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Saturday, November 21, 2009
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October 27, 2009 - WASHINGTON (AP) A Washington consultant has been indicted for allegedly conspiring to violate U.S. economic sanctions against Sudan. A federal indictment unsealed today says Robert Cabelly brokered business contracts and transactions benefiting Sudan without the approval of the U.S. government.
WASHINGTON (AP) Take the terms "bride" and "groom" off D.C. marriage licenses and replace them with the word "spouse." That's one change being suggested as supporters and opponents of a proposed bill to allow same-sex marriage in Washington take a hard look at the bill's language.
WASHINGTON (AP) The Coast Guard says holding a training exercise near the Pentagon on Sept. 11 this year was ill-advised, but didn't violate agency policies. The incident spooked the capital, sent FBI agents to the scene and grounded some flights from Reagan National Airport.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
October 27, 2009 - BALTIMORE (AP) The Environmental Protection Agency plans to hold public meetings in the six Chesapeake Bay watershed states to discuss upcoming pollution limits. The hearings will be held in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia and New York in November and December.
HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) Prosecutors in Hagerstown are seeking two consecutive life terms for a man who set a house fire that killed his girlfriend's two adolescent daughters. Thirty-eight-year-old Clarence Meyers faces sentencing this afternoon.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
October 27, 2009 - CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) The parents of a 20-year-old Virginia Tech student who disappeared outside a Metallica concert say they fear their daughter is the victim of foul play but hope for her return. The band has posted photos of Morgan Dana Harrington of Roanoke on its Web site and contributed $50,000 to a reward fund for her safe return.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) Convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad will die by lethal injection when he is executed November 10th. State officials say Muhammad declined to choose between lethal injection and electrocution, so under state law the method defaults to lethal injection.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
October 27, 2009 - LEXINGTON, Va. (AP) Disgraced ex-New York Times reporter Jayson Blair will be the featured speaker at a Virginia journalism ethics seminar.
Blair, the focus of a major news media scandal, will speak on "Lessons Learned" at Washington and Lee University's Journalism Ethics Institute on Nov. 6.
Blair resigned from The Times in 2003 after an investigation found he had plagiarized or fabricated major portions of articles he had written during four years with the newspaper.
A school news release says the 33-year-old Blair hasn't spoken publicly before about the events that led to his departure from The Times.
For the past two years, he has been working as a certified life coach for a mental-health practice in northern Virginia.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
October 27, 2009 - Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board have determined the cause of a Medevac helicopter crash in District Heights that killed four people.
About a year ago, Jordan Wells, then 18, was driving through Charles County Maryland with a friend. There was a lot of fog, it was night time, and they crashed. A Medevac helicopter came and the two friends were whisked off into the night. "When I woke up I had to put two and two together, I realized I'd never made it to the hospital," said Wells. "When my eyes adjusted to the night, I realized I was laying in the woods."
The helicopter had crashed, killing Wells' friend, two medics, and the pilot. NTSB investigators now say the pilot didn't perform a weather risk assessment that might have canceled the flight.
"I cannot fathom why any hems operator wouldn't perform the written risk assessment, it's mind boggling," said NTSB chairman Debbie Hirsman. And, it had been nearly two years since the pilot had trained for the specific foggy conditions of that night. That's in part because Maryland State Police had slashed their training requirements.
"The tax payers of Maryland should be disappointed as well as those people requesting service," NTSB Board member Robert Sumwalt. Investigators lay blame too with air traffic controllers who provided weather conditions that were five hours old. And when the pilot asked for help landing, another controller said she wasn't qualified to give it.
But Hersman says there is good news. "Maryland state police have recognized many things in advance of us completing our accident investigation and have taken voluntary steps to address many of those issues," said Hershman.
Among those improvements: restoring training requirements and installing devices in its Medevac fleet that would warn pilots if they were getting too close to the ground.
Sabri Ben-Achour reports...
October 27, 2009 - Two university students are facing trespassing and disorderly conduct charges after they entered a campus dormitory to interview students for a news story.
The Virginia chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is calling on James Madison University to drop the charges against 21-year-old Tim Chapman and 19-year-old Katie Hibson. It says officials acted "beyond reason."
Hibson is a reporter for The Breeze, the twice-weekly campus newspaper, and Chapman is its editor in chief. The university's Office of Judicial Affairs issued the charges after a resident adviser and the Hillside Hall director told the reporters to leave as they interviewed residents about a "peeping Tom" incident. University spokesman Don Egle did not immediately return a telephone message seeking comment.
Meymo Lyons reports...
October 27, 2009 - Port of Baltimore officials say automobile business there is starting to recover.
James White, the Executive Director of the Maryland Port Administration, says the bottom dropped out of the shipping business about a year ago, but the volume of ships is growing again. White says they've seen ships returning to the port, though they aren't as full as they were in the beginning of 2008.
White says the number of cruises sailing from Baltimore is growing. He says there were 28 sailings last year and this year there are 79.
Meymo Lyons reports...
October 27, 2009 - A federal judge in Alexandria, Va., is throwing out guilty verdicts against two people who used late-night infomercials to tout their stock-trading.
A jury convicted Linda Woolf and David Gengler on fraud charges last May. The two residents of Utah were among the top earners at a company called Teach Me to Trade. The company uses infomercials and hotel seminars to sell courses and software on making money in the stock market.
In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga set aside the jury's guilty verdicts and ordered an acquittal. He says prosecutors failed to show the two had been part of any fraud scheme. A spokesman for prosecutors says the government is reviewing its options.
Bill Redlin reports...
October 27, 2009 - Three H1N1 flu vaccine clinics are scheduled tomorrow in Maryland's Montgomery County. The nasal spray vaccine will be offered to children between the ages of 2 and 24, but can't be given to pregnant women, children under two, or those with chronic conditions like asthma or diabetes.
The county says it's ordered more injectable vaccine but doesn't have it yet. The clinics will be open from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Northwood High School, Northwest High School, and Rockville High School.
In Virginia, Fairfax County is offering the vaccine now at five county health offices, but only to pregnant women, children between two and five years of age, and parents of children under six months old. They'll serve 250 people each day until the supply is exhausted.
The District holds the latest in its series of clinics for youth and pregnant women from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. tonight at Eliot-Hine Middle School and Kelly Miller Middle School, both in NE Washington.
Matt McCleskey reports...
October 27, 2009 - D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty says he will not attend a council hearing about the teachers recently laid off from D.C. Public Schools. Chancellor Michelle Rhee will be at the council hearing on Thursday. It's an opportunity for her to explain her decision to layoff nearly 400 school personnel, including more than 250 educators. The layoffs led to several protest rallies, lawsuits and an 18 hour council hearing where teachers and community members testified.
Council members and community residents have asked Fenty to come to the hearing as well. But he says he won't be there. "A mayor testifies once a year during the budget process. It's always been a custom and we've continued that custom."
Several questions remain over why the layoffs took place so close to the beginning of school, how teachers were selected and whether the layoffs were necessary.
Kavitha Cardoza reports...
Several questions remain over why the layoffs took place so close to the beginning of school, how teachers were selected and whether the layoffs were necessary.
Courtesy of: Kavitha Cardoza
October 27, 2009 - If you want to vote absentee in the upcoming election in Virginia, now's the time to do it.
Casting a ballot by mail means you have until this afternoon at five to apply for a ballot. Go to your local voter registrar to do it. If you want to vote absentee in person, this Saturday is the deadline. Registrars' offices will be open that day to accommodate crowds.
There are 18 reasons that make voters eligible to vote absentee.
Pat Brogan reports...
October 27, 2009 - Virginia's governor says he's writing a budget for 2011 and 2012, and warns that despite several rounds of cuts already, everything remains on the table.
In the last round of budget cuts, Governor Tim Kaine eliminated nearly a thousand jobs and cut aid to colleges and universities by 15%. He said the main reason K-12 education wasn't cut was because of Stimulus money, "and at some point those stimulus dollars will go away, and we've gotta be prepared then to make the decisions then that we need to."
The governor said nothing in state government would be "immune" from cuts, and predicted local county budgets would be distressed well into the future because their revenue sources - real estate taxes for example - are slower to rebound.
Sabri Ben-Achour reports...
October 27, 2009 - A new Washington Post poll shows Republican Bob McDonnell with an 11-point lead over Democrat Creigh Deeds in Virginia's Governor's Race. McDonnell will be in Bailey's Crossroads meeting with Vietnamese American voters today. Meanwhile, President Obama will campaign in Norfolk, Virginia for Deeds.
The Deeds campaign hasn't quite been able to recapture the energy of last year's presidential contest but current Virginia Governor - and head of the Democratic National Committee - Tim Kaine remains positive. He says the Mr. Obama's visit will be helpful.
"I think that will dramatize to Virginians we want a governor who will be a good partner with the White House."
Kaine brushed aside reports that Whitehouse officials were critical of the Deeds campaign.
"It's a feature of any campaign that there are frustrations, but I do know this: I talked to the President last week and he's very excited to come in tomorrow and to work hard for Creigh," said Kaine
Larry Sabato is director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. He said Obama's visit may make an impact, but "every indication we have including the historical pattern, is that turn out will be way down from November 2008," especially among the groups that came out for Obama last year.
Sabri Ben-Achour reports...
October 27, 2009 - A coalition of law enforcement agencies in Northern Virginia has released what it's calling a comprehensive look at gang activity across the region. The assessment paints a fairly rosy picture of the region's fight against criminal gangs.
Based on data from 2003 through 2008, it showed downward trends in several gang-related crime categories -- including robberies, burglaries, and violent crimes. But Loudoun County Sheriff Steve Simpson, a director of the Northern Virginia Regional Gang Task Force, says no one should think Northern Virginia is close to eradicating the problem.
"You don't get rid of them -- they don't go anywhere. They just don't commit the crimes they've been committing -- they're not as active. But they're still here," Simpson says.
Local police say gangs are becoming more organized and sophisticated. Lillian Brooks, who works with Alexandria's Juvenile Court, says the community needs to do a better job educating young people about the perils of gang life. "It's out there. It's just like everywhere. It's out there and to say that we don't have it is living in a dreamworld, frankly," Brooks says.
The assessment did find the region lacking in community programs targeting gang-involved teenagers...researchers say many community programs have academic requirements that may discourage participation.
Jonathan Wilson has more...
October 27, 2009 - A new Washington Post poll shows Republican Bob McDonnell with an 11-point lead over Democrat Creigh Deeds in Virginia's Governor's Race.
McDonnell will be in Bailey's Crossroads meeting with Vietnamese American voters today. Meanwhile, President Obama will campaign in Norfolk, Virginia for Deeds.
The Deeds campaign hasn't quite been able to recapture the energy of last year's presidential contest but current Virginia Governor - and head of the Democratic National Committee - Tim Kaine remains positive. He says the Mr. Obama's visit will be helpful.
"I think that will dramatize to Virginians we want a governor who will be a good partner with the White House," said the Governor.
Kaine brushed aside reports that Whitehouse officials were critical of the Deeds campaign.
"It's a feature of any campaign that there are frustrations, but I do know this: I talked to the President last week and he's very excited to come in tomorrow and to work hard for Creigh," said Kaine.
According to the Post poll, 7 in 10 Virginia voters said their feelings toward Obama wouldn't make a difference in their vote.
Sabri Ben-Achour reports...
October 27, 2009 - Traffic is legendary in the D.C. area...and things appear to be getting worse.
Those who study these things say the problem won't have one simple solution -- but this week regional transportation planners will try something a bit different: paying local commuters to start carpooling.
Jonathan Wilson has the details of the new area program...
D.C. is hardly the first metropolitan area to try paying people to carpool. In fact, the Pool Rewards program is closely modeled on an incentive system Atlanta has been using for years.
Matt Bush has more on how that program has been working -- and how what D.C.'s doing is different...
Traffic is legendary in the D.C. area...and things appear to be getting worse.
Courtesy of: Jonathan Wilson
October 27, 2009 - The DC unemployment rate is one of the highest in the nation, and it just got even higher.
The bureau of labor statistics reports a spike in the district's jobless rate from 11.1 to 11.4 percent in the last month. 10-thousand jobs were lost.
Joe Walsh, director of the District's employment services says the number reflects a loss triggered by the end of the Summer Youth Employment Program, and he adds there's a larger systemic problem.
"The other piece is that cities have a higher concentration of poverty than anywhere else in the country, and you have a higher number of people who are more vulnerable to these dramatic downturns in the economy than anyplace else," said Walsh.
John Fenwick has a different take. An unemployed hospital worker, Fenwick says he's witnessed city and federal jobs going to people outside of the district.
"They're not getting first bid for the jobs and they're shutting down government services to bring in these 3rd party administrators and contractors to handle that and they're from out of state, have their own set of employees and what happens is D.C. residents are getting shut out of the job market," Fenwick said.
Although the District's numbers are not as high the 15.3 percent rate in Michigan, it does top the current national average which stands at 9.8 percent.
Elliott Francis reports...
October 27, 2009 - As the District moves closer to letting same-sex couples wed, supporters and opponents are speaking out. Dozens of witnesses testified at Monday's emotional hearing on same-sex marriage legislation. Tempers flared, people choked up and a few tried to lighten the mood. So many people signed up to speak, the council decided to hold an additional hearing next week.
Patrick Madden has more...
October 27, 2009 - Three Cabinet secretaries and the head of EPA testify at the first in a series of Senate hearings on global climate change. On the Senate floor, a showdown is expected this afternoon to break the partisan stalemate over extending unemployment benefits. And after all the Congressional work, some football.
Elizabeth Wynne Johnson reports...
October 27, 2009 - (October 28 & November 16) AUTHOR TALKS The Shakespeare Theatre Company brings New York to D.C. with two live simulcasts, streaming a lecture and Q&A with author John Irving tomorrow night at 7 at the Harman Hall, and with Stephen King on November 16th at D.C.'s Lansburgh Theatre. You can email questions for the authors in advance of the high-tech talk, or speak with them during the broadcasts from The Times Center in New York City.
(October 27) WEARY BLUES & LANGSTON'S LEGACY Washington Musica Viva and poet Holly Bass bring The Weary Blues and Langston Hughes to life during a performance at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in D.C.'s Foggy Bottom tonight at 7. Bass and a few musical friends perform this original work of jazz and poetry honoring the collaboration between Langston Hughes and Charles Mingus.
(October 29 & 30) MARGARET JENKINS DANCE East meets West as two dance companies - China's Guangdong Modern and D.C.'s Margaret Jenkins - present Other Suns at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center Thursday and Friday at 8pm. "Other Suns" explores place, communication and identity with dance that is both sensual and refined.
October 27, 2009 - Maryland is proposing loosening the limits on pets in state parks. The Department of Natural Resources is seeking public comment on a proposed policy that would allow pets in the day-use areas of nearly all state parks during at least part of the year.
Pets are currently prohibited in the day-use areas of at least 18 of the more than 70 state parks and recreation areas.
The policy would open up such popular parks as Assateague and New Germany to pets, but some restrictions would remain. Beaches at those parks would be off limits during the peak season from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
You can review the proposed changes to the pet policy on the Maryland DNR website. After the proposed pet policy is reviewed, a new policy is expected to be implemented in early 2010.
Natalie Neumann has the details...
October 27, 2009 - The Environmental Protection Agency says it plans to hold public meetings in the six states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed to discuss upcoming pollution limits.
The EPA says the limits, called the Total Maximum Daily Load, are a strict "pollution diet'' designed to restore the bay. The mandatory restrictions for the 64 thousand square mile watershed are scheduled to be completed by December of next year. The federal agency says the daily loads will establish the pollution cuts necessary for meeting bay clean water standards.
The first round of public meetings on the initiative will be held throughout the watershed beginning next week. The hearings will be held in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia and New York through December.
Natalie Neumann has the details...
October 27, 2009 - The D.C. Council is holding a hearing this week to find out why the city's housing authority awarded tens of millions of dollars in contracts without their approval.
The council is required to sign off on any contract worth more than $1 million. But council members say the mayor's office went around them and funneled a dozen contracts through the housing authority for the projects.
The deals were worth about $72 million and were awarded to a pair of companies with ties to the mayor. The D.C. Housing Authority is independent of the city government, and D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles says the contracts are legal and binding, although last week he said the deals needed council approval.
Councilwoman Mary Cheh says she has asked several top ranking members of Mayor Fenty's administration to appear Friday, including Deputy Mayor Valerie Santos and City Administrator Neil Albert.
Patrick Madden reports...
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