District native Terrance Payton will receive the Marvin Young Volunteer Award at the Us Helping Us Fall fundraiser, “A Passion for Living,” in recognition of his volunteer activities, including: program facilitation, volunteer coordination, HIV counseling and testing, and street outreach. Terrance is a performing artist who began his formal training with the Children’s Animation Theater […]
Category: Washington D.C. News
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Apostle Betty Peebles of Jericho City of Praise Remembered
Apostle Betty Peebles, senior pastor of Jericho City of Praise in Landover and a longtime gospel artist, educator and radio personality, passed away in a Baltimore hospital Oct. 12 of cancer at the age of 76. Her son and assistant pastor at the church Elder Joel R. Peebles Sr. posted a statement on Jericho’s website […]
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Metro Mulls SmarTrip Fare Changes
SmarTrip card users are about to see their fare cut in half. But the change could also lead to costly problems for Metro. After months of wrangling over the matter, officials announced recently that the $5 fee for the plastic cards will be reduced to $2.50, and that to help things process smoothly, new cards […]
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D.C. School Reform Featured in Film
In the new populist movie, Waiting for Superman, District of Columbia Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee appears on camera discussing her take on reformation among the nation’s troubled schools. The controversial chancellor came to town three years ago, invigorating waning efforts to overhaul the city’s broken system, and stirred up a dust storm by closing […]
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Cheh Proposes Longer School Day for DCPS Student
Councilmember Mary M. Cheh, D-Ward 3, has introduced legislation that would expand the school day in District of Columbia Public Schools. The School Day Expansion Act of 2010 would extend the DCPS school day to seven hours, an increase of 30 minutes per day and 90 hours of classroom instruction per year. “DCPS has the […]
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Caucus Explores the Afro-Latino Experience with Panel Discussion
According to the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research organization, the District is home to an estimated 51,000 Latinos as of 2008. A growing minority number of those Latinos are Afro-descendents, commonly known as Afro-Latinos. The DC Latino Caucus, under the patronage of DC Council Members Kwame Brown and Harry Thomas Jr., are inviting the […]
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Black Astronaut Touts S.T.E.M. in Early Childhood
On Oct. 6, astronaut and physician Mae C. Jemison addressed nearly 200 business, education and government leaders at Fairfax Futures’ School Readiness Leadership Forum. The event, held at the Capital One Financial Corp. headquarters in McLean, Va., allowed Jemison to speak in support of increased science, technology, engineering and math (S.T.E.M.) education for America’s youngest students. […]
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Bowie State Receives Grant for Computer Science Doctoral Program
Bowie State University’s computer science doctoral program has been awarded a $753,000 grant by the United States Department of Education. The five-year grant, a result of the Historically Black Graduate Institutions (HBGI) Title III program, will be used to provide scholarships to BSU students interested in the doctoral program. “We will utilize the grant for […]
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Rhee Announces Resignation
The wait is over. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee finally answered the much discussed question of whether she would retain her post under Mayor-elect Vincent Gray’s administration: She announced her resignation Wednesday during a press conference at the Mayflower Hotel in downtown Washington, D.C. Flanked by Gray, Mayor Adrian Fenty and her interim successor Deputy Chancellor […]
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D.C. Not Ready for Internet Voting
WASHINGTON (AP) — A University of Michigan professor who hacked a prototype D.C. elections voting website with his students and had it play the school’s fight says that it will be decades, if ever, before voting can be done safely over the Internet. Computer science professor Alex Halderman spoke last Friday at a meeting to […]
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From the District to Berklee: Local Student Earns Full Ride to Leading Music School
Like many Black performers, Clifton Williams found God ? and music? at church. From gospel, jazz and classical arrangements to singing, Williams became a skilled musician early on after a church pianist introduced him to the instrument as a child. Williams’ years of study have landed him at the forefront of a new era in […]
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District Among Top 10 In Electrical Spending
When it comes to spending the most on electricity, Washington, D.C., is listed among 10 U.S. jurisdictions that has barred no holds. Holding fourth place ahead of the District is North Dakota, and Alabama ranked No. 6. Farther down the list is the state of Maryland, which placed 36th. Those are the findings of a […]