D.C. Wire: March 29, 2009 - April 4, 2009
DCPS Counts Its Pennies
D.C. public schools, largely protected from cuts in Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's proposed 2010 budget, are tightening up for the remainder of the current fiscal year that ends Sept 30. Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee sent word to principals late Friday that local school budgets are effectively frozen until then. All...
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Bill Turque
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April 4, 2009; 6:21 AM ET |
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No Dough for Teachers in Funding Formula
It turns out teachers aren't quite so special after all. Mayoral budget guru William Singer said last week that while most city employees would not be getting raises under the proposed 2010 budget, teachers were "a special case." "There is money in the proposed budget for a performance-based teacher contract,"...
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Bill Turque
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April 3, 2009; 6:18 PM ET |
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Cheh Sets Oversight Hearing on OCTO and OCP
Council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3) is serious about her oversight role. She announced this afternoon that the Committee on Government Operations and the Environment budget oversight hearing is set for Monday. That includes the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) and the Office of Contracting and Procurement...
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Marcia Davis
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April 3, 2009; 5:04 PM ET |
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Fight Over Fire Truck Heats Up
Two District council members are calling on Fenty administration officials to detail their travel from December through February as part of a growing inquiry into how and why surplus fire apparatus was donated to a town in the Dominican Republic. In a letter to Chief Financial Officer Natwar M. Ghandi,...
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Marcia Davis
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April 3, 2009; 3:25 PM ET |
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Fenty Tells Homicide Detectives: Job Well Done
The men and women who work as D.C. homicide detectives labor to solve some of the city's most disturbing crimes. Anger gone terribly wrong. Another young life cut violently short. It's important, but grim work. Nothing positive about murder. Except perhaps when you catch who did it. D.C. detectives...
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Theola Labbé-DeBose
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April 3, 2009; 9:17 AM ET |
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Browse By Writer
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Crime and Public Safety
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Mayor Fenty
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Theola Labbé-DeBose
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Round Two on OCTO Probe
D.C. Council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3) now has subpoena power in an investigation of the Office of the Chief Technology Officer scandal, which came to light last month when the FBI made arrests--two employees and a contractor---and raided the agency's offices looking for evidence. The D.C. Council bumped...
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Marcia Davis
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April 3, 2009; 7:47 AM ET |
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WASA General Manager Leaving Agency
D.C. Water and Sewer Authority General Manager Jerry N. Johnson will leave the agency this summer after 12 years amid continuing criticism of his agency's handling of the fallout from the discovery of excessive lead in the city's tap water five years ago, city sources said. Johnson, who took over...
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Marcia Davis
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April 2, 2009; 2:54 PM ET |
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City Life
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GOP Weighing in on Charter School Facilities Issue
Paul D. Craney, executive director of the D.C. Republican Committee, is testifying on the charter school issue before the D.C. Council today. He sent D.C. Wire his testimony: Below is an excerpt: The Mayor's proposed budget for the public charter school facilities allowance puts the success of the District's charter...
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Marcia Davis
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April 2, 2009; 11:09 AM ET |
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A Flap Over Charter School Funding
Public charter school advocates are upset about a proposed change in the District's funding formula -- one that D.C. officials say is intended to make the schools more accountable for their facilities costs. Like public schools, public charter schools are funded according to a per-pupil allocation. The basic amount--which...
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Bill Turque
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April 2, 2009; 6:55 AM ET |
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Battle Over Bags at Wilson Building
Proposed legislation on a 5 cent tax on paper and plastic bags drew scores of supporters and opponents to the John A. Wilson Building yesterday during a hearing on the issue. Legislative sponsors say the move is an environmental effort to help clean up the Anacostia River. Opponents say the...
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Marcia Davis
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April 2, 2009; 6:52 AM ET |
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D.C. Council
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Funeral for Woman and Sons Focuses on Domestic Violence
Hamil R. Harris attended the services yesterday for Erika Peters and her boys Erik and Dakota, who were all slain last month allegedly by Peters live-in boyfriend. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton were among the political leaders who attended the services, which highlighted the problems...
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Marcia Davis
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April 2, 2009; 6:50 AM ET |
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City Life
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Tim Craig
When my mother would bring me to the District as a kid in the 1980s from our hometown near Pittsburgh, she would tell me it's one of best cities in the country because you see people from all over the world on the Metro. Now, I ride the Metro every...
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Christopher Dean Hopkins
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April 1, 2009; 5:30 PM ET |
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Guess Who Paid Their Rent on Time?
The Washington Nationals, that's who. The 2009 season hasn't even started and the team has paid the $3.75 million, apparently without a fuss, unlike the drama from last season....
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David A Nakamura
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April 1, 2009; 1:56 PM ET |
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Nationals
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Reaction to News of Justice Dept. Fight on Voting Rights
Rep. Gerry E. Connolly (D-Va.), one of three co-sponsors of the D.C. vote bill, said today that the Justice Department opinion, which called the bill unconstitutional, added yet another complication to passage of the measure. "As you know, this bill unfortunately has gone through the perils of Pauline, and this...
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Marcia Davis
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April 1, 2009; 12:58 PM ET |
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Voting Rights
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Gist Quits District for Rhode Island
D.C. State Superintendent of Education Deborah A. Gist has resigned to become Rhode Island's top education officer. Sources said this morning that her appointment as Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education is scheduled to be announced in Providence tomorrow. Sources also said Mayor Adrian M. Fenty will name her...
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Bill Turque
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April 1, 2009; 10:54 AM ET |
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April Fool's Jokes in D.C.
It's April 1, so it must be time for Fool's Day jokes. We're collecting the best and will post them here at D.C. Wire so let us know if you come across any. So far, we have these to pass along: The Washington City Paper has some fun with its...
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David A Nakamura
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April 1, 2009; 10:19 AM ET |
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Justice Department Differs on D.C. Voting Rights
D.C. voting rights were a source of debate in the U.S. Justice Department, according to Washington Post reporter Carrie Johnson, who said Attorney General Eric Holder sought another opinion after lawyers in his office said the bill was unconstitutional. Read the full report here....
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Marcia Davis
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April 1, 2009; 7:11 AM ET |
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Voting Rights
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Opponents Try to Sack Bag Tax
Plastic bag makers are aggressively lobbying against legislation that could create the toughest restrictions in the country on plastic and paper bags. In anticipation of tomorrow's public hearing on the Anacostia River Cleanup & Protection Act of 2009, the Progressive Bag Affiliates of the American Chemistry Council have rallied some...
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Nikita R Stewart
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March 31, 2009; 5:03 PM ET |
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D.C. Council
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Fenty to Mayors: School Boards Have No Purpose
Mayors from across the country were in town today for a conference, including a seminar on education reform. Not surprisingly, Mayor Adrian Fenty (D) and D.C. school Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee were among the speakers on the panel, continuing a series of national platforms --Democratic National Convention in Denver, National...
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David A Nakamura
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March 31, 2009; 1:06 PM ET |
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Education
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White House Launches D.C. Summer Internships
The Obama Administration, continuing to build bridges to District schools, today announced what is believed to be the first White House internship program intended specifically for D.C. students. The D.C. Scholars Program will place students in part-time, unpaid positions in White House offices and departments this summer. "When I...
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Bill Turque
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March 30, 2009; 5:46 PM ET |
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Standoff Continues
D.C. Council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3) held a meeting today to get briefed on the theft from the Office of the Chief Technology Officer that has already resulted in the arrests of two city employees and a contractor. But representatives of the Mayor Adrian M. Fenty administration were...
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Nikita R Stewart
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March 30, 2009; 11:29 AM ET |
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Emancipation Day: What Do You Think?
Over on his Raw Fisher blog, Post columnist Marc Fisher is tackling the question of what should be done with the District's Emancipation Day holiday: Tough times call for tough action, and D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty has now proposed to eliminate a public holiday -- Emancipation Day. What's that, you...
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Washington Post Editors
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March 30, 2009; 8:34 AM ET |
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Fenty Schedule Shows He's Back in Town
Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's schedule has him back in the city today and at a ribbon-cutting at 16th Street and Columbia Road NW for a new Metrobus Express Route ribbon-cutting at 10 a.m. We tried last week to find out where he'd gone off to for a few days, but...
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Marcia Davis
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March 30, 2009; 7:58 AM ET |
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