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Friday, November 20, 2009
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May 14, 2009 - Baltimore's 133-year-old city hall is getting a facelift this summer. The city's Board of Estimates has approved spending $483,000 to repair crumbling marble on the building's facade. A project manager tells the Baltimore Sun age is the main factor, as the building went up in 1875. He also says wires installed to keep birds from landing on ledges caused damage. The wires left small cracks that let in water and over time deteriorated the marble. Repair work will start within a couple of months and should be done by sometime this fall. The problem was discovered during tests ahead of President Obama's pre-inaugural speech in Baltimore in January. He ended up speaking from the War Memorial Building instead.
Matt McCleskey has more...
May 14, 2009 - The winner of the Preakness horse race will parade around the track at Pimlico with more than seven-feet of bright yellow and black floral tradition draped hang around the horses neck -- the Black-Eyed Susan blanket -- named for the Maryland state flower. But as David Klatt explains, none of the flowers is a black-eyed susan.
May 14, 2009 - Hospitals in Maryland can increase the amount they charge patients by 1.77 percent beginning in July following a decision by state regulators. The rate change is expected to generate about $260 million in revenue for state hospitals, according to the Baltimore Sun. Maryland's Health Services Cost Review Commission approved it yesterday, and it goes into effect on July 1. It applies for one year to 47 hospitals in the state.
The Maryland Hospital Association had wanted a bigger rate increase. Hospital leaders said that if the increase was too low, providers would be forced to postpone building upgrades and cut services. They said the best employees would find work in other states. This was not the first increase the commission approved recently, though. It approved a 4.5 percent rate increase for the year that began last July 1.
Rebecca Blatt reports...
May 14, 2009 - It's been a tough year for Maryland horse racing. The owner of the state's thoroughbred race tracks has filed for bankruptcy. Maryland continues to lose horses, spectators, and money to tracks in neighboring states. But those concerns will be put on hold, at least one day. This Saturday is the 134th running of the Preakness Stakes -- the second jewel of horse racing's triple crown.
For an insider's view of the sport, Patrick Madden talks with a local jockey, one of the leading female riders in the country.
May 14, 2009 - Women who become homeless because of Domestic Violence now have a few more places to go in the nation's capital. The two new facilities will more than double the number domestic violence transitional housing units in the District, bringing the total to 108.
Jonathan Wilson reports...
May 14, 2009 - Courtney Farr is a nurse practitioner at Unity Health Care in D.C. She says she decided to become a nurse years ago, when she saw her mother forgo cancer treatment so she could put food on her family's table. Now Farr wants to make sure that no one else has to make the choice her mother made. That's why she joined nurses from across the country in front of the Capitol yesterday to demand universal health care and better staffing at American hospitals.
Jessica Gould reports...
May 14, 2009 - Nearly 75 percent of the earth's surface is covered with water. But Commentator Fred Fiske says declining water resources will be one of the biggest concerns of the century.
The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the opinions of WAMU 88.5 or American University.
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May 14, 2009 - The House approaches a vote on a bill to fund eco-friendly school construction projects, again. And Defense Secretary Robert Gates heasd back to the Hill to press for changes in defense spending.
Elizabeth Wynn Johnson reports...
May 14, 2009 - The District's police chief, Cathy Lanier, is disbanding the city's hostage negotiation team, and that move is drawing opposition from D.C.'s police union. The eight-person squad is known as the ERT, or emergency response team. It works in tandem with the department's SWAT team.
Lanier tells The Washington Post that the unit is not called on often enough to justify keeping it together, so she is moving its members into patrol districts. A leader of the police union tells the paper that losing a squad with knowledge of handling volatile situations is potentially dangerous. She says the group save lives at least once a week. Lanier says she will quadruple the number of negotiators, but they will do other police work between calls.
Rebecca Blatt reports...
May 14, 2009 - The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that Hispanics and Asians now make up nearly 12 percent of Virginia's population. That's up significantly from the last census, taken in 2000, when the Hispanic and Asian populations made up about 8.5 percent of Virginia's residents. Nationwide, the rate of population growth among Hispanics and Asians last year was slower than in previous years, likely due in part to immigration laws and the economy. Still the rate continued to grow faster than that of the general population. According to census bureau estimates as reported in the Richmond Times Dispatch, Virginia's overall population grew about 1 percent last year to more than 7.7 million people.
Matt McCleskey has more...
May 14, 2009 - (May 15-June 6) DOIN' IT FOR THEMSELVES The East Coast premiere of The Woman Who Amuses Herself opens at the H Street Playhouse](http://www.theateralliance.com/index.shtml) in Northeast D.C. Friday night at 8. The play is a comic one-man show based on the true story of a thief who stole the Mona Lisa and became an Italian hero.
(May 16-June 4) TURANDOT Or you can journey to ancient China with Puccini's Turandot, performed by the Washington National Opera opening Saturday at The Kennedy Center. This stunning production features opera stars Maria Guleghina and Sylvie Valayre as the Princess, who must answer three riddles or die.
May 14, 2009 - Free clinics in the Washington area that provide care for uninsured immigrants are struggling to cope with the increased demand for their services.
Eilis O'Neill reports...
May 14, 2009 - A five-cent bag fee on all disposable carryout bags has passed two D.C. council committees unanimously. Studies have suggested about up to half of the trash in the Anacostia River and its tributaries is plastic bags which get snagged on trees, caught around birds and turtles or eventually eaten by fish. Before the fee takes effect the city must conduct a public education campaign and provide free reusable bags to D.C. residents, particularly to elderly and low-income residents.
Council member Tommy Wells says most of the opposition came from outside the District. Some critics say most of the Anacostia River flows through Maryland and residents there need to take more responsibility. Delegate Al Carr who introduced the measure says he didn't think he had the votes in Maryland for it to pass. But he says he's continuing to build support and will try again next year. The fee on paper and plastic bags is expected to generate about $3 million. A final council vote is expected on June 2.
Kavitha Cardoza reports...
May 14, 2009 - With a high school dropout rate of 42%, two groups are teaching kids in D.C. to become advocates for themselves, and their schools. Stephanie Kaye reports on Critical Exposure and the kids of S.T.E.P. Up D.C...
May 14, 2009 - A former student at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda has been arrested in Tennessee on charges of posting anonymous death threats against students and staff at the school. Montgomery County Police alerted authorities in Shelby County, Tenn., and asked them to find and arrest the suspect. Police arrested the 17 year old at his home and transported him to Memphis Juvenile Court where he remains in custody. He's charged with Commission of Acts of Terrorism.
Jonathan Wilson reports...
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