Author Archives: DorothyRowley

The recent spate of shootings east of the Anacostia River that left one young person dead and three others injured has left police scrambling for answers. “It’s ridiculous and the community is tired of it. There is no excuse for it,” Police Chief Cathy Lanier was quoted as saying shortly after another rampage that occurred […]

Now that the District has found a way to come up with the $38.8 million needed to fund teacher salaries, pay raises and bonuses, the new teacher contract that was tentatively agreed upon last month by Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee and Washington Teachers Union can most likely proceed. At this point, its only detriment would […]

The District of Columbia City Council is considering action that will keep police from joining a program which shares fingerprint data with federal immigration authorities. A bill was recently introduced to the Council by At-Large Councilman Phil Mendelson and has the backing of most of his peers. The bill, which has been referred to the […]

Joblessness among African Americans constitutes the largest population of individuals out of work. And, in the nation’s capital where finding jobs might become easier, the unemployment rate still hovers at just 10 percent.   For instance, in January the local rate had swelled to more than 12 percent, with just 16 states and the District […]

A gun control bill that Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) are sponsoring this week on Capitol Hill is being shot down by members of the District of Columbia City Council, who view it as an imposition of the senators’ wills on the city’s residents. During a May 5 rally, several council representatives, […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia’s long-awaited enactment of a medical marijuana law has paved the way for people who need the drug most to possess it without fear of being arrested. The City Council’s unanimous vote on Tuesday approved amendments to the law first passed in 1998, when 69 percent of city voters […]

For many low-income District of Columbia residents, check cashing and other money order vendors are the only forms of “banking” they know. But a new program recently announced by Mayor Adrian Fenty is poised to help some 10,000 of those residents get on a more solid financial footing by helping them sign up for a […]

The District of Columbia and its Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi have been named the primary defendants in a multi-million dollar lawsuit filed by a former District government administrator, who claims to have been wrongfully terminated for failing to cancel a contract awarded to a firm co-owned by a friend of Mayor Adrian Fenty. The […]

When Allen Sessoms, president of the University of the District of Columbia, began implementing his vision last year for a new and improved institution of higher learning, that also apparently meant presenting an updated pictorial of the historically Black campus. Since then, full-page advertisements detailing Sessoms’ vision have been published in major newspapers including the […]