Category: Washington D.C. News

Mayor Vincent C. Gray and DC Council Chairman Kwame Brown have hit a snag on increased taxes as one way to close the budget deficit. Gray proposes an increase in income and property taxes to add $35 million to the revenue stream. Brown opposes it without any apparent plans on the table as a substitute. […]

D.C. school officials say about 660 teachers and other school employees have been told that their jobs will be eliminated next month because of budget concerns and shifting enrollment within the school system. The process known as “excessing” allows for a redistribution of jobs. Schools with budget or other changes often lose jobs, which then […]

Racial threats were hurled at one of the District’s most prestigious Black churches after a visit from President Barack Obama on Easter Sunday. Shiloh Baptist Church, in northwest Washington, became the target of criticism after a member of the FOX Nation, a national organization of White conservatives, linked statements made by the church’s pastor on […]

Dozens of public schools in the District were roped off with yellow tape on May 5, as FBI agents and fire officials investigated suspicious letters that contained white, powdery substances. The FBI’s National Capital Response Squad, along with the D.C. Fire Department, the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service responded to repeated […]

Visitors and residents of Ward 4 beware: that hamburger wrapper you unconsciously throw on the ground may warrant a ticket from D.C. police. Mayor Vincent Gray (D) and the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) kicked off a litter enforcement program May 1 for Ward 4 and part of Ward 5, targeting pedestrians and motorists. Ward 4 […]

The results of the April 26 special election may reflect a changing city that is increasingly open to a more diverse D.C. Council. Patrick Mara, the lone Republican in the at-large race, came in a close second, with 26 percent of votes, after presumptive at-large council member, Vincent Orange (D), who garnered 28 percent. The […]

In the third wave of D.C. Council hearings investigating hiring missteps made in Mayor Vincent Gray’s initial administration on April 29, Sulaimon Brown and Cherita Whiting were no-shows, again. Brown was among several employees caught in a dragnet initiated by the local press, which questioned the hiring practices—including allegations of nepotism, cronyism, excessive salaries and […]

The news came just a little before midnight on March 1: Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the devastating terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, was dead. After a decade of eluding capture by America’s and its allies’ forces, the al-Qaeda leader was killed in a U.S. special forces attack on his compound in Abbottabad, […]

Not so long ago, Northwest D.C. florist Karen Woods could plan to spend about $100 per week on gas to make whatever deliveries she needed to make in the region. But with the recent surge in gas prices, the weekly cost of gas for Woods has more than tripled to close to $350. Woods says […]

Vincent Orange (D) will likely be the next at-large D.C. councilman after beating eight other candidates, of whom only Republican Patrick Mara came close in numbers during the special elections on April 26. With more than 55,000 voters at the polls, Orange raked in a little more than 28 percent of the votes, with Mara, […]

Bachir Diop looked down the District’s H Street corridor at the clusters of large wooden barricades, orange mesh tape and warning signs that dominate the streetscape, evidence of the 12 blocks of construction that have closed or crippled more than a hundred businesses and properties in four years and made way for new investors to […]