As the federal government shutdown entered its second day, legislators whose districts have been particularly hard hit began looking for ways to minimize the local impact.

While Republicans don't often side with the desires of D.C. officials, yesterday it was Democrats opposing a bill that would have funded the D.C. government.

Over 90,000 D.C. voters approved a referendum in 2010 to have an elected attorney general, but it took only seven D.C. Council members to push the election back to 2018.

If you live in D.C. or Maryland, there are some new laws and policies taking effect that you might want to be aware of.

Don't have cash? Don't worry—today is the first day that D.C. taxicabs will have to take credit cards for payment, and the city's top taxicab regulator says that the overwhelming majority of them will.

Starting on Oct. 1, D.C.'s sales tax will drop from six to 5.75 percent, the lowest in the region.

D.C. will pay its 32,000 employees out of a reserve fund, sparing residents from a local government shutdown.

Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler, a Democratic candidate for governor in 2014, joins Kojo and Tom Sherwood in the studio.