Author Archives: Ben Nuckols

WASHINGTON (AP) — A D.C. councilmember says he’s in touch with a producer for the ABC TV drama “Scandal” who’d like to bring the show to the city to shoot scenes in August. Councilman Vincent Orange says the “Scandal” shoot would be dependent on continued funding of the city’s film incentive program. “Scandal” is set […]

(Updated 4/2/2014) WASHINGTON (AP) — Muriel Bowser won the District of Columbia’s Democratic mayoral primary Tuesday, defeating incumbent Vincent Gray in a race defined by a scandal involving Gray’s campaign four years ago. Bowser tapped into an electorate that tired of the allegations surrounding Gray. Five people who worked on the mayor’s 2010 campaign have […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The embattled mayor of the nation’s capital was trailing his top challenger in initial returns from the city’s Democratic primary on Tuesday, with many voters saying the city needed a fresh start amid a federal investigation of the mayor’s 2010 campaign. With 38 percent of precincts reporting, D.C. Councilmember Muriel Bowser had […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray has signed a bill that decriminalizes possession of small amounts of marijuana. Like all new laws in the district, the bill now goes to Congress for review. House Speaker John Boehner has said Congress will “look at” the bill. Seventeen states have some form of decriminalization, […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Police in the nation’s capital say they believe that a body found in a park is believed to be that of a murder suspect who was the last person seen with a missing 8-year-old girl. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said the body found Monday has been tentatively identified as that of 51-year-old […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray pressed ahead Tuesday with his re-election bid but acknowledged he took a political hit from allegations that he led a “shadow campaign” with a convicted donor nicknamed “Uncle Earl.” With the Democratic primary just three weeks away, Gray is trying to convince voters in the nation’s […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Influential District of Columbia businessman Jeffrey Thompson was charged Monday with conspiring to violate federal and local campaign finance laws by funding off-the-books campaign activity for candidates including Hillary Rodham Clinton and district Mayor Vincent Gray. Thompson, the multimillionaire former owner of a well-connected accounting firm, was charged in a criminal information, […]

(Updated 3/10/2014) WASHINGTON (AP) — District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray knew about an off-the-books “shadow campaign” to support his 2010 bid for the office and personally requested the funds from an influential district businessman, federal prosecutors said Monday. Gray, who’s seeking a second term and faces seven challengers in the district’s April 1 Democratic […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Possession of less than one ounce of marijuana would no longer be a criminal offense in the nation’s capital under a bill approved Tuesday by the D.C. Council. If the bill becomes law as expected, the District of Columbia would join the 17 states that have decriminalized pot possession in some way. […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — A D.C. councilmember says the city’s fire chief and deputy mayor for public safety should resign because of a man who died after collapsing outside a fire station and other issues in the department. Tommy Wells, who chairs the council’s judiciary committee and is running for mayor, says in a letter to Mayor Vincent Gray that […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — District of Columbia lawmakers took a long-awaited first step Tuesday toward decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, but not before watering down the bill to maintain criminal penalties for smoking in public. In the first of two votes on the bill, the D.C. Council voted 11-to-1 to make possession of up […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The D.C. Council has given final approval to raising the city’s minimum wage to $11.50 an hour by 2016. Tuesday’s vote was a formality, with the council already having approved the minimum wage hike unanimously. The bill now goes to Democratic Mayor Vincent Gray for his signature. Gray has advocated for a […]