Opinion

OBESITY AND its devastating complications — such as chronic metabolic disease — might not seem like an epidemic in the tony neighborhoods of Ward 2, where only 3.6 percent of residents suffer from type 2 diabetes. But 13 percent of those…

I know this as a former newspaper reporter, a former elected official, and as a continuing consumer of news. It takes blood and guts or sex and sleaze or at least some kind of scandal to get attention from the media. So, I know that when…

Washington’s newest museum hasn’t yet opened its doors, but already Ron Moten is thinking about the people who will walk out of them.

On the heels of D.C. Council member Jack Evans’s announcement that he will resign on Jan. 17, council member Kenyan R. McDuffie (D-Ward 5) said in an emailed release: “With this now behind us, the Council can begin to rebuild the public’s…

One hundred and seventeen homeless people died in the District in 2019. One of those people was Alice Ann Carter, a 35-year-old transgender woman.

The man sleeping on a sidewalk mattress, next to his jar of urine and beneath a glimmering art installation of light created to brighten a city underpass, is not going away.

As James Patterson tells it, he did what was civically and morally right.

THROUGHOUT HIS 29 years on the D.C. Council, Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) proved adept at forging deals and getting the votes needed for legislative victories. His trademark phrase was “I know how to get to seven.” No surprise, then, that Mr.…

At New Zion Baptist Church in Southeast Washington on Sunday, the sermon was about how youngsters could use God’s power to help stop violent crime in the neighborhood.

“A CHURCH near my house put up a cross for each of D.C.’s homicide victims this year. And a sign saying 162 homicides happened is already out of date; we’re at 166 as of today.” That tweet from WAMU reporter Martin Austermuhle on the last…

I’m a frequent bus and Metro rider here in the District. I regularly draw companion subway and bus riders, and I gain much from my drawing. As a figurative artist of more than 20 years, I can vouch that my work in transit strengthens my…

I spent some time recently getting to know the panhandlers I encounter the most — Ed and Leann, who work in the traffic at Third and M streets in Northwest Washington.

Handwritten notes from children sometimes reach Ron Fitzsimmons, and he doesn’t read them.

D.C. SCHOOLS are making changes to the admission policies for selective high schools so that more students will get a better chance to enjoy those schools’ advantages. It’s good that the system wants to remove barriers to opportunity, but…

The justice system in Maryland continues to be plagued by racial injustice. More than 70 percent of people in Maryland’s prisons (double the national average) and almost 80 percent of people serving at least 10 years are black.

In 2013, the PBS documentary “180 Days: A Year Inside an American High School” described Washington Metropolitan High School as “an alternative school with a devoted staff. To district leaders, it is a failure. To many of the school’s…

At least 100 men, women and children who are alive on New Year’s Day 2020 will have been shot, stabbed or beaten to death in our nation’s capital by this time next year.

DESPITE SHARP reductions in crime, the District of Columbia remains among the most dangerous cities in the nation, with a violent crime rate nearly double that of New York. Nevertheless, the D.C. Council is considering subjecting the city…

“SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP.” That’s how the District’s deputy mayor for education recently characterized those behind a spirited public information campaign urging that more of the city’s buildings be made available for use by worthy public…

YOU MIGHT have thought congressional Republicans couldn’t get more contemptuous, or contemptible, in their disregard for the rights of people who make their home in the nation’s capital. But their latest gambit — using the scandal…