Opinion

It began as part of a criminal justice movement, aimed at reducing the number of African Americans, particularly men, being arrested and jailed for possession of marijuana. Then, people were told it was about decriminalization, making sure…

Longtime local DC journalist Tom Sherwood has this motto: “Local Washington is only as good as the people active in it.” My experience as a local reporter in the DMV corroborates that statement on a daily basis. Our region faces a…

Imagine the difficulty of being a new mom in DC with limited financial resources and a baby who has an unknown health condition. Imagine the fear and frustration of not knowing how best to help your newborn child after receiving different…

When I read the email exchange between Michael Musante, a lobbyist for local charter schools, and Scott Pearson, executive director of the DC Public Charter School Board (PCSB), I became enraged. I think, perhaps, you would have had a…

On any given night, approximately 7,000 of our fellow residents — families as well as individuals — experience homelessness, according to DC’s 2018 Point in Time homelessness count. Some may see this as a welcome decrease from the prior…

The room was awash with spring sunshine, bright and warm. While it was filled with people — including toddlers who, unintimidated by adults, dared to claim the space their own — it didn’t feel crowded. The ground-floor open lounge was…

As we celebrate another Earth Day, it is clear that the District of Columbia is living up to its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. In December, Mayor Bowser signed the CleanEnergy DC Omnibus…

In 2017, National Geographic identified the District of Columbia as the new hub for ivory sales in the United States — and our continued tolerance of this market ever since has been disastrous for African wildlife. Although the poaching of…

At Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School, we like to say that for us every day is Earth Day. With the international perspective gleaned from our unique-to-Washington pre-kindergarten-through-fifth-grade…

Let’s talk about tax credits for buying electric vehicles. The U.S. government offers benefits to taxpayers to make electric cars more affordable. Right now, the feds offer a $7,500 non-refundable tax credit to buyers of Battery-Electric…

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser isn’t the only elected official who has been expanding government territory. Attorney General Karl Racine hasn’t been anyone’s slouch. Since being sworn in as the city’s top lawyer in 2015, he has, among other…

The deterioration of DC’s education reform structure started initially during Mayor Vincent Gray’s administration. According to education advocates, he delegated far too many important decisions to his deputy mayor for education (DME),…

Affordable housing for the majority of DC residents is disappearing. Virtually the only housing still affordable for low-income residents is public housing, and our mayor has proposed zero funding for badly needed repairs. Yet DC has a…

Adding bike lanes to existing roads is a decades-old practice nationally and internationally. And there has been a push to improve the DC area's street features for cycling since at least the early 1970s, when the regional cycling advocacy…

In a publicly released letter, DC Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey DeWitt essentially declared his annoyance last week with DC auditor Kathy Patterson and others who have criticized Mayor Muriel Bowser’s fiscal year 2020 budget for its lack…

Relying on short-term revenue fixes to pay for spending increases doesn't bode well for fair and competitive tax policy. Yet this is one of several troubling aspects of Mayor Muriel Bowser’s budget proposals now under review by the DC…

The conversation with Tomeika Bowden, the spokesperson for the DC Public Charter School Board, has turned intense. I have been trying to understand whether the organization reviewed the management agreement between the SEED Public Charter…