WAMU 88.5FM American University Radio

DC Property for Sale

Two major Washington institutions - the public school and library systems - are working on plans to restructure, close, or consolidate their facilities. Though it's too early to know exactly how many properties could be affected, it's likely that DC will soon have a few newly vacated buildings on its hands...and that makes some local activists and politicians nervous. They say the city already sells off too much property without thinking about how it could be put back to public use either now or in the future. WAMU's Sidsel Overgaard reports.

Kendell Frederick

Since the start of U.S. military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, 119 residents of Virginia, Maryland, and DC serving in the armed forces have died. Among them was a man named Kendell Frederick - whose passing has since inspired legislation on Capitol Hill. The Maryland resident died in Iraq back in October while trying to overcome bureaucratic hurdles to becoming a U.S. citizen. About forty-thousand people who are not U.S. citizens are currently in the military - an estimated 3,200 of them are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. The proposed legislation aims to simplify the process of naturalization for immigrants serving for the U.S. WAMU's Jennifer Strong reports.

Mangoes No More

Langley Park in Prince George's County boasts a vibrant immigrant community. About 65% of its residents are foreign born, and many are from Central America. It's also bustling with small-time entrepreneurs who cater to immigrant consumers.

Women in colorful aprons hawk sliced mangoes and papayas from make-shift street stands to parents walking their kids to school. Mini-trucks, equipped with kitchens, park just outside apartment buildings, selling traditional Central American food to hungry residents on their way home from work. But according to county regulations, much of this informal selling of goods on the street is prohibited. And a Prince George's council member is taking steps to regulate the vendors. WAMU's Sarah Hughes reports.

Adams Morgan Heritage Trail

Washington DC, like most cities, is a big place made up of smaller places - neighborhoods like Georgetown, Capitol Hill and Foggy Bottom are like villages that, when taken together, make up the city. Each has its own distinctive character. As the group Cultural Tourism DC unveils its Adams Morgan Heritage Trail this week, WAMU's Sam Litzinger takes us on a tour of the historic neighborhood. His guides are Jane Freundel Levey with Cultural Tourism DC, and Josh Gibson, executive director of the Adams Morgan Partnership. They met at The Potters House coffee shop - one of the oldest coffee houses in the city.

Mondo DC - Medical History

If you want to see a hairball the size and shape of a human stomach, or the enormous preserved leg of a man who suffered from Elephantiasis. If you'd like to take a gander at something called the "mega-colon" or if you just want to remember the good old days of blood-letting and Civil War field medicine, have WE got the place for you. No, it's not a side show exhibit. It's the National Museum of Health and Medicine, located on the campus of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in northwest DC. There's no official word yet on the fate of the museum - as part of the 2005 base realignment and closure plan, Walter Reed is scheduled to move to Bethesda. But for now, the Georgia Avenue campus offers plenty of parking and plenty of stomach turning exhibits. Jeff Bagato is the author of "Mondo DC: An Insider's Guide to Washington DC's Most Unusual Tourist Attractions." We met him near a group of horrified school kids touring through the exhibit space.

Commentary by Reuben Jackson - Wilson Pickett

The man wasn't born here, but soul singer extraordinaire Wilson Pickett was living in the DC region at the time of his death last week at the age of 64. And writer Reuben Jackson remembers seeing him VERY much alive on stage in DC back in the 1960's.

Reuben Jackson is a writer living in the District.