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Tuesday, February 9, 2010
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November 13, 2009 - WASHINGTON (AP) Rescuers have evacuated several shops because of the threat of a building collapse in southeast Washington. Officials say construction work was under way today at a row of buildings in the 100 block of 15th Street SE when the walls started to crack and separate. The saturated ground after recent rains may be a factor.
WASHINGTON (AP) D.C. police will join other local police departments in a federal program that checks the immigration status of those booked into a local jail. Officials announced yesterday that D.C. would join a program that matches inmates' fingerprints against a federal database to identify illegal immigrants before release.
WASHINGTON (AP) D.C. Council members say there's little room for compromise with the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington over a proposed same-sex marriage law. The church says it won't continue offering social services with D.C. money if the marriage bill isn't changed because it would require the church to recognize same-sex couples.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
November 13, 2009 - GREENBELT, Md. (AP) Metro plans to plead guilty to charges it released hazardous chemicals into the sewer system in 2003, according to court documents. The charges in federal court in Greenbelt were made public yesterday.
BALTIMORE (AP) A housing official described his relationship with Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon and a former boyfriend's employee testified about buying gift cards at the heart of the theft trial against her. Prosecutors allege she used gift cards intended for the needy during personal shopping sprees.
MCHENRY, Md. (AP) Maryland's only ski resort is teaming up with two Pennsylvania counterparts to expand the appeal of skiing the Allegheny highlands. The Wisp Resort in McHenry says season-ticket buyers will get a free one-day lift ticket at either the Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Seven Springs, Pennsylvania, or the Hidden Valley Resort in Hidden Valley, Pennsylvania.
BERLIN (AP) Michael Phelps and Paul Biedermann are playing down their showdown in a World Cup meet this weekend. Phelps says he is not in the best shape, while his German rival is coming off a thigh muscle injury.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
November 13, 2009 - RICHMOND, Va. (AP) The U.S. Supreme Court has been asked to delay Tuesday's scheduled execution of a Maryland man convicted of killing a northern Virginia couple. Larry Bill Elliott, a former Army counterintelligence worker, was convicted in Virginia in the 2001 shooting deaths of 25-year-old Dana Thrall and 30-year-old Robert Finch.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) Virginia State police say they believe a Virginia Tech student missing for nearly a month was hitchhiking after she left a Metallica concert in Charlottesville. Police say they want to hear from anyone who might have loaned a cell phone to a woman fitting the description of 20-year-old Morgan Dana Harrington of Roanoke.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) The Virginia National Guard is on duty to help with floods in the Hampton Roads and Danville areas. About 50 soldiers are on duty operating in the Portsmouth area and approximately 55 are on duty in the Danville area today.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) Dominion Power says nearly 130,000 customers in Virginia and North Carolina are still without electricity in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Ida. Most of the outages are in southeast Virginia, where nearly 126,000 customers lacked power as of 1:30 p.m. today.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
November 13, 2009 - By Jonathan Wilson
Virginia is still in a state of emergency due to flooding and power outages caused by the remnants of Tropical Storm Ida.
Jeff Caldwell, with the state's department of transportation, says more than 200 roads in Virginia are still closed due to high water. He says weather is expected to improve tonight, and tomorrow, new roads may flood as water from this week's rain makes its way down tributaries toward the ocean.
Gov. Tim Kaine, who declared a state of emergency on Thursday, says he'll have a better idea of storm damage by Saturday afternoon. "The flood surges in some parts of Hampton Roads, were significant," says Kaine. "I'll be touring that area tomorrow to get a sense of how significant the damage is."
Kaine says the storm mostly damaged private property rather than state infrastructure.
November 13, 2009 - By Mana Rabiee
Maryland's Governor Martin O'Malley is marking the one-year anniversary of his vow to end childhood hunger in his state by 2015.
O'Malley sat his 6-foot-1-inch frame on a miniature plastic chair and nibbled on chicken nuggets in front of a young and captive audience. He was at the Annapolis Child Care Center to highlight the gains made over the past year by a coalition called the Partnership to End Childhood Hunger in Maryland.
"Ending childhood hunger is an issue that transcends politics," says O'Malley. "It's an issue that speaks to who we are and what we want to be, especially in tough times."
Since O'Malley's pledge a year ago, the coalition has added tens of thousands of children to various state and federal food programs--children who qualified for assistance but weren't enrolled.
"There are enough federal dollars available in Maryland to get us to the goal of eradicating childhood hunger by 2015--if only we connect those programs, connect those dollars, to the kids that otherwise are going to go to bed hungry," says O'Malley.
Maryland has more than 150,000 children living below the poverty level.
Governor Martin O'Malley eating with children.
Courtesy of: Anel Ramazanova
November 13, 2009 - By Jonathan Wilson
The remnants of Tropical Storm Ida hammered Ocean City, Maryland.
The town's emergency services director Joseph Theobald says flooding has been a major problem in downtown Ocean City, but he says there's been no major damage to the boardwalk or other property.
The weakening storm also packed enough of a punch to severely erode sand dunes on Ocean City's beach front. Theobald says the dunes are there to absorb the brunt of powerful storms, and this one is one of the worst his city has seen in more than a decade.
"It's gonna rank up there over the last 15 years on what's taken place in Ocean City, especially with the flooding issues downtown," says Theobald.
Theobald says sand dunes will be repaired long before next year's vacation season. In summer months, the population of Ocean City rises to nearly 300,000. There are about 8,000 permanent residents.
November 13, 2009 - House Democrats Joe Crowley, Louise Slaughter and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer Late Saturday night about the significance of their votes after a hard-fought vote on sweeping new health care legislation.
Elizabeth Wynne Johnson reports...
November 13, 2009 - By Meymo Lyons
D.C. police will join other local police departments in a federal program that checks the immigration status of every person booked into a local jail.
The District is joining the Secure Communities program, which matches inmates' fingerprints against a federal database to identify illegal immigrants before they are released. The program began in 2008 but is being expanded under the Obama administration to focus on illegal immigrants who commit crimes.
Fairfax County is one of 95 jurisdictions in the program. It differs from a national effort that deputizes local police to question suspects about their immigration status. Montgomery County also provides names of anyone arrested for a violent crime to immigration authorities.
November 13, 2009 - By Peter Granitz
An Islamic advocacy group says the seizure of a local mosque by the federal government may have violated the First Amendment rights of Muslims in the D.C. Metro area.
Prosecutors filed a forfeiture action against four mosques including the Islamic Education Center in Potomac, Maryland. The government says the center is funded by the Alavi Foundation, an alleged front for the Iranian government.
Ibrahim Hooper with the Council for American Islamic Relations says seizing a place of worship violates the civil rights of practitioners and sends a chilling message. "Already you're seeing headlines: U.S. Government Seizes American Mosques. Now people are going to read those and they're not going to go into the details of this legal argument or that legal argument," says Hooper. "They're going to see that argument and react negatively."
Hooper says the timing couldn't be worse coming in the wake of the shooting at Fort Hood. The center in Potomac would not comment for this story.
November 13, 2009 - By Meymo Lyons
Magna Entertainment Corp. is moving forward with the sale of its Maryland thoroughbred race tracks without an initial bid.
Magna, which filed for bankruptcy protection in March, was scheduled to file a motion Wednesday in federal bankruptcy court in Delaware revealing a so-called stalking horse bidder, which allows the bankrupt company to avoid low bids by setting the bar for the sale process. But now Brian Rosen, an attorney representing the Ontario-based firm, says Magna decided it will bypass the lead bid and proceed to the second round of bidding due December 4th.
An auction for Pimlico Race Track, Laurel Park and the Bowie Training Center is scheduled for January 8th. Potential buyers must agree to keep the Preakness, the second leg of the Triple Crown, in Maryland.
November 13, 2009 - Charles Darwin published his influential writings on evolution called "Origin of the Species" 150 years ago this month.
As Lydia Wilson reports, Darwin's letters and journals demonstrate how his career itself evolved...
November 13, 2009 - This morning Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is downtown at the Center for American Progress to talk about White House efforts to overhaul the immigration system. Even as the all-consuming health care debate pushed immigration out of the spotlight, it's also brought it back in.
Elizabeth Wynne Johnson reports...
November 13, 2009 - By Natalie Neumann
Montgomery County has signed a deal to bring a Fillmore Music Hall to downtown Silver Spring, Maryland. After construction is completed, the Lee Development Group will give Montgomery County the $3.5 million property on Colesville Road that formerly housed a J.C. Penney store but has been vacant for 18 years.
The state of Maryland and Montgomery County will kick in $4 million each toward the cost of building the music hall which will be owned by the county, but run by Live Nation. County representatives say the facility will add to efforts to make Silver Spring a dynamic music and entertainment center.
The Fillmore Music Hall will be across the street from the AFI and Roundhouse Theaters.
November 13, 2009 - Washington, D.C.'s cultural scene is abuzz over word that a music master will appear at the Embassy of Austria next week and that a revival of a Neil Simon play is coming to Theatre J.
Arts critic Coleen Fay speaks with WAMU's David Furst about the events....
November 13, 2009 - A public interest group in Maryland says bridges aren't being repaired in the state for political reasons.
A report from the Maryland Public Interest Research Group tracked campaign contributions from "highway" interests, and earmarks for transportation projects. Last year in Maryland, according to Fielding Huspeth of PIRG, there were 16 earmarks for transportation projects. Only one went to bridge repair.
Matt Bush reports...
November 13, 2009 - By Bill Redlin
The Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia is preparing to record an oral history of the presidency of George W. Bush.
The center in Charlottesville and the George W. Bush Foundation announced the project Thursday. About 100 interviews will be done and will include key figures of the Bush White House and Cabinet, as well as members of Congress, foreign leaders and outside political advisers.
Mr. Bush says the project will offer a comprehensive look at what it was like to lead the country during what he describes as extraordinary challenges. The Miller center's Oral History Project has done similar work with Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
November 13, 2009 - By Jamila Bey
In January, 20 wheelchair-accessible taxis will start serving passengers who require ramps or lifts in the District.
Bobby Coward has worked since 2000 to bring accessible taxicabs to the city. He says it's high time that he should have the same transportation options as everyone else.
"This is a new service for persons with disabilities that will go to provide and promote full inclusion of people with disabilities in the District of Columbia to show that we are first class citizens as well," says Coward.
Federal funds and a regional transportation board provided $1.2 million to buy the cabs from Kurt Mason's dealership. Mason says the program is more comprehensive than just putting special cars on the road. "We're also doing training, from sensitivity training all the way through [securing] and operation of the vehicle so that everybody is actually certified," says Coward.
Training for the drivers will begin December 1st.
November 13, 2009 - By Jonathan Wilson
The National Transportation Safety Board plans to hold a public hearing regarding the June 22nd Metrorail crash. The hearing is set for February 23rd and 24th. The NTSB says it will focus on Metro's actions to address safety issues, and oversight of the entire Metro system.
Robert Sumwalt, a member of the NTSB who will chair the hearing says it will not be a forum for public comment, but rather a chance for the board to get sworn testimony from witnesses in front of a public audience.
Sumwalt says the NTSB would like to hold the hearing sooner, but a dozen other rail crash investigations make that impossible.
"Our goal is still to be able finish the entire investigation by the anniversary date of the accident," Sumwalt says.
Sumwalt says the hearing may continue into a third day. The June 22nd Red Line crash was the worst in Metro's history. Nine people were killed and dozens were injured.
November 13, 2009 - By Stephanie Kaye
(November 14) GOING NATIVE Dancers chant and sway at the National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall for two shows tomorrow, at 2 and 7:30pm. The Kevin Locke Native Dance Ensemble features the traditional dance and music of the Plains and Woodlands Nations. The program includes "Drum is the Thunder, Flute is the Wind," a Native American ballet, and the "Hoop Dance," expressing the unity of humankind.
(November 14 & 15) FINE CRAFTS SHOW The studio artists at the Lee Arts Center in Virginia host a fine arts craft show tomorrow and Sunday from 10 to 4 in Arlington. They fire up the kiln to about 1800 degrees for a Raku Party Fundraiser using smoke and fire to create Raku-style patterns and designs. You can make your own unique ceramic masterpiece.
(November 14) ALL-GERSHWIN The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra takes on a full evening of Gershwin under the direction of Marin Alsop Saturday night at The Music Center at Strathmore and Sunday at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore. French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet joins the BSO for the upbeat evening of classic Americana.
Kevin Locke's dancers appear at the National Museum of the American Indian for two shows on November 14th.
Courtesy of: The Kevin Locke Native Dance Ensemble
November 13, 2009 - By Jonathan Wilson
The Fairfax Police Department says it may have put a stop to burglars targeting the homes of South Asian families. Three people from New York have been charged in connection with a series of burglaries in Fairfax.
Police say the burglars targeted homes of South Asian families and specifically took gold jewelry. A police spokesperson says the arrests came after a U.S. marshal spotted a suspicious vehicle in Centreville on Tuesday.
Fairfax has investigated nearly 20 such cases this year, and Loudoun County has had similar burglaries.Police say the next phase of the investigation is expected to include multiple jurisdictions in at least two states.
November 13, 2009 - For twenty years, Frank Abbruzzese lived across Crown View Drive from a Republican congressman from Michigan named Gerald Ford. After a series of unprecedented events in 1974, he suddenly was living across the street from the president of the United States. Now the neighborhood is home to the city's newest park, which has been named in honor of the late President Gerald Ford. The one-acre park is adjacent to President Ford Lane in the center of Alexandria.
Michael Pope reports...
November 13, 2009 - By Kavitha Cardoza
Some leaders in the District are digesting the results of the latest beef in city government: a celebrity cook-off that pitted Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee against Ward 2 councilmember Jack Evans. Their teams had to serve up a three course meal and signature drink in 35 minutes.
Rhee cooks a mean lasagna while Evans serves up perfect pancakes. But in this high pressure kitchen cook-off, it wasn't clear if those skills were enough. Until you realized that the reason both weren't worried about having to cook with secret ingredients because they'd brought along their secret weapons- their children-as acting sous chefs.
Rhee's daughter Starr says she'd prepared her mom, "I made her watch the food network with me. I didn't really coach her as much as I should have!"
Evans daughter Christine had prepped her dad, "Always cook your meat very well. And if you want to season your vegetables put a little pepper and salt and a little lemon. Tastes pretty good!"
Both sides chopped, mixed and fried their way for the meal, but in the end Team A won. That was the team Rhee was on, which cooked a shrimp and tofu salad, a steak and asparagus pasta and a mango lassi with melted gummy bears.
How did the experience compare to running D.C. Public Schools?
"There was a lot of pressure like there is in the school district but with running the school district I sort of know what I'm doing more."
Team A plans its three-course meal (from left: Star Rhee, D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, Drew Melman-Rogers, Season 5 Top Chef finalist/D.C. caterer Carla Hall, Brian J. Glade of the Society for Human Resource Management).
Courtesy of: Rebecca Sheir
View more images from this gallery.
November 13, 2009 - By Sabri Ben-Achour
Some people seeking asylum in the D.C. region from persecution abroad are increasingly facing delays and denials in their applications. The Department of Homeland Security says it's trying to find solutions.
When Mohammed Ly was a teenager, his family fled his native Mauritania.
"Anyone black was labeled as un-Mauritanian. My parents were forced out."
Ly stayed. He was beaten and tortured, he applied for asylum in the U.S. -this was almost a decade ago. He moved to Maryland, where he started three small consulting firms, and got married. But he can't get a Green Card, can't bring his family over, and can't travel.
"I am considered a terrorist," he says.
Considered a terrorist, because when he was a teenager, he gave money to a friend, who it turned out was a member of a political group that fought repression of blacks in Mauritania.
The State Department does not view that group as a terrorist organization - it's not on any list. But immigration law is different.
"US immigration law has been defining terrorist activity as any use of armed force in any way that's unlawful," says Anwen Hughes with Human Rights First.
She says that definition is immensely broad.
"For example there are Iraqis caught up in this because they'd risen up against Saddam Hussein."
What's more, Hughes says the definition of "support" is extremely broad - it could mean something as innocuous as putting up flyers.
In the DC region, immigration workers say it's Ethiopians and Colombians who have born the brunt of these expansive definitions.
Brendan Prelogar is Special Advisor for Refugee and Asylum Affairs for the Department of Homeland Security.
"We are acutely aware of the problem."
But he says it's difficult to balance national security and humanitarian concerns.
"We are making progress in fashioning a better course, but it is taking a good deal of time," says Prelogar.
Meanwhile, thousands of asylum seekers have their lives on hold.
November 13, 2009 - By Patrick Madden
The federal government is taking steps to seize a mosque in Potomac, Maryland. Prosecutors say a Muslim non-profit organization used the Islamic center and three others around the country to secretly funnel money to Iran.
Prosecutors say the owner of the mosque, the Alavi Foundation, is secretly controlled by the Iranian government. They filed a civil complaint filed against the group, seeking the forfeiture of more than half a billion dollars in assets, including 4 mosques and a Manhattan skyscraper.
At the Islamic Education Center on Montrose Road in Potomac there were no signs of forfeiture posted and last night's prayers services were held as scheduled. One worshipper there, who would not give his name, said he was upset by the news and fearful of a backlash against Muslims. The Islamic Education Center rents the property from the Alavi Foundation and is not named in the complaint.
November 13, 2009 - Washington Post columnist Robert McCartney joins WAMU's Morning Edition Host Matt McCleskey to talk about some of the region's top stories...
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