Latest D.C. News

WASHINGTON (AP) Mayor-elect Vincent Gray is naming an Arizona state administrator to lead the District of Columbia's Department of Employment Services in his administration. He's selected Rochelle L. Webb to lead a "dramatic transformation" of the employment agency and help residents get off unemployment rolls and into the job market.

WASHINGTON (AP) The mayor-elect also has named his choices for two education positions. At a news conference today, Vincent Gray named Hosanna Mahaley as state superintendent of education. Mahaley previously worked for Chicago and Atlanta public schools.

WASHINGTON (AP) Interim D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson says damage to a northwest Washington school is severe after a three-alarm fire, and plans are being made to move students elsewhere when they return in January. Officials say more than 150 firefighters were called to the Takoma Educational Center this morning. They found heavy fire coming from the roof.

WASHINGTON (AP) Two D.C. Council members say Mayor Adrian Fenty has redirected $495,000 from a job training program to cover separation pay for his political appointees. In a letter yesterday, Council members Michael Brown and Kwame Brown asked Fenty to reconsider.

WASHINGTON (AP) A D.C. fire official says two Virginia high school students have been taken to a hospital because of a recreational drug overdose. D.C. Fire and EMS spokesman Pete Piringer says paramedics found several sick students yesterday morning when they responded to a report of a sick person near the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

WASHINGTON (AP) The D.C. medical examiner's office has ruled that the death of a man outside a city nightclub was a homicide. The medical examiner's office said yesterday that several factors contributed to the death of 27-year-old Ali Ahmed Mohammed.

WASHINGTON (AP) South Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia and German car maker Volkswagen lead the insurance industry's annual list of the safest new vehicles, used by safety-minded consumers looking to buy a new car. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety recognized 66 vehicles with its "top safety pick award" for the 2011 model year.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)