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Tuesday, March 16, 2010
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October 26, 2009 - For the fourth year, more than 1,000 doors in Maryland will be off-limits to trick-or-treaters this Halloween. Last month, the state's Division of Parole and Probation sent a letter to 12-hundred sex offenders restricted from contact with minors.
Patrick McGee is the Division's director. "We ask the offender to turn the lights off, put a "no candy" sign in their window to reduce the threat or the anxiety for Halloween."
McGee says offenders who do not comply could go to court for violating their parole or probation.
Maryland is one of several states with a Halloween Watch Program. The American Civil Liberties Union is challenging Missouri's statute, since it also applies to offenders who already have finished their sentences.The Maryland ACLU declined to comment for this story.
Rebecca Sheir reports...
The 2008 Halloween Watch Program sign. This year's sign will not include the pumpkin.
Courtesy of: Rebecca Sheir
October 26, 2009 - Maryland is among more than a dozen states to restrict sex offenders on Halloween. But not everyone thinks that's the best way to keep kids safe. Patrick Moran directs the union representing parole and probation agents in Maryland. They'll be making sure sex offenders turn out the lights and hang "no candy" signs on their doors Saturday...
" Anything we can do to try keeping our community safe for the kids on Halloween is a positive step."
But Paul Stern, who prosecutes child abuse cases in Washington state, says the Halloween restrictions are pointless...
"Halloween appears to be just like any other autumn day where rates of sex crimes against children are concerned."
Stern co-authored a study of 70,000 non-familial sex offenses in 30 states across nine years, and found sex crimes against children account for 2 of every 1,000 Halloween crimes...
"It's a wonderful thing to put a band-aid on an injury, but you oughta have an injury first. Otherwise you're just wasting the band-aid."
Stern says states should focus on more pressing safety concerns, such as pedestrian-motor vehicle accidents.
Rebecca Sheir reports...
October 26, 2009 -
(October 26) BIG BAND HALLOWEEN A Big Band Pre-Halloween Scream, hosted by the University of Maryland School of Music, is at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center in College Park, Maryland, tonight at 7:30. The school's three spirited big bands join forces for a bewitching night of jazz, as the woodwinds howl, the brass wails and the percussion section goes "bump" in the night.
(October 26-November 29) FULL CIRCLE The cutting edge Woolly Mammoth Theatre provides theater to travel by as it presents Full Circle, opening tonight and running through November 29th. The story: two women launch a madcap chase to literally outrun the vultures of communism and capitalism in Eastern Germany. And when the Woolly Mammoth crew says "Full Circle," they're not kidding. The cast and audience travel throughout the theater during this unconventional experience. Comfortable shoes recommended.
(October 25) KIDS EURO FILM FEST The Kids Euro Festival Films comes to screens around town with movies of imagination, joy, and friendship. It's hosted by members of the European Union and local arts organizations through November 10th. The Fox and the Child by the French director of March of the Penguins tells the story of a friendship between a fox and a young girl. Mia and the Migoo is the animated quest of a girl for her father, all the while saving the Earth from ecological disaster.
Part of the Kids Euro Film Fest running through November 10th.
Courtesy of: Luc Jaquet
October 26, 2009 - Like beauty, progress is often in the eye of the beholder. Today in Maryland, the Montgomery County council will again meet to consider changes to the Gaithersburg West master plan, including altering some intersections.
Doing so would allow expansion of a campus of Johns Hopkins University to accommodate a tripling of the number of people employed locally in life sciences but opponents fear it will also create a traffic nightmare.
As part of our continuing series on the plan, Matt Bush speaks with some of the people who developed it...
Redesigning the intersection of Sam Eig Highway and Great Seneca Highway is Montgomery County's top priority under the Gaithersburg West Master Plan.
October 26, 2009 - Metro is pilot testing new software designed to serve as a backup for the system Metro uses to prevent crashes. The software would allow controllers to see in real time if there are circuit irregularities in the automatic train control system. That's the system designed to keep trains a safe distance apart.
Currently, Metro runs checks for anomalies twice a day -- not during rush hours.
Metro has worked on the software with an engineering firm called ARINC since the crash that killed 9 people in June. Investigators have not announced the cause of the crash. But the National Transportation Safety Board told Metro that its crash-avoidance system was inadequate and called for the transit agency to develop a backup.
Metro trains have been running in manual mode since the collision.
Rebecca Blatt reports...
October 26, 2009 - There have been several instances of school violence in and around D.C. schools recently, including one involving multiple teenagers on Minnesota Avenue in Northeast. One D.C. council member says a school safety plan from the police department - required by law- is more than two months overdue.
The report is supposed to detail how police will protect children from gang violence and other safety threats as they walk to and from schools.
Police Chief Cathy Lanier was supposed to give it to the mayor, council members and the chancellor of DCPS by August 15th. Before school reopened.
Council member Phil Mendelson, who heads the committee on public safety, says he has written two letters to Lanier for the report, but hasn't yet received a response, "We want public safety officials to be planning public safety for schools, before school opens, rather than reacting to problems."
Mendelson says he's received several complaints about the lack of security around schools.
A spokesperson from the police department did not return requests for comment.
Kavitha Cardoza reports...
October 26, 2009 - The largest day of global climate action has ended but environmentalists in Maryland are just getting started on their battles for 2010.
The Chesapeake Climate Action Network was a key ally in Saturday's high-profile rally over climate change. But it's members have no time to catch their breath.
This week they join a coalition of Maryland's environmental community to forge -- over the next two weeks -- nothing less than a comprehensive energy plan for the entire state. Among other things, the the new proposals would call on the state's Public Service Commission to approve energy projects based on their environmental impact as well as affordable electricity rates.
The group will also work with Maryland Democratic Senator Ben Cardin to push for an energy dividend system similar to the one in Alaska -- which pays residents from the state's oil revenues.
"That money is just wired directly into their bank accounts," said Ethan Nuss, the Maryland campaign coordinator for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.
"We would like to see in Maryland a system of what we call cap and dividend where we see any revenue raised from a clean energy jobs bill could then be directly and electronically put into individual's bank accounts."
Nuss said his group will seek sponsors for their proposals in the general assembly in time for its next session in January.
Mana Rabiee reports...
October 26, 2009 - There's a story behind each of the 30,000 people who participated in the Marine Corps Marathon.
Athletes from the marathon's 10-K program streamed through the finish at the Iwo Jima Memorial in Arlington. Among them, dozens of amputee vets.
"I'm feeling proud, proud of myself, proud of the Corps, proud of everyone here," said Corporal Casey Evans from Houston.
Evans was on his second tour in Iraq with the 1st Battalion 7th Regiment when he lost his leg. He finished the marathon on a special hand-cranked bike.
"I just got my bike yesterday. Haven't put it together so it's kinda my virgin run on it," said Evans.
A few minutes later, James King biked across the finish. Destiny brought him from Rimadi, Iraq to the Walter Reed Hospital.
"I actually met a lady by the name of Beth right outside my door at Walter Reade. Within the next two years we were married. So if I wouldn't have got blown up I wouldn't have met my wife and I wouldn't have my two year-old son. So everything happens for a reason," said King.
Charlotte Hayes from Arlington ran in memory of her step-father, a Colonel in the Marine Corps during Vietnam.
"To cross the finish line with all these fantastic service members and living in the DC area, makes me feel very loyal to my country and honored to be an American."
In all, 5,000 participants in the marathon were affiliated with the military.
Mana Rabiee reports...
October 26, 2009 - This week you can have a chance to weigh-in on the proposed tolls for the Intercounty Connector.
The public hearings on tolls for the 18-mile highway are sponsored by The Maryland Transportation Authority's board.
The board has proposed rush-hour tolls of 25 to 35 cents a mile. Off-peak rates would range from 20 to 30 cents a mile. Analysts say that could add up to approximately $6.50 to travel the entire highway making the tolls some of the highest in the country. State officials say the numbers are comparable to newer toll roads.
The meetings will be held Wednesday at High Point High School in Beltsville and Thursday at Shady Grove Middle in Gaithersburg.
Elliott Francis reports...
October 26, 2009 - Next month, the District will begin 'weatherizing' the homes of low-income residents. The city has received $8 million in stimulus funds for the program, ten times what the program typically receives.
As Patrick Madden reports, non-profit groups are benefiting from the boost in federal funds, including some you may not expect...
Melvin Deal, director of the African Heritage Dancers and Drummers. The non-profit has been awarded stimulus funds to weatherize homes.
Courtesy of: Patrick Madden/WAMU 88.5 NEWS
October 26, 2009 - At a rally against same-sex marriage in front of the Wilson Building, a minister dressed in black and white spats underneath his clerical outfit pumps up the crowd. "The devil is a liar!" he shouts, to exuberant cheers.
Yesterday's rally drew several hundred people, including City Council member Yvette Alexander. But her colleague, Councilman Phil Mendelson says opponents of same-sex marraige represent a small, vocal minority.
"We would hear a very different response if there was much more opposition," he says. "We're not."
Mendelson is chairing a public hearing this afternoon on a bill that would allow same-sex couples in D.C. to marry. Ten of the 13 Council members have signed on to it, and Mayor Adrian Fenty has signaled his support.
Mendelson says the Council could pass the bill as early as mid-December, which would make D.C. the sixth jurisdiction in the country to legalize same-sex marriage.
David Schultz reports...
October 26, 2009 - Today state and local youth councils from across the country are on Capitol Hill to meet with lawmakers.
Elizabeth Wynne Johnson reports...
October 26, 2009 - Stories have the power to heal. That's the idea behind a performance tonight, October 26, in Baltimore about living with mental illness.
Kate Farinholt runs the Baltimore chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. She says a decade ago she had a hard time finding anyone who would talk publicly about living with things like depression or schizophrenia.
"But now people are starting conversations, expecting that someone listening may have some empathy," says Farinholt.
So it was no surprise to Fairholt that more than a dozen people volunteered to tell their stories about mental illness. Seven will do so tonight at Baltimore's Centerstage theater. Nancy of one of them.
"Just to be able to be on stage and tell my family's story has allowed me to see my story from a different point of view, and not feel like a victim anymore but really own my story and be able to tell it."
Even so, Nancy won't share her last name because she wants to protect her family from any criticism. Writer Jonathan Fuqua is out and loud about his manic depression. He hopes his story shows that people with mental illness can do just about anything.
"I think that's the big thing that I want to carry forward is all the people who have it and yet all the people who are functioning fine with it, and struggle, struggle to function fine true, but do function," said Fuqua.
...and, do well.
Cathy Duchamp reports...
October 26, 2009 - There's just about a week to go before Election Day in Virginia. The candidates for Governor and some high profile surrogates will be making their final rounds in the Commonwealth. Meanwhile, pundits and party leaders are speculating about the national impact of the race. Dr. Steve Farnsworth, an assistant professor of communication at George Mason University joins WAMU's Morning Edition Host Matt McCleskey to talk about the races.
October 26, 2009 - A nuclear reactor operated by Dominion Virginia Power remains shut down today after a leak was discovered last week. The North Anna nuclear plant is about 45 miles northwest of Richmond, along Lake Anna in Louisa County. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says one of the two reactors there was shut down Friday after operators discovered an excessive leak from a heat exchanger tube. Regulators say the leak was "unusual" but not an emergency.
According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, there's no word on how long it will take to make repairs and return the idle reactor to service. The plant's other reactor is still operating at full power.
Natalie Neumann has the details...
October 26, 2009 - Metro is preparing for tonight's football game at FedEx Field, where the Washington Redskins will take on the Philadelphia Eagles. The transit agency is expecting large crowds Monday evening and plans to have more trains in service as the game ends.
The Morgan Boulevard station on Metro's Blue line will stay open an hour longer than usual to accommodate the rush. The last Blue Line train is scheduled to depart Morgan Boulevard for the Franconia-Springfield station at 12:27 a.m. If the game goes into overtime, Metro says it will make sure trains are available to get fans home.
Metro encourages people taking the train to buy a round trip fare card or to make sure there's enough money on their SmarTrip cards before the game to avoid long lines afterward. People who don't ride the train, but who park at the Morgan Boulevard or Largo Town Center stations for the game will have to pay $25 using a SmarTrip card.
Matt McCleskey has more...
October 26, 2009 - The Prince George's County Council is holding a public hearing tonight on a new transportation plan. Prince George's County is adding some more transit to its 171 page master plan including a Purple Line from New Carrollton to Westphalia and National Harbor and a Green Line extension to Fort Meade via Konterra. The plan is in line with the county's overall growth policy, which has started to focus more on mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly development.The revised plan which has not been updated in more than 25 years also adds some bike trails. Discussion begins at 7pm The council is scheduled to vote by Nov. 20.
Meymo Lyons has more...
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