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November 30, 2009 - WASHINGTON (AP) A publicist for the couple that crashed a White House state dinner denies they are ``shopping'' any interviews or demanding TV network payments to tell their story. The publicist also says Michaele and Tareq Salahi aren't making any formal comments to the media.
WASHINGTON (AP) Republican critics are urging their Senate counterparts to start over on a health care reform bill that comes up for Senate debate in Washington this week. But lawmakers say there's little chance of starting over on a plan the U.S. House already has haggled over at length.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
November 30, 2009 - BALTIMORE (AP) A jury in Baltimore is in its sixth day of deliberations in the public corruption trial of Mayor Sheila Dixon. Prosecutors have accused Dixon of misappropriating gift cards donated for needy families, a charge her lawyers deny.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) Maryland's comptroller says he'll push for legislation in the upcoming General Assembly session to require all high school seniors to take a course in financial literacy. He says the recession convinced him that personal finance is a must course for seniors.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
November 30, 2009 - RICHMOND, Va. (AP) Restaurants across Virginia are preparing to implement new anti-smoking regulations. Starting Tuesday, restaurants will be allowed to have a smoking area only if they segregate smokers into rooms with separate ventilation systems.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) Nearly 800 farmers and others with agribusiness ties are convening the annual convention of the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation. Organizers say they will discuss land use, conservation, animal welfare and other issues at their meeting in Richmond this week.
PETERSBURG, Va. (AP) Virginia State University has a replacement for Eddie N. Moore Jr., who is retiring in June after 17 years as the university's president. Virginia State's board of visitors says Keith T. Miller will replace Moore at the helm.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
November 30, 2009 - By Kavitha Cardoza
After losing a court challenge, several teachers laid off from D.C. public schools are now criticizing the union for not being proactive enough in helping them keep their jobs.
Crystal Proctor is one of several teachers who say union lawyers were not well prepared in court when they argued in favor of reinstating the more than 250 teachers. "We don't think that the legal representation was competent," says Proctor. "Watching our attorney perform, it was laughable. It was ridiculous."
Another teacher Natasha Mason says she didn't get replies when she sent emails to her union representative. She says she's gotten "nothing" out of her membership. "I'm totally disappointed," says Mason. "It's a pity we've been paying all this money into people to protect us and represent us and to stand up for what our rights are none of it has been done."
But George Parker, president of the Washington Teachers Union, says this is the first time the union has gone to court to fight for laid off teachers. Also, he says there have been rallies and several meetings with the teachers. "I understand that there are some teachers who are very upset and it's understandable, but any claim that the union has not put out a tremendous effort for it's members is simply not true," says Parker.
Several of the teachers say they've hired private attorneys and have filed appeals with the Office of Employee Appeals.
November 30, 2009 - By David Schultz
The collision took place just before 4:30 a.m. Sunday morning, at the end of the operator's ten-hour shift. The empty six-car train he was driving slammed into the back of another empty train parked at the Falls Church Rail Yard. Jackie Jeter, the head of Metro's employee union, says the operator "is claiming that there was a surge that took place on the train."
The train operator and two other Metro employees suffered minor injuries in the crash. Metro isn't releasing their names.
This is the fourth time a Metrorail employee has been injured or killed on the job since the June 22nd crash on the Red Line that killed nine. Jeter says working for a train system comes with an inherent level of danger. "When you work on a transportation system you are never going to be 100 percent without any incidents occurring at all," says Jeter. "It's never going to happen."
A Metro spokesman would not comment on the train operator's claims.
November 30, 2009 - By Meymo Lyons
The lawyer for the 89-year-old white supremacist accused of fatally shooting a guard at Washington's Holocaust museum says his client's medical condition could make it difficult to bring him to court hearings.
James von Brunn is being held at Butner Federal Medical Center in Butner, N.C. Federal Defender A.J. Kramer suggested in court Monday that the judge could hold a competency hearing there if von Brunn can't travel.
Von Brunn was shot in the face after he allegedly shot a security guard at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in June. He also has chronic medical problems. U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton earlier granted prison officials an extension until Jan. 2 for von Brunn's psychiatric evaluation.
Walton set the next hearing for Jan. 26, but von Brunn isn't expected to be there.
November 30, 2009 - By David Schultz
Vincent Schiraldi has been hired by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to run his city's probation department.
For nearly five years, Schiraldi led the D.C. agency responsible for handling juvenile offenders. He led the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services as it transitioned from its Oak Hill detention facility to the New Beginnings Center, which opened last summer.
Schiraldi's tenure was controversial because he often favored placing offenders back into a community setting instead of detaining them.
In a press release issued by the New York City government, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty praised Schiraldi, calling him "a tremendous asset to the District."
Vincent Schiraldi, controversial in D.C. for favoring placing offenders back into a community setting instead of detaining them, has been hired by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to run his city's probation department.
Courtesy of: www.dyrs.dc.gov
November 30, 2009 - An "a cappella" quartet from Virginia is making a name for itself.
Singing four-part harmony, the Paschall Brothers of Chesapeake earned the "Gospel Album of the Year" award at the 2009 Independent Music Awards and as Virginia State Folklorist Jon Lohman explains, they sing what's called "Tidewater Gospel," a style with a storied tradition...
November 30, 2009 - Fifty years ago in Virginia, Prince Edward County became the only jurisdiction in the nation to close its public school system rather than comply with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling to desegregate.
For the next five years, as Sarah McConnell reports, more than 2,000 African-American students and a number of poor white ones were denied a public school education...
Fifty years ago more than 2,000 students were denied public school education in Prince Edward County, after the county became the only jurisdiction in the nation to close its public school system rather than comply with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling to desegregate.
Courtesy of: www.flickr.com/dave mcmt
November 30, 2009 - The days between Thanksgiving and Christmas are known as the "Season of Giving". It's when donations increase, families volunteer their time and offices and organizations dedicate entire days to serving their neighbors in need.
Commentator Ellen London is the Interim President and CEO of the D.C. Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation.
Share your thoughts with us at Conversation.wamu.Org. Click on Commentary Forum.
SCRIPT:
As we begin the frenzy of holiday cooking, shopping, decorating and socializing, it's encouraging to know that many of us also add "giving" to our to-do lists.
Doing so is glorious and heart-warming. Most of all, it's necessary.
Just ask the homeless, the elderly, the single mothers and sick children who benefit from the season's benevolence.
But I'd like to offer up another group in need of help: the young people in after-school and summer programs, who use out-of-school time programs not simply for recreation, but for safety, supervision, guidance and enrichment.
Far from being frills, after-school and summer programs are vital to helping young people grow into confident, well-rounded, healthy adults. During out-of-school hours, such programs can train our next leaders, provide conflict resolution and offer a bridge of safety between school and home.
As the unemployment rate worsens, such programs become even more necessary. And it becomes even more important that they have volunteers and kind donors who can help. Perhaps you would like to mentor a young person or coach a team. Maybe your company could spare a few hours a month and "adopt" an after-school program. Or maybe you have resources to share - monetary donations, sports equipment, paper goods or books.
Whatever you can give, the District's young people can use it. CentroNia, for example, could use hats, gloves and other cold-weather gear for young people in need.
Metroball, a program where eighth-graders hone their basketball and classwork and leadership skills, could use tutors as well as better equipment.
There are daily needs at the Vietnamese-American Community Service Center, Covenant House, Washington Tennis and Education Foundation and African Heritage Drummers and Dancers, an institution that has been serving the community for 53 years. And I could go on.
The reality is out of school time programs need you everyday. The funding and support given by the D.C. Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation to more than 150 community-based organizations helps more than 15,000 children and youth connect to meaningful experiences all year-round.
If businesses and individuals are looking for worthy organizations to assist, you can contact the Trust and we will connect you to our grantee organizations that work with young people in some of the most challenged neighborhoods in the nation's capital.
This is the time of year we give thanks for our families, our provisions and our many blessings. And it's wonderful when we can share our good tidings with others, so my holiday wish list contains two simple things this year: Let's remember the young people in crucial after-school programs. And let's make this "Season of Giving" last the whole year through.
I'm Ellen London.
November 30, 2009 - By Patrick Madden
The "official" debate over gay marriage in the district is almost over. After months of heated hearings, failed attempts to put the issue before voters, and back and forth with local church groups, the D.C. council will take its first vote Tuesday on whether to let same-sex couples marry.
The district first entered the battle over gay rights in 1992, when it passed one of the country's first domestic partnership laws recognizing same-sex couples.
If the gay marriage bill passes, as expected, the district would become the sixth jurisdiction to allow gay marriage, and the first below the Mason-Dixon line.
"The city has always had this history of being a place where democracy is expanding," says local historian Bernard Dezmuk.
He says it dates back all the way to 1850, when the government banned the slave trade and D.C. served as a safe-haven for runaway slaves crossing the Potomac.
"It was also safe haven for Jews and for immigrants - such as Italians - that they could find a place where they where would be safe and they could work and live a dignified life."
Dezmuck says that tradition of expanding and protecting rights has continued over the years¦ the home rule charter in 1973, the contracting requirements for minorities in the eighties, and later on, the employment and housing protections for women and gays and lesbians.
The same-sex marriage bill will also face another District tradition: congressional interference. That 1992 domestic partnership bill¦ for ten years, congress refused to let the District fund it.
With democrats in control, the gay marriage bill seems to face better odds.
November 30, 2009 - By Rebecca Sheir
You don't normally hear "free" and "law school" back to back. But Georgetown University Law Center is looking to change that, with its new Loan Repayment Assistance Program.
The program dovetails with a new federal law, which allows people working a public service job to pay only 10% of their income toward their student loans. After ten years, the entire debt is forgiven.
The Georgetown plan will cover that ten-percent for graduates earning less than $75,000 a year. Though third-year student Jill Pasquarella says she'll be lucky to bring in $50,000 as a public defender.
"It's difficult work," she says of her chosen profession.
"It's trying work. And debt is one of those things, in addition to the sort of emotional trials of this kind of work, that can really bring people down."
If not make them avoid public service altogether. Professor Philip Schrag, who developed Georgetown's loan repayment program, says many law students have hoped to do public service, "and then discovered they couldn't really do what they'd come to law school to do, and ended up in a private law firm where they felt they weren't themselves."
Schrag says Berkeley Law is following Georgetown's lead, and other schools are considering it - provided they can find the funds. Georgetown's loan forgiveness budget is $1,000,000 a year - thanks to generous alumni donations.
Professor Philip Schrag and his book, Repay As You Earn: The Flawed Government Program To Help Students Have Public Service Careers.
Courtesy of: Rebecca Sheir
November 30, 2009 - The rate of job loss is going down. Now Maryland Congressman Chris Van Hollen says Democrats are talking about job-creation.
Elizabeth Wynne Johnson reports...
November 30, 2009 - (November 30) HEAP'IN IT ON English singer-songwriter Imogen Heap performs at the Sixth and I Historic Synagogue near D.C.'s Chinatown tonight at 8. Electronic rockers Tim Exile and Back Ted N-Ted join Heap for a night of synthesized sound at the synagogue.
(November 25-December 5) PORTRAIT 2.0 Portrait 2.0 snaps a shot of Washington with photographs and events as part of FotoWeek DC through December 5th at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center in Silver Spring, Maryland. These people-pictures include Chan Chao's portraits of women in prison and Matt Dunn's snapshots of Washingtonians being...themselves.
(November 29-December 27) MIRACLE ON 34th STREET The holiday movie classic Miracle on 34th Street is set to music at Wayside Theatre in Middletown, Virginia, running through December 27th. The show is chock full of Santas - both drunk and indignant - as a lawyer finds himself defending a man claiming to be the Kris Kringle.
November 30, 2009 - By Mana Rabiee
The D.C. based American Humanist Association has launched a nationwide ad campaign -- just in time for Christmas.
The group has commissioned 200 ads located on DC city buses with images of smiling people wearing Santa hats and a large caption that asks "No God?...No Problem!"
"It's something that you don't talk about," says spokesman Roy Speckhardt.
He says the campaign is part of their long-term goal to remove the stigma of atheistic ideas.
"The idea that somebody could not believe in God is just -- it's swept under the rug -- and this takes it out from under the rug and says 'Hey, you know, this is an option that you can have'."
Passengers at a bus stop on U-Street in Northwest DC had mixed reactions to the ad.
"It's very very sad because God is here all the time," says one woman.
"I think especially at this time it just doesn't seem to make a lot of sense." says one bus rider.
Another rider says, "it doesn't make me feel bad. It wouldn't stop my belief."
"If that's what they want to do, until further notice, you know, allow them their space."
Next month, the campaign extends to New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
November 30, 2009 - By Mana Rabiee
The D.C. based group American Humanist Association has launched an ad campaign to promote atheistic ideas. Some local Christians believe its timing with the upcoming holiday is awkward.
The group is running 200 ads on D.C. buses that feature smiling people in Santa hats and the caption that asks "No God?...No Problem!"
Spokesman Roy Speckhardt says he realizes some people will see the ads as an attack on their faith. "I hope they can see it as a chance to say, 'hey, there's folks out there who feel different from me and they're OK too.' That's the message that we're trying to get across," says Speckhardt.
Reverend Shana Lynngood ministers at All Souls Unitarian Church in northwest D.C.. Her traditionally progressive parish includes many former Catholics. "It's a little bit adversarial to publish it at this time of year; sort of thumbing its nose at folks who are more orthodox Christians," says Lynngood.
"Uh-uh, heck no. This is the devil. This is the devils' work," says Manoja Wimalkantha, a senior at George Mason University and a worshiper at the Living Hope Pentecostal Church, just across the street from All Souls Unitarian. "For me to know that this is coming during Christmas it is definitely--it's hurtful--but it makes my faith a lot stronger," says Wimalkantha.
The ad campaign extends to four other major cities in December.
November 30, 2009 - By Elliott Francis
Recently released records in Montgomery County show that certain county employees may have misused taxpayer money.
The detailed records released by the county's office of human resources suggests on two occasions, funds were used by some employees to take sailing lessons and attend a New Age spiritual retreat.
The funds, part of the tuition assistance program is made available for employees who want to take courses to enhance job skills.
The records show a course labeled ''health education'' was actually a spiritual retreat in Texas, while a member of the fire department reportedly took a sailing class which cost $995.
The records were made public at the request of the Montgomery County Council.
Records in Montgomery County show that certain county employees may have misused taxpayer money.
Courtesy of: www.flickr.com/AMagill
November 30, 2009 - By Natalie Neumann
Metro says at least three of its rail cars were damaged beyond repair in a weekend crash that injured three workers.
The transit agency says a six-car subway train was returning to the West Falls Church Rail Yard when it rear-ended a parked six-car train early Sunday.
Three employees were treated for minor injuries at a nearby hospital and released. No passengers were on board.
Metro says three of the cars are beyond repair. The agency is still determining whether the remaining nine cars can be fixed.
There's no total estimate of damage yet, but new rail cars cost about $3 million each.
This weekend's crash is the latest in a series of recent accidents for Metro. The worst was the crash on the Red Line in June that killed eight passengers and a train operator.
November 30, 2009 - By David Schultz
A six car Metro train traveling at a low speed struck the back of another six-car train parked in a maintenance area. The collision injured three Metro workers and damaged all 12 cars involved.
Metro spokesperson Lisa Farbstein says this happened at 4:30 a.m. Sunday morning, just as the operator of the moving train was finishing a 10-hour shift.
"He was just on his normal shift," she says. "There is no normal amount or average amount of time somebody is on a shift."
Neither of the two trains had passengers because the collision occurred at the Falls Church Rail Yard in Northern Virginia.
Farbstein says when trains are in the rail yards and off the main tracks, they're operating without one of their safety mechanisms.
"When they are in their rail yard," she says, "They don't have something known as A.T.P. - Automatic Train Protection."
The three injured Metro workers were briefly hospitalized with minor injuries described as not life threatening.
Metro is investigating the cause of the accident.
Metro says it notified state and federal safety regulators of the collision early yesterday morning.
The six car Metro train traveling at a low speed that struck the back of another six-car train parked in a maintenance area is the latest in a string of recent Metro accidents.
Courtesy of: NBC4.com
November 30, 2009 - By Natalie Neumann
Jury deliberations continue today in the theft trial of Baltimore Mayor Shelia Dixon.Today will be the sixth day of deliberations.
Dixon is accused of stealing or misappropriating hundreds of dollars worth of gift cards that were bought by developers and that prosecutors say were intended as donations to poor families.
Defense lawyers say some of the cards appeared to be personal gifts to the first-term Democrat from an anonymous admirer, and say others found in Dixon's home were forgotten leftovers from a charity event.
Judge Dennis Sweeney told the panel members last week not to even think about the case during their four-day, Thanksgiving weekend break.
Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon.
Courtesy of: City of Baltimore
November 30, 2009 - By Natalie Neumann
A developer in southern Maryland is hoping to revitalize a community in Waldorf by "going green."
American Community Properties Trust is expected to announce plans today to double the size of the St. Charles community while reducing its carbon footprint with more environmentally friendly design.
The state isn't offering financial support, but Governor Martin O'Malley is scheduled to speak. The company has been hurt by flat housing prices and losses that led to a corporate restructuring last year, but still plans to break ground in January.
The company's chief executive tells the Washington Post he expects home prices in St. Charles to remain depressed, but says going green on such a large scale is meant to put the developer on the map.
November 30, 2009 - By Matt McCleskey
Environmental regulators are looking into allegations that the nation's top menhaden processor has been dumping oxygen-choking fish waste into the Chesapeake Bay.
The accusations stem from a lawsuit filed by the Southern Environmental Law Center against the Omega Protein Corporation. Omega is based in Texas, but the suit accuses the company's plant in Reedville, Virginia of routine discharges comparable to those from a large waste-water treatment plant.
The group says the slurry includes excessive nitrogen and phosphorous that can lead to oxygen-starved "dead zones" in the bay, that can kill blue crabs and other marine life.
A spokesman for Omega denies the claims, telling the Daily Press of Newport News any water used in the processing of menhaden goes through waste-water treatment before it's put back in the bay.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency and Virginia's Department of Environmental Quality say they'll be reviewing the company's water-pollution permits to verify whether it's in compliance.
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