Empower DC, a grassroots community activist group, went to D.C. Superior Court March 29 to try to block D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson’s plan to close 15 schools by 2014. The suit, filed on behalf of four parents of D.C. schools students, alleges that the school closings are a violation of civil rights and equal […]
Author Archives: Teria Rogers
Special to the AFRO
Posted inPrince George's County News
P.G. School Takeover Foes Confront State Lawmakers
Retired educator L. Regina Barton, 71, inched towards the hearing room of the Department of Legislative Services in Annapolis on April 1 with the support of a walker. The life-long county resident attended the joint hearing on County Executive Rushern L. Baker III’s proposed schools takeover to declare her opposition to the plan. “I have […]
Posted inWashington D.C. News
D.C. Firefighters Union Gives Chief No Confidence Vote
The D.C. Firefighters Association IAFF Local 36 took a vote of no confidence on March 25 on the leadership of D.C. Fire and EMS Chief Kenneth Ellerbe. The union called Ellerbe “inept” and “incompetent” with “a two year record of failed leadership.” The vote of 300-37 vote was the latest move in a battle between […]
Posted inWashington D.C. News
At-Large Council candidates Seek Ward 8 Endorsement
Candidates interested in winning over voters east of the river had a chance to speak directly to constituents at a Ward 8 Democrats Endorsement Forum held March 16 at the Imagine Southeast Public Charter School. Before the event kicked off, several people carrying signs and shouting support, rallied for D.C. Council member Anita Bonds, who […]
Posted inPrince George's County News
County Executive Proposes Schools Takeover
Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III wants to assume full control of Prince George’s County’s massive—and troubled –school system in a move that would reduce the power of some on the 10-member school board and make the school superintendent part of his cabinet. If Baker succeeds in winning approval by the state legislature […]
Posted inWashington D.C. News
Residents Protest Streetcar ‘Barn’
Spingarn High School opened to fanfare among Washington Blacks in 1952. Named for Joel Elias Spingarn, the educator for whom the NAACP’s prestigious Spingarn Medal is named, the school boasts among its graduates NBA greats Elgin Baylor, who went on to serve 22 years as general manager of the L.A. Clippers, and Dave Bing, now […]
Posted inPrince George's County News
Youth Slayings Spur Community Meeting
More than 200 Prince George’s County residents and officials gathered at the Suitland Recreation Center to discuss how to halt a spate of killings that has left six high school youths dead since the beginning of the school year. The Feb. 25 meeting was convened in the wake of back-to-back killings of two Suitland High […]
Posted inWashington D.C. News
Saga of Missing Girl Has Happy Ending
Little Eriona Birts, 6, a first-grader at Friendship Public Charter School in Northeast Washington spent the afternoon of Feb. 16 playing games and eating pizza at a welcome home party at the Chuck E. Cheese’s in Largo, Md. It was a special celebration orchestrated by her father, Eric Birts, who had spent many frantic moments […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
Watching History Roll by from a Prime Vantage Point
The past and future of African-American leadership met at the intersection of Seventh Street and Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest in Washington, D.C. when President Obama’s parade motorcade rolled by the historic National Council of Negro Women headquarters on Inauguration Day. Obama, who was sworn in for his second term Jan. 21, became the latest in a […]
Posted inWashington D.C. News
DC Economic Boom Hits Major Black Areas
Everywhere you look in Washington these days you see construction crews, scaffolding, jackhammers and cranes soaring. Drive down any major street in the city, Georgia Avenue Northwest, Benning Road Southeast, or M Street and you see older apartment buildings and row homes mixed with new condos and contemporary construction. As the rest of the country […]
Posted inPrince George's County News
Delay in Case of Pastor Joel Peebles vs. Jericho City
A hearing to determine if a board of directors appointed by Apostle Betty R. Peebles for the Jericho City of Praise (JCOP) church is valid was postponed in Prince George’s County Circuit Court on February 8. The hearing was requested by Joel Peebles, the youngest son and only living heir of Betty Peebles, in his […]
Posted inWashington D.C. News
Giving Women Ex-Offenders a Helping Hand
Aishia Smith strutted and bounced on stage in a coral suit, beaming a sweet smile while her long braids swung behind her. The 32-year-old D.C. resident had plenty to be happy for. After enduring a life of sexual abuse, drug addiction, alcohol addiction and serving a year in jail, she is celebrating a new stage […]