Investigative reporter James Grimaldi’s fall series on the Skins hit the team for its ticket practices. Photograph by Matthew Worden

Washington Post editors often say the paper’s two most important beats are the Redskins and the White House. They devote lots of reporters and space to covering the teams at 1600 Pennsylvania and FedEx Field. Matched head to head, which is better—White House or Redskins coverage?

The Redskins

The Post has three full-time reporters on the Skins beat: Jason Reid is in his third year as chief writer. He usually writes the game-day story and most items in the Redskins Insider blog; Rick Maese, the beat’s newest reporter, came from the Baltimore Sun to replace Jason LaCanfora, who went to TV; Barry Svrluga switched from covering the Washington Nationals to writing features about the football team.

On game days, the Post floods the Redskins zone. The press box hosts seven Posties: the three beat writers plus two columnists as well as utility writers Dan Steinberg and Paul Tenorio.

The Post has had a rocky relationship with Redskins owner Dan Snyder. A few years ago, the Skins accused the Post of meddling in the locker room and writing too many negative articles. Team executives tried to undermine Nunyo Demasio, then the beat reporter. The Redskins yanked 267 of the Post’s season tickets as part of a 2004 dispute over coverage and alleged resale of the tickets.

We Love DC was born in 2008 after ten bloggers from Metroblogging DC decided to start a new site. They wanted independence from the city-blog network—declaring it on July 4, naturally—and have since nearly doubled their volunteer writing team and, in the past six months, tripled their monthly readers.

Don Whiteside and Jenn Larsen were two of We Love DC’s founders; Shannon, who likes to keep her last name under wraps, joined the blog in April. It runs the gamut on coverage—everything from urban culture to food to breaking news—and includes short, digestible items as well as long-form features. Don covers technology news—and uses his background as a software engineer to keep the site running—while Jenn covers nightlife and the arts, and Shannon writes on urban development, transit, and neighborhood news.

We caught up with the three Washingtonophiles to find out exactly what they love about our city. And because we couldn’t resist, we got the scoop on a few things they could do without, too.

After years as an advice columnist, Emily Yoffe has grown careful about what she asks other people. Photograph by Chris Leaman

As author of the Dear Prudence advice column, Slate correspondent Emily Yoffe has a job that allows her to explore and learn about some odd corners of human existence.

In addition to sifting through hundreds of plaintive and sometimes humorous letters sent to her advice column each month, she has signed herself up for experiments ranging from a vow of silence to becoming a “drag king” for Slate’s Human Guinea Pig column.

In her own words:

‘‘I owe my career to Mike Kinsley. He plucked me out of the intern-application pile at the New Republic years ago.

I’m the third Prudence. Herb Stein, an economic adviser to President Nixon, started Dear Prudence. He was a friend of Mike’s and thought Slate needed an advice column.

Then it was taken over by Margo Howard, the daughter of Ann Landers. When I heard she was leaving, I thought I had to go for this.

There was something even darker than the sea of navy and black business suits packed into this morning’s Bisnow-hosted symposium about law firms: The future of the billable hour.

Anyone who’s had to hire one knows that lawyers usually charge by the hour. Or, more precisely, by the tenth of an hour. In this economy, that means law-firm clients are growing grumpier with each six-minute phone call to their outside counsel.

Michael Helfer, general counsel of CitiGroup and a panelist at the Bisnow event, put it bluntly when he said CitiGroup’s inhouse legal department has been reduced during the past few years by nearly 300 employees, many of whom were laid off. The lawyers who are left have had their compensation slashed by as much as 60 percent. Helfer says he’s consequently lost his patience for paying his company’s outside lawyers premium fees. “The amount of sympathy I have for the argument that $1,000 an hour is a reasonable rate . . . is nil.”

Oh, ACORN. Not only have you sparked the greatest congressional witchhunt since the McCarthy ear, you’ve also prompted Darrell Issa to start making jokes again, which may be your worst crime against America. This week in Congress: All the attention is starting to go to Joe Wilson’s head. Better milk those fifteen minutes... Both Roy Blunt and Tom Perriello are also basking in praise but Michael Burgess feels snubbed. Jim Oberstar is using caps TO REALLY, REALLY EMPHASIZE HIS POINT; Arlen Specter is eager to link the two metropolitan cities of New York and... Scranton; Rob Wittman needs to stp abbrvtng, and Vern Buchanan still isn’t sure about this alleged “swine flu.” And like everyone else in Congress, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is enjoying watching Tom DeLay shake his bon-bon on Dancing with the Stars. And the “waiving” of flags, apparently.

>> See a slideshow from the evening here

What: The Navy Memorial Lone Sailor Awards dinner.

Where: The National Building Museum.

When: Tuesday, September 22, 6 to 10:30.

Who: The black-tie gala was a who’s who of distinguished men in uniform, politicians, and their spouses attached at the arm. With so many decorated seamen, high-ranking Marines, and Congressmen, the only misters and misses in attendance seemed to be with the media. Among those drawing the most attention were Kentucky Senator and former major-league pitcher Jim Bunning; Tennessee Congressional representatives Marsha Blackburn and Steve Cohen; Pennsylvania Congressman Christopher Carney; vice chief of naval operations Jonathan Greenert; former NASA administrator Sean O’Keefe; former CEO of CNN and managing editor of Time Walter Isaacson; John McCain’s mother, Roberta McCain; master chief petty officer of the navy Rick West; and former commandant of the Marines Paul X. Kelley. After hobnobbing with photographers and admirers during the VIP cocktail hour, the boldfaced names turned their attention to the evening’s three awards recipients: cosmetic business giant Leonard Lauder; FedEx founder Fred Smith; and baseball great Yogi Berra.

Scene: Named after the symbolic statue standing outside the Navy Memorial on Pennsylvania Avenue, Northwest, the Lone Sailor Awards honor distinguished sea-service veterans who exemplify military values in their civilian career. In fact, without a resume of brass honors dangling from your uniform or a posse of aids trailing your every move, even those in the blackest of ties could feel under-dressed beneath the vaulted arcades and Doric columns of the National Building Museum. This was probably the only awards show in town preceeded by a national anthem and pledge of allegiance (capped off with a cry of “Go Navy, beat Army!”), and at no point did Kanye West rush the stage to dispute the show’s outcome. Slick government contractors rubbed shoulders with well-heeled dignitaries, and two jumbo-trons played narrated videos recapping each recipient’s lifetime achievements to more standing ovations than a State of the Union address.