Amid all the serious stuff, the General Assembly has its moments of merriment. At one point last week, while House Speaker R. Clayton Mitchell Jr., D-Eastern Shore, was trying to gavel the delegates ...

Just about every judge has one, on the desk, waiting to be used. So why is it that in D.C. Superior Court, one of the biggest and busiest courthouses in the country, no one can remember a judge ever ...

Lt. Gov. Larry Rhoden has a backup in case he breaks another gavel. In fact, he’s got four. Rhoden is known for his literal heavy handedness on the podium during legislative sessions — he broke his ...

Linguist and lexicographer Ben Zimmer analyzes the origins of words in the news. Read previous columns here. After a tense 15 rounds of voting that stretched over four days, Republican Rep. Kevin ...