Category: Washington D.C. News

The Supreme Court on June 28 struck down Chicago, Ill.’s strict anti-handgun legislation, but D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton said the decision in fact sanctions Washington D.C.’s new and revised gun laws, created after the same court struck down the city’s more restrictive gun ban two years ago. The nation’s highest court struck down a […]

After Yvonne Moore, a member of Covenant Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., sat through a same sex commitment ceremony in her church in 2007, she was angry. First, she filed a lawsuit. Then she left the congregation she has been a part of for nearly 40 years. “Why did I do it?” Moore said during […]

Even though City Council Chairman Vincent Gray lavished praise on the architects of the landmark teachers union contract, he acknowledged that inequities exist and that those who have been impacted have looked to the Council for assistance. In comments to the media, Gray expressed relief that the controversial contract, approved unanimously this week by the […]

Mayor Adrian Fenty was a no-show at the highly anticipated June 28 debate that was slated to focus on the state of the city’s troubled public schools system. According to the District of Columbia Chapter of Young Education Professionals, which sponsored the “Great Education Forum,” Fenty was expected to spar with his chief opponent in […]

Mayor Adrian Fenty has joined with the District Department of Human Services to congratulate the U. S. Interagency Council on Homelessness on its release of the nation’s first comprehensive plan to prevent and end homelessness. The plan is entitled, “Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness,” and is the result of a […]

For years, because it lacked adequate housing for juvenile offenders, the District resorted to placing them in facilities outside the city; most times, in other states as far as 300 miles away. This was particularly true for females. Last year for instance, of the more than 300 youths from the District that were detained in […]

WASHINGTON—Academic awards are usually given to students that excel on a consistent basis. But Councilmember Kwame R. Brown recently recognized 22 District students who may not have started off as “A” students but have worked their way past obstacles to a higher academic standing. They were students like Michelle Burris, of School Without Walls. Burris started […]

Following months of sometimes contentious debate, Metro’s Board of Directors has paved the way for the first of two fare hikes. The first went into effect June 27 and is part of the beleaguered transit system’s effort to cover a $189 million budget deficit. The agency’s new fiscal year begins July 1 and incorporates an […]

Basketball games at Washington, D.C.’s Barry Farms Goodman League are run in daily sequence during the evening hours of the summer. Since the outdoor blacktop, affectionately known as the B.F. Coliseum, sits openly alongside the exhaust-producing Suitland Parkway, it takes a well-conditioned athlete to endure the heat and hustle of back-to-back games. Thankfully, Memphis Grizzlies […]

When his father passed away more than a year ago, Azim Al-Sala’m wanted to find a way to not only honor the man who instilled principles of kindness and charity in him, but also carry on his positive legacy. A native Washingtonian, Al-Sala’m, 33, founded Consider Someone Else, a social networking Web site that aims […]

It has been just a handful of years since the highly acclaimed “Automatic Inmate HIV/AIDS Testing and Counseling Program” at the city lockup was launched. Since that time the program has already conducted HIV screenings for more than 40,000 inmates, and jail officials are poised to keep administering the tests as new detainees enter the […]

Unless its current owner – or another patron – quickly steps in and rescues the beleaguered facility, the District will forge ahead with plans to have United Medical Center in Southeast Washington foreclosed. Attorney General Peter Nickles, who recently filed notice against the 17-acre property, said the measure would allow the hospital to be auctioned […]