District Links: Bowser orders hiring freeze, other spending controls amid House inaction on budget…
Mayor Muriel Bowser yesterday ordered a hiring freeze, termination of contracts and grants, closures of certain government facilities and further measures in order to comply with a congressional mandate to cut spending by hundreds of…
District Links: Staffing at DCPS has far outpaced enrollment growth, audit says; latest restaurant…
The number of DC Public Schools staff positions has grown over the past five years at a much faster pace than student enrollment has, according to a report issued today by the Office of the DC Auditor.
District Links: Bowser notifies Congress of plans to invoke 2009 law to scale back $1.1 billion in…
Mayor Muriel Bowser today notified congressional officials of her plans to invoke a 2009 law that will allow the District to scale back the $1.1 billion in spending cuts triggered by the House's failure so far to approve a Senate bill to…
District Links: House leaves for recess without voting on DC budget fix; DC joins lawsuit over…
DC joined with 16 states yesterday in filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration for blocking access to federal education funds granted to help schools, teachers and students recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
jonetta rose barras: Is it time for DC elected officials to begin budget cuts?
“Be careful what you ask for” is an adage that Mayor Muriel Bowser, DC Council Chair Phil Mendelson and other elected officials ought to have pondered in recent days while pushing for the U.S. House of Representatives to vote on the…
District Links: Bowser hails next week’s opening of Cedar Hill hospital in Ward 8; GOP senator…
Mayor Muriel Bowser and other DC officials today marked the opening of the first new full-service hospital in the District since 2002, when George Washington University Hospital debuted its brand-new facility to replace an outdated…
Dawn Dalton: Domestic violence rates in DC will rise due to federal layoffs
When people lose jobs and income, stress levels rise — and for individuals with a history of controlling or abusive behavior, that can become a catalyst for violence. We’ve seen it after every economic downturn and most recently in very…
District Links: House won’t vote on DC spending fix before two-week recess; DC Emancipation…
Mayor Muriel Bowser today outlined plans for the District's 20th annual celebration of DC Emancipation Day since its designation as an official local holiday.
District Links: New DC bill aims to crack down on ticket scalping for live performances; 20 MPD…
With support from a coalition of local venues and others in the music industry, Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen today announced the introduction of a new bill to prevent price gouging on tickets for live performances being sold on…
District Links: Bowser renews push for House vote this week on DC spending fix; Trump admin eyes…
Noting that it's been more than a week since President Donald Trump called on the House to vote promptly on a Senate-approved spending fix for the District, Mayor Muriel Bowser once again urged the House to schedule a vote on the measure…
District Links: Disclosures detail U.S. attorney nominee’s outreach to far-right European…
A federal judge yesterday temporarily blocked $11 billion in public health cuts in a lawsuit brought by the District along with 23 states.
jonetta rose barras: Doors closing to previously open meetings
In the last few weeks, the DC Council, led by Chair Phil Mendelson, has considered at least two legislative proposals that seem to deliberately diminish the agency and influence of District residents in their government, despite the fact…
District Links: MPD launches centralized unit to investigate juvenile crime in effort to reduce…
Mayor Muriel Bowser and Police Chief Pamela Smith today announced the launch of a new Juvenile Investigative Response Unit within the Metropolitan Police Department in an effort to respond more effectively to youth-involved crime citywide.…
District Links: Senate Dems push for hearing on Trump’s pick as U.S. attorney for DC amid hold…
A Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee announced plans last night to place a hold on the nomination of Ed Martin to serve as the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia — and the committee's other Democrats today called…
District Links: Council votes to amend DC’s open meetings law to enable private discussions;…
The DC Council voted 10-2 this afternoon to approve emergency legislation to create new exceptions to the District's open meetings law, although Chair Phil Mendelson's amended proposal did narrow the provisions allowing site visits and…
District Links: Council set to vote on new exceptions to DC open meetings law; Trayon White signals…
The DC Council is expected to vote at Tuesday's legislative meeting on emergency legislation to amend the District's open meetings law to provide new exceptions that Council Chair Phil Mendelson describes as necessary in part to enable…
District Links: Trump executive order to create DC task force draws flak as ‘anti-home…
Weeks after proclaiming a need to take over aspects of DC's governance, President Donald Trump yesterday signed an executive order to establish a federal task force to foster his campaign pledges to make the nation's capital "safe and…
jonetta rose barras: The unbreakable spirit and determination of artists
“I was born and raised in Miami, Florida, and part of my life was lived during segregation. My family protected us. They also educated me,” explained artist, educator and curator Cheryl Edwards during a recent interview with me. “My mother…
District Links: Uncertainty over House action on DC budget fix leads to delay in mayor’s FY…
Uncertainty in the House over the fate of legislation to avoid forcing the District to make $1 billion in mid-year spending cuts is leading to delays in the preparation and release of Mayor Muriel Bowser's proposed budget for fiscal year…
District Links: House panel seeks to nullify DC law limiting cooperation with federal immigration…
The GOP-led House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform voted 23-21 yesterday to advance legislation that would nullify any DC laws, policies and practices that limit the local government's cooperation with federal immigration…