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Tuesday, March 16, 2010
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July 16, 2009 - As part of our continuing series "Conversations," reporter Michael Cottman speaks with Arne Duncan, the U.S. Secretary of Education, about the Obama administration's plan to improve the nation's educational system...
July 16, 2009 - A plan that would require all Americans to have health coverage was approved by the Senate health committee yesterday. Commentator Fred Fiske says that means opposition to the plan will get more intense.
What do you think?
Go to Conversation.WAMU.org and click on "Commentary Forum".
July 16, 2009 - The bulk of the transportation funds would go to construction of dedicated bus lanes on a stretch of K Street in Northwest D.C. But the plan also calls for creating new "priority" bus corridors and an expanded bicycle-sharing program throughout the region. Jessica Gould reports...
July 16, 2009 -
(July 16-August 15) P.S. YOUR CAT IS DEAD There's a new theater company in town, and for their first act The Black Box Theater Company presents the play P.S. Your Cat Is Dead. This dark comedy about a really bad day opens with a preview at 8 tonight at 1409 Playbill Cafe in Northwest D.C. and runs through August 15th. The play is the work of James Kirkwood, the award-winning playwright of A Chorus Line.
(July 16) HANDMADE NATION Faythe Levine traveled 19,000 miles to make Handmade Nation, a documentary about America's do-it-yourself movement. She's traveled a little further to bring the film to the Grand Salon of the Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery in downtown D.C. today at noon.
(Through July 26) CLOSET LAND Molotov Theater, winner of the Fringe Festival's 2008 "Best of Show" but Molotov Theater is also known for the number of people who walk out of its plays. The company of French horror theater enthusiasts resurrects Closet Land at Fort Fringe in downtown D.C. through July 26th. This tale of torture in an Orwellian world is not for the faint of heart.
July 16, 2009 - D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty is releasing about half the 103 million dollars public charter schools were expecting to recieve tomorrow. The District makes four payments every year to about 60 public charter schools. Jeremy Williams, the schools' Business Oversight Manager, says the first installment wasn't paid because D.C. has not yet submitted its budget to Congress. Smaller charter school leaders were frantic they weren't going to be able to make payroll. But the mayor has made 57 million dollars available from a contingency fund which will help tide them over and the rest will be available in the next month or so. Fenty is expected to submit a revised 2010 budget to the Council on Friday. About one third of school age children in D.C. attend public charter schools. Kavitha Cardoza reports...
July 16, 2009 - The House braces for another day of pitched battle. Democrats have taken a heavy hand in limiting Republican amendments to appropriations bills this week.
Elizabeth Wynne Johnson reports from Capitol Hill...
July 16, 2009 - A D-C Superior Court Judge is scheduled to hear the first full day of testimony in the trial of Banita Jacks today. Jacks is accused of killing her four young daughters.
The prosecution's first witness is a federal marshal who was serving an eviction notice to Jacks when the bodies were first discovered in January 2008. In previous testimony, the marshal said Jacks' house did not have furniture and had a foul odor. He also said Jacks tried to block him from entering the house and from going upstairs -- where the bodies were found.
He is the first of several witnesses prosecutor Deborah Sines says she expects to call. In an opening statement she said testimony would prove that Jacks killed her daughters, and then took steps to cover up the crimes.
Defense attorney Lloyd Nolan said his arguments will focus on the lack of physical evidence in the case.
There is no jury in this trial -- earlier this year Jacks requested a bench trial and Judge Frederick Weisberg granted the request.
Jonathan Wilson reports...
July 16, 2009 - Prisons around the nation are grappling with the problem of inmates using contraband cell phones to coordinate criminal activity -- and officials from Maryland are pushing Congress to give states a new tool to fight back.
Matt Laslo reports from Capitol Hill.
July 16, 2009 - Metro announced yesterday that the Takoma station on the Red Line will be closed today from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and on Saturday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The National Transportation Safety Board will conduct tests on the tracks at the Takoma and Fort Totten stations. The tests will require Metro to suspend service between the two stations. Shuttle buses will take riders around the testing site and make stops at the Fort Totten, Takoma and Silver Spring Metrorail stations.
Sabri Ben-Achour reports...
July 16, 2009 - The Watergate Hotel in Washington is going to be auctioned next week. The Watergate complex became famous following the burglary and cover-up in 1972 that eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. The hotel was not the building where the break-in occurred. Ever since the ensuing scandal though, the name "Watergate" has been inextricably tied to Nixon's legacy, and of course the suffix "-gate" has been added to a seemingly endless litany of subsequent scandals. The hotel's current owner, Monument Realty, had plans to renovate the building, but after Monument defaulted on its loan, the hotel is set to go on the auction block next Tuesday, sold to the highest bidder.
Matt McCleskey has more...
July 16, 2009 - It's been almost two years since D.C. Public Schools and the Washington Teacher's Union began negotiating a new teacher's contract. But Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee says the end may be in sight. She says she met with Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federation of Teachers or AFT, last Friday, and both sides hope to have a contract in place by the start of the school year. The union contract Rhee initially proposed had significant salary increases for teachers in exchange for concessions, such as tenure. But the union opposed that plan. Since then, negotiations have been drawn out. The union's parent organization, the AFT, was prompted to get involved. Former Baltimore mayor Kurt Schmoke was brought in a few months ago as mediator to avoid having to declare an impasse.
Kavitha Cardoza reports...
July 16, 2009 - On Thursday Judge Frederick Weisberg presided over the first full day of testimony in the trial of Banita Jacks, a woman accused of killing her four young daughters. After days of technical pretrial hearings, the first full day of testimony was an emotional one. Banita Jacks mother, Mamie Jacks, told the court her daughter was a good mother but had been out of touch for at least two years before the girls bodies were discovered in January 2008. Weisberg ordered a recess when Banita Jacks cried during the testimony.
Jessie Fogle, the mother of Jacks' deceased long-time boyfriend and grandmother to two of the girls, also took the stand. She said Banita Jacks became hostile and isolated after her son's death in January 2007.
More prosecution witnesses are expected Friday.
Jonathan Wilson reports...
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