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Deborah Simmons

dsimmons@washingtontimes.com

Deborah Simmons was a senior correspondent who reported on City Hall and wrote about education, culture, sports and family-related topics.

Articles by Deborah Simmons

Deborah Simmons

Fort Dupont Ice Arena funding

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, meet businessman Willem Polak, chairman of the Friends of Fort Dupont Ice Arena.

February 4, 2019
A pediatrician holds a dose of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine at his practice in Northridge, California. Mumps has been reported in 42 states and the District of Columbia, despite a high compliance rate for vaccinations against the viral infection across the country. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Measles outbreaks shame Congress

IRS employees are processing annual tax returns. TSA workers are protecting airline passengers. Members of the military, federal law enforcers and other first responders are manning their posts. Health professionals are on edge, sounding alarms about measles "hot spots."

January 24, 2019
President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence meet with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Scripting Trump’s SOTU address

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is wedged between a rock and a hard place. Will she gavel in Donald Trump for his State of the Union speech on Jan. 29 or will she refuse to perch behind the man in the "people's house"? The optics of a Trump SOTU and a seated Speaker Pelosi would be a first for her -- and perhaps one she could not stomach.

January 21, 2019
FILE - In this Sept. 21, 2018, file photo, a vendor sells fresh juices and fruit at a Farmers Market in downtown Los Angeles. A law signed Sept. 20 by Gov. Jerry Brown makes California the first state to bar full-service restaurants from automatically giving out single-use plastic straws. Dine-in restaurants may only provide drinking straws at customers' request. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File) **FILE**

Straw Nazis on the march in D.C.

What's City Hall doing? Preparing to enforce a law that bans plastic and other noncompostable drinking straws and stirrers.

January 10, 2019
District of Columbia Police Chief Peter Newsham, joined by District of Columbia Council member Charles Allen, left and District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine, speaks during a news conference at One Judiciary Square in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) ** FILE **

D.C. to probe crime stats

A D.C. lawmaker wants to probe crime statistics, and he wants "snitches" to spill the beans.

January 7, 2019
Deborah Simmons

Community service as a civics lesson

Perhaps the problem rests with the fact that much of the teaching and learning in schools rest in the abstract. A generation of teachers is trying to teach things they themselves never experienced.

December 31, 2018
President Donald Trump hands a pen to Sen Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, after signing criminal justice reform legislation in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, Dec. 21, 2018, in Washington. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C, front row, second from right, watches. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) **FILE**

Reforming criminal justice: Now what?

Something seems amiss, though, with the first step in criminal justice reform. It's annoying because the endeavor seems to have no end goal.

December 27, 2018
FILE - In this July 13, 2015 file photo, visitors wearing safety vests and hardhats begin a tour of the Destiny Charter Middle School in Tacoma, Wash. The school opened later in 2015. All told, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given about $25 million to the Washington State Charter Schools Association, and since 2006, philanthropists and their private foundations and charities have given almost half a billion dollars to similar groups, according to an Associated Press analysis of tax filings and Foundation Center data.(AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, file)

Public school conundrum

Overseers of public charters tighten the screws on accountability. Are overseers of traditional public schools doing the same?

December 13, 2018
Daniel Snyder, majority owner of the Washington Redskins

Let’s go Dan Snyder, let’s go!

The key to any new stadium, as you know, is the owner, and in the case of the Washington Redskins that owner is Dan Snyder, who was reared as a Redskins fan. So, with the 'Skins making so many blunders on and off the field, it's time to wonder: Does Mr. Snyder dream the big dream?

December 10, 2018
Deborah Simmons

After the blue wave, a new push against school choice

Chris Van Hollen, the junior senator from Maryland, appears to have volunteered himself as the water bearer for education reform. The Democrat already has synchronized strategy with the teachers' unions and other progressive groups that want to rewrite the narrative on school choice.

December 6, 2018
Deborah Simmons

What’s going on at D.C. Fire and EMS?

Now, I don't know about you, but it struck me as odd that one of the first things out of the mouths of the media and fire officials was that Miss Annie' home did not have working smoke detectors.

December 5, 2018
Deborah Simmons

D.C. hires school scandal fixers

Well, unless you were a D.C. parent or a D.C. leader privileged enough to have had a sitdown with either of these gentlemen, you haven't a clue as to who they are and what their agendas are.

December 3, 2018
San Francisco 49ers linebacker Reuben Foster, right, leaves the Santa Clara County Superior Court, with his attorney Joshua Bentley after a preliminary hearing stemming from domestic violence accusations against Foster Thursday, May 17, 2018, in San Jose, Calif. Foster's ex-girlfriend, Elissa Ennis, recanted allegations Thursday that Foster physically assaulted her. She testified that she lied to authorities about the domestic assault to get back at Foster for breaking up with her. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) **FILE**

Redskins and the Reuben Foster roller coaster

It falls to Foster and his true family and friends to ensure he walks the straight and narrow. Such character reform doesn't fall into the hands of a jail, prison or correctional institution. Critics of the Redskins-Foster deal miss the point when they focus on the domestic abuse aspect.

November 29, 2018
In this photo taken in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2018, Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., smiles as as new members of the House and veteran representatives gather behind closed doors to discuss their agenda when they become the majority in the 116th Congress. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) ** FILE **

Thank Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for a valuable lesson

Most Americans expect public schools to teach children the basics of the United States of America, and a great place to start those lessons is the U.S. Constitution -- the rock-solid foundation under which it still stands.

November 26, 2018