All Opinions Are Local: November 21, 2010 - November 27, 2010

'Miracle' conviction or one more mistake?

It is hard to imagine a more hollow and unsatisfying conviction than that of Ingmar Guandique. Twice in 10 years, law enforcement has been hijacked by sensation.Immediately after Chandra Levy’s disappearance, police ignored even the most basic principles of investigation...

By Deirdre M. Enright and Matthew L. Engle, Charlottesville  | November 27, 2010; 6:06 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (10)
Categories:  D.C., crime  
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Floodwaters on the Mall

The public announcement of a new, improved levee to be built at 17th Street NW brought to mind a previous levee that has been part of the downtown landscape for decades [“Flood plan proposed to protect Washington Mall,” Metro, Nov....

By John Lockwood, Washington  | November 27, 2010; 6:02 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (2)
Categories:  D.C., HotTopic, National Mall, weather  
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Phone calls from the Great Recession

"I’m hungry."This is how the first call to my cellphone began. Until that point, the human toll of the Great Recession was much less immediate.Two years ago, the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region established the Neighbors in Need...

By Janice L. Kaplan, Washington  | November 26, 2010; 7:50 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (2)
Categories:  D.C., HotTopic, economy  
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Hunting won't solve the deer problem

Regarding Robert McCartney’s Nov. 21 Metro column, “Kill the deer, but please do it without me”:The arguments for using hunting as a tool to control the deer population are overblown. The fact is, deer are abundant in many suburban communities,...

By Laura Simon, Woodbridge, Conn.  | November 26, 2010; 7:17 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (3)
Categories:  D.C., HotTopic, Maryland, Virginia, wildlife  
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No manners on Metro

After 10 years of riding Metro to Union Station to catch the MARC train, I thought I had seen every form of self-centered, rude behavior. But on Monday I found out I was wrong. About 4:10 p.m., I was jammed...

By Jack Purdy, Baltimore  | November 25, 2010; 5:44 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (5)
Categories:  D.C., Metro, transportation  
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How to keep guns out of criminals' hands

Hats off to The Post for its in-depth examination of how guns get into the hands of criminals, a huge public safety problem that the gun lobby has worked so effectively to hide from the public [" 'Officer down'; How...

By Daniel Webster, Baltimore  | November 25, 2010; 5:38 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (4)
Categories:  Fairfax County, HotTopic, Prince William County, Va. Politics, Virginia, crime, guns, police  
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A distraction of the road to a better welfare system

Over the past two weeks, D.C. Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) has received a great deal of attention for co-sponsoring a bill that would toss more than 7,000 families off the welfare (or “TANF”) rolls because they have been...

By Monica C. Bell and Jennifer Mezey, Washington  | November 24, 2010; 9:07 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (11)
Categories:  D.C., D.C. politics, HotTopic, Marion Barry  
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A costly, useless crackdown in Prince William

Regarding the Nov. 21 Metro article “County asks localities across Virginia to follow it on immigration": Here are some quotes from the University of Virginia’s report on Prince William County’s crackdown on illegal immigrants: “A number of local and national...

By Don Whittaker, Woodbridge  | November 24, 2010; 8:08 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (3)
Categories:  HotTopic, Va. Politics, Virginia, immigration  
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Govs, Gray on Board of Trade's bandwagon?

Last night, following a conference call between Govs. Martin O'Malley (Md.) and Robert McDonnell (Va.) and D.C. Mayor-Elect Vince Gray, a press release went out seeming to endorse the recommendations in the Board of Trade's report on WMATA governance....

By David Alpert  | November 24, 2010; 2:00 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (0)
Categories:  D.C., HotTopic, Local blog network, Metro  
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Tobacco corruption in Virginia

John W. Forbes II, state secretary of finance under former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to federal wire fraud charges. It is by far the biggest scandal involving a...

By Peter Galuszka  | November 24, 2010; 11:00 AM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (2)
Categories:  HotTopic, Local blog network, Va. Politics, Virginia, crime, development, economy, education, environment, health care, history, public health, smoking  
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The liquor-politics mix in Prince George's

Regarding the Nov. 21 front-page article “Liquor, politics mingle easily in Pr. George’s”:I agree that the liquor stores have great sway over the Board of Liquor License Commissioners and at least some Prince George’s County politicians. In this county, I...

By Michele P. Leonardi, University Park  | November 23, 2010; 7:01 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (1)
Categories:  HotTopic, Maryland, Prince George's County  
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A tale of two speeches

Yesterday, Mayor-elect Vince Gray delivered a speech in which he laid out the District's bleak financial future. A 2011 budget gap of approximately $188 million and a projected 2012 gap of $345 million means that city officials have to...

By Martin Austermuhle  | November 23, 2010; 6:14 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (0)
Categories:  D.C., D.C. politics, HotTopic, Local blog network, Mayor Fenty, Vincent Gray  
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The zoning fight that wasn't

Last night, the Citizens Association of Georgetown hosted a debate between the Office of Planning’s Travis Parker and the Committee of 100′s Nancy MacWood over the proposed zoning code rewrite. While GM billed the affair as a potential fight...

By Topher Mathews  | November 23, 2010; 12:50 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (0)
Categories:  D.C., D.C. politics, Georgetown, Local blog network  
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Metro's biggest problem: Not putting safety first

Last week, a task force report sponsored by the Greater Washington Board of Trade and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments recommended a significant restructuring of the Metro system governance [“Report: Metro organization is outdated,” Metro, Nov. 18]. The task...

By James Potts, Fort Washington  | November 22, 2010; 6:55 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (5)
Categories:  D.C., HotTopic, Maryland, Metro, transportation  
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"You don't see anyone suffering" in D.C.?

Oh, Congress. We always enjoy it so when the nation's elected representatives decide to aimlessly act as a representative for the city which they'll be working in. After all, there's a long line of those -- Louie Gohmert, Tom...

By Aaron Morrissey  | November 22, 2010; 11:01 AM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (0)
Categories:  D.C., D.C. politics, DC Vote, HotTopic, Local blog network  
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