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Articles by Tom Howell Jr.

**FILE** The Capitol's coal-burning power plant.

Use of coal in Capitol plant draws protesters

A power plant that provided electricity to the U.S. Capitol for decades and still heats and cools the iconic building and its surrounding offices is raising questions about whether coal's days are numbered as an American fuel of choice, particularly in the symbolic heart of the nation's capital.

December 17, 2012
** FILE ** In this March 7, 2012 photo, gun owners and supporters participate in an Illinois Gun Owners Lobby Day rally at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield. In a big victory for gun rights advocates, a federal appeals court on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012, struck down a ban on carrying concealed weapons in Illinois — the only remaining state where carrying concealed weapons is entirely illegal. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)

Backers of gun rights hit some big targets

Florida is preparing to issue its 1 millionth concealed-carry permit while a federal court ruling this week left the nation's capital as the only place in the United States with a total ban on carrying concealed weapons — developments that have gun advocates feeling that momentum is on their side in the national debate over whether Americans can remain armed once they leave home.

December 13, 2012

D.C. students’ test scores better on health than reading and math

Standardized test scores released Wednesday show select students in the nation's capital answered questions about disease prevention and nutrition correctly last spring at better rates than they did on the reading and math sections of their tests.

December 13, 2012
Members of the media crowd around a model of the White House as the Joint Task Force - National Capital Region and the D.C. National Guard hold a final inauguration day planning symposium using a 40- by 60-foot map of downtown D.C. and the National Mall, Washington, D.C., Wednesday, December 12, 2012. The inauguration day events are planned out for months with a number of different military and civilian organizations. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

Military maps out Obama inauguration security

This year's presidential inauguration parade route runs about 30 feet and looks to take about 20 seconds to traverse — or at least it does on the scale model laid across the floor of the D.C. Armory.

December 12, 2012
Jarrod McKenna of Perth, Australia, jumps down from a wall after taking a photograph of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial on Tuesday, the day the Department of the Interior announced it will remove the controversial truncated “drum major” quote on the side of the memorial rather than replace it with the full quote. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

King’s words will be struck, not replaced

The Department of the Interior announced Tuesday it will remove a controversial "drum major" quote on the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial that paraphrased the late civil rights leader's words, scrapping its initial plan to replace it with the full quote.

December 11, 2012

Bonds wins interim D.C. Council seat

The D.C. Democratic State Committee selected its chairwoman, Anita Bonds, to fill a vacant seat on the city's legislative body until a special election this spring.

December 10, 2012
Four of the proposed ten uniform color designs for the Districtís taxicab fleet can be seen on display at the Verizon Center in Chinatown, Washington, D.C., Monday, December 10, 2012. The District is asking citizens to weigh in on which design people favor before they decide which color scheme will become the uniform design for all cabs in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

Choosing a color for all D.C. cabs

Visitors to New York City see a golden horde hurtling down Broadway, passengers in Boston wheel around the harbor in snowy white cars and London's black cabs are as iconic as Big Ben.

December 10, 2012
Barbara B. Lang, President and CEO, D.C. Chamber of Commerce talks about the future of the D.C. Council in the halls of the John A. Wilson Building in Washington, D.C., Thursday, June 7, 2012, a day after D.C. Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown resigned after federal prosecutors accused him of lying on a loan application. (Rod Lamkey Jr/The Washington Times)

CFO: D.C. ‘ballpark fee’ not going to increase

The District's top budget minder says the city does not need to raise the "ballpark fee" it imposes on businesses to pay down the massive debt it took to build a home for the Washington Nationals, a long-term endeavor in the nation's capital as other sports-crazed cities grapple with the role of public funds in high-stakes stadium deals.

December 9, 2012
Work is under way for a viewing platform for the Inauguration Day parade in front of the John A. Wilson Building on Pennsylvania Avenue. This entrance to the District’s city hall will be closed through February. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)

Security plans developing for smaller inauguration

President Obama's second inauguration is expected to draw less than half the number of visitors who descended on the Mall for his historic oath-taking in 2009, the top D.C. security official said Thursday.

December 6, 2012
A man passes by a fallen tree on 14th Street SW on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, the day after Hurricane Sandy slammed into the region. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

D.C. gets federal aid for Sandy clean up

President Obama has signed a disaster declaration that will help the District defray $4 million in clean-up and recovery costs after Hurricane Sandy swept through the northeast United States at the end of October, closing schools and government offices in the nation's capital.

December 6, 2012
Rep. Darrell E. Issa, California Republican, and Democratic Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District’s nonvoting member of Congress, have been working for the past 18 months on a legislative route to D.C. budget autonomy. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)

D.C. moves forward on budget autonomy

While Congress keeps its daggers drawn over the best way to avert the "fiscal cliff," city lawmakers are forging ahead with a novel plan to divorce their local spending from budgetary stalemates on Capitol Hill — despite warnings about its legal validity from the D.C. mayor and a powerful House member.

December 5, 2012
Rep. Ted Poe, Texas Republican, has found a new place for a National World War I Memorial, leaving undisturbed the District’s own memorial on the Mall. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

Bill authorizing WWI memorial advances in House

A House committee approved a bill on Wednesday to establish a World War I memorial in the District — a plan that has faced controversy despite its noble goal of honoring those who served in the Great War.

December 5, 2012

Former D.C. Council chairman’s brother charged with bank fraud

The brother of former D.C. Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown has been charged with bank fraud — the same offense that brought down the erstwhile lawmaker — on accusations he submitted documents to a mortgage company to make it look as if he earned $35,000 in income he never actually received.

December 5, 2012
D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray says the city should 'double down' on its gun laws in the wake of the school shooting in Newton, Conn. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)

D.C. Council moves to lower fines for speeding, most by $50

D.C. lawmakers on Tuesday signaled they will lower fines for speeders and other scofflaws caught by traffic cameras even as the city expands the program across the city — a trade-off that reflects the fragile business of letting machines issue tickets instead of live officers.

December 4, 2012
D.C. Police Chief Cathy L Lanier, with Mayor Vincent C. Gray, discusses an initiative for phone-service carriers to disable stolen smartphones as soon as the theft is reported. Chief Lanier is a leading advocate of the FCC-coordinated program. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

Smartphone thieves lose connection

Smartphones can hail a cab, stream football games and take high-quality photos, so the wireless industry's latest trick may seem as out of place as it was long in coming — rendering the phone as useless as a plastic brick.

December 3, 2012
Marion Barry

Barry: ‘It is wrong’ to deny ex-cons jobs

Former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry has joined a chorus of lawmakers across the country pushing legislation that prohibits employers from discriminating against applicants with a criminal record unless there is a significant nexus between the crime and the job.

December 2, 2012
The D.C. Council is calling for a ban on the sale of synthetic cannabinoids — sold as incense under names including Spice, K2 and Yucatan Fire — because of their easy availability and danger. (Associated Press)

D.C. joins states on synthetic drug ban

The nation's capital has joined more than 40 states in calling for a ban on synthetic marijuana and bath salts, a pair of drug genres that have raised eyebrows among law enforcement, parents and antidrug advocates alike because of their off-the-shelf accessibility and frightening effects.

November 29, 2012
The Metropolitan Police Department's Asian Liaison Unit is scheduled to be relocated from it's current office on H Street NW, in the heart of Chinatown, in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

Police take liaison unit away from Chinatown

The Metropolitan Police Department is moving a liaison unit that works with the city's Asian community from its longtime home in Chinatown, a quiet change that ignited fears the police chief plans to tinker with another specialized crew despite vows that little will change except where the officers store their gear.

November 28, 2012