Category: Washington D.C. News

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) today introduced the District of Columbia District Attorney Establishment Act of 2011, the sixth bill in her “Free and Equal D.C.” series, to establish an Office of the District Attorney for the District of Columbia. The office would be headed by a district attorney elected by D.C. residents, to prosecute […]

Wal-Mart was put on notice by more than 100 Washington, D.C. residents, business owners and clergy at a spirited rally on the steps of City Hall on Feb. 7. “Respect D.C.,” they demanded of the retail giant who has announced plans to build four new stores in the District by the end of 2012. Wal-Mart, […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pepco is apologizing to customers in the Washington region for widespread power outages and pledges to make improvements in a full-page newspaper advertisement. Pepco Chairman and CEO Joseph Rigby issued a letter Feb. 7 in The Washington Post. The apology comes as D.C. Council member Tommy Wells holds a hearing on winter […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington Mayor Vincent Gray is forming a panel of teachers, students and community members to help select the city’s next schools chancellor. At a news conference Feb. 8, Gray said he expects the panel to be named by the end of the week. He says it will include representatives of the Washington […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — An arbitrator has ruled that former Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee improperly fired 75 new District of Columbia teachers in 2008 and is ordering them reinstated with two years of back pay. Arbitrator Charles Feigenbaum found that the school system never told the teachers why they were being fired and gave them no […]

Mayor Vincent Gray signed a waiver on Feb. 4, allowing him to be furloughed on various holidays throughout the year. Under the terms, Gray will join 32,000 other District government employees in forgoing pay during scheduled time off in an attempt to cut down on city costs. Gray’s move comes after the Feb. 1 approval […]

After a prolonged, but valiant struggle with brain cancer that first began on New Year’s Eve going into 2009, Leon Earl Wynter passed away on Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2011. He was 57 years old. He described himself as “first a Christian, then American and Black by way of his Jamaican heritage.” Born in 1953, Leon […]

This week Howard University’s president and Board of Trustees announced major changes to the academic structure of the school. The Academic Renewal Plan – the culmination of two years of meetings, university community input and the hard work by the Presidential Commission on Academic Renewal (PCAR) – was presented to the board by Howard’s President […]

The last of the 210,000 Pepco customers that lost their electricity after the Jan. 26 snow storm were brought back to light on the afternoon of Jan. 31. That lapse in service has prompted an outcry from area officials and residents, who expressed their outrage in letters and phone calls to the company, in online […]

It was a big celebration for handful of fathers who completed one year of rigorous scrutiny by a dozen agencies working together under one program to help them get back on their feet. Unlike traditional court monitoring agencies, this program centered on fathers and their children. Some willingly sought help, others were forced by the […]

Comcast, one of the nation’s leading cable service providers, wants to help in the effort to bring America’s missing children back to their families. Through a partnership with the National Center of Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), the company has launched “Missing Kids On Demand,” a service that will provide profiles and information about missing […]