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Luke Rosiak

lrosiak@washingtontimes.com

Luke Rosiak was a reporter for The Washington Times.

Articles by Luke Rosiak

** FILE ** Firefighters begin to evacuate students at Strayer University who have become trapped by floodwaters in Alexandria on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011. (Andrew S. Geraci/The Washington Times)

For student-loan repayments, an F at for-profit schools

At the Technical Learning Centers, a for-profit college in a dreary basement in downtown Washington where posters declaring "Optimism" and "Determination" line the walls, fewer than 1 in 20 students make payments on student loans several years after completion — the fourth-lowest rate of any school in the nation.

July 1, 2012

Obama removes bundler as Holland envoy nominee

President Obama has withdrawn the nomination of one of his major donors for a cushy diplomatic post after the nominee was arrested on charges of drunken driving, speeding and resisting arrest.

July 1, 2012
Shannon Westfield, 20, (left) and Jane Kernan, 16, make calls for Mitt Romney in Fairfax wearing T-shirts with a QR code that voters can zap with their smartphones to learn more about the GOP presidential hopeful. In May, Mr. Romney's fundraising almost matched President Obama's, taking in $58 million. (Associated Press)

Wealthy donors boost Romney’s cash flow

Mitt Romney outraised President Obama in 19 states in May, including four of nine critical swing states, records released Wednesday night show. But as the former Massachusetts governor solidified his position in the party and teamed up with the Republican National Committee, which can legally accept much larger checks than a candidate, his reliance on a few wealthy donors at the expense of a large base also grew.

June 21, 2012
President Obama speaks during a press conference of the G20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, Tuesday, June 19, 2012. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

Obama campaign spending, fundraising show increases

President Obama's re-election campaign spent more in May than it did in the previous three months combined, records released Wednesday showed, as it ramped up an operation that has grown to more than 700 staffers across 44 states.

June 20, 2012
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican. (AP Photo)

Republicans oppose super PAC disclosure

For years, Republicans were staunch champions of transparency in money in politics. Disclosure, they said, was the surest antidote to corruption — more so than dollar restrictions on spending, which could drive illicit activity underground. But now that dollar restrictions have been lifted on some groups, Republicans have made an about-face.

June 20, 2012
Bill Willis of the General Services Administration examines graves of Civil War soldiers - from the Confederacy and the Union - on the grounds of the former St. Elizabeths Hospital in the District on Thursday. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)

23 gravestones go missing from D.C. Civil War cemetery

Hidden from view in a forest on the campus of the nation's best-known psychiatric institute rest at least 300 fallen Civil War soldiers. Interspersed are warriors from the Confederacy and the Union, white and black. For years, this secret cemetery along the Potomac River just off of Interstate 295 has been closed to the public.

June 11, 2012
**FILE** Former General Services Administration chief Martha Johnson resigned after her agency spent lavishly at a training conference for federal workers in Henderson, Nev., near Las Vegas. (Associated Press)

GSA’s financial mess not limited to Vegas shindig

The dysfunctional culture that cost regional General Services Administration officials their jobs following the disclosure of an "over-the-top" Las Vegas conference extends beyond the Western states region and further back to previous GSA executives in Washington, records indicate.

June 11, 2012
Jessica Santana, a staffer since February for Rep. Donald A. Manzullo, Illinois Republican, helps seat people arriving for a House subcommittee hearing Wednesday. Ms. Santana will need a new employer next year, as Mr. Manzullo will be leaving Congress in January. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

Congressional staffers, public shortchanged by high turnover, low pay

High turnover and lack of experience in congressional offices are leaving staffs increasingly without policy and institutional knowledge, a Washington Times analysis of a decade of House and Senate personnel records shows — leaving a vacuum that usually is filled by lobbyists.

June 6, 2012
**FILE** Mike Bokan scans documents into the computer at ServiceSource in Alexandria, Va. ServiceSource hires and provides work for people with disabilities. (The Washington Times)

Discrimination lawsuits double as definition of ‘disability’ expands

The number of employment discrimination lawsuits under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has nearly doubled in the past five years and seen a sharp increase in recent months, federal court records show, as the definition of "disability" has expanded and what many believe are baseless lawsuits are filed.

May 31, 2012
Tabulators in Washington record the information from the more than 120,000 enumerators who gathered data for the 1940 U.S. census. The population record was veiled in secrecy for 72 years because of privacy concerns. (National Archives and Records Administration via Associated Press)

Privacy veil lifted, 1940 census opens window to past

Maggie Evans, of the richest family on the block, can never go home. A clowder of feral cats roams the front yard. In the past two years, there have been five homicides within 1,500 feet of the house she once gave that name: Home, for her, no longer exists.

May 27, 2012

Region was radically different in 1940

In 1940, the office-tower core of downtown Washington, D.C., was the black section of town; much of Southeast was entirely white; the suburbs did not exist and almost no one went to college.

May 27, 2012
** FILE ** Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, greets supporters during a campaign stop in Portsmouth, Va., on Thursday, May 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Virginian-Pilot, Ross Taylor)

Romney super PAC donors put at credit card risk

The political fund that has raised more than $50 million to support Mitt Romney's bid for the presidency has been collecting money online with a system so insecure that it exposes donors' credit card information to even casual snoopers.

May 3, 2012
A Red Line train passes through the Farragut North Metro station in Washington. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

Metro closes ranks against outside ‘attacks’

A top official at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, in response to a Washington Times investigation that found a lack of accountability and racism at the transit agency, has issued a memo to all rail employees quoting Whitney Houston and encouraging employees to band together against the outside world.

May 3, 2012
Newt Gingrich spent lavishly on his quixotic presidential campaign, including $1.6 million in March alone for travel and $271,000 to himself, according to FEC records. (Associated Press)

Gingrich campaign spending, records raise questions

As the presidential campaign of Newt Gingrich persevered despite no realistic prospect of victory, the former House speaker spent lavishly on the trappings of a more-successful, high-profile campaign, spending more on travel and security in March than Mitt Romney did, records show.

April 26, 2012
**FILE** Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks Feb. 7, 2012, during an election night rally in Denver. (Associated Press)

Romney lags in smaller campaign donations

More people gave sizeable contributions to the foundering Republican presidential campaign of Rep. Ron Paul last month than to presumed nominee Mitt Romney, according to new disclosures that highlight the difficulty the former Massachusetts governor has had in motivating wide swaths of the party base.

April 22, 2012
George Soros (Associated Press) ** FILE **

Decades-old law opened doors for big-money donors

Despite sentiment that court rulings in 2010 gave rise to revolutionized super PAC campaign financing, three-quarters of the $86 million in ads this election cycle could have been purchased under a little-noticed, decades-old law.

April 12, 2012
**FILE** Sen. John McCain (Associated Press)

Excess McCain campaign cash goes to charity

The dormant 2008 presidential apparatus of John McCain this year transferred nearly $9 million in old donations to an educational charity run by three major political supporters that bears the Arizona senator's name, filings showed Tuesday.

April 11, 2012