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Low Wage Workers and Health Care

Over the past few months, we've been taking a closer look at issues affecting low wage workers and their families in the Washington area.

As part of the series, we look at health insurance - or the lack of health insurance. Many low wage workers don't have any coverage for their kids. To address that problem, in the 1990s Congress created a government-sponsored health insurance program for the children of low-income families. States were asked to manage the program and sign up the kids. Virginia has been signing up high numbers of kids, and is touted as a shining example of the program's success. Advocates for low wage workers say the program is a step in the right direction, but that more needs to be done to ensure health coverage for vulnerable families. WAMU's Sarah Hughes has more.

Fear and Exploitation

It's tough enough to raise a family with an income hovering around the poverty line. Now imagine your employer won't even pay you for the work you've done.

Each year, thousands of cases are reported in the region of immigrants in low-wage jobs who are either not paid in full, or not paid at all. The workers say employers take advantage of the fact that they're new to the country, and may not be here legally. Groups that advocate for immigrant rights say Maryland, Virginia and the District could go a long way towards ending such abuses, by cracking down on these employers. But they say the offices that enforce wage laws are understaffed and let employers off with a slap on the wrist. WAMU's Lisa Nurnberger reports.

Wanda Alston

Wanda Alston, the head of the DC Office of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs, was murdered this week. The victim of a stabbing, she was found in her home on Wednesday evening. Wanda Alston had been working with Mayor Anthony Williams since 1999, and her death has been sending shock waves through the city government and through DC's gay and lesbian community. Barbara Chin, Director of Whitman Walker's Max Robinson Center in South East DC, joins us today. Whitman Walker is a health clinic established by and for the gay and lesbian community, and Barbara Chin has been with the clinic since 1987.

Commentary by Fred Fiske - Needles

Fred wonders why, if policy makers aren't going to be compassionate, they can't at least be logical about clean needle programs.

Youth Voices #4 - Phenola

Time now for the final installment in our youth voices series, where we hand the microphone over to DC high school students and play back the results.

Today's teenagers are often credited, rightly or not, as being more media-savvy, fickle, and critical of tacky advertising than any previous generation. They also carry around a lot more cash. These qualities result in an ever-evolving dance between marketers and teens that gets a lot of attention from adults. But 16 year old Youth Voices reporter Phenola thought she should do her own digging to find out who really has the upper hand.

Our Youth Voices series was produced by WAMU's Sidsel Overgaard.

DC Theatre Video Archive

There are about 80 professional theater companies in the Washington area. And they all have at least one thing in common: After a production is finished, it's over, and can’t ever be experienced again. But 14 years ago, an industrious, driven individual decided it was important to have some kind of record of the live theater productions in DC. Jim Taylor founded the Washington Area Performing Arts Video Archive, and, nearly single-handedly, video-taped over 400 productions over the past decade and a half. The driving force of the archive, Taylor passed away last month after a battle with cancer. At the same time, the collection continues to grow and will be expanding to a second location. Reporter Gail Wein has more.

Travel with Jim Yenckel - Philadelphia

Every few weeks travel editor Jim Yenckel joins us to help plan weekend getaways and day trips in the mid-Atlantic. Today, we turn our attention to the city of brotherly love. Philadelphia is just a couple hours up the road, heading north on I-95, and the "heart" of the city has just been refurbished.

Commentary by Liam Callanan

DC has a new baseball team, a revitalized downtown, and plans for more exciting projects to come. All that leads commentator Liam Callanan to ask whether DC is ready to claim America's most coveted municipal title. No, no, not "The Nation's Capital!" Rather, "The New Seattle."

Just to prove there are no hard feelings, commentator Liam Callanan will travel to the OLD Seattle in a few weeks. If you'd like to join him, he'll be discussing the historical background of his novel, The Cloud Atlas, at Seattle's Museum of Flight on April 3rd.