http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/ 15 en-us Copyright 2008 Sat, 11 Oct 2008 10:20:38 -0500 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=4.21-en http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Less than two months into the new school year, Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee has fired her first principal. In an e-mail to parents at Shepherd Elementary School Friday afternoon, she announced the dismissal of Galeet BenZion, hired by the chancellor in July. As is customary with personnel matters, Rhee did not explain her reason for the abrupt move, which sparked a torrent of e-mails and phone calls to The Wire from angry parents. Clara Canty, instructional superintendent for the cluster of schools that includes Shepherd, wasn't any more enlightening at an afternoon meeting with parents, attributing the firing to "unforeseen reasons." BenZion, former director of The Hill preschool, found herself at odds with central office administrators on at least a couple of fronts. Parents said she fought to restore French and Spanish classes that had been cut over the summer after teachers were fired for not meeting requirements under No http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/rhee_swings_the_ax.html http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/rhee_swings_the_ax.html Education Sat, 11 Oct 2008 10:20:38 -0500 Last night the Jinx Proof Tattoo Parlor was full of excitement, given the scene with former council member Harold Brazil and his arrest on allegations of assault. Today, though, things were back to their regularly scheduled programming. "We are just a tattoo shop," said owner Tim Corun, who would not comment on last night's incident when Brazil allegedly got into a fight with shop employees. Things got nasty allegedly after Brazil was told he could not follow one of the two women he was with into the area where she was going to get a tattoo. Corun told the D.C. Wire he could not comment because it is a legal matter. His shop has been open since 1996, he said, and known for its work, popular even among the rich and famous. There's a picture of D. L. Hughley (one of the original Kings of Comedy) getting a tattoo on http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/georgetown_tatoo_shop_owner_sp.html http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/georgetown_tatoo_shop_owner_sp.html Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:29:23 -0500 At large council candidate Dee Hunter bounced a check for $2,087.51 back in August, and vendor VMW Printing Inc. is still looking to get paid for pumping out 20,000 brochures that touted Hunter's "New Energy, New Ideas." In a Sept. 9 letter to Hunter, Hyattsville-based VMW reminds Hunter that he promised that he would not "stiff us on the bill." "As of today's date, Sept. 9, 2008, we have yet to receive payment from you," the letter reads, going on to ask for a cashier's or bank certified check by Sept. 15. That day has come and gone, prompting VMW, a union shop, to go public. It's another problem for Hunter, a lawyer, already dogged by disciplinary charges from the Office of the Bar Counsel that he bilked clients in three cases. Hunter has said that the clients did not understand how settlements work. In the case of the bounced http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/hunter_bounces_check_for_broch.html http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/hunter_bounces_check_for_broch.html 2008 District Election Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:00:00 -0500 Harold Brazil, the former D.C. council member, was arrested last night after allegedly getting into a fight with an employee at a Georgetown tattoo parlor. Yep, you read it right. Washington Post staff writer Clarence Williams reports that it took three employees to subdue Brazil, 59. Pregnant pause with stunned look on my face. D.C. Wire is so tempted to make a few cheap jokes, but let's face it, we ain't "SNL," and Brazil, though he apparently had a rather memorable night, ain't Sarah Palin. Click here for the full report. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/life_after_the_council_harold.html http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/life_after_the_council_harold.html D.C. Council Fri, 10 Oct 2008 07:45:54 -0500 Sen. John McCain's reference to Sen. Barack Obama as "that one" during the presidential debate Tuesday night in Nashville still has people talking. "There has been a lot of response," said Joe Madison, a District resident and host of the Joe Madison show on 1450 WOL-AM. Madison said for the last two days callers to his morning show have voiced new concerns about McCain. "People saw his comments as condescending and it has tinges of racism," Madison said. "He not only didn't recognize him as Senator, but not even as an individual, it was almost like he was an inanimate object. It certainly didn't serve McCain well with black or white people." http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/local_talk_radio_still_buzzing.html http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/local_talk_radio_still_buzzing.html 2008 Presidential Race Fri, 10 Oct 2008 07:30:00 -0500 At large council candidate Michael A. Brown has picked up the endorsement of H.O.T.E.L. (Hotel Organization to Elect Leaders), the political action committee of the Hotel Association of Washington. The independent Democrat "has considerable roots in his home town community, has served on many community based Boards and Commissions and has always played an active part in improving life in the District of Columbia," according to a press released issued by the PAC today. The PAC has also endorsed incumbents Kwame R. Brown (D-At Large), Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4), Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7) and Marion Barry (D-Ward 8). http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/hotel_for_mike.html http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/hotel_for_mike.html Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:01:41 -0500 Both the Board of Elections and Ethics and Sequoia Voting Systems, the company that supplies the District's voting equipment, share responsibility for the confusion during the Sept. 9 primary when phantom write-in votes wrecked havoc with the city's election results, according to a D.C. Council report. Council member Mary M. Cheh and the special committee set up to investigate the chaos released its report today. The committee held a day-long hearing on Friday in which it grilled Sequoia and the board and also heard testimony from local activists and national voting systems experts. The report from the committee, ordered up by Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray after the primary chaos, worked fast to produce a list of recommendations that members say are meant to help guarantee an accurate vote-counting process for the District. Among those recommendations is a call for more checks and balances during vote tabulations and better training http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/council_member_mary_m_cheh.html http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/council_member_mary_m_cheh.html 2008 District Election Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:48:33 -0500 The morning after candidates squared off in a debate for the at-large seat on the D.C. Council, the Greater Washington Board of Trade has endorsed Patrick Mara because he "understands that a friendly business climate in DC will create good paying jobs for District families," according to board president and CEO, Jim Dinegar. Mara, a former Eagle Scout-turned-politician who lives in Columbia Heights, last month defeated longtime incumbent Carol Schwartz (R-At-large) in the Republican primary race. Schwartz, who has carved out something of a hybrid brand of Republicanism and independence that has helped her citywide, is mounting a write-in campaign in the general election. She and Mara are among seven candidates battling it out for two at-large seats. Mara, however, isn't listening to those who say a traditional Republican can't win in the Democratic-dominated District. D.C. Council member David Catania (I-At large) endorsed Mara last month, and the Board of http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/eagle_scout_mara_picks_up_supp.html http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/eagle_scout_mara_picks_up_supp.html 2008 District Election Wed, 08 Oct 2008 14:27:25 -0500 And now, a recap of last night's critical, high-stakes, potentially game-changing debate. No, not that debate. We're talking about the contest in the at-large D.C. Council race. The seven candidates competing for the two at-large seats met last night for an informative discussion moderated by WRC-Ch. 4 reporter Tom Sherwood and WTOP reporter Mark Segraves who managed to cram about 20 questions into an hour and 20 minutes. The event was hosted by the Ward 6 Democrats. The headline? All but one of the six non-Democrats said they would vote for incumbent council member Kwame R. Brown -- the only Democrat in the race -- but only after each picked himself or herself to fill the other seat. Voters will be asked to select two picks, and there is widespread belief that Brown, a well-funded and popular incumbent, will cruise to one of the seats in the Democratic-dominated city. Statehood http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/the_debate_and_the_sideshow.html http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/the_debate_and_the_sideshow.html 2008 District Election Wed, 08 Oct 2008 09:19:17 -0500 The controversial Franklin Shelter issue exploded into an expletive-filled argument over breakfast this morning before D.C. Council members went into a legislative meeting where Council member Marion Barry plans to introduce emergency legislation that would require beds for the homeless in the downtown business area. Downtown is in Ward 2. That's Jack Evans's territory. He said he did not understand why some of his colleagues are interested in reopening a "piece of....shelter." (Fill in the blanks.) "Is this move about you and the mayor or is this about this shelter?" Evans asked Barry. He answered himself that he believed it is "the former." In an interview, Barry defended his legislation, "Homelessness is a national issue, it is a city-wide issue," he said. "For anyone saying this is a personal issue is out of their damn mind." http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/expletives_over_easy.html http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/expletives_over_easy.html D.C. Council Tue, 07 Oct 2008 11:29:34 -0500 D.C.Councilmember Marion Barry will introduce emergency legislation today that calls for the Mayor Adrian M. Fenty to make sure there are beds for the homeless in the downtown business area. The bill is in response to the recent controversial closing of the Franklin Shelter at 13th and K streets NW. The mayor has announced an ambitious plan to provide permanent housing for the District's homeless. Critics of the closing, however, have said the mayor can't provide apartments for the homeless without making sure that proper support services are available, be it mental health treatment or job counseling. The council passed legislation recently calling on the mayor to provide more details about his plan. Barry is introducing the "Downtown Shelter Bed Emergency Act of 2008," which calls for the mayor to operate a 150-bed low barrier emergency shelter in the downtown area. The bill even proposes boundaries: south of Q Street http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/barry_challenges_fentys_shelte.html http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/barry_challenges_fentys_shelte.html The Homeless Tue, 07 Oct 2008 07:00:00 -0500 As part of his budget reduction package, Mayor Fenty is proposing to trim $60 million from individual agencies. Most of the reductions will come in the form of elimination of vacant jobs, but agency directors will have the option to find cuts in other places if they want to save the positions. So which agencies got hit the hardest? In terms of pure dollar figures, the winners--er, make that losers--are: 1. Police: $4.0 million reduction 2. Chief Financial Officer: $3.8 million 3. Department of Employment Services: $3.5 million 4. Health: $2.9 million 5. Transportation: $2.6 million Even the Child and Family Services Agency, under the spotlight after a number of highprofile missteps, most notably the Banita Jacks case, is set to lose $1.5 million. The mayor's office stresses that none of the police job cuts would be in officer positions, but rather in administrative and other personnel. Here is the http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/how_much_money_did_your_agency.html http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/how_much_money_did_your_agency.html City Finances Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:05:17 -0500 In an effort to reassure voters that the Nov. 4 presidential election will be nothing like the District's voter debacle in September, members of the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics have launched an unofficial campaign to restore the public's confidence in the office. Board of Elections chairman Erroll Arthur and the panel's Executive Director Sylvia Goldsberry-Adams took most of the fire Friday during a D.C. Council hearing on the Sept. 9 primary where phantom votes generated a lot of confusion . While board members tried to assure the council members that things are in control at the board, Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) wanted to know why the body was using outdated equipment and behaving in a reactionary mode. Cheh grilled the board's general counsel, Kenneth McGhie, who had little specifics to offer. He testified that he was out of town on Election Day and that he's been on leave http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/in_an_effort_to_reassure.html http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/in_an_effort_to_reassure.html D.C. Council Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:15:03 -0500 Video by Hamil Harris http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/elections_board_faces_criticis.html http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/elections_board_faces_criticis.html Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:02:18 -0500 D.C. residents will have until the last minute today to register to vote in the Nov. 4 general election. (For those who have been under a rock, besides the local elections, Nov. 4 is also the national presidential election.) The D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics will stay open until midnight to accommodate potential voters, who will have until 11:59 p.m. to sign up in person. Voters can register by mail by picking up applications at libraries and police and fire stations. The applications must be postmarked by Monday, Oct. 6. Online registration is also available at www.dcboee.org but must be followed by a signed form postmarked by Monday. The elections board office is at 441 Fourth St. NW, Suite 250 North. More information is available by calling 202-727-2525. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/today_is_last_day_to_register.html http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/today_is_last_day_to_register.html 2008 District Election Mon, 06 Oct 2008 13:57:56 -0500