Tom Howell Jr.

D.C. legislation would ban corporate donations

Two D.C. Council members proposed legislation Tuesday that bans corporate donations to city candidates and officials, an aggressive proposal that comes four days after federal agents obtained records from one of the city's most prolific political contributors.

March 6, 2012

Medical marijuana site issue weighed

D.C. Council members hope a medical marijuana site proposed in Ward 7 will not harm long-term development in the area. But they will not bar the proposed facility from opening if it jeopardizes the integrity of the city's tightly regulated — yet unfinished — program to aid the sick and dying.

March 6, 2012

Raid on political donor shakes D.C. government

The full intent of a federal raid late Friday on an influential D.C. political donor's home and offices remains unclear, but by Monday the potential fallout of the incident reverberated through city hall, the campaign trail and a long-shot effort to recall the city's top elected officials.

March 5, 2012

Ward 7 proposed for marijuana cultivation center

Seven weeks after the D.C. Council banned the excessive clustering of medical-marijuana facilities to assuage residents of Ward 5, a city lawmaker is hoping to relocate the only eligible cultivation center to a site east of the Anacostia River.

March 5, 2012

D.C. set to relax gun laws, hesitantly

A bill that cuts training sessions and other impediments to registering a gun in the District is expected to pass, perhaps unanimously, when it goes before the entire D.C. Council in coming weeks.

March 1, 2012

Bill would drop classroom, firing range rule to register a gun

A D.C. Council committee greenlighted a bill on Wednesday that eliminates classroom training and firing range instruction as a prerequisite for registering a gun.

February 29, 2012

ACLU seeks limits on D.C. police tracking technology

The American Civil Liberties Union sounded the alarm on Wednesday over police officers' ability to use cellphone signals and license-plate-reading technology to track people inside the District.

February 29, 2012

No shortage of candidates to replace Thomas

Sixteen candidates are competing to replace former D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr., who pleaded guilty in January to stealing more than $350,000 from the District and left Ward 5 without direct representation in city hall.

February 28, 2012

Graham wants to know how Thomas used trust to steal from city

Employees at a nonprofit organization that former council member Harry Thomas Jr. used as a conduit to steal from the city raised concerns about fast-tracked grants and the risk of becoming a "check-on-demand kind of place," according to testimony at a D.C. Council oversight hearing on Monday.

February 27, 2012

‘Substantial questions’ await Thomas trust

A public-private nonprofit that played a pivotal role in former D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr.'s theft of more than $350,000 from the city is expected to face tough questions from the council Monday.

February 26, 2012

D.C. truancy report’s absence raises ire

A D.C. Council member says the city's public school system violated the law by failing to submit an annual report on truancy, an urgent problem among city youth that has led to stricter monitoring and awareness campaigns across the District.

February 23, 2012

D.C. still years, millions away from fixing quake damage

Six months after a magnitude 5.8 earthquake stunned the nation's capital, the Washington Monument is still closed and awaiting $15 million in repairs, the D.C. government is looking for a federal reimbursement for its hodgepodge of damage and the Washington National Cathedral needs $18 million for major restoration efforts that could take up to five years.

February 22, 2012

McDonnell backs D.C. budget autonomy

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has thrown his support behind a proposal to allow the District to spend its local funds without tying the process to congressional budget bills, citing the risk of disruptions to services in the nation's capital in the event of a federal government shutdown.

February 22, 2012

D.C. Council committee passes bill to increase monitoring troubled youths

A D.C. Council committee approved legislation Tuesday to increase the monitoring of troubled youths, fast-tracking the measure on the same day that five young men went on trial for a mass shooting in Southeast that prompted the bill.

February 21, 2012

D.C. Council tightens behavior rules after Marion Barry dustup

The D.C. Council passed a measure Tuesday that expands its self-imposed ban on profane or abusive language to any public meeting attended by members, a swift response to a blowup between two members at the council's retreat on Valentine's Day.

February 21, 2012

‘Shared riding’ in D.C. cabs set for Nationals Park

Baseball fans who would rather see pitcher Drew Storen close out a win for the Washington Nationals than beat the final-inning rush from the stadium will notice a major change to one of their postgame transit options this season.

February 20, 2012

Terror suspect arrested near U.S. Capitol

A 29-year-old Moroccan man was arrested Friday on accusations he planned to detonate a suicide bomb in the U.S. Capitol before undercover agents thwarted him through a lengthy sting operation, the Department of Justice said.

February 17, 2012

Education bills get mixed reviews from D.C. schools officials

A long line of witnesses testified Thursday in favor of legislation that requires D.C. high school students to take college entrance exams and apply to at least one college. Yet the city's charter school board feels the measure amounts to "overreaching" and the traditional public schools system could not offer unqualified support for the bill.

February 16, 2012

Long-running D.C. mental health case settled

D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray announced Thursday the "historic" settlement of 37-year-old litigation brought by mental health patients who decried the District's lack of non-institutional treatment settings.