Category: Washington D.C. News

Last week’s congressional and White House approval of a budget that includes the $100 million, five-year renewal of a D.C. school-choice program is stirring controversy between local officials, unions and residents. Detractors say the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP), which provides private school vouchers for low-income District students, has not borne the promised fruit and […]

WASHINGTON (April. 18) — Howard Alumna Odiney Brown is determined to make sure her daughter, Shannon, did not die in vain. At age 11, Shannon Tavarez seemed to have everything. She was young and attractive with doting parents, and best of all, Shannon nightly performed the role of the Young Nala the lion club in […]

Decrying what they saw as a trampling of the District of Columbia’s autonomy in a budget deal that could impose new restrictions on the city, Mayor Vincent Gray (D) and other leaders were among 41 people arrested April 11 during a protest on Capitol Hill. Gray and his cohorts blocked traffic, sat in the street […]

Washington, D.C.’s tech-market is growing – and job-seekers are watchful. Mayor Vincent Gray’s recent groundbreaking for the $25 million broadband expansion in Wards 5, 7 and 8 has been one major step this year to close the digital divide. The new DC Community Access Network (DC-CAN) will reach clinics, community centers, and other digitally disconnected […]

WASHINGTON — Two days of testimony about the questionable hiring practices of Mayor Vincent Gray’s administration seem to indicate he was unaware of the nepotism practiced by some of his staff and the alleged quid pro quo hiring of former mayoral candidate Sulaimon Brown. On April 7, 11 witnesses were called before the Committee on […]

Former Washington, D.C. mayoral aide Sulaimon Brown said April 8 he is eager to tell Congress and Justice Department investigators how D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray runs the city. But on April 8 he told the AFRO he won’t talk about his allegations of corruption by the mayor to the D.C. Council, even if subpoenaed by […]

WASHINGTON – Sulaimon Brown, who accused Mayor Vincent Gray (D) and his administration of pay-to-play practices, refused to testify before the D.C Council April 7. Brown left the government operations hearing led by Councilmember Mary Cheh, who called a five-minute recess. The former special assistant in the Department of Health Care Finance and mayoral candidate […]

Leaders from the National Pan-Hellenic Council along with others from the Black human rights community are using the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s death to reinforce his dream. The leaders said they truly want to see equality for all Americans. “At a time when the needs of the Black community, the needs of […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee says she welcomes a probe by the District’s Inspector General into erasures on standardized tests during her tenure. USA Today reported last week that some high-scoring schools touted by Rhee had extraordinarily high numbers of erasures correcting wrong answers. Rhee said Monday in an appearance on […]

While an entrenched Congress faces a government shutdown April 18 due to partisan wrangling over the nation’s fiscal budget, residents in Washington, D.C., face a budget crisis of their own. Mayor Vincent Gray (D) rolled out his fiscal year 2012 budget proposal and tax hikes and expenditure cuts are crucial ways Gray desires to seal […]

The fast approaching April 26 race for the at-large D.C. Council seat left empty by newly-elected Chairman Kwame Brown is, for many voters, largely a contest between Councilmember Sekou Biddle and longtime D.C. politico Vincent Orange. But, as with many elections, it’s also a showdown between unions. Each candidate is backed by a major labor […]