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Saturday, December 26, 2009
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June 30, 2009 - The key to getting more cars off the roads in Montgomery County may be getting more buses on them. The county is studying whether to have a system of bus-rapid transit. BRT means buses would travel in dedicated lanes to keep them out of traffic and going faster. It would also mimic rail systems like Metro, where riders would pay at stations rather than on the bus itself. Councilman Marc Elrich says the county is studying the possibility of BRT on Viers Mill Road and Georgia Avenue by using the median areas of each road. If the study shows BRT would work on Georgia and Viers Mill, the county will then look at adding it in other places, such as Rockville Pike and the Intercounty Connector.
Matt Bush reports...
June 30, 2009 - Used car dealers in the District continue to receive warnings from Mayor Adrian Fenty's Administration to clean up their ugly lots or get out. But struggling business owners argue some new rules are too much too soon. More than 70 used-car lot owners have been shutdown by D.C.'s Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs for failure to comply with new regulations. D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles calls these businesses eye-sores.
"You've seen all kinds of cars and rat harborage, and various kinds of trucks up on cement blocks. That's at an end," Nickles said.
The new rules call for fewer cars on each lot, and the dealer must work out of a permanent office on the property. Sohteany Leas runs L.J. Automotive, a repair shop with a handful of cars for sale in Northwest D.C.'s Brightwood neighborhood. His is one of a dozen used-car lots working to clean up shop. Leas says he's done his best to comply with new rules, but District officials now say he needs a $100,000 insurance bond to remain open.
"It's like double, almost triple," Leas says. "We won't get the bond because you ask for credit line for one hundred thousand dollars from the bank. Nobody will approve for you. They in risk too."
Nickles acknowledges the bond is a road block for several legitimate but struggling businesses. As enforcement continues through the summer, the Attorney General says his office will work to negotiate with any owner who makes a good-faith effort to reform.
David Klatt reports...
June 30, 2009 - The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is challenging Virginia's decision to allow pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co., Inc., to increase the amount of pollution it dumps into the Shenandoah river. In April, the Virginia State Water Control Board decided to allow the company to dump an additional 29,000 pounds of nitrogen and 3,000 pounds of phosphorous into the Shenandoah River, which ultimately pours into the Chesapeake. Merck has a plant in Elkton, Va. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Virginia State Waterman's association have both sued the state to have that decision overturned. They argue that the decision violates the overall nutrient cap for the river basin and harms the bay because there weren't any offsetting reductions in pollution elsewhere. Nitrogen and phosphorous can feed algae that bloom and then die, eventually starving bay water of oxygen. The State Attorney General's office said it didn't comment on ongoing cases.
Sabri Ben-Achour reports...
June 30, 2009 - The White House says it wants community health centers that serve the poor to play a larger role in health care reform, and the administration is highlighting the efforts of a local clinic.
Space is at a premium at the Unity Health Cares Upper Cardozo clinic in Columbia Heights. The bustling, four-story facility in Northwest D.C. is packed with patients, and they're lucky. Each day, around 400 people call for appointments, and the clinic can only see about 175 of them. Yesterday, First Lady Michelle Obama visited the clinic and announced it had been awarded a $2.5 million grant to renovate and build around 20 new examination rooms. The money is from the federal stimulus package, but it's also part of the White Houses effort to trim health care costs by focusing on preventive care. Upper Cardozo sees nearly 20,000 patients a year. Officials with the center say the stimulus funding will boost their capacity by about a third.
Patrick Madden reports...
June 30, 2009 - The lawmakers who are rewriting financial regulations are among the top recipients of donations from those industries. Elizabeth Wynn Johnson looks at the roles those contributions may play in policy development...
June 30, 2009 - It's been more than two months since tax day, and most Virginians expecting refunds on state income taxes have now received them. Governor Tim Kaine says Virginia's Department of Taxation has issued more than 2.6 million refunds, totaling more than $1.6 billion. He says the state's emphasis on electronic filing has made processing returns simpler this year. About 63 percent of returns were filed electronically, that's up from last year. Officials say that has allowed the department to get most refunds out in less than two weeks and to have almost all sent out within 30 days. The average refund so far this year in Virginia has been about $627.
Matt McCleskey has more...
June 30, 2009 - The mother of Ronnie White, the young man who was found dead in his jail cell in Prince George's County, is filing suit against the county and law enforcement. Almost exactly one year ago, 19-year-old Ronnie White was arrested under suspicion of running down a police officer in his car. Two days later, he was found dead in his jail cell. An autopsy report said he'd been assaulted, strangled with a sheet or "the crux of an elbow." A prison guard's union argued it was a suicide. A grand jury failed to issue an indictement.
The case now rests with the Justice department. Today, White's mother, Angela White, is filing a 12-count civil suit against the county and several corrections officers. She accuses guards of attacking and strangling her son to death, and she is seeking $153 million in compensation and punitive damages.
Sabri Ben-Achour reports...
June 30, 2009 - The Montgomery County Council rejected one controversial plan, approved another and delayed a vote on a third. Council OK'd expanding the number of speed cameras in the county from 36 to 60, even though, as Council Vice President Roger Berliner says, many residents don't like them. Council members believe the cameras have decreased speeding, while critics feel they are just a way for the county to raise revenues.
Increasing the number of speed bumps on county roads won't happen soon. The Council delayed voting on that until the end of the year. And County Executive Isiah Leggett's plan to start charging ambulance user fees went down on a vote of 5-3.
Matt Bush reports...
June 30, 2009 - Prosecutors say the man accused of fatally shooting a security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is in no condition to come to court. A doctor with the D.C. Department of Corrections says 88-year-old James von Brunn is still in the hospital after being shot in the face by guards at the Holocaust Museum. Von Brunn faces a first-degree murder charge in the death of museum guard Stephen T. Johns. A new hearing has been scheduled for July 10th.
Stephanie Kaye has more...
June 30, 2009 - From 1989 to 2007, Harriette Walters wrote herself fraudulent tax refunds as a manager in D.C.'s tax office. In total, she stole more than $48 million from the District and spent it lavishly on jewelry, clothing and gambling trips. Walters pleaded guilty in September to wire fraud, money laundering and other charges and has been in jail since her arrest in 2007. She was sentenced today to 17 and a half years, and she was ordered to pay $64 million in back taxes and restitution.
Assistant Executive U.S. Attorney John Roth says D.C. won't get all of it back.
"We've done as much as we can to recover that money for tax payers," he says.
In total about 10 million of the nearly 50 million in stolen funds has been recovered.
Sabri Ben-Achour reports...
June 30, 2009 - Nearly one year ago, Ronnie White was found dead in a Prince George's County jail cell, just two days after he allegedly ran over a police officer with a stolen truck. Today, his mother filed a lawsuit against the county. Angela White, Ronnie's mother, blames the director of the county's correctional center, Mary Lou McDonough, as well as several guards. Hassan Murphy, White's attorney, says his client seeks nearly $154 million in damages.
"This is a tragic event," he says. "It is an event that shocked the state, the county, the country. And we ask for damages that shocked the state, shock the county and shock the country."
The state medical examiner ruled White was strangled and declared the death a homicide. But a grand jury failed to indict. Angela White's lawyers say they are skeptical of evidence used to make that decision.
Glenn Ivey is the state's attorney for Prince George's County.
"I haven't tried to cover anything up," Ivey says. "That's why we asked the Department of Justice to come and help. We turned over all the evidence we have to them."
The lawsuit accuses county officials of excessive force and gross negligence while White was in custody.
David Klatt reports...
June 30, 2009 - The latest effort to stop a D.C. law recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states has failed. A D.C. Superior Court judge is denying a request to push back the start date of the law and rejecting an attempt by gay marriage opponents to put the measure before D.C. voters.
In May, the D.C. Council passed the same-sex marriage recognition bill. A group of area clergy opposed the bill and tried to have a referendum on the issue. Earlier this month, the city's elections board said the ballot measure would violate the Districts Human Rights Act. Monday's ruling upholds that decision. Referendum supporters can file an appeal, but time is running out. The law is scheduled to take effect next week.
Patrick Madden reports...
June 30, 2009 - Metro General Manager John Catoe says about 65 percent of the Metro's track circuits have been inspected and found free of malfunction. Catoe says inspections of the track circuits will continue over the next few days.
The National Transportation Safety Board has yet to release its report on the June 22 crash, but Catoe says it's clear that a track circuit, part of Metro's Automatic Train Control system, failed to do it's job. Catoe says, because of that, Metro trains will continue to operate in manual mode indefinitely.
"We will not put our trains back into automatic mode until we have a group of train signal experts from outside metro come and evaluate our system and our procedures for using it," he says.
Catoe also said most of the 1000-series train cars, the kind involved in the collision, have now been moved to the center of metro trains. He stressed that funding remains the only obstacle to replacing the aging 1000-series cars.
Jonathan Wilson reports...
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