News Archive - December 14, 2009

Council Looks To Create School Safety Zones

By Natalie Neumann

The D.C. council is looking into creating "no-loitering" zones near schools, to ensure students' safety.

In the proposed "Safe Passage Emergency Zones" near schools, police could disperse or arrest people they believe are hanging around in order to commit a crime. T...

"Art Beat" With Stephanie Kaye - Monday, December 14, 2009

(December 14) HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EMILY! Every December the Folger Shakespeare Library celebrates a special lady, Emily Dickinson, on her birthday. The annual poetry reading and discussion begins tonight at 7:30 at the Folger's home on Capitol Hill. And what's a birthday without cake? Dickinson's ow...

Naval Academy Says Not Enough Evidence For Charges In Alleged Assault

By Rebecca Blatt

The Naval Academy says there's not enough evidence to charge anyone with sexually assaulting a female midshipman, who says she was assaulted during summer training in Norfolk, Virginia.

A spokesman for the Academy says the Naval Criminal Investigative Service investig...

D.C. Appropriations Bill One Vote Closer

By Kate Sheehy

The U.S. Senate has followed the lead of the House... by passing the D.C. Appropriations bill without any riders restricting how the city can spend its money.

The bill passed yesterday clears the way for the District to allow medical marijuana use, approved by voters in...

New Org. Tries To Make Recruiting Charter School Board Members Easier

By Kavitha Cardoza

A new venture in D.C. tries to make it easier for charter school leadership to connect with potential board members. Tom Nida, who heads the D.C. charter school board, says in order to effectively govern a school, you need the right people to serve on it's board. And he s...

Judge To Rule On Virginia Teach Lawsuits

By Meymo Lyons

A Montgomery County Circuit Court judge will issue a decision by Jan. 15 on whether to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the families of two students slain in the mass shootings at Virginia Tech.

Judge William Alexander said in court Monday that he will spend the next month pr...

Power Breakfast for December 14, 2009

Dozens of lawmakers are still holding out hope of making it to the global climate conference in Copenhagen later this week.

Elizabeth Wynne Johnson reports...

New Yorker In D.C. To Help Nation's Cities

A former elected official from New York City, Adolfo Carrion Jr., now calls Washington D.C. home because President Obama named him director of the newly-created White House Office of Urban Affairs.

As Andrea Bernstein reports, many people who care about cities, including those here in the D...

D.C. Prepares For Possible Medical Marijuana

By Patrick Madden

Now that Congress has lifted the ban on medical marijuana in D.C., the city council is trying to figure out how to implement the program.

It's been eleven years since residents in D.C. voted overwhelmingly to legalize medical marijuana. Since then, eight other states...

D.C. Activist Says Council Contract Dispute Puts Communities In Limbo

By Mana Rabiee

A neighborhood in southeast D.C. may not get a long-anticipated rec center because of a controversy in the Mayor's office involving park contracts.

Chalaneet Balas pushes open the chain link fence that closes-off the once-busy Rosedale Rec Center. She's with the Rosedal...

Rescuers Release Big Bird From Metro Escalator

By Meymo Lyons

Every so often in the Washington Metro, a foot gets caught in an escalator. Usually, the culprit is a shoe lace or a flip-flop. On Monday, it was a bird's talon.

D.C. fire department spokesman Pete Piringer says rescuers were called to the Benning Road station in northe...

Maryland House Speaker Optimistic State Will Emerge From Recession

By Matt Bush

The Maryland speaker of the House says the state will be one of the first in the U.S. to emerge from the recession.

Speaker Mike Busch says Maryland's unemployment rates will be the reason why. "Right now the unemployment in this country is 10.2 percent," says Busch. "The...

Non-Profits Re-think Fundraising Strategy After Economic Collapse

By David Schultz

Doorways for Women and Families is an organization devoted to helping victims of domestic abuse and homeless families.

It derives a large chunk of its budget from corporate donors - donors like the troubled mortgage lender Freddie Mac, which nearly went bankrupt last...

Latest Maryland Regional News

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) Four police crime labs in Maryland will receive $1.2 million in federal stimulus funding. Gov. Martin O'Malley announced Monday that state police as well as police in Baltimore City and Montgomery and Prince George' counties will receive funding for their DNA crime labs.

...

D.C. Divorce Groups Say Holidays Are Time For New Rituals

By Mana Rabiee

The holidays can be a difficult time for people who are divorced or separated. At the Truro Church in Fairfax city, Virginia, prayers are read in Spanish in a music room. Upstairs, Donald Emery facilitates a group counseling session for people who are divorced or separated....

Latest D.C. Local News

WASHINGTON (AP) President Barack Obama says banks have a greater obligation to help the U.S. economy recover because they received "extraordinary" assistance from the taxpayers. Following a White House meeting with the heads of the nation's top financial firms, the president said he urged banks t...

National Study Gives High Marks To Fairfax, Virginia Tap Water

By Elliott Francis

A recent report indicates that Fairfax, VA gets high marks for clean tap water.

The study conducted by the, 'Environmental Working Group,' ranks the Fairfax County Water authority 8th best, out of 100 large utilities in the U.S. in keeping pollutants out of drinking...

Latest Virginia Regional News

ROANOKE, Va. (AP) A former executive who stole more than $42,000 from SunTrust Bank will spend eight months on home confinement. Douglas Calvin Powell of Roanoke must pay $42,805 in restitution and spend three years on supervised release when he completes his sentence.

CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. (...

Special Tax District In Fairfax Co. Close To Final Approval

By Jonathan Wilson

In Virginia, Fairfax County's Board of Supervisors is close to final approval for a special tax district in the Western part of the county.

Landowners holding a majority of the value of the proposed district have to agree to the special tax. Right now, the county sa...

$1.7 Million In Counterfeit Goods Seized In D.C. Area

By Mana Rabiee

As the holiday shopping season gets in gear, local and state law enforcement have targeted the D.C. area's illegal counterfeit goods trade.

Nearly 14,000 counterfeit items totaling $1.7 million worth of goods were seized in the D.C. area during a week-long crackdown cal...