck Brown was Washington’