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Friday, July 3, 2009
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September 26, 2008 - Scores of first responders will conduct an emergency exercise at the Westfield-Wheaton Shopping Centre in Maryland Sunday morning. Lucille Baur of the Montgomery County Police Department says police officers, firefighters and emergency medical workers will take part in the exercise to practice the skills they'll need in a real emergency. Because it will appear to be the real thing, she wants to make sure the public is alerted before they see the flashing lights and hear the sirens wail. Bauer says the exercise will take place from 6am to 10:30 am on Sunday to allow the mall to open for business as usual at 11am.
Tara Meehan reports...
September 26, 2008 - A group of veterans of the War in Iraq joined Virginia Governor Tim Kaine for a ceremony to sign a bill creating a license plate that pays tribute to their military service.
Anne Marie Morgan reports...
September 26, 2008 - Maryland's State Board of Elections is reassuring voters that they can't be barred from voting if their homes are in foreclosure. Attorney General Douglas Gansler wrote in a letter to state elections administrator Linda Lamone that there's no legal basis to deny people the right to vote if they've lost their homes.
Meymo Lyons reports...
September 26, 2008 - According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the lower a person's income, the less likely they are to vote. Advocates for the homeless are working to change that.
Kathleen O'Neil caught up with one of them...
September 26, 2008 - One school system in northern Virginia is scrambling with staffing after an unexpected jump in student enrollment. School officials in Alexandria are moving employees around in the effort to deal with the increased number of students. Enrollment numbers are about 500 more than expected. Because of that, administrators are finding it difficult to make sure there are enough teachers and workers to handle the load. The Connection Newspapers report school officials think the increase may be due to high gas prices, with people moving closer to the District to save money. The sudden jump in numbers reverses a ten year trend of declining enrollment.
Pat Brogan reports...
September 26, 2008 - The fashion police always say, "Wear no white after Labor Day." But when it comes to wine, there's nothing wrong with red. David Furst speaks with wine writer Dick Rosano about some red wines to consider in autumn.
September 26, 2008 - Frustration grows in Washington and Mississippi.
Todd Zwillich reports...
September 26, 2008 - Three new laws regulating motorcycles are on the books in Maryland. In an attempt to make streets safer, the laws focus on motorcyclists. Failing to yield the right of way and causing a crash used to garner a $150 citation; now, it's $1,000 and a suspended license. Also, a law in effect since June allows motorcycles to have LED lighting so bikes are more visible, and three-wheeled bikes are now considered motorcycles, subject to the same laws. Maryland says more than half of the motorcycle crashes are not the motorcycle driver's fault. Eight of 10 crashes injure or kill a motorcycle's passengers.
Stephanie Kaye reports...
September 26, 2008 - Some former residents of the Franklin Men's Homeless Shelter in DC have joined activists to protest DC Mayor Adrian Fenty's administration's decision to close the 300-bed facility at 13th and K streets.
When asked for a response, the mayor's office issued a statement saying "The administration is still committed to providing permanent supportive housing to the men at Franklin Shelter, with the end goal of closing the shelter by Oct 1."
But Mary Ann Luby, with the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, says the Fenty administration hasn't clearly explained why the Franklin shelter needs to close or what will happen to the building.
Sixty-six-year-old Lewis Cannao, who has stayed at Franklin for the past two years, says the city's efforts to find permanent housing amount to putting the homeless out of sight and out of mind by relocating them to dangerous neighborhoods.
The protesters also voiced concern that the closing would result in more homeless people ending up on the street just as the hypothermia season returns in November.
Jonathan Wilson reports...
September 26, 2008 - D.C.'s Board of Elections and Ethics has certified results from the September 9th primary but is not offering an explanation for voting irregularities that occurred on election day. Elections employees and volunteers counted paper ballots from a single precinct by hand for four hours Wednesday and nearly six hours Thursday before the three-member board certified the results.
The board had delayed certification to allow for the recount from Precinct 141. That's where a computer memory cartridge reportedly malfunctioned and skewed the results, adding thousands of phantom votes to initial tallies.
Officials say an internal investigation is ongoing but said the irregularities did not alter the outcomes of any races.
Rebecca Blatt reports...
September 26, 2008 - The mortgage crisis is eating away at the nation's crumbling financial foundation, and lawmakers are scrambling to exterminate the problem. Their answer is to crack open a whopping can of taxpayer-funded bailout for the banks. But stand back. This is going to be messy.
Elizabeth Wynne Johnson of Capitol News Connection reports on this week in Congress...
September 26, 2008 - In Maryland, a coalition of law enforcement officers have voiced their support for Question 2A -- the effort to bring slot machines into the state. Jimmy Dulay of the Maryland State Police and President of SLEOLA, the State Law Enforcement Officers Labor Alliance, says his group's support boils down to two things: members see it as the only solution to Maryland's budget woes, and, perhaps just as important to voters, SLEOLA doesn't think it will increase crime.
Jonathan Wilson reports...
September 26, 2008 - (Sept 27) NATIONAL BOOK FESTIVALThe National Book Festival descends on the National Mall Saturday from 10am to 5pm. Bookworms of all stripes will gather for readings by authors and informative workshops, as they celebrate the written word. More than 100,000 bibliophiles and the books they love will be on hand at this free, rain or shine event.
(Sept 27 & 28) HERstoryHERstory comes to the DC Arts Center Saturday and Sunday, with afternoon and late-night performances. This new play chronicles the stories of six women and their evolving relationships with hip-hop culture, shedding light on the conflicts between sexuality, artistry and the genre's perceived degradation of women.
(Sept 26-29) ISABELLAS COURT[Isabellas Court](http://www.folger.edu/woSummary.cfm?wotypeid=3&season=c&woid=455), a concert showcasing the music of Italy's High Renaissance period, comes to the Folger Elizabethan Theatre tonight at 8pm, with matinee and evening performances through Monday. This unique sound, popular in the opulent court of Isabella d'Este during the 15th and 16th centuries, is punctuated by lively rhythms, poetic language and infectious melodies.
(Sept 27-Nov 2) BUSYTOWN Busytown, a musical adaptation of the popular children`s picture book, What Do People Do All Day?, opens Imagination Stage's new season in Bethesda, Saturday morning at 10:30 through November 2. This adventurous story is portrayed through the eyes of Huckle, a young striped tabby cat, eager to learn about the world and find his own special place in it.
September 26, 2008 - The Senate briefly took up the D.C.'s controversial handgun bill Thursday, but Democrats quickly stopped the measure from moving forward. Texas Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison brought the handgun bill onto the floor for unanimous consent, meaning the bill could actually pass without a roll call vote. Hutchison argued that residents of D.C.'s second-amendment rights are being violated because the District hasn't moved fast enough to comply with a recent Supreme Court ruling.
Eric Niiler reports from Capitol Hill...
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