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Wednesday, March 17, 2010
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July 20, 2009 - Officials around the the D.C. region are hoping federal stimulus money will help neighborhoods hit hard by foreclosures. The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and six jurisdictions in the D.C. area are applying for money through a part of the federal stimulus effort called the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Sixty Washington-area neighborhoods could benefit from the grants, which help with the purchase and redevelopment of foreclosed and abandoned properties. The Council of Governments' director of community planning tells the Washington Examiner the effort is targeting neighborhoods that are still struggling even as much of the region improves. Prince William County, Alexandria, Bowie, Fairfax County, Gaithersburg and Prince George's County have joined together to apply for $39.4 million in grants.
Matt McCleskey has more...
July 20, 2009 - As of today, the former NFL star is a free man. Vick has spent the last two months of his 23-month sentence in Virginia under home confinement with an electronic monitoring device that alerts authorities to his whereabouts. The Associated Press reports during that time he worked a $10-an-hour construction job for a few weeks and then worked for a children's health and fitness program with Boys and Girls Clubs. Vick is trying to meet with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in hopes of restarting his football career, but it's unclear whether such a meeting will take place. If Vick is ever able to return to the NFL, it won't be with Atlanta. The Falcons released him in June.
Sabri Ben-Achour reports..
July 20, 2009 - When commentator Josh Gibson asks what do his job, his in-laws, and President Obama have in common, the answer is the same skills. Gibson is Executive Director of the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington Education Foundation.
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July 20, 2009 - The phone in Jody Krieger's Northwest D.C. office is ringing off the hook.
"We don't have access to the property sir," she tells one caller. "I assume you're talking about the Watergate."
Krieger is an agent with Alex Cooper Auctioneers. She's handling the sale of the Watergate Hotel, located just steps from the site of the 1972 burglary that led to President Richard Nixon's resignation. The owner of the hotel, Monument Realty, owes $40 million on a loan it can't pay. Krieger says that when word got out that the Watergate Hotel was in foreclosure, developers from across the country started calling.
"There's a lot of historical significance to the Wateragte, just to the name," she says. "I assume that's part of the reason why so many developers are interested in it."
Monument Realty bought the hotel in 2004, intending to convert it to luxury co-ops. But residents in an existing building that is part of the Watergate complex filed a lawsuit, scuttling Monument's plans. Adding to Monument's troubles, its investment partner was Lehman Brothers, the major financial firm that went bankrupt last year.
Krieger says she's not surprised the Watergate Hotel is on the auction block.
"I've been getting a lot of multi-million dollar properties in for foreclosure recently because of the economy," she says.
The auction of the Watergate Hotel will take place tomorrow morning at Alex Cooper's offices on Wisconsin Avenue. Would-be buyers must bring a certified check for $1 million to participate.
David Schultz reports...
July 20, 2009 - The annual standardized test scores for public schools in D.C. this year show children at the elementary level in regular public schools doing better than children in public charter schools. For the first time in three years, reading and math scores at the elementary level are higher for children in regular public schools than for their counterparts in public charter schools. Tom Nida heads the charter school board. He says before making any generalizations, and it's important to remember these results are preliminary. Nida says last year a dozen schools found errors in the data reported. Also he says last year several Catholic schools converted into charter schools and those students were taking the tests for the first time. Nida says once they get acclimated to their schools and then the "trends move upward." At the high school level, that trend is reversed with charter school students showing double digit gains over students in regular public schools. The final test scores are expected by the end of this month.
Kavitha Cardoza reports....
July 20, 2009 - Because of its affluence, the economic downturn hasn't hurt Montgomery County as much as other places around the country. County officials periodically commission a "Highway Mobility Report" to look at congestion on county and state roads. The current one also looked at vehicle miles traveled. Nationwide, that statistic has dropped since 2006.
Matt Bush reports...
July 20, 2009 -
(Through August 2) SPRING AWAKENING The eight-time Tony Award winning Broadway musical Spring Awakening blossoms in the Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theater through August 2nd. This coming-of-age story is based on a play from the late 1800s and incorporates a contemporary score by Duncan Sheik and modern moves by American choreographer by Bill T. Jones.
(Through July 24) SIZZLIN' SUMMER CABARET Signature Theatre is about to wind down its Sizzlin' Summer Cabaret Series in Shirlington, Virginia - the last cabaret is Friday. This week's shows provide a peek at the star of Signature's upcoming musical Dirty Blonde. Emily Skinner sings a wide range of repertory from the heartbreaking to the humorous, and the next generation of composers offers up tunes performed by some of Signature's outstanding singer/actors.
(Through July 26) SIN CITY The play The Sin Show examines temptation and love at Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church off Massachusetts Avenue Northwest, through July 26th. Live music and video art help round out this show, as temptation drives an unusual wedge between sinners and the ones they love.
Spoken word meets "The Word" at Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church through July 26.
Courtesy of: SpeakEasyDC
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July 20, 2009 - A group of Northern Virginia activists are gathered at a community college campus in Alexandria. They're brainstorming ways to help people who are living in poverty. In little over an hour, the activists come up with several ideas: outlawing car title loans, allowing felons to receive federal stimulus aid and bringing back the estate tax to raise more revenue.
State Delegate David Englin, a Democrat who represents Alexandria, says these ideas are nonstarters in Richmond.
"That is a very tough sell in the Virginia General Assembly," he says.
But Englin says there are many measures that both Republicans and Democrats can get behind, such as making sure all children in Virginia who are eligible for federal funds actually receive them.
"That's an example of something that doesn't necessarily involve more taxes or more spending but can improve the administration of government to reduce poverty," he says.
The task force held 25 simultaneous brainstorming sessions throughout Virginia this weekend to ensure every region has their say. Governor Tim Kaine will wrestle with all of these ideas when the groups send him their recommendations later this fall.
David Schultz reports...
July 20, 2009 - In Virginia, the Democratic National Committee is redeploying thousands of its former volunteers from the 2008 presidential campaign to rally local support around health care reform. Kip Malinosky, a 28 year-old public school teacher from Arlington, volunteered thousands of hours to the Obama campaign. Now he's back, canvassing his neighborhood door to door to spread the gospel of health care reform. Kip is one of thousands of Virginia volunteers from the Obama campaign who are dusting off their grassroots activism hats to push forward the Presidents' healthcare plan. Brandyn Keating heads the effort in Virginia. She says volunteers have collected thousands of stories about people's experiences in the health care crisis to eventually post on mybarackobama.com. But this bottom-up grassroots approach, with its potentially wide reach, isn't fazing Virginia's Republican party leaders.
Mana Rabiee reports ...
July 20, 2009 - Prosecutors will continue to call witnesses in the Banita Jacks trial Monday morning in what will be third full day of testimony. The case has captured the attention of many people since the bodies of Banita Jacks four young daughters were discovered in her home in January 2008. Now that the trial is underway, even people without personal connection to the case pack into the courtroom to watch.
D.C. native David Faison is one of the onlookers. He's arrived at the courtroom early everyday so far to claim a seat. He says testimony from Banita Jack's mother, Mamie Jacks, has produced the most compelling moments in the trial so far. At one point, Banita Jacks broke down crying when prosecutors showed family pictures of the four girls to her mother.
"I saw that, and that shows me -- I think she tried to be a good mother, but didn't know how," Faison says. "Something went wrong in that house, man, that we don't know. And I hope that comes out."
Prosecutors are expected to call expert crime scene investigators to the stand this week. Defense attorneys say they'll focus on the lack of physical evidence linking Jacks to the children's deaths.
Jonathan Wilson reports...
July 20, 2009 - D.C. is naming a fire station after its first black fire chief. When Burton Johnson joined the Engine Company 4 fire station in 1943, the company was all-black. The District's fire department did not desegregate until the early 1960s. Over the years, Burton rose through the ranks and became the departments first black fire chief in 1973. Johnson passed away two years ago.
Over the weekend, the city celebrated his life and career by officially naming the Engine 4 fire station near Howard University after the former chief. More than 100 people attended the dedication ceremony, including the mayor, fire chiefs past and present, as well as former colleagues who say Johnson cleared the way for minority and women firefighters. Johnson served as chief from 1973 to 1978. During that time, he helped modernize the fire alarm system, became the first chief to push for smoke detectors in every home, and appointed the first female fire fighter.
Patrick Madden reports...
July 20, 2009 - Today the Senate returns to the defense authorization bill. It's all about what's in and what's out.
Elizabeth Wynne Johnson reports...
July 20, 2009 - An assistant medical examiner told the judge in the Banita Jacks trial that the oldest Jacks daughter could have committed suicide, but he also said he considers it highly unlikely. Assistant Medical examiner Dr. A. Wayne Williams told the D.C. Superior Court Judge that he couldn't technically rule out the possibility that Brittany Jacks died of self-inflicted stab wounds. But he also said he and his colleagues thought homicide was an appropriate conclusion. He said that's because Brittany's three sisters were all found dead together in another room in the same house. Prosecutors spent much of the day focusing on the death of Brittany Jacks and holes found on her body that the Williams called "highly suggestive of stab wounds." On cross examination, defense attorneys suggested that with the media attention on the case, and the pressure to solve it coming from as high up as D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, an objective conclusion was impossible. Earlier in the day, evidence technician J.R. Holder helped prosecutors introduce more than 100 pieces of evidence found at the scene.
Jonathan Wilson is following the case at D.C. Superior Court...
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