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Saturday, March 20, 2010
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September 16, 2009 - The union representing Metro workers is requesting blood donations in memory of a technician who died after being struck by a train between Alexandria and Arlington, Virginia.
John Moore was a Metro employee for 12 years. His co-worker, Jim Madaras, remembers Moore as a strong man, with a subtle sense of humor.
"The one thing I have always known about John is that he's a highly intelligent person," says Madaras. "You can usually get something from conversations with him, wisdom-wise."
When Madaras learned Moore had been hit on the Blue Line, he rushed to join Moore's family at the Washington Hospital Center.
"John had a pretty sever leg injury and they had to infuse quite a bit of blood the night I was there," said Madaras. "I am not aware of how much blood they had to use after that, but it probably was still a significant amount."
Madaras says the experience inspired him to open a memorial account at the hospital's Blood Donor Center to honor his coworker and friend.
Rebecca Sheir reports...
September 16, 2009 - The proposed expansion of the Johns Hopkins University's campus in Gaithersburg has ignited a controversy in Maryland's Montgomery County.
Last night's public hearing brought out a standing room only crowd to the chambers of the county council. Supporters and opponents had one thing in common, they all wore green stickers declaring their positions. Opponents, such as Gaithersburg's Lynne Rose, proudly sported ones that read "Scale It Back".
The university wants to nearly triple the number of people it employs on the campus, which Rose says would result in already-congested roads in the area being crowded even more. Eric Ross was the only neighbor to speak in support of the plan.
Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett supports the plan, but Gaithersburg's Mayor Sidney Katz doesn't like the proposed new exits that would accommodate additional commuters using the Sam Eig Highway.
So much interest has been generated over the plan that the county council has scheduled a second public hearing for Thursday night to accommodate the number of people who want to have their voices heard. The council is expected to render its decision on the zoning controversy by the end of this year.
Matt Bush reports....
September 16, 2009 - D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton has hosted one of the first town hall meetings on health care reform following President Obama's address to Congress on the issue. Bllled as a health care fact check, there were no long drawn out speeches from experts, no protesters, just District residents voicing their concerns, like a single woman with chronic asthma.
"I lost my medicaid coverage that I had been on since I was a child. When that happened my nightmare of finding quality medical care began."
Approximately two hundred people attended after being invited by Delegate Holmes-Norton who spoke about the volumes of correspondence she's received on health reform. With the legislative pendulum beginning to swing toward insurance co-ops rather than the so-called public option, She made this prediction about the legislation that will emerge from Congress.
"Let me be completely up front with you. I believe it will fall far short of what deserves to be health care reform.I believe the public option has already been killed in the Senate."
There was absent of the heated exchanges and vitriol that characterized many of the health care town halls held across the country during the past few months. As one staffer put it, only residents of the District were admitted and they were expected to conduct themselves as members of any progressive community would.
Elliott Francis reports...
September 16, 2009 - One of the first town hall meetings on health care reform following President Obama's address to Congress on the issue generated more questions than shouts.
Approximately 200 people attended after being invited by D.C. Delegate Elenore Holmes-Norton, who listened to residents like this part-time teacher afflicted with Cerebral Palsy. "...I wanna know why I can't pay a co-pay so that I can have the kind of home care service I need."
With the legislative pendulum beginning to swing toward insurance co-ops rather than the so-called public option, She made this prediction about the legislation that will emerge from Congress. "...Let me be completely up front with you. I believe it will fall far short of what deserves to be health care reform...I believe the public option has already been killed in the Senate."
Their evening was absent of the heated exchanges and vitriol that characterized many of the health care town halls held across the country during the past few months. As one staffer put it, only residents of the District were admitted and they were expected to conduct themselves as members of any progressive community would.
Elliott Francis reports...
September 16, 2009 - More Senators will hear testimony on the status of the U-S military effort in Afghanistan today.
Elizabeth Wynne Johnson reports...
September 16, 2009 - Washington's Metro system is taking precautions to avoid spreading swine flu. Metro is asking its riders to take common sense steps to limit the spread of germs, from covering your mouth when you sneeze to carrying tissues, hand-sanitizing gels, and disinfecting wipes. Metro says it's also using an environmentally friendly disinfectant cleaner to wipe down surfaces throughout the system. Buses and trains that are typically disinfected weekly will be cleaned more often, if necessary. More than 1 million people ride Metro buses and trains each day.
Natalie Neumann reports...
September 16, 2009 - The Maryland Aviation Administration is closing a communications center at BWI Marshall Airport, because of state budget cuts.
The closure of the center at BWI means eight staffers will lose their jobs. The Baltimore Sun reports the employees include phone operators who deliver information in foreign languages like Arabic, French, Spanish, German and Flemish.
Automated security announcements in Spanish and English will continue. Airport staffers say separated passengers usually use cell phones to find each other and the automated system for the airport's 800 number answers most callers' questions. But passenger rights groups say not all travelers have cell phones. The move, prompted by state budget woes, is expected to save $450,000 dollars a year.
Natalie Neumann reports...
September 16, 2009 - Political consultant Zina Pierre appears to have won Tuesday's Democratic primary in the race for Annapolis mayor. With all the precincts reporting, Pierre held a 115-vote lead over the nearest challenger, Anne Arundel County Councilman Joshua J. Cohen, in the six-person race.
Cohen all but conceded the election last night. The results are not official and do not include absentee ballots. The winner faces Republican Alderman David Cordle and independent Chris Fox.
Incumbent Mayor Ellen Moyer cannot run again because of term limits. About 12 percent of the city's approximately 23,000 registered voters headed to the polls, according to election officials.
Meymo Lyons reports...
September 16, 2009 - A judge in Virginia has set November 10 as the execution date for John Allen Muhammad, the man behind the sniper shootings that terrorized the DC area in October of 2002.
Ten people were killed in the shootings. Three others were shot but survived.
Muhammad was sentenced to death for one of the killings at a gas station near Manassas. Virginia's attorney general had requested his execution be carried out Monday, November 9, but that's been pushed back by one day. Muhammad's attorney says it's so courts will be open the preceding day in case there are last-minute appeals to consider. He says Muhammad will ask Governor Tim Kaine for clemency and will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Muhammad's accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo, a teenager at the time of the shootings, is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Matt McCleskey reports...
September 16, 2009 - With 48 days to go, a new poll in Virginia finds Republican Bob McDonnell only slightly ahead of Democratic state Sen. Creigh Deeds in the race for governor.
A telephone survey of 600 registered voters conducted from Friday through Monday showed 42 percent supported McDonnell and 37 percent back Deeds. But the poll,the first in Virginia by the firm Clarus Research Group, also showed that one fifth of those surveyed were undecided.
Clarus is a new, nonpartisan survey and market research firm based in the district and headed by Ronald A. Faucheux, the former editor of Campaigns & Elections magazine. Clarus says the survey was done for the firm's own use and not sponsored or paid for by an outside client.
Meymo Lyons reports...
September 16, 2009 - The U.S. Census Bureau says 2.6 million more Americans fell into poverty last year. But as commentator Jennifer Lockwood-Shabat notes, that accounting covers only the first part of the current recession.
Lockwood-Shabat is vice president of programs at Washington Area Women's Foundation.
The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the opinions of WAMU 88.5 or American University.
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September 16, 2009 - Hospital leaders say the donation is the largest amount ever given for pediatric surgery.
Dr. Kurt Newman is the hospital's surgeon-in-chief. He says the center will make operations more precise, less invasive and less painful.
Doctors diagnosed Jessica Gregory with the birth defect Spina Bifida before she was born. She's 10 now, and has already had four surgeries to help her spine. After each one, she says she would lie in her hospital bed and push the button for morphine, hoping the pain would go away. Gregory says she knows eliminating pain is a long shot. But if anyone can do it, she says, the people at Children's can.
Children's hospital named the new Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation after the founder and former president of the United Arab Emirates.
Jessica Gould reports...
September 16, 2009 - Virginia's Department of Education says 98-percent of the state's public schools are fully accredited.
This is the best Virginia has done since statewide testing in English, math, history and science began in 1999. The commonwealth's superintendent of public instruction says that's an accomplishment many didn't think was possible a decade ago.
Students at all but 41 of the state's nearly 1,900 schools met, or exceeded, objectives on statewide assessments in the four core academic areas.
Rebecca Sheir reports...
September 16, 2009 - (September 17) THE ART OF SCIENCE The Koshland Science Museum in downtown D.C. shares some scientific secrets during The Emerging Science of Climate Change tomorrow night at 6:30. Scientists from the Pew Center on Global Climate Change and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (http://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/) attempt to predict the earth's temperature and changing landscape over the next two centuries--an artful science.
(Through Nov 20) THE ART OF TRANSFORMATION The Embassy of Japan illuminates its industrial revolution in The Art of Transformation, an exhibit of prints on display through November 20th. Japan's self-imposed isolation came to an end in 1909, when the first delegation of Japanese businessmen arrived in the U.S. The embassy celebrates the centennial of this historic exchange with an exhibit of colorful woodblock reprints revealing the foundations of Japan's modern infrastructure and urbanization.
(September 17) THE ART OF AIRMEN The United States Air Force Band Airmen of Note performs at the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Take 5 Jazz Concert tomorrow night starting at 5 pm. With a fifty-year tradition of modern big band jazz, the Airmen soar both in the air and on stage.
September 16, 2009 - Police are holding a public meeting this morning about the murder of a woman last week in Silver Spring, Maryland. Simone White, 37, was a citizen of Jamaica. She was shot outside her apartment off of Briggs Cheney Road and Columbia Pike last Wednesday.
White's sister, Keisha Chaplain, traveled from Jamaica to accompany her sister's body to their home. "I'm making a heart-felt appeal to anyone who knows anything relating to this senseless murder to contact the police so that justice can be done," said Chaplain.
Joy Nurmi, Director of services for Montgomery County's Eastern Region, is helping coordinate a meeting for police, residents and business owners in the area. "Because there is a lot of concern in the community regarding this crime, we wanted to make sure that we got a community meeting together so that they can talk to the police, express their concerns to help solve crimes--not just this one, but all crimes."
Authorities say they want to continue the meetings to inform residents of crime and to build ties in the community. The first meeting is scheduled for 9:30 at the Eastern Montgomery Regional Center off Briggs Cheney Road.
Stephanie Kaye reports...
September 16, 2009 - While residential real estate in the D.C. area is showing signs of life--housing starts are up, building permits are up--commercial real estate is still on the decline.
In Fairfax County, Virginia that means some development goals will have to be put on hold. The county is trying to revitalize some of its older commercial areas, such as Richmond highway and Baileys Crossroads. County planners want denser, mixed use development to anchor town centers. But few developers are in positions to build.
"To find financing for development is much more difficult today," says Krista DiLaconi, Senior Vice President of JBG Rosenfeld, a retail development firm. "Because of the risk inherent in development today, you're finding investors looking for higher returns but renters not wanting to pay higher rents."
Leonard Bogorad is a Managing Director with real estate consulting firm RCL CO. Like many developers, he says Fairfax County may see some development, but not the dramatic high-rise urbanization some hope for.
"It can often be a trade off between getting something we don't want at all and something that's realistic financially," says Bogorad.
There are 14 million square feet of vacant office space in Fairfax County alone. Some developers say new commercial development is at least five years away.
Sabri Ben-Achour reports...
September 16, 2009 - RICHMOND, Va. (AP) The Virginia Department of Corrections is restoring a program that provides free books to inmates.
Director Gene M. Johnson said in a letter Tuesday that procedures for receiving the books will be tightened, and inmates will be able to request three books a month. His letter went to Kay Allison, owner of the Charlottesville-based Quest Bookshop that has provided the books.
Department spokesman Larry Traylor has said the department decided last month to eliminate the program after contraband was found in some books. Allison says it was the program's first lapse in 15 years, and the contraband consisted of paper clips and a compact disc. Johnson says if contraband is found again, the department will re-evaluate its relationship with Quest.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
September 16, 2009 - GREENBELT, Md. (AP) A former Washington police officer is among the dozen charged with being part of a Southern Maryland drug ring.
Forty-two-year-old Darrell Alphonso Carter, of Abell and 11 co-defendants, are charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine. District police say Carter was hired as an officer in 1990 and resigned in November 2002.
Prosecutors say the ring distributed cocaine and crack cocaine between November 2006 and September 2009. Authorities say they carried out 20 search warrants last week, seizing various items, including luxury cars and jewelry.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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