By James A. Lyons
By arming the rebels, we're aiding al Qaeda
Tradition, faith and revelry mark a city's celebration of the president's second inauguration, as chronicled by Washington Times reporters in real time throughout the day.
The District's top budget minder says the city does not need to raise the "ballpark fee" it imposes on businesses to pay down the massive debt it took to build a home for the Washington Nationals, a long-term endeavor in the nation's capital as other sports-crazed cities grapple with the role of public funds in high-stakes stadium deals.
The embattled managed-care company owned by the man at the center of a federal probe into D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray's 2010 campaign was carrying $3 million in unexplained revenue on its books and had transferred $1 million to an unknown recipient, city agency directors said Thursday.
Even amid the Washington Nationals' division championship season, there are plenty of Orioles fans still rooted in the area to enjoy Baltimore's even more improbable run to the playoffs. Naturally, some fans left once the Nationals arrived and many now cheer for both teams, but the Orioles are far from a forgotten team in Washington.
The place was packed. The sidewalk, too. On a recent evening, the patrons at Justin's Cafe looked like an extension of the crowd at nearby Nationals Park, where the surging Washington Nationals were playing the Los Angeles Dodgers.
D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray unveiled an early childhood education center east of the Anacostia River on Thursday that serves as the keystone of his aggressive effort to stimulate the minds of children in their first years, preparing them for kindergarten and beyond.
A newly seated edition of the D.C. Tax Revision Commission began wading through layers of the city's Byzantine tax structure on Monday and brainstorming ways to keep the city's finances in step with its flourishing population.
Staffers for the District's embattled mayor have sought the advice of a crisis-management expert who advised Monica Lewinsky and inspired the television drama "Scandal," according to emails obtained by the Associated Press.
The D.C. government says a pilot program designed to cull feedback on its services has nudged upward the mediocre marks obtained by five agencies that frequently deal with the public.
Kwame R. Brown is expected to appear Friday in federal court and plead guilty to bank fraud tied to his personal finances. He also became the second member of the D.C. Council to resign this year, making city stakeholders more than a little jittery about their body politic.
On the day before the D.C. financial control board returned city finances to local officials more than a decade ago, it approved a preliminary $1.8 million, no-bid deal with a company run by health care contractor Jeffrey E. Thompson to open a 24/7 health clinic for low-income residents of Southeast.
D.C. Council member Jim Graham expects "quite a hearing" Monday when he dives into the upcoming budget for the Children & Youth Investment Trust Corp., a nonprofit that is feeling the aftershocks of former council member Harry Thomas Jr.'s scheme to steal more than $350,000 in public funds.
Nearly a quarter-million dollars in money orders have helped keep D.C. campaigns flush with cash in recent years, benefiting some of the same city politicians now considering all but banning the donations after a raid on the office of a prominent political patron.
Instead of patting himself on the back for doing what needed to be done — spending less money — D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray is treating CFO Natwar M. Gandhi like a political hack.
One year ago today, Vincent C. Gray strode onto a stage at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, put hand to Bible and promised to deliver D.C. residents to a land of fiscal responsibility. Residents cheered him on.
'D.C. needs a team.'
D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams donned an old Washington Senators hat and announced in September 2004 that Major League Baseball was returning to the District, there was euphoria.
