Friday, September 5, 2008
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May 20, 2008 - (May 22) ARTS AL FRESCO You'll be able to see the "stars" in the sunshine as Arlington rolls out Arts Al Fresco(http://www.arlingtonarts.org/cultural_affairs/alfresco.htm)- its free annual outdoor summer performance series. If you visit The Farmers & Artists Market at Wilson Boulevard and North Oak today noon, you`ll be able listen to the likes of bluesman Whop Frazier. Frazier will be followed by vibraphonist Harry Wilson June 19th and the Washington Saxophone Quartet plays on September 18th.
(May 22) NIGHT ON THE TOWN
"What do you want to do tonight?" "I dunno...what do YOU want to do?" Sound familiar? If you want an answer, check in with the group Things to Do D.C. meeting at Tony Changs Chinese restaurant Thursday evening at 5:30. While youre there, enjoy a delicious Mongolian feast, a screening of the new Indiana Jones flick "The Kindgom of the Crystal Skull," and kick up your heels in a late-night romp at one of D.C.'s newest downtown hot spots.
(May 23) HOMAGE TO OCTAVIO PAZ A rousing tribute to Octavio Paz will take place at the Mumford Room of the Library of Congress Friday evening from 5:00 to 7:00. This prolific Mexican writer, poet, diplomat and winner of the 1990 Nobel Prize for literature will be celebrated by his peers, as distinguished writers and scholars discuss the wide-ranging themes that define his work.
(May 25-Sept 7) HIDDEN TREASURES Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul, a landmark exhibit bringing the ancient opulence of the Middle East to the United States, begins it US tour Saturday at the National Gallery of Artand stays on view through September 7th. These extraordinary artifacts, dating as far back as 2200 BC, were long thought to have been stolen or destroyed.
May 20, 2008 - Virginians worried about making their mortgage payments will have an opportunity to get some advice on how to avoid foreclosure. The state is planning a series of regional clinics to provide both general information and individual sessions with certified housing counselors. They`re being organized by the Virginia Foreclosure Prevention Task Force, and are scheduled for next month in Chantilly, Woodbridge, Richmond, Virginia Beach, and Roanoke. The clinics will last about 90 minutes with a 30-minute general session followed by the free foreclosure counseling. Officials are encouraging residents to register for the counseling sessions, but say walk-ins are welcome.
Matt McCleskey has more...
May 20, 2008 - Virginia consumers should be able to find more information about the costs of health-care services at hospitals under a new effort that's now underway in the commonwealth.
Anne Marie Morgan has more from the Capitol...
May 20, 2008 - Non-profits are often described as lifelines for the most vulnerable but as the economy slows these organizations are struggling as demand for their services increases. This is part one of a two-part series on how non-profits in the Washington Metro Area are keeping up with the region's growing needs.
Kavitha Cardoza reports....
May 20, 2008 -
May 20, 2008 - The District has been forced to rehire police officers who were fired for misconduct. Judges and arbitrators overruled the initial firings of seventeen police officers because the District failed to meet deadlines in dismissing and sanctioning the officers. This isn't the first time this has happened. The Washington Post reported in the 90's that 200 officers had been rehired due to similar errors. This time, the officers had been fired for violations including falsifying documents and lying about hours and in one case improperly accessing private information about a journalist and posting it online.
Sabri Ben-Achour reports...
May 20, 2008 - Maryland Governor Martin O`Malley is looking to the high seas for clean energy. The governor is meeting in Annapolis with an Irish company called Wavebob to see if Maryland can derive significant electrical power from the ocean. Wavebob makes special buoys that rise and fall with the surf, harmonized to the rise and fall of the swells to absorb as much as possible of the kinetic energy stored in waves. That energy is converted to electricity - eventually enough to power up to 1000 homes for each buoy, the company says.
Sabri Ben-Achour reports...
May 20, 2008 - A second person has pled guilty in connection with the multimillion dollar DC tax office embezzlement scheme. 40 year old Marilyn Yoon from Maryland faces a possible 10 year prison sentence after pleading guilty to possessing more than $526,000 of taxpayer money, originally part of $20 million dollars stolen from the district`s tax office. The plea agreement says that Yoon funneled money and gifts from alleged embezzlement ringleader and tax office employee Harriet Walters. Yoon began to suspect that the money was obtained through fraud but accepted the checks anyway. The two became friends when Yoon worked at department stores where Walters lavishly spent allegedly embezzled millions.
Sabri Ben-Achour reports...
May 20, 2008 - Amid skyrocketing gas prices, Metro officials are seeing increased ridership. Weekday ridership has increased during every part of the day this month, compared to this time last year. Evening ridership has increased most dramatically - six percent compared to the same time last year.
Metro General Manager John Catoe has sent a memo to employees regarding the potential for a large influx of riders as more people leave their cars at home to run errands or attend events.
Meymo Lyons reports...
May 20, 2008 - An $18 million plan to improve pedestrian safety in the District has been released and city officials are asking for public comment. One of the worst intersections in DC is at 14th and U Streets - ironically just outside the city government building where the safety recommendations were announced. The plan includes putting pedestrian countdowns at street corners, identifying needed sidewalks and increasing fines for failing to yield to pedestrians from $50 to possibly $500. Last year motorists struck and killed 25 pedestrians in the city. Department of Transportation Director Emeka Moneme says they also plan to install more speed cameras because the ones in use now are not effective. The plan will be implemented over 10 years.
Kavitha Cardoza. reports...
May 20, 2008 - Long before the Nationals arrived and both incarnations of the Senators left, DC was home to several Negro League teams. Now a new exhibit at the Historical Society of Washington is honoring them. The first teams were the Mutuals and the Alerts, which featured Fredrick Douglass's son as a player.
But Dr. Gail Lowe, the co-curator of the exhibit, says they are focusing one team in particular: the Washington-Homestead Grays. The Grays started playing half their games at Griffith Stadium around 1940 because they struggled to draw fans in Pittsburgh. For many years, they outdrew the all-white Senators of the American League.
William Keyes, an 87-year-old resident of DC, saw them often in person. His family owned a restaurant just a block from the stadium, which was frequented by Negro League players. Keyes donated several artifacts for the exhibit, some of which he picked up in his family restaurant, some of which came from Josh Gibson, who was known as the Black Babe Ruth for his power. Keyes says his saddest memory was that Gibson`s alcoholism ruined his career and eventually his life. Gibson died suddenly at the age of 36 in 1947, three months before Jackie Robinson integrated the major leagues.
Matt Bush reports...
May 20, 2008 - Authorities have filed scores of complaints against allegedly deceptive telemarketers in a major sweep of the industry. In the probe called "Operation Tele-Phoney," the Federal Trade Commission, the Justice Department and several other agencies have filed 180 civil and criminal complaints in federal district courts against telemarketers. The commission says the effort is its largest-ever sweep of telemarketers, involving more than 500,000 consumers whom the agency alleges were defrauded out of more than $100 million dollars.
Gene Kuleta reports...
May 20, 2008 - As drivers pass the National Mall this week, they'll notice thousands of life-size cutouts of children, representing the 850 children who enter the country's foster care system each day. It's put on by the national CASA association, which supports neglected and abused children in the foster care system, found a visual way to mark the occasion.
Faryl Ury reports...
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