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Saturday, November 21, 2009
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February 16, 2009 - Lawmakers in Maryland have scheduled a hearing this week on repealing the state's death penalty. For commentator Vicki Schieber of Maryland Citizens Against State Executions, the issue is a very personal one.
The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the opinions of WAMU 88.5 or American University. What do you think?
Go to www.Conversation.wamu.org and click on "Commentary Forum."
February 16, 2009 - The Maryland legislature is considering giving all municipalities in the state the same power Montgomery County has: monitoring motorists using speed cameras.
Matt Bush reports....
February 16, 2009 - Washington-area Peace Corps recruiters are lugging around thicker stacks of volunteer applications in 2009. The jump in requests to serve overseas makes DC the number-two recruitment hotbed nationally, relative to the population.
David Klatt reports...
February 16, 2009 -
(Feb 16) LIBRARY OF CONGRESS President Abraham Lincoln has been getting some much-deserved press on his 200th birthday, but The Library of Congress has not forgotten George Washington. There's a tribute to the first prez during a special open house that runs today until 3pm, in the Library's cavernous main reading room.
(Feb 16) REVENGE Solas Nua unleashes the play Revenge during the Tinderbox Reading Series tonight at 1409 Playbill Café near Dupont Circle at 7. The series comes to the Capital City via debut performances at Tinderbox Theatre in Belfast. Tonight, the worlds of the living and the dead meet as a young couple plans their long-awaited wedding.
(Feb 17) GOURMET GALA 40 of Washington's top cooks curry favor for a great cause at the St. Jude's Hospital Gourmet Gala, tomorrow at the National Building Museum from 5:30 to 9:30. The chefs will sauté away to benefit the research hospital's work to cure cancer with a cocktail reception, silent and open auctions and a New Orleans-style Jazz band - oh yes, and some of the best food in town.
(Through Mar 5) OBAMA IN BLANKETS President Obama: a Celebration in Art Quilts is on display at the Cafritz Art Center in Takoma Park through March 5th. This grass-roots multi-ethnic exhibit celebrates the election of President Barack Obama and the patchwork of American culture and politics.
QUILT by [Debra Gabel](http://zebrapatterns.wordpress.com/2008/12/14/obama-quilt/), a fiber artist and designer.at the Cafritz Arts Center in Takoma Park.
courtesy of: Debra Gabel
February 16, 2009 - Illinois calls itself "the Land of Lincoln," but the roots of our sixteenth president also run deep into Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. Martha Woodroof reports from the campus of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
Our report was produced by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.
February 16, 2009 - The soon-to-be released men housed at the District's Central Detention Facility, wore bright orange jumpsuits to the Project Empowerment Plus graduation. They're part of an effort to help inmates prepare for a life on the other side of the iron bars. Twenty-four inmates took part in the five-week class designed to help them avoid conflicts, control anger and find employment.
Carlos Goodal, who will complete a six-month drug-and-theft conviction at the end of February, is taking that advice to heart. He stood before his classmates and challenged them to turn their lives around as he pledged to improve his own. If they succeed, the District will be closer to the goal of transforming jail from a place where people are locked-up to one where lives are changed.
Sam Fulwood reports ...
February 16, 2009 - Local small business owners in Prince George's County say they're at a loss for how to grow their companies without better access to bank loans. Shana Wesley runs KBQ Real Barbeque, a take out place for pulled pork, cornbread and waffle fries in suburban Bowie. Wesley wanted to expand her popular lunch spot, but she says those plans are now on the backburner. More than 150 small business owners crammed into a conference room with Maryland Senator Ben Cardin to tell him they'd like to do the same. Cardin has added two amendments to the recently passed stimulus package.
David Klatt reports...
February 16, 2009 - Two years ago, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae gave $50 million to D.C. area non-profits, making them the region's largest philanthropic donors.
Some members of Congress, led by Northern Virginia's Jim Moran, will make sure the money continues to flow despite Freddie and Fannie's financial woes.
"If Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were to end their giving," Moran says. "It would have a disasterous effect."
Moran says the agencies will be allowed to continue donating, albeit at a much lower level than in the past.
"It's much less but it still will enable many of these non-profits to survive," he says.
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were taken over by the federal government last year after becoming nearly insolvent.
David Schultz reports...
February 16, 2009 - The federal overseer for the two mortgage giants approved continued charitable giving after northern Virginia Congressman Jim Moran and others lobbied for the authorization. Moran says the companies provide funding to agencies that help people affected by the sub-prime mortgage meltdown and he notes that Freddie and Fannie are, in part, responsible for that crisis: "That would be the height of irony that, at the very time when these mortgages are coming due - people can't make their payments, people are being evicted - Fannie is also cutting back on the assistance they are giving to people who otherwise would be homeless." The federal government now oversees both companies. David Schultz reports...
February 16, 2009 - Driving through a suburban neighborhood in Springfield, agent Adam Gallegos points out some homes that have sold during the past few weeks.
"We see one here, one there, another one there," he says. "And there's actually a home for sale on this side of the street that doesn't even have a sign."
Gallegos says houses in Northern Virginia are moving faster and faster, and the numbers support him. The number of homes sold in January was up almost forty percent over January 2008.
Gallegos says that could mean a recovery is on the way.
"It does take a little time for people to react to what's going on in the market," he says. But he notes that home prices in Northern Virginia remain low.
David Schultz reports...
February 16, 2009 - The Freddie Mac Foundation Family Home in Arlington opened its doors last year for families who find themselves suddenly homeless. As its name suggests, the Family Home relies heavily on funding from Freddie Mac.
"Without their bold step forward in putting money directly down for this cause," shelter operator Caroline Jones says. "We wouldn't be sitting in this shelter today, nor would the families who have been with us for the last year."
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are the two largest donors to D.C.-area non-profits. Last year, when the companies nearly went bankrupt, there was talk of ending their charitable donations.
The companies' federal overseer now says that won't happen. This is welcome news to Caroline Jones.
"I know that without Freddie Mac support that social services and safety net services for the D.C. Metro area would be crippled," she says.
Even though Fannie and Freddie will continue to donate, they won't have as much money to spread around as in previous years.
David Schultz reports...
February 16, 2009 - Following the passage of the economic stimulus package, lawmakers and watchdogs debate the transparency of the process that created it.
Todd Zwillich reports...
February 16, 2009 - Some residents of Northeast D.C. are trying to make their street safer for bicyclists and pedestrians.
Eilis O'Neill reports...
February 16, 2009 - Money from the federal stimulus package will more than offset the latest drop in Virginia's state revenue. Just a few days ago Governor Tim Kaine lowered the projected revenue for the current two year budget by more than $800 million. That was before details of the final stimulus package were released. Most of Virginia's funding from the package will go towards Medicaid, but there is expected to be about $200 million in discretionary cash.
Gordon Hickey, spokesperson for Kaine, says there are millions more they haven't looked yet. The federal stimulus money will not reverse budget decisions already made but will help prevent further cuts.
Kavitha Cardoza reports...
February 16, 2009 - As Metro searches for almost $75 million to level off this year's budget, local environmental groups, labor unions and commuters have banded together to put transit funding at the top of area government to-do lists.
Transit First is made up of 10 advocacy groups that combined forces earlier this month after Metro announced an option to close the budget gap through service cuts.
David Klatt reports...
February 16, 2009 - Back in 1746, when George Washington was just 14, he wrote a guide to good manners. Attorney Steven Selzer, of Rockville, rediscovered the booklet and published it as "By George! Mr Washington's Guide to Civility Today." Many of the rules center around cultivating a deep sense of empathy. Others are somewhat less applicable to today's world. Selzer says it would be a good thing if more of the advice wasn't needed today.
Sabri Ben-achour reports...
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