By John Solomon
How the government's punishing of the exposure of official wrongdoing can linger for years
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
The long-simmering battle between traditional brick-and-mortar restaurants and the insurgent food truck industry is expected to come to a head Friday during a regulatory hearing before a D.C. Council committee.
Policies to protect struggling homeowners from foreclosure in the District of Columbia, Maryland and other jurisdictions have offered "fool's gold," in the words of one top analyst, and they are holding back a real estate rebound, even as the U.S. housing market begins to roar, or at least growl, across the country.
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.
A D.C. Council member on Thursday accused the administration of Mayor Vincent C. Gray of influencing a questionable contract award to overhaul city-owned United Medical Center and of appearing ready to cave to the demands of the large-business community currently objecting to broader efforts to reform the city's minority contracting policies.
A key D.C. Council member said Wednesday he will introduce a disapproval resolution related to a questionable $12.7 million contract to overhaul city-owned United Medical Center.
Abraham Lincoln took on bloodshed among the states and the shame of slavery during his four years in the White House, thwarting plans of the Confederacy headquartered 90 miles to the south in Richmond.
The District's police and fire departments may not be at gold-star status, but both received passable grades during their first month of public approval ratings through the Grade D.C. program.
Upstart challenger David Grosso, a relatively unknown former D.C. Council staffer who started campaigning a year ago, unseated incumbent Michael A. Brown on Tuesday for an at-large seat in the only significant upset in the city's elections.
Voters in the District will decide Tuesday whether to reshape the D.C. Council in election contests that serve as a referendum on the makeup of a body that has faced a steady trickle of ethical problems in the past two years.
City lawmakers on Tuesday answered a mounting chorus of motorists who say the District is burdening them with pricey traffic-camera fines in an attempt to balance the local budget under the banner of public safety.
Maybe it was the setting — a house of worship — but a quartet of candidates vying for two at-large seats on the D.C. Council eschewed the bitter rhetoric and personal attacks that have dominated the past few weeks for veiled swipes and even cordiality during a debate in Georgetown on Thursday.
D.C. Council member Vincent B. Orange is set to host a small-business summit downtown on Friday -- a who's who event at which Mayor Vincent C. Gray and top officials discuss business opportunities in the city -- but a mailing that advertises the event tests the delicate boundary between an incumbent's duties and the fight for name recognition on the path to Election Day.
D.C. Council member Michael A. Brown's campaign for re-election announced endorsements from nine unions Tuesday despite troubling headlines that have ranged from missing campaign funds to a close call on petitions he submitted to get on the ballot.
The D.C. Board of Elections ruled Monday that D.C. Council member Michael A. Brown collected enough petition signatures from city voters to appear on the ballot in November, despite dual challenges from one of his opponents in the at-large race and a city government watchdog.
"By going through this process it's clear to me that intentional acts probably should not be included in this bill, but I'm not convinced that negligent acts should not be taken off the table," said Mr. Orange, at-large Democrat.
"We either approve the proposed regulations as is, or reject them," Mr. Orange said. "It would be great if the council could modify them and bring about a nice compromise. We don't want oversaturation, but we do want people to have a choice in what they desire for lunch. And at the same time we want the brick-and-mortar restaurants to do well."
