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Saturday, November 21, 2009
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November 12, 2007 - A local assistance program is distributing 13 thousand turkey dinners to District area residents this holiday season. Bread for the City is giving out turkeys and all the holiday fixings to the low-income elderly, disabled, and those with children. The Holiday Helpings program is giving out four-thousand more turkeys this year than last and has expanded to the nearby parts of Maryland and Virginia. Poverty is on the rise in D.C. and so are food prices. Bread for the City's, Ted Pringle, has felt the pinch in buying for the program. Goverment funding is much lower than in previous years, so he bought most of the turkeys in April, when they were cheaper. Bread for the City will continue the Holiday Helpings program through December 21st.
Emily Reddy was there and filed this report...
November 12, 2007 - National Transportation Officials continue to investigate a train derailment in Southeast D.C. on Friday. NTSB officials have yet to determine why 10 cars of a 90-unit CSX freight train, carrying coal, jumped the tracks on a bridge over the Anacostia river. Allan Etter is a spokesman for D.C. Fire EMS. He says the scene has been secured and now officials are concentrating on the enviromental impact. Etter says CSX is working on a plan to get all of the cars out of the river.
Jessica Golloher reports...
November 12, 2007 - Maryland's House of Delegates could vote as early as this afternoon on a measure for a referendum on the whether the state should legalize slot machines. The referendum is up for consideration in the House after the Senate passed it last week. Senate President Mike Miller says Maryland needs slots and is losing revenue as residents take their gambling money to nearby states where slots are legal. Slots opponents say legalizing slot machines would lead to a range of social problems. Also up for consideration in the House, after being passed by the Senate, are measures to expand health coverage to more residents and to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in state spending. Over the weekend, the House passed its version of a major package of tax increases, meant to close the state's budget deficit. The package is similar to what the Senate approved last week, but now the chambers have to work out the differences, such as on extending the sales tax to more services.
Gene Kuleta reports from the Maryland State House...
November 12, 2007 - Power Breakfast, our daily look at what's happening on Capitol Hill and at the White House...
November 12, 2007 - Supporters of legalizing slot machines in Maryland have given nearly 1.25 million dollars to candidates and political parties since 2003. Gambling interests have also spent about 2.6 million dollars lobbying in the the state capitol during the past two years. The Baltimore Sun, which reviewed thousands of campaign finance records, says the owner of Ocean Downs in Worcester County has given almost $400,000 through family members and companies he controls since 2003. A board member of the watchdog group Common Cause-Maryland, says it's an example of how money moves legislation. But others say it's a long-standing part of the political process, where people are allowed to give money to candidates who support their views.
Erin Stamper reports...
November 12, 2007 - CSX train derailment over the Anacostia river on Friday has created concern among officials and awe among train chasers. At least 30 people are gathered at the site of the CSX accident which sent six cars plunging into the polluted river but not all of them are there to clean up the wreckage. Alan Cunnard came from Virginia to check out the damage. Bob Sullivan is a spokesman for CSX. He says officials are going to get the cars, full of coal, that weigh as much as 100 tons out of the already polluted river. Sullivan says no word yet on how long it will take to clean up the debris. The train chasers say that's too bad because they would have liked to watch that too.
Jessica Golloher reports from Southeast D.C...
November 12, 2007 - Diesel fuel hit an all-time high today at $3.45 a gallon. That's up by a third in just the last year. This increase has left a local school system about half a million dollars short in its school bus fuel budget. The Montgomery County Public School system has one of the largest bus fleets in the nation. And at about eight miles per gallon, those buses use a lot of gas. Even with a school system discount, this fuel price increase has a big impact. The school board will discuss how to cover the half million dollar shortfall at its meeting tomorrow afternoon.
Emily Reddy reports...
November 12, 2007 - The trial begins Tuesday in a major property dispute between several conservative churches and both the national Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia. The conservative churches voted to break away after an openly gay bishop was elected in 2003. The conservative churches claim that a Civil War era law governing denominational divisions allows them to breakaway --and take land and property with them. Breakaway churches say they bought and maintained the property and it should stay with them. The Diocese of Virginia says church property is held in trust for future generations of Episcopalians. Millions of dollars of land and property are at stake.
Shia Levitt reports...
November 12, 2007 - (Through December 8) As Bob Marley said, "One good thing about music, when it hits you feel no pain." District Fine Art's exhibit "Hit Me with Music" takes a cue from Marley. Running through December 8th in their Wisconsin Avenue location, the show features paintings, sculptures, and photographs of musicians and musical pop culture.
(Through Dec 16) The stunning Irish drama Shining City just opened at Studio Theater near D.C.`s Dupont Circle. Conor McPherson's drama uses richly drawn characters and powerful storytelling to create a tale of love, loss and faith, as a widower seeks help from a therapist when he begins seeing his wife's ghost.
(Dec 10-11) Next month the Eighth Annual Young People's Poetry Marathon in Spanish will be held at MLK Library, bringing elementary through high school students together to promote the beauty of the Spanish language and keep interest in poetry and literature alive among the younger generation. Students can recite original poems or those of a favorite poet - in Spanish. Parents and educators are encouraged to contact Teatro de la Luna to sign up for the December 10th and 11th event.
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