Join The Conversation! Talk about the news of the day with public radio fans on WAMU 88.5's The Conversation.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Your Amazon.com purchases support WAMU 88.5
Your purchases from the NPR Store support WAMU 88.5
March 10, 2010 - WASHINGTON (AP) Metro officials say manually operated trains are running slower and dozens of track problems are adding to the delays. Transit agency officials say trains have been late 11 percent of the time, mostly because they have been run manually since the fatal red line crash last year.
WASHINGTON (AP) The woman who operated the Underground Railroad to help slaves escape to freedom, will have a prominent place at the Smithsonian's future black history museum. Today the National Museum of African American History and Culture will add about 40 objects from Harriet Tubman's life to its collection.
WASHINGTON (AP) Same-sex couples are now able to marry in Washington. Marriage bureau officials say 42 couples returned to pick up their licenses by the time the bureau closed yesterday. At least a dozen couples married and returned the licenses the same day.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
March 10, 2010 - CUMBERLAND, Md. (AP) The Maryland Department of Natural Resources says a white fungus linked to a fatal bat disease apparently has been found for the first time in Maryland. The agency says it has sent carcasses and fungus samples from a cave near Cumberland to a lab for confirmation. Meanwhile, it's asking Maryland cave enthusiasts to help limit the spread of the disease.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) Gov. Martin O'Malley has met with the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee to discuss legislation the governor is backing to strengthen laws against sex offenders. O'Malley says he believes substantial progress is being made on moving the legislation out of the committee.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
March 10, 2010 - NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) About 180 soldiers are due back at Fort Eustis after 12-month deployments to Afghanistan and Kuwait. The soldiers scheduled to return today are with the 149th Transportation Company of the 10th Transportation Battalion. About 20 members of the 86th Dive Detachment of the 6th Transportation Battalion are scheduled to return early tomorrow.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) Young athletes who suffer concussions would be held out of sports games or practice under a bill that has passed the General Assembly and is on the way to the governor. The Senate unanimously passed Senator Ralph Northam's bill today, a day after it won unanimous approval from the House.
HAMPTON, Va. (AP) Bryant + Stratton College plans to open a third campus in Virginia. The new campus will be located in Hampton at the Peninsula Town Center. Bryant + Stratton says classes will begin in September.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) Forty-five local police and sheriff's departments across Virginia will receive homeland security grants totaling $4.9 million. Gov. Bob McDonnell says the grants will be used to buy incident response vehicles, bomb squad gear and other equipment.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
March 10, 2010 - By Sabri Ben-Achour
Developers and environmental groups in Maryland have been at loggerheads over new stormwater runoff regulations scheduled to go into effect May fourth, and a compromise has left neither side particularly satisfied.
Stormwater runoff from paved surfaces carrying trash and pollutants into rivers and the Chesapeake Bay is a recurring issue in the region. Maryland recently tried to deal with the problem by requiring developers to build in ways to slow down and filter rainwater in any new construction. Some developers bristled.
"Putting this burden on the back of new development--all it's going to do is increase the cost of housing way up beyond what anyone can afford and it won't get the job done," says Tom Farasy, president of the Maryland State Builders' Association.
During a down economy, he says, developers wouldn't be able to meet the rules. The state of Maryland relented, giving developers three more years to comply with the regulations and allowing more flexibility in how to meet the new standards. The grandfathering would apply only to developers who have received preliminary approval for their projects by May 4th, 2010. Developers whose projects haven't been approved by then will have to comply with the new regulations.
"We are disappointed that a significant number of projects will get extra time because that means that's pollution running off into creeks and rivers and into the bay that otherwise would've been slowed down and filtered," says Tom Zolper, with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
Ultimately, though, the standards remain intact. Developers have until 2013 to meet them.
March 10, 2010 - By Kavitha Cardoza
D.C.'s Office of Human Rights is stepping up efforts to educate residents about legal protections by partnering with community organizations.
David Mariner works at an organization called D.C. Center on 14th street Northwest, where lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people attend support groups and social events. He hears complaints about possible discrimination.
"We had a young man who worked at a local bar and was HIV positive," he says. "He missed some days of work because of his illness and and subsequently his hours were cut to one day a week."
Mariner says often people are worried about filing a complaint.
"There are language barriers, there are cultural challenges as far as people not wanting to feel they're a victim or feel like they need help," he says.
To help overcome these challenges, staff from D.C.'s Office of Human Rights visit community centers such as this one to educate people about the 19 classes protected from discrimination in D.C., including sexual orientation, political affiliation and genetic information.
The office also airs advertisements, hands out fliers and provides some translation services. Gustavo Velasquez who heads the office, says complaints have increased 70 percent in the past two years and he says this means more people feel comfortable coming forward. Velasquez says this doesn't mean there's more discrimination, "Because consistently the proportion of cases we decide as real discrimination continue to be four to six percent on an annual basis."
Those cases have to go through mediation and if they cannot be resolved, they're referred to the Commission on Human Rights for a hearing.
March 10, 2010 - RICHMOND, Va. (AP) Gov. Bob McDonnell has added his signature to legislation intended to further his goal of making Virginia the East Coast's energy center.
The bills signed Wednesday endorse federal efforts to develop gas and oil drilling off the Virginia coast, and direct royalties to the state's growing transportation needs. A portion would also go the Virginia Coastal Energy Research Consortium.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is expected to announce his decision soon on whether the government will move forward with the sale of oil and gas leases. The triangular tract 50 miles off of Virginia has an estimated 130 million barrels of oil and 1.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
On the Web: Virginia Coastal Energy Research
Consortium: http://www.vcerc.org/
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
March 10, 2010 - By Jonathan Wilson
Virginia's general assembly is the first in the nation to approve legislation that bucks federal health care reforms by banning federal health insurance mandates.
Without debate, the House of Delegates voted 80-17 for a bill banning federal mandates for health insurance coverage. Delegate Bob Marshall, a Republican from Prince William County, is the bill's main sponsor.
Thirty-four other state legislatures have filed or proposed similar measures rejecting health insurance mandates. But Virginia's legislature, scheduled to adjourn Saturday, is the first to finish work on a bill. The measure goes to Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell, who plans to sign it.
The measures are advancing nationally as Republicans try to capitalize on some voter discontent over Democratic-backed federal health care reform efforts in Congress.
March 10, 2010 - By Stephanie Kaye
Female business owners are being held back by their own reluctance to hire new employees.
Business in Washington is relatively booming, but it could be "boomier" if women entrepreneurs hired more help.
"Eighty-seven percent of them want to grow; but only 23 percent of them see hiring as the way to grow their business," says, Nell Merino, CEO of "Count Me In," a women's business group. She held a conference at the National Press Club to talk about her survey's findings.
"It's this notion that, 'Oh, by the time I explain it to you, I could do it myself,'" says Merino.
Merino is launching "Survive and Thrive," an online resource where women can upload a two-minute description, or "elevator pitch," of their business.
"If you can't explain what you're doing to a potential employee, you're not going to attract a lot of anything," she says.
"I always thought I wanted to be a carpenter. Until I started thinking bigger and I said, 'No; I want to be the boss of a lot of carpenters,'" says Theresa Daytner, who wears a bright, busy blouse and has her 8-year-old's half-eaten apple in her purse. But that's not how this construction company CEO would describe herself.
"I would say fearless," she says. "Confident. Generous in terms of sharing my experience. And inspiring."
The triathlete and mother of six has grown her ideas into a nine-person, $17 million business, and she also hires subcontractors.
"There's a multiplier on every person you put on the job," she says. "Part of that multiplier covers your overhead and puts profit back into the business. That's very empowering!"
But, Daytner says, she's still got to work on that "elevator pitch."
March 10, 2010 - By Jonathan Wilson
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has signed a bill that should make it easier for prospective yoga instructors in the state to find a guru.
The new law comes three months after three local yoga instructors filed a federal lawsuit challenging Virginia's vocational school laws. House Bill 703 exempts yoga-instructor programs from those laws.
Without the change, any school offering a yoga teacher-training course would have had to pay a $2,500 application fee, a yearly renewal fee, and subject its curriculum to approval by bureaucrats.
School owners who didn't comply could have faced jail time.
Attorneys at the Institute for Justice, which helped the yoga instructors with their lawsuit, say although the fight over yoga-instruction schools is over, Virginia's vocational school laws still place undue burdens on professionals such as dog groomers and makeup artists.
March 10, 2010 - By Bill Redlin
The Maryland senate has approved changes to the state unemployment insurance system.
The unanimous vote on Tuesday moves a compromise that was agreed to by labor and business organizations to the House of Delegates. The bill would allow businesses to spread out payments to Maryland's unemployment compensation fund and lower the interest rates for late payments this year and next year.
The legislation also decreases benefits for some workers, but increases benefits for others, including those seeking job training while unemployed.
Gov. Martin O'Malley has proposed changes to the unemployment insurance laws in order to receive about $127 million in federal stimulus money.
March 10, 2010 - By Rebecca Blatt
A bill to update extortion laws in Virginia is on its way to Governor Bob McDonnell's desk. Its sponsor, Delegate David Bulova of Fairfax, says it will help address a growing threat that he has experienced first hand.
Last summer, Bulova received an email from a man claiming to know his social security number. The sender demanded $30,000 to keep it private. Bulova says he assumed it was spam.
"We got a call that evening form a person who said, 'I'm that guy who went ahead and sent you that email this morning, I really do want your $30,000 or I really will go ahead and sell your personal information,'" says Bulova.
Bulova called the attorney general's office, and he learned that extortion in Virginia includes threats to someone's property or character. The attorney general said personal information didn't fall neatly into either category.
"The old fashioned concept of what you could go ahead and threaten in order to extort money out of a person are simply outdated," he says.
The bill passed by the General Assembly extends Virginia's extortion law to include "sensitive identifying information."
March 10, 2010 - WASHINGTON (AP) A photograph of two men kissing that ran on the front page of The Washington Post has caused at least two dozen people to cancel their subscriptions.
The photo was taken last Wednesday, the day same-sex couples could apply for marriage licenses in Washington, and ran in the paper the next day. The paper's ombudsman, Andrew Alexander, reported on his blog that 27 subscribers canceled their subscriptions, specifically citing the photo. He wrote that while complaints usually subside quickly, in this case complaints lasted through Tuesday.
Readers suggested that the photo should have been placed in the paper's Metro section or not run at all.
Alexander disagreed and defended the paper's decision to run the photo prominently.
Information from: The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com (Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
March 10, 2010 - By Matt Bush
Solar power isn't common in Maryland, but one environmental group is asking lawmakers in Annapolis to change that.
Shea Kinser of Environment Maryland says they would like to see 10 percent of the state's electricity come from solar power by the year 2030.
"Right now in Maryland, less then one percent of our power comes from solar power," says Kinser.
The biggest reason for that, according to Kinser, is that it's too expensive for a homeowner or a small business to install solar panels.
"The prices have gone down a lot over the past five years," she says. "But it's still quite expensive to pay the upfront costs to put an entire array on your roof, for example."
One bill lawmakers in Annapolis are considering would allow local governments to offer low interest loans to homeowners who want to put solar panels on their houses. A similar state loan program started in 2008 that focused on energy conservation in general dished out close to $16 million dollars in loans in its first year.
March 10, 2010 - By Matt Bush
It could soon cost a little more to buy a drink in Maryland under a bill under consideration in Annapolis. A new poll again shows a majority of the state's residents support increasing the state's alcohol tax.
Slightly more than two-thirds of Marylanders support a bill that would increase the state alcohol tax a dime per drink, according to an Opinion Works poll. Twenty-seven percent oppose the legislation.
The poll shows support going to more than 70-percent, though only if the money raised goes to health-related public policy.
A state senate committee will hold a hearing on the bill today in Annapolis. If it passes, the money raised by the tax hike would go to health care and community services. Last week, a different poll showed nearly three-quarters of state residents surveyed support the measure.
March 10, 2010 - By Kate Sheehy
Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli says Virginia is one of 35 states settling a false advertising suit against a company that promised to protect consumers from identity theft.
The states, along with the Federal Trade Commission, brought false advertising claims against Lifelock Incorporated, a company in Arizona.
The company has heavily advertised its $10 a month fraud protection service for several years, promising that it was a "proven solution" that would protect consumers from fraud.
But on Tuesday, Lifelock agreed to pay $11 million in restitution to customers and $1 million to pay for the investigation.
The FTC and Cuccinelli's office say Lifelock also agreed to stop saying it protects against all types of identity theft.
March 10, 2010 - (March 12 & 26) TALES FOR TOTS The Smithsonian American Art Museum presents Tales for Tots tomorrow and every second and fourth Friday of the month, taking up just half an hour of tiny attention spans starting at 11 a.m. at the Luce Foundation Center in downtown DC. This is story time Smithsonian-style, situated in the galleries and surrounded by of some of the finest art in the world, all aimed at audiences under the age of five. You can email AmericanArtPrograms@si.edu or call 202-633-8490 for information and registration.
(March 11) FOODIES AND FRIENDS Food & Friends hosts Dining Out for Life, the group's 14th annual fundraiser at area restaurants, as diners who eat out tomorrow fill their stomachs while feeding their souls. Service-minded chefs from 140 restaurants are donating the proceeds from a day's worth of orders, ranging from 25 to 100 percent of each meal purchased.
(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 DC. The French-style horror company takes on the Bard's tragedy of Roman generals and vengeful queens, throwing in an expletive-laden, three-page version of Hamlet for good measure. This show is meant for those with strong constitutions and a sizeable sense of humor.
March 10, 2010 - By Rebecca Sheir
A historic figure in the gay rights movement is applauding Washington's first same-sex marriages. But Dr. Frank Kameny says there's still work to be done.
In 1957, long before "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," Frank Kameny was fired from his position as an Army Map Service astronomer because he was gay.
Four years later, Kameny co-founded the Mattachine Society of Washington, one of the earliest LGBT advocacy groups in the U.S.
Kameny spoke at a news conference after some of D.C.'s first same-sex weddings were held.
"This represents a major victory," he said, "One that has been in the making for 35 to 40 years, although back then we never remotely thought it would really come to pass," says Kameny.
Kameny says other victories are in the making, but they'll require a lot of work. And as a man who helped overturn the American Psychiatric Association's definition of homosexuality as a mental illness, and who pressed the federal government to stop refusing security clearances to homosexuals, Kameny knows it's difficult, but not impossible to get the work done.
March 10, 2010 - By Elliott Francis
Wednesday, members of the Women’s Air Force Service Pilots organization will be given the country’s highest civilian honor. They are civilian pilots who flew non-combat missions for the military during World War II.
Four F-15’s are flying the missing man salute, which in this case might be more appropriately named, the missing woman salute.
When first formed in 1943, approximately 1,000 women pilots were trained to fly for the army air corps. They were assigned to operational flights, transporting planes or cargo and sometimes towing targets for live artillery practice. They never flew in combat, but 38 women died in aerial mishaps while flying in world war two.
During the ceremony Vice Admiral Vivian Crea remembered their service.
“They have demonstrated a courage which is sustained not by the fevers of combat, but by the steady heartbeat of faith. Faith in the rightness of our cause and the importance of the work to the men who do go into combat,” says Crea.
All 38 names were read as a wreath was laid at the foot of the air force memorial.
On March 10, 2010, Women’s Air Force Service Pilots received the Congressional Gold Medal during a ceremony on Capitol Hill.
WASP members honor fallen aviators during memorial ceremony at the Air Force Memorial in Arlington, VA.
Courtesy of: Elliot Francis
View more images from this gallery.
March 10, 2010 - The case of Congress "v." Supreme Court.
In January, the high court did away with federal limits on corporate campaign spending. And ever since, the President and (mostly) Democrats in Congress have been talking about crafting legislation to curtail the effects of that ruling. Today, corporate spending in elections is the subject of a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Elizabeth Wynne Johnson reports.
March 10, 2010 - By Patrick Madden
The city of Washington is getting ready to give out half-a-million female condoms. It's the first effort of its kind in the United States, and city leaders hope the program will combat D.C's HIV-AIDS epidemic.
Because female condoms are not as widely available as male condoms, about half of the $500,000 grant will go toward promoting the condoms and teaching women how to use them.
The city's top HIV-AIDS official, Dr. Shannon Hader, says D.C. is training five community groups to go to beauty salons and other "non-traditional" sites, to hand-out the devices and spread the word.
"They came into it a little suspicious about what this product would be and by the end of this introduction and the training, they are some of the strongest advocates for this new product I have ever seen," says Hader.
Adam Tenner with Metro Teen Aids supports the effort. His group works with young people and has distributed female condoms in the past.
"The female condom definitely has a learning curve that the male condom doesn't. So in order to use it properly there is an education component and that will take some time," says Tenner.
CVS has also started selling female condoms at pharmacies in D.C. Tenner says that move, along with the 'giveaway', should help the female condom gain wider appeal.
March 10, 2010 - From the Maryland Reporter website:
Today we've got stories on Senate passage of two bills that have caused some contention lately, the heritage tax credit's outlook is uncertain, and the attorney general wants to eliminate elections for circuit court judges.
HERITAGE TAX CREDIT Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to expand a popular tax credit for renovating old buildings faces resistance from House leaders, Annie Linskey writes for The Baltimore Sun. House Majority Leader Kumar Barve and Ways and Means Committee Chairwoman Sheila Hixson expressed concerns with the proposal to both renew and expand the tax credit.
CHILD SUPPORT The state Senate passed legislation Tuesday changing the guidelines courts use to set child support payments, Steve Lash writes in The Daily Record. But the bill faces greater scrutiny in the House, where opponents say more time is needed to study the guidelines. John Wagner has the story for The Washington Post's Maryland Politics blog.
UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE The Senate unanimously approved changes to Maryland's unemployment insurance system, sending the compromise between labor and business organizations to the House, the Associated Press reports. Julie Bykowicz points out in The Sun's Maryland Politics blog that the bill acts as a way to tap into almost $127 million in federal stimulus money.
VA SALARY The Senate budget committee chairman said he expects the panel to approve the continued payment of the $145,000 salary of the chief of staff for the secretary of veterans affairs, despite a staff recommendation to cut the new post that pays 80 percent more than the salary of the secretary himself. Erich Wagner has the story for MaryandReporter.com.
JUDGES Attorney General Doug Gansler wants to eliminate contested elections for circuit court judges, but critics say it would give the governor too much control over the judicial system, Daniel Leaderman writes at Capital News Service.
CITY ROADS Lawmakers are seriously considering a $30 million reduction to Baltimore City’s share of the state aid that local jurisdictions share for road maintenance, Andy Rosen writes for MarylandReporter.com.
PENSION FUND Lawmakers are pushing to require that $50 million of the state's pension money be invested in new bioscience and green technology companies, Hayley Peterson reports in the Washington Examiner. But the fund's managers say such investments are risky and have low returns.
OYSTERS Watermen converged on the State House on Tuesday to voice their support for bills that would drastically diminish the Department of Natural Resources' ability to regulate oyster harvesting, Jennifer Hlad writes for Capital News Service.
STORMWATER Joel McCord at WYPR has a look behind the compromise between environmentalists, local government officials and builders, citing House Environmental Matters Committee Chairwoman Maggie McIntosh's use of "pizza and soda" to bring stakeholders together to discuss the issues at hand. David Fahrenthold has the story for The Washington Post.
DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES Ian Paregol writes in a commentary for MarylandReporter.com that as the developmentally disabled wait for assistance, the network of community providers whose mission it is to meet their needs grows increasingly threatened by years of chronic underfunding.
ARE WE THERE YET? Michael Dresser looks at the State Highway Administration's newly unveiled plan to use variable message signs on highways to inform drivers of how long it will take to reach important interchanges or landmarks in his Getting There blog for The Sun.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN Nick Sohr does a bit of analysis in his Eye On Annapolis blog on the prospects of Northrop Grumman coming to Maryland and its political implications, in light of a Washington Post column that puts the state in a pretty bad, well, light.
FERTILIZERS Del. Galen Clagett says he expects his bill placing greater restrictions on phosphorous in lawn fertilizers to pass the House this week, Meg Tully writes in The Frederick News-Post. But some are concerned that reducing phosphorous could make fertilizer less effective and contribute to soil erosion.
GUN CRIMES Carroll County Republican Sen. Larry Haines' bill creating a minimum mandatory sentence for the use of any gun in a crime is gaining bipartisan support, particularly with Baltimore Democrats, Adam Bednar writes for the Carroll County Times.
ELECTRIC REREGULATION David Collins reports for WBAL-TV on what he calls a "zombie bill"-a bill that never goes away, despite dying each year-in electric re-regulation. Supporters say re-regulation of utilities will lower electric costs for consumers, but opponents say that competition will drive rates down, not government regulation.
March 10, 2010 - From The Environment Report:
Producer: Rebecca Williams
Flame retardant chemicals are in many of the products we use. They help slow the spread of fire. But some kinds of these chemicals are building up in people and in pets and wildlife. And hundreds of studies are suggesting the chemicals could be linked to problems with brain development, and thyroid and fertility problems. In the third part of our five part series... Rebecca Williams takes a look at why our federal government has not banned them...
More about the removal of Dr. Deborah Rice from the EPA panel
Flame retardant chemicals are in many of the products we use, and hundreds of studies are suggesting the chemicals could are linked to a variety of health problems. So why hasn’t the federal government banned them?
Courtesy of: Reiner.Kraft
privacy policy - terms of use - contact - sitemap - directions - rss - podcasts - jobs - community
Copyright WAMU 88.5 American University Radio | 4000 Brandywine Street NW | Washington, DC 20016-8082 | (202)885-1200
