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Saturday, March 20, 2010
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July 24, 2009 - Tourism is down nationwide, but not in D.C. Despite the down economy, the District experienced a three percent increase in the number of domestic tourists and a 22 percent increase in international visitors. That's according to Destination D.C., a non-profit marketing organization, funded by local businesses. President and CEO Elliot Ferguson suggests the increase is due in part to the election of President Obama.
"Before the new president was elected there was just not a lot of interest in Washington and the U.S. as a destination," he says.
Ferguson says the weak dollar also has helped attract tourists from around the world, who have different spending habits than domestic tourists.
"They tend to stay in Washington much longer, they spend more in our hotels," he says. "They spend more in our restaurants, and that's really important especially when the economy is down."
Ferguson notes that D.C., with its museums and monuments, offers lots of freebies in a down economy.
Natalie Neumann reports...
July 24, 2009 - For many jail inmates, the idea of returning to life on the outside is daunting. But inmates at the Alexandria jail are getting a head start this week. The Alexandria Sheriff's Office brought in about a dozen non-profits and city agencies this week to explain everything from how to get a GED to interviewing tips for landing a job. Fifty-five inmates took part in the event, the first of its kind at the Alexandria jail. In recent years, Alexandria has hired a full time re-entry counselor and expanded GED classes, English tutoring and sobriety education.
Michael Pope reports...
July 24, 2009 - After seven days of testimony, the final prosecution witness in the Banita Jacks trial is scheduled to finish testifying Friday afternoon. Jacks is accused of killing her four young daughters.
Forensic expert Dr. William Rodriguez was called to the stand Thursday morning. He specializes in decomposition, and told the court that the oldest Jacks daughter, Brittany, died at least six months before her body was discovered in January of last year. He also said he could identify the holes found in her abdomen as stab wounds with absolute certainty. His testimony is scheduled to continue at 2 p.m. today in D.C. Superior Court. Defense attorneys say they have not decided whether to call any witnesses.
Jonathan Wilson reports...
July 24, 2009 - CNBC has named Virginia its "Top State for Business" for the second time in three years. The ranking is based on 40 measures of competitiveness in 10 categories, including the quality of its work force, the cost of doing business and its support for innovation. The business channel also cited Virginia's reasonable sales, personal income and corporate tax rates.
Since January 2008, Virginia has attracted $6.58 billion in investment and created 30,856 new jobs. Gov. Tim Kaine said the recognition demonstrates that the state's efforts are working. Virginia received CNBC's top ranking in 2007, but fell to No. 2 in 2008 behind Texas. The Lone Star State ranked second this year, followed by Colorado, Iowa and Utah.
Meymo Lyons reports...
July 24, 2009 - Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski is supporting a bill that would establish federal safety standards for subway systems. The bill was prompted by a deadly collision between two D.C. Metro trains last month. Nine people were killed. It was the deadliest crash in the history of the D.C. rail system.
Mikulski, a Democrat, points out that there are federal safety standards for buses, trains and airplanes but not for subways. She says ''immediate steps'' are needed ''to prevent future deadly accidents.'' The bill would bring together the Secretary of Transportation and the National Transportation Safety Board to develop safety standards. It also would require subway trains to carry recorders like the ''black boxes'' on airplanes.
Stephanie Kaye reports...
July 24, 2009 -
(July 25) MOSES EAST OF THE RIVER In Southeast D.C., Teedra Moses makes an appearance with Dominique Young at THEARC theater at 8pm. The Triple Star Sound Stage series brings concerts to this venue East of the River, including the smooth, sensual R&B vocals of Teedra Moses and the lilting voice and urban flavor of opening act Dominique Young.
(Through July 25) UIGHUR ART The Uighur people of northwestern China have been much in the news lately. And although strife plagues many of their people on the other side of the globe, a handful of Uighur artists have their works on display at the R Street Gallery in Dupont Circle through tomorrow. These contemporary works provide another window through which to view the culture and future of the Uighur diaspora.
(July 26) BARK & BUBBLES The Washington Animal Rescue League partners with WagTime Pet Spa & Boutique off 9th Street Northwest to co-host Bark & Bubbles tomorrow afternoon from 4 to 8. The bubble-filled event includes kibbles and nibbles for pets and owners, adult bubbly for the two-legged guests and artists on hand to immortalize your favorite four-footer.
(Through October 25) MOVIES ON THE POTOMAC See if you can keep your eyes on the screen during Movies on the Potomac at National Harbor in Prince George's County. The outdoor film series hosts family movies on Sundays and adult flicks on Thursdays. But set alongside the picturesque Potomac, the venue provides eye candy competition for the likes of the animated Over the Hedge and the movie musical classic Grease, airing this week.
July 24, 2009 - Maryland's Prince George's County has some of the highest foreclosure rates in the D.C. area, leaving an increasing number of people and their pets without shelter.
Sasha is a bubbly, five-month old black lab mix with some white splashed on her chest. Yesterday, Sasha's owner brought her here to say "no way, no how."
Rodney Taylor heads the shelter, and he says close to 1,000 dogs have been victims of similar circumstances so far this year.
"We're receiving more what we call 'owner surrender' than ever before," says Taylor. "Which simply says 'I've lost my home to foreclosure, I have to move, and I have no one to take my pet.'"
Cory Smith is with the Humane Society. She says, unfortunately, a majority of those dogs aren't puppies. Now they're older dogs, much tougher to place. Still, Smith remains hopeful.
"I think there's a really widespread perception out there that dogs are in a shelter because there's something wrong with them," she says. "We know for sure -- for sure -- that that's not true. We know that animals are in shelters largely because of people problems."
County officials say they plan to address some of those people problems by asking potential first-time owners to attend pet parenting classes before they adopt.
David Klatt reports from the county's new animal shelter...
July 24, 2009 - Safety investigators say there have been problems with a track circuit near the site of last months Metro Crash for the past 18 months. The track circuits help Metro run its automated control system by relaying where trains are and how fast they are going. The National Transportation Safety Board says a key component of the circuit near Fort Totten began intermittently fluctuating when it was replaced a year and a half ago. Previously, the NTSB said a similar piece of equipment on the other end of the circuit stopped detecting trains about five days before the crash.
Metro General Manager John Catoe says the transit agency did not know about the malfunctioning circuit because its tests never looked for that particular problem. Before the crash, Metro tested its circuits once a month. Now, they run tests twice a day. The NTSB has urged Metro to create a system that checks track circuits in real-time and Metro says its picked a vendor to develop that system.
Patrick Madden reports...
July 24, 2009 - This week on the Planner, we head for the last stop in Northeast Washington on the orange line. The Deanwood Metro station sits next to the busy Anacostia Freeway - and, at first, might not seem like a gateway to a nature-lover's paradise. But take the pedestrian overpass, walk a few blocks and prepare yourself for a massive field of 6-foot-tall lotus flowers.
David Furst meets naturalist Mark Garland at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens...
July 24, 2009 - The secretaries of Transportation, Agriculture and the Interior testify before the House Budget Committee this morning. It's something about the stimulus "not working fast enough." And Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner are back before the House Financial Services Committee to answer more questions about plans for financial regulatory reform.
Elizabeth Wynne Johnson reports...
July 24, 2009 - The Government Accountability Office released a critical report on the performance of the District's public schools. But Chancellor Michelle Rhee says some of its findings are flawed.
It's been two years since the Fenty Administration began a major overhaul of D.C.'s public schools, and the GAO found there are still hurdles to overcome. It recommends discussing initiatives with the community and teacher's before making decisions. The GAO's Cornelia Ashby says problems with school closures could have been avoided with more dialogue.
"I mean, some of the false steps came about because the constituents involved were not asked to provide input early on," she says.
Rhee says there is always room to improve. But she says DCPS is open to ideas from residents.
"Especially with things like the discipline policy, the new score card that is coming out, we have a months long process where we engage lots of different stakeholders in what we are doing," Rhee says.
School starts in a few weeks, and Rhee says the District is better prepared than it has been in the past.
Matt Laslo reports...
July 24, 2009 - Officials from around the D.C. region have decided how they'll spend $58 million in federal Homeland Security money. About $9 million will go toward expanding the system that lets law enforcement agencies around the area share information. Another $5 million will pay for additional video cameras to monitor bridges, tunnels and Metro stations across the region. And $5 million will go toward putting traffic sensors along primary evacuation routes in D.C., Maryland and Virginia, and better integrating the region's traffic information systems. The federal Department of Homeland Security awarded the $58 million grant to the National Capital Region, comprised of the District, Maryland, Virginia and 11 local jurisdictions in June. Also included in the spending plan are additional supplies and trained staff for emergency shelters and a new initiative to help emergency rooms track the location of ambulances.
Matt McCleskey has more...
July 24, 2009 - A Centreville man involved in a suburban heroin ring has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for supplying the drugs that resulted in the overdose death of his girlfriend. Twenty-year-old Skylar Schnippel is the last of 16 defendants to be sent to prison for involvement in a northern Virginia drug ring that resulted in four overdose deaths, including the death of his girlfriend, 19-year-old Alicia Lannes, in March 2008. Most of those charged were former or current students at Westfield High School. The 20-year sentence was the minimum term the judge could have imposed. According to testimony at Schnippel's trial in U.S. District Court, Lannes had overdosed three previous times but Schnippel continued to give her heroin.
Meymo Lyons reports...
July 24, 2009 - Four people killed when their helicopter crashed on a Maryland highway were returning from an event where they had given helicopter rides to raise money for troubled youth, authorities said Friday. Investigators do not yet know why the helicopter crashed on Interstate 70 and burst into flames around 10:30 Thursday night, said Kitty Higgins, a National Transportation Safety Board member. No vehicles were hit, and no one on the ground was hurt.
Maryland State Police tentatively identified those on board as Jeffrey D. Nordaas, 24, of Columbia, Md.; George H. Tutor Jr., 39, of Westminster, Md.; and Niall R. Y. Booth, 43, and Kim R. Felix, 48, both of New Market, Md. Police did not say which was the pilot. Booth's family said Friday that he was a native of Dorking, England, and moved to the U.S. in the 1990s with his American wife. He lived in Colorado Spring, Colo., before moving to Maryland. The pilot and two of the people on board were employees of Frederick, Md.-based Advanced Helicopter Concepts. The fourth was a friend who had flown with them to Hagerstown for a meeting of the Advanced Helicopter Youth Foundation charity. The pilot, who had about 630 hours of flight experience, waited two hours after Thursday's event to return to Frederick because of the weather, Higgins said.
Visibility was somewhat limited by fog at the time of the crash, but it wasn't clear if weather played a role, said Washington County emergency services director Kevin Lewis. Storms had passed through the area earlier in the night. Witnesses reported seeing the craft flying low when it hit power lines over the interstate, then saw sparks fly before it went down. There was no flight plan and no contact with air traffic controllers because the tower was closed.
David Klatt reports....
July 24, 2009 - This Week in Congress:
Lots of internal skirmishes with a steady parade of the walking wounded.
Elizabeth Wynne-Johnson reports....
July 24, 2009 - Government prosecutors rested their case against Banita Jacks this afternoon. Now her defense attorneys get a shot to make the case for her innocence.
Jacks stands accused of killing her four young daughters. She also faces charges of child neglect.
The prosecution closed testimony from its final witness in the case, forensic expert Dr. William Rodriguez, at about 3:30 Friday afternoon. There were 25 prosecution witnesses in all, and they gave testimony over the course of eight days.
Defense attorneys called two witnesses today -- so far the defense's side of the case has lasted less than half an hour. Defense attorneys have not said whether they plan to call more witnesses, but the judge says he expects to hearing closing arguments from both sides on Monday.
Jonathan Wilson reports...
July 24, 2009 - Residents in Reston, Virginia are celebrating a grassroots victory. A proposed sports complex will not be set in a neighborhood park.
Browns Park was nearly "paved over" for a $100 million indoor sports facility -- that is, until the community stepped in. Flora Nicholas is the C.O.O. of Brainwaves, a non-profit marketing company. She and her husband put some of those kids in a music video to help ward off the deal. Nicholas says the new complex would have amounted to a county recreation center paid for with Reston dollars.
Using neighbors and family, the video circulated among residents via email. Nicholas says after a few packed community meetings and a final vote by the Reston Council last night, the plan was voted down 7 to 2. There's no word yet on any alternate plans for the sports complex.
Stephanie Kaye reports...
July 24, 2009 - Metro responds to the latest safety concerns, and the region braces for ramifications of a recent Supreme Court decision. The Washington Post's Robert McCartney talks with WAMU host Matt McCleskey about the week's news.
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