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Thursday, September 2, 2010
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March 09, 2010 - WASHINGTON (AP) Health care activists protested in the nation's capital against what they call an abusive health insurance industry. Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean spoke to the crowd this morning at Dupont Circle, calling on Congress to take a final vote on the proposed health care overhaul.
WASHINGTON (AP) Liza Minnelli and Harvey Fierstein will host a tribute to the Kennedy Center's founding chairman, Roger L. Stevens. Plans for the May 2nd gala announced today also will include some of Broadway's biggest stars.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
March 09, 2010 - BALTIMORE (AP) Prosecutors in former Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon's perjury case are putting the spoils of their efforts on eBay. An Xbox 360 video game console seized during a raid on Dixon's home is for sale. As of this afternoon, the highest bid was $660. Potential buyers have until March 18th to bid on the Xbox.
ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) A new report from the Montgomery County inspector general's office says the county made more than $600,000 in no-bid payments to nine companies involved in a controversial tuition-assistance program. Inspector General Thomas J. Dagley says better guidelines and monitoring are needed.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
March 09, 2010 - CHESAPEAKE, Va. (AP) A jury in Chesapeake is recommending a total 83 years in prison for one of two men convicted of charges in a kidnapping and shooting that ended in a highway shootout. Jurors recommended the sentence for 32-year-old Dedrion Short today, along with a total 36 years for the other defendant, 21-year-old Willie Simmons.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) Dozens of sheriffs are in Richmond asking House budget negotiators to agree to new fees to help fund public safety. The Senate has proposed more than $168 million in new fees to help fund sheriffs, local and state police through 2012.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) The Senate has approved bills that would give the state a role in the creation of charter, online and virtual schools despite objections from some that doing so would divert money from public schools. The Senate voted 27-to-12 today to allow the state Department of Education to help charter-school providers with their applications.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
March 09, 2010 - By Rebecca Sheir
For the District's first same-sex weddings Tuesday, the words sounded a little different.
"Angelisa and Sinjoyla," the Rev. David North intoned, "by the authority vested in me, I hereby pronounce that they are partners in life, for always."
And with that, the bride kissed the bride and Angelisa Young and Sinjoyla Townsend became one of the first same-sex pairs in D-C to legally wed.
Young and Townsend married this morning at the Human Rights Campaign, which advocates for gay, lesbian and transgender issues. The couple had been the first to apply for a license, followed by Rocky Galloway and Reggie Stanley: longtime Washingtonians who exchanged their own vows.
"Rocky, the arc of the moral universe is long and bends toward justice," said Stanley. "But the arc of my love is longer, and bends toward you."
Reverend Dwayne Johnson performed the third wedding at HRC, that of Darlene Garner and Candy Holmes, who have been together for 15 years.
"Relationship is a gift," said Johnson, "and marriage is also a gift, that up until this day in the District of Columbia has been denied."
More than 100 guests attended the ceremonies, which went off without a hitch save for one near-hiccup, when Rev. North was handed the two brides' rings.
"Okay," he said with a smile. "I wont get em mixed up!"
March 09, 2010 - NBC Video:
March 09, 2010 - By Sabri Ben-Achour
The U.S. Navy Hospital Ship Comfort is leaving Haiti after spending nearly two months treating victims of the earthquake that killed nearly 280,000 people there. The ship should return to Baltimore Harbor within about a week.
Lieutenant Commander Daniel DiAuroro, who is in charge of receiving patients aboard the ship, says the number of patients needing treatment aboard the Comfort has steadily declined over the past few weeks.
"The services onshore have started to come back online and there's little need for us at this time right now," he reports, "so that's why the decision has been made for us to go ahead and head home."
For seven weeks, the USNS comfort was anchored about a mile offshore of Port au Prince. Painted all white with giant red crosses along its sides, it was the ultimate symbol of the US medical relief effort. The ship carried the most advanced medical equipment in the area, and ended up treating 871 patients, from Haitian children whose limbs were crushed by falling buildings to Fairfax County rescue workers injured during rescue operations.
Although the hospital ship is returning, the U.S. military will continue humanitarian assistance on shore.
March 09, 2010 - First lady Michelle Obama will be the featured graduation speaker at two, and probably three commencement ceremonies this spring. Two of the schools are in D.C.
One is Anacostia Senior High School, a public school in the District, where the first lady will address graduates on June 11. Ms. Obama visited the campus last year as part of her mentoring program for young women.
And if students at The George Washington University complete 100,000 hours of community service before their May 16 graduation, Ms. Obama will speak at that commencement as well. The first lady issued the service challenge to the student body at the beginning of the school year.
Ms. Obama also has agreed to speak to graduates at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff on May 8. The White House says the university was the only state-supported institution of higher education for African-Americans when it opened more than 130 years ago.
Kavitha Cardoza reports...
March 09, 2010 - RICHMOND, Va. (AP) A final bid to revive a bill that would protect gay state employees from job discrimination has failed.
Del. Ken Plum, D-Fairfax, asked the House on Tuesday to discharge the panel in charge of the bill when it was sidetracked, the General Laws Committee, and bring the bill before the full House. But on a 55-42 vote, the House rejected Plum's effort.
The bill would write into state law prohibitions against discriminating against state employees on the basis of sexual orientation.
The legislation was offered after Gov. Bob McDonnell omitted gays from an executive order banning workplace discrimination.
McDonnell said such an issue was a legislative prerogative, not an executive one.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
The final bid to revive a bill that would protect gay state employees from job discrimination has failed.
Courtesy of: www.flickr.com/photos/-marlith-/
March 09, 2010 - This week, D.C. newcomer Rebecca Sheir sets out to solve mysteries, and debunk myths of monumental proportions...
SCRIPT:
I may be new in town, but Id like to think I'm not nearly as green as some.
British Tourists: Baraaaaack!!!!
Like these people, for instance. Okay, so they're actually tourists, fresh off the plane from Great Britain. But they're gathering on the Ellipse, behind the White House, in hopes of seeing:
British Tourists: Barack Obama! Whooooo!
But the President-he's a busy guy, right? Things to do, people to see. So why would these Brits assume hes actually home?
Crouch: See, they think he's home 'cuz the flag is flying.
This is Carolyn Crouch, founder of Washington Walks. And the link between the Presidents whereabouts and the flag atop the White House is something I've found many Washingtonians believe:
Sheir: Do you know what it means when the flag is flying on top of the White House?
Guy: The Presidents in!
Sheir: Is that what you heard?
Guy: Yes.
Sheir: Do you know what it means when the flag is flying on top of the White House?
Gal: That the president is in residence.
Sheir: Whered you hear that?
Gal: I think I learned that in school. Way to go, school! Teaching me things!
But in this case, says Carolyn Crouch, not entirely true things. Because the White House flag is always flying.
Crouch: Regardless of who's there. Whether it be just the family pet, or the whole family.
Sheir: So you suggest maybe, check the Twitter feed for the White House and see where Barack is.
Crouch: Yes, yes!
Great Britain, though, has its own shorthand for signaling when the head of state is in the house.
When the royal family's in residence in London at Buckingham Palace, their standard flies over that building, and when they're not there, it does'nt.
So its no wonder our British friends:
British Tourists: Under the white canopy! Someone zoom in!
...Think Obama...
British Tourists: Barack!!!!!
...Or, okay, Barack, will pop out from his house any minute.
Behind the Brits, up the hill from the Ellipse, stands a tribute to the one U.S. President who did'nt call the White House home. Heres a hint: it's shaped like an Egyptian obelisk it stands 555 feet and 5 and one-eighth inches tall.
Crouch: And just the casual passer-by, you would say it's white stone. In fact, its marble. But then if you stand and you contemplate it longer, you realize its a tri-color obelisk.
Indeed, about 150 feet up, the Washington Monument shifts from a snowier white to a darker shade. Then, a little higher, it changes again. And Carolyn says that's sparked all sorts of rumors.
My favorite is when people say its the result of a flood. And if that had been the flood, I mean, this would be Noah's Ark all over again! We would not be here today!
But we are, though the Washington Monument almost wasn't. See, back in 1848, a group called the Washington National Monument Society began using public donations to build the structure out of this bright white marble from a quarry in Cockeysville, Maryland.
At the same time, they were collecting engraved stones to place inside the Monument: from different states, countries; the Pope even sent a stone from Rome.
But in 1854, with about 150 feet of the Monument done, everything stopped thanks to an anti-immigrant, anti-Roman-Catholic political party, the Know-Nothings.
Kelly: So in the spring of 1854, there was a building on the east grounds of the Monument called The Lapidarium, in which many of the stones were being stored.
The Lapidarium is no longer on the grounds, but this guy often is; in fact, that's where I met him. His name is Michael Kelly, and he's a park ranger with the National Mall and Memorial Parks.
One evening, a group of Know-Nothing supporters broke into the Lapidarium, found the Pope's stone and stole it, and it's a mystery as to its fate.
But what isn't a mystery is what happened next. The Know-Nothings formed their own Washington National Monument Society, public donations dried up and construction didn't start again until 1876.
When work was resumed here, it was undertaken by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, who had returned to the original quarry. But the quarry no longer could supply enough stone for the final 400-plus feet.
So, they tried a quarry in Massachusetts, and started building with that marble.
There's about four or five courses of that. And that's the few lines that you'll see there with brown veining running through it.
Hence the first color change. But the Massachusetts quarry was kind of flaky filling orders on time, so the Corps of Engineers wound up finishing the Monument in 1884 with marble from a different quarry back in Cockeysville.
It's a closer match to that below, and when newer, it was the similar bright white snowy marble. But one of the things unknown to the Engineers at the time was that that stone above has a higher magnesium content. So with direct exposure to air, wind, rain, it darkened.
And there you have it: a tri-colored obelisk 36 years in the making.
Now, I say, obelisk. But technically, a true obelisk consists of just one stone. Michael Kelly says the Washington Monument contains more than 36,000.
It then becomes the very definition of E Pluribus Unum: Out Of Many, One. And it does really become a fitting monument to Washington because he was a strong proponent of unity, and of union.
Back at the Ellipse, Carolyn Crouch sees it a bit differently.
Crouch: Because democracy is messy, I appreciate the sort of non-blending aspect of it. That's appropriate for America, I think!
And for Washington, D.C., this city that draws millions of people from all around the world, to visit monuments and museums and maybe, just maybe, catch glimpses of presidents.
Many tourists and Washingtonians alike think the flag flying on top of the White House means the President is there.
Courtesy of: www.flickr.com/ricardo.martins
March 09, 2010 - Carolyn Crouch is the founder of Washington Walks, a walking tour company in D.C. In this interview with WAMU reporter Rebecca Sheir, the local historian busts myths about what it means when the flag is flying atop the White House, and why the Washington Monument is a tri-colored obelisk...
WAMU's Rebecca Sheir finds out why the Washington Monument is a tri-colored obelisk.
Courtesy of: Rebecca Sheir
March 09, 2010 - Michael Kelly is a park ranger with the National Mall and Memorial Parks. Standing at the base of the Washington Monument, he explains the drama and political intrigue behind the structure's multitude of colors...
March 09, 2010 - By Patrick Madden
The Chief Economist for the D.C. government says it will take five more years for the city to recover from the recession. Deputy Chief Financial Officer Fitzroy Lee says D.C. revenues will not return to pre-recession levels until 2014. Part of the problem is the nature of this global recession. Lee doesn't expect the national economy to bounce back quickly. But he says there's another reason.
"The real property tax."
Lee says there is a two-year lag on property taxes. That means in 2011, the property taxes flowing into city coffers will reflect 2009, when real estate values plummeted across the city.
"So 2011 and going forward, we are going to start feeling the effects of the downturn, especially in the commercial property tax area, that's going to start affecting our revenue," says Lee.
Property taxes are the largest source of revenue for the district. They provide about a third of the city's operating revenue.
March 09, 2010 - The Board of Supervisors in Fairfax County,Virginia will recognize "Virginia Task Force 1" for its efforts in Haiti.
Pat Brogan reports.
March 09, 2010 - By Peter Granitz
Bolstered by the beginning of gay marriage in the District, some home rule advocates are pushing to resume the debate on D.C. voting rights again.
Anise Jenkins’s, Stand Up for Democracy, opposes any incremental approach-that means she wants to scrap the current bill making its way through Congress.
The House passed one version granting the District one voting member. It passed the Senate with an amendment overturning D.C.’s handgun ban but has since stalled in the House Rules Committee.
Jenkins says passing a bill won’t be any easier after November’s midterm elections - so Congress needs to act before then. She wants D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton to widen the scope of the current bill and push for statehood.
"You never ask for less than what you want. If they want to give you a crumb, you may take it or you may not. But never ask for less than what you want and less than you deserve," says Jenkins.
Still, some are pushing a more moderate approach - like Illir Zherka, the executive director of D.C. Vote. He’s trying to keep the bill in the House Rules Committee until House leaders find a way to bring the bill forward without Nevada Senator Jon Ensign’s gun amendment.
“We are about protecting the city’s local democracy and strengthening it. The Ensign amendment would clearly do neither one of those things. It’d be a violation of local control,” says Zherka.
Zherka says he’s hoping the bill will come forward in the next couple of weeks, but would not give a definite time frame.
March 09, 2010 - By Rebecca Sheir
A study released this week reports black and Hispanic women own one penny for every dollar owned by black and Hispanic men and a fraction of a penny for every dollar owned by white women.
Nicole Mason lives in Prince Georges County, Maryland, and heads the Women of Color Policy Research Network at New York University. She says society has institutionalized the wealth gap for women of color.
"Issues like labor segmentation and structural and institutional racism prevent many women of color from being able to accumulate wealth and assets at the rate white families are able to do," says Mason.
Mariko Chang authored the report for the Insight Center for Community Economic Development. She says women of color are more at risk during, for instance, an economic recession.
"We know now how vulnerable people are if they lose their income," says Chang. "And so we really should be focusing more on the wealth that they have, so they can sustain themselves through tough economic times.
Chang recommends providing subsidies and incentives to save and increasing access to good jobs so the next generation won't face the same inequalities.
March 09, 2010 - By Matt Bush
The first same-sex marriage has been performed in the district.
After being the first in line to pick up their marriage license this morning at the city's marriage bureau, James Betz and Robert Hawthorne were wed outside the D.C. courthouse by reverend Bonnie Berger.
About 150 couples applied last week. Now that the mandatory waiting period has passed, they can pick up their marriage licenses today. Weddings are scheduled to take place all across the city, including one at a community garden and another at All Souls Unitarian Church, where mayor Adrian Fenty signed the law allowing gay marriages in the district.
March 09, 2010 - By Peter Granitz
D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton says she's making progress on a bill to give the District a vote in Congress. But not all voting rights activists are optimistic that it will pass.
The Senate passed a D.C. Voting Rights bill last year, with an amendment overturning the District’s hand gun ban.
Norton says that amendment is just one point currently being worked out in the House Rules Committee.
She says the National Rifle Association is working to keep the gun amendment in the House version.
“We are close to the point where we will be taking this bill to the floor. We’re working on odds and ends of the kind you always have to put to bed before a bill goes to the floor,” says Norton.
Norton doesn't identify those odds and ends, nor does she say when it will hit the House floor for a vote. That decision is up to the Democratic leadership.
Vincent Morris is a spokesman for the House Rules Committee.
“The entire leadership wants it to happen soon but they also want to make sure all the pieces are right, so that when we bring it forward it passes,” says Morris.
Democrats have historically been more supportive of D.C. voting rights than Republicans have. With Republicans hoping to pick up seats in midterm elections, D.C. Shadow Senator Michael Brown says the longer the bill sits in committee, the less likely it is to pass.
“The Delegate tells us there’s a good chance that it’s going to move forward. If you’re asking my personal opinion on it, I have a hard time seeing it move forward,” says Brown.
With health care and jobs dominating the agenda, it’s unclear when the leadership will introduce the measure.
March 09, 2010 - (March 9) ABRAHAM THE VAMPIRE SLAYER Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter? That's right-at least according to the book by Seth Grahame-Smith. The author is part of a panel at the Smithsonian's Ripley Center on the National Mall tonight at 6:45 p.m. He'll be dishing on "monster mash-ups," new novels that add zombies, vampires and sea monsters to classic texts. Known for abolishing slavery, few were privy to the 16th president's valiant fight against America's vampires, illuminated in Grahame-Smith's humorous tale.
(March 10-12) TIDE AND OASIS Meanwhile, Happenstance Theater turns its attention to the Wild Wild West and the water during Farfar Oasis and Low Tide Hotel, tomorrow through Friday at the Clarice Smith Center for the Performing Arts in College Park, Maryland. With poetry, images and songs, "Farfar Oasis" captures the West's 20th century romantic notions of the Middle East, while "Low Tide Hotel" presents a theatrical scrapbook, maritime songs and literary excerpts.
(March 6-April 3) MONDO ANDRONICUS And for the most legal visceral fun you can have in Washington, Molotov Theatre debases Shakespeare in the play Mondo Andronicus, showing to strong-hearted audiences at 1409 Playbill Cafe in Northwest D.C. The French-style horror fanatics take on a tale of Roman generals and vengeful queens, throwing in an expletive-laden, three-page version of Hamlet for good measure-a show meant for those with strong constitutions and a sizable sense of humor.
March 09, 2010 - By Stephanie Kaye
Finalists from the "DC Capital Stars" talent competition will be taking thousands of dollars in scholarship money to college with them as they head into their freshman year.
Sounding like Emmy-winners and dressed for the Oscars, the spotlight was on D.C.'s public and charter school students. At the Kennedy Center they danced, sang and played in an "American Idol"-style competition.
"These kids, a great majority of them are low-income. First in their family to go to college. Some of them we had to find and steal and borrow instruments just so they could perform," says Argelia Rodriguez, head of D.C. C.A.P.
The talent show was sponsored by the DC College Access Program. Argelia Rodriguez runs D.C. C.A.P., which provides education, support and MONEY for college-bound students.
"Here's your voting device. They'll be doing a demonstration on stage before the show," she says.
Audience members voted with hand-held devices issued at the door. Chantal Lanswetta is a teacher AND mother of five.
"We want to show our youth that people do do positive things, and they can do it too," says Lanswetta.
Passing judgment on Kenisha Williams from the Duke Ellington School was master pianist ELEW, otherwise known as Eric Lewis. He was part of the celebrity panel that included choreographer Debbie Allen and radio host Russ Parr.
"Go ahead and take a sledgehammer and break the wall down, if no one opens the door for you. You could be on the screen with that. So go on and get your Oscar," says ELEW.
Oscar or Broadway-bound, Williams won a $10,000 grand prize, which should help her on her way.
March 09, 2010 - By Elliot Francis
The investigation into an alleged grade changing scheme at Churchill High School, has lasted a month. Now, parents and administrators want answers.
Most of the parents here at Winston Churchill High School auditorium in Potomac, Maryland have students who weren't even involved in the scandal, but they still have lots of questions.
"How many grades were actually changed? I'd heard that it was 700 do you know the actual number?" asks one parent.
Investigators say the grades of 46 students were changed after 8 students hacked into the schools computer system, stole teachers passwords and altered those records. Police are treating the breech as a criminal investigation. By Elliott Francis
Meanwhile Churchill principal, Joan Benz reassured parents worried about the accuracy of first term grades.
"All first semester grades have been validated. If a student grade showed an unauthorized grade, the teacher has replaced that grade with the corrected one," says Benz.
IT security officials say they're still evaluating safe guards to prevent future tampering. Benz says the 8 students under investigation are being disciplined, but their names and the method of punishment are being withheld in accordance with school policy.
Parents of Churchill High School students attend meeting in the midst of an investigation into an alleged grade changing scheme at Churchill High School.
Courtesy of: Elliot Francis
March 09, 2010 - As the saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished.
In the rush to shore up the biggest and most broken parts of our financial infrastructure, a funny thing happened to the ones who played it straight.
Elizabeth Wynne Johnson reports.
March 09, 2010 - By Meymo Lyons
Forbes magazine says eight Virginia localities are among the country's wealthiest.
The magazine's annual list of America's richest counties is based on median income and U.S. Census Bureau data from 2008. Virginia had the strongest showing of any state. Most of the localities are in northern Virginia.
Forbes placed Loudoun and Fairfax counties in the top two spots. Arlington, Stafford and Prince William counties were on the list. Also on the list were the cities of Alexandria and Fairfax, which are categorized as county equivalents.
Rural Goochland County near Richmond ranked 16th on the list. Forbes said the county with a population of about 20,500 people had a median household income of about $88,550. In contrast, Loudoun has a median income of about $110,640 with a population of more than 277,430.
March 09, 2010 - From the Maryland Reporter website:
STORM-WATER The Sun’s Timothy Wheeler writes about a compromise between builders, environmentalists and government officials regarding rules for storm-water pollution, which have been contested several times during this session. Tom LoBianco on Center Maryland has more details.
TAXES Sun staffer Larry Carson finds the latest numbers for county income tax revenues do not look good.
2010 Gov. Martin O’Malley has already set a course down the campaign trail, picking up early endorsements from firefighters, reports John Wagner in Maryland Politics blog at the Washington Post. The Baltimore Sun’s Julie Bykowickz is quick to point out that no one has supported O’Malley’s Republican challenger, because a certain someone hasn’t announced his candidacy.
GAMBLING Anti-Slots petitioners have obtained 40,000 signatures to block potential slot parlors in Anne Arundel County, WBAL-TV 11’s David Collins reports. Monday was the deadline to submit the petition that could put slots up for public vote, writes WBAL Radio’s Steve Fermier.
ABORTION Protesters say Maryland is one of the states with the most "permissive" abortion laws, according to an Associated Press story posted by Fox 45 Baltimore.
DEATH PENALTY New types of evidence could taken into account when trying death penalty cases in Maryland, says the Washington Examiner’s Hayley Peterson.
DEVELOPERS Anne Arundel County Council members are backing a bill that would "freeze discount fees" for developers when constructing roads and schools, Annapolis Capital staff writer Erin Cox reports.
MILLER Senate President Mike Miller’s son was approved by a Senate committee as an Anne Arundel County District Court judge by a vote Monday night, according to The Sun’s Annie Linskey.
BUDGET MarylandReporter.com associate editor Andy Rosen reports no decisions will be made for another week regarding cuts to Gov. Martin O'Malley's $32 million budget proposal, citing snow as a factor in the delay.
GO GREEN The city of Annapolis is working on a $1.3 million dollar eco-friendly garage, writes MarylandReporter.com staff writer, Nick DiMarco.
UMCP PRESIDENT Lauren Redding at The Diamondback profiles the dean heading the search for the new president of the state's flagship university. And Anna Isaacs profiles the only undergraduate student on the search committee.
KITTLEMAN Trent Kittleman's race for Howard County executive has a statewide context, Len Lazarick writes in his Business Monthly column. Kittleman is the stepmother of Senate Minority Leader Allan Kittleman.
March 09, 2010 - From The Environment Report:
Producer: Rebecca Williams
You have flame retardant chemicals in your body. They’re toxic. Americans have the highest levels of anyone in the world. The chemicals are in the dust in our homes and offices and schools. And they’re showing up in our food. In the second of our five part series... Rebecca Williams takes a look at what these exposures might mean for our health...
Fire retardant chemicals can be found in an array of household items, and the federal government doesn't require companies to reveal which chemicals are in their products.
Courtesy of: Photo CC-licensed to Back_garage on Flickr
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