Deborah Simmons

SIMMONS: Americans in the giving spirit need not accept a tax penalty

It seems Barack and Michelle Obama, and Joe and Jill Biden are among America's common folk when it comes to donating goods to such great organizations as Goodwill and Fisher House.

April 14, 2013

SIMMONS: Lawsuits start to pile up on plans to close schools

There's a list of them in Chicago, Detroit, Kansas City, Milwaukee, New York and the District, and major cities on the eastern and western ends of Pennsylvania have lists, too, as do other cities.

April 10, 2013

SIMMONS: To broaden GOP’s base, Rand Paul heading to Howard University

Sen. Rand Paul is scheduled to visit Howard University on Wednesday to discuss issues important to American citizens and noncitizens alike, including civil liberties, mandatory minimum sentencing laws and education, and because the Kentucky Republican will be making inroads at a historically black school, he's expected to throw in a lesson on the history of the Republican Party and blacks.

April 7, 2013

SIMMONS: Pumping up the special election for D.C. Council seat

One of the contenders seeking a citywide seat on the D.C. Council in the upcoming election has found the city's liberal echo chamber to be a not-so-friendly environment.

April 3, 2013

SIMMONS: It’s time for adults to step up, take responsibility

What's the matter with you people, you people out there who blame a nightclub, neighborhood or gun or other inanimate object for violence?

March 13, 2013

SIMMONS: Women will remain front and center for years to come

While it's way too early to tell what Senate races will have crystallized by the time the Obamas exit the White House in 2017, it's safe to say that women and, ahem, our issues, will remain front and center.

March 10, 2013

SIMMONS: Idea to replace national anthem just plain wrong

There are a million-plus-1 reasons why President Obama shouldn't change the national anthem — and surely not bow to a replacing it with the Kelly song "Ignition (remix)," which wreaks of fellas and honeys bouncin,' bumpin' and grindin.'

March 6, 2013

SIMMONS: Sequester cuts could present opportunities

Automatically taking effect March 1 because of Washington's inaction, across-the-board spending cuts present an opportunity to begin rethinking the role of our ever-expanding federal government in general, as well as public schooling and public safety.

March 4, 2013

SIMMONS: Freddi House offers freedom from the shackles of abuse

Miss R has had a broken arm and a broken jaw, and both eyes blackened by beatings, one so badly that her socket had to be braced with a plastic cup. She's a survivor of domestic violence and now helps other women along an underground railroad, of sorts, that operates in the D.C. metro area.

February 27, 2013

SIMMONS: D.C. Council’s Graham just another politician in a pickle

Jim Graham is in a pickle jar and his colleagues on the D.C. Council are slated on Monday to screw the lid tighter.

February 24, 2013

SIMMONS: J.C. Watts gives Insight to fading face of GOP

The Republican Party "needs to take a step back and a deep breath," says J.C. Watts, a former House leader. "Doing this for 20 years, sometimes, honestly, I sometimes felt like a voice in the wilderness when trying to get more ethnic minorities and other people of color."

February 20, 2013

Keeping funds from D.C. charter schools challenged

At least two D.C. Council members say they would not support efforts by the chairman of the Committee on Education to deliberately withhold funds from public charter schools in order to slow their growth amid rising demand.

February 17, 2013

SIMMONS: Preparing children for jobs of tomorrow any way we can

Well, well, well. President Obama finally has acknowledged that public schooling doesn't necessarily mean placating unionized labor or trying to reinvent the status quo.

February 13, 2013

SIMMONS: D.C. hospital contract overdue for oversight

It has been nearly a year since Marion Barry and fellow D.C. Council member David A. Catania got into a profanity-laced sparring match over the fiscal health of United Medical Center, and here we are, approaching another Valentine's Day and troubles have escalated.

February 10, 2013

SIMMONS: Dealing with D.C.’s cloudy fiscal future

To the Honorable Darrell E. Issa and Elijah E. Cummings: As chairman and ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, respectively, your plate is always full because your committee's taut mission statement is to ensure an "efficient, effective government" on the national and D.C. level, which you also oversee.

February 3, 2013

SIMMONS: ‘Fiscal hawk’ faces mayoral color barrier

Jack Evans wants to be mayor of the nation's capital, and to do so he has to break a racial barrier, persuade stakeholders that he can govern as well as he legislated and, perhaps, take on an incumbent.

January 30, 2013

SIMMONS: With parents making choices, bad schools left behind

Now is the time for all good education advocates to come to the aid of school choice.

January 27, 2013

SIMMONS: Mendelson puts school truancy on D.C.’s front burner

Phil Mendelson is of a mind that his city's government is obligated to curb the school truancy problem.

January 23, 2013

SIMMONS: Notes of history that played out for inaugurals past and present

Before the clock strikes noon Monday and Barack Hussein Obama takes to the podium at the U.S. Capitol and again recites the presidential oath of office, moments of reflection on symbolism and substance are in order.

January 20, 2013

SIMMONS: Volunteerism’s virtue? It’s nonpartisan

People from all walks of life and corners of the world are readying for the presidential inauguration. In the meantime, let's not forget another all-American cornerstone: service and aid to others.

January 16, 2013