By James A. Lyons
By arming the rebels, we're aiding al Qaeda
Officials within the D.C. mayor's administration spent much of Monday clarifying comments made by Mayor Vincent C. Gray about whether the fire department could effectively respond to a disaster such as the recent Boston Marathon bombings.
Longtime D.C. political insider Anita Bonds was elected to the D.C. Council Tuesday, fending off five challengers in a special election.
D.C. voters will turn out Tuesday to elect a council member and to decide whether to grant the city budget autonomy from Congress the fourth time in a year that residents have been asked to take to the polls.
Martin Luther King dreamed of the day his children would live in a nation "where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." It remains a noble goal. It's a shame Dr. King's goal has been abandoned by certain members of the District of Columbia city council.
It's time for D.C. Fire Chief Kenneth B. Ellerbe to either resign or be removed from office ("D.C. Council grills fire chief on recent failed responses," Web, March 28). It is apparent Chief Ellerbe doesn't have what it takes to manage a fire department in the nation's capital, and people are at risk.
Skeptical D.C. Council members demanded answers from the city's fire chief Thursday on what they said were serious and systemic problems with the department in the wake of a string of failed responses to emergency calls.
D.C. Council candidate Patrick Mara on Tuesday called on Mayor Vincent C. Gray to replace the city's fire chief, saying Kenneth Ellerbe is "not the best person for the job."
The District's $220 million state-of-the-art forensics laboratory opened in October with great fanfare, but photographs of the lab's evidence room obtained by The Washington Times and a widely distributed email exchange between the commanding officer of its Crime Scene Investigations Division and his employees paint a different picture.
The D.C. Council, always on the scout for a new way to pick the pockets of the people who live in Washington, now proposes to require gun owners to pay for exercising their constitutional rights. Under a proposal introduced by Mary M. Cheh, a member of the council, gun owners would be required to buy liability insurance.
The D.C. Council on Monday voted 11-2 to reprimand one of its own members based on a report that concluded he acted inappropriately by influencing the city's lottery contract.
The D.C. Council voted 11-2 Monday to reprimand one of its own members based on reports that concluded he acted inappropriately by influencing the city's lottery contract.
A $12.7 million contract to overhaul the city's publicly owned hospital is poised to pass the D.C. Council on Tuesday, after a four-hour hearing last week during which several council members appeared to have made up their minds and others expressed uncertainty as to why the contract is necessary in the first place.
The D.C. Council chairman will hold a hearing to look into concerns about the legitimacy of a contract award to overhaul a troubled city-owned hospital before a Feb. 19 vote on the deal.
The nation's post-election leftward lurch is gaining momentum. Six states, including New York and California, are agitating for a boost in the minimum wage. Sen. Tom Harkin, Iowa Democrat, wants the federal government to set a nationwide wage floor that will automatically rise each year.
D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson was right on the money when he stated, "It is about a system and a lack of quality control."
