With summer quickly approaching, many eager teens began their search for employment with the One City Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP), which was launched on Feb. 25. As hundreds of the District’s youth and parents flowed inside the Department of Employment Services (DOES) building to attend the Midnight Madness kick-off event, bright smiles and optimism […]
Category: Washington D.C. News
Ben’s Chili Bowl Gets Exhibit
There is, perhaps, no name more synonymous with Washington, D.C., than Ben’s Chili Bowl. Known for its half smokes and spicy chili, the 53-year-old restaurant has been a pillar on the U Street corridor since its opening and is now being preserved and celebrated in an exhibit at George Washington University’s Estelle and Melvin Gelman […]
Fired Aide to D.C. Mayor Gray Claims Setup
Another controversy befell Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray recently when one of his top aides was abruptly terminated just one day after he was publicly praised for his performance. The latest turmoil follows numerous stories of alleged fiscal mismanagement, unjustified high salaries for top aides, and cronyism by the mayor and council chair. Sulaimon […]
Local Resident’s Past Linked to Great Heroines, Achievers
When Gaithersburg resident Angela Martin, 57, inherited her mother’s genealogy project she had no idea just how unique the branches of her family tree would be. Her mother, Dr. Ruby Martin, started researching their genealogy by interviewing her parents while they were living. And before her passing, Dr. Martin left her notes, books, interesting stories […]
D.C. Residents Sound Off on Chairman Brown’s ‘Over-the-Top’ Rides
The news of D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown’s leasing of a luxury SUV for over $1,900 a month—after a first model was rejected—is reverberating around a city bound in financial straits. On Feb. 22, the chairman apologized and said he had returned the vehicle to the Department of Public Works. He said he also plans […]
New Hotel Project Aims to Hire D.C. Residents, Black Contractors
Beyond encompassing well over 1,100 rooms, lush terraces and hip retail shops, developers of the new Washington Convention Center Hotel claim the establishment will give District residents what they need most jobs. After breaking ground in November, construction of the new $520 million, four-star Marriott Marquis Hotel on Ninth Street and Massachusetts Avenue is now […]
Low Voter Turnout Can Cause Upset in At-Large Council Race
A crowded field of candidates and uncertain voter turnout promises to make the April 26 election of a new D.C. City Council member an exciting and boisterous process, some political observers say. “When you have special elections it’s pretty much a free-for-all,” said former councilman Vincent Orange. Orange was one of 11 candidates that met […]
Marcus Chambliss: A Civil War Veteran, Who Escaped from Slavery
Caryne Moses is an 11th-grade student at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Md. She wrote the following essay—which has been edited for readability—about her great-great-grandfather, Civil War veteran Marcus Chambliss (1842-1922), for an assignment in her world history class. My great-great-grandfather, Marcus Chambliss, is connected to historical events in the United States in […]
Barry: Schools Funding Inequities Corrected
District of Columbia City Councilman Marion Barry, D-Ward 8, said recent emergency legislation will bring parity to the allocation of school building funding that was missing under former Mayor Adrian Fenty and former D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee. In a press release, Barry said he and his staff have attended dozens of meetings, toured […]
City Officials Claim Ignorance of UDC Deficit
Controversy over a budget deficit announced by the District’s only government-run university is steadily brewing, causing anxiety among students. City officials say they were surprised by the University of the District of Columbia’s recent request for an additional $8 million to $10 million to offset the expense of operating the fast-growing Community College for the […]
GOP’s Anti-Home Rule Campaign Continues to Mount
The indignities heaped upon the District of Columbia by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives are piling up, political observers said. The assault against the city’s autonomy began when the GOP, as one of its first orders of business, stripped the District of its vote in the Committee of the Whole. And in one of the […]
D.C. Schools Voucher Program Causing Political Split
The political wheels in the District of Columbia are churning up once again as House Republicans take jabs at Home Rule. Having stripped the congressional representative of voting power on the floor, and barring her from testifying on a bill that affects the District, Republicans have also introduced legislation to re-impose the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship […]

