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Jonetta Rose Barras
D.C.’s fiscal mess, part three
- The assessment of the District’s automated integrated tax system — detailed this week in The Examiner — the alleged theft of more than $40 million from the Office of Tax and Revenue, and the “yellow book” report provided by BDO Seidman auditors serve as indisputable evidence the city’s fiscal management system is in crisis.
Racing for the cure
- She was only 30 years old when she discovered the tiny ball in her breast. A Howard University doctor, Jack White, thought her age made cancer unlikely. Still, he performed the biopsy.
Hailing a taxi in D.C.
- No one should be surprised by D.C. Superior Court Judge Brooke Hedge’s decision upholding Mayor Adrian Fenty’s order shifting the city’s decades-old zone taxi system to time-and-distance meters. What’s perhaps baffling is the D.C. Council’s silence — or more accurately acquiescence.
How not to build a university in D.C.
- It wasn’t enough that three dissimilar institutions — Washington Technical Institute, Federal City College and D.C. Teachers College — merged to create the University of the District of Columbia. Over the years, the land-grant school has been saddled with a string of incompetent, mediocre or uninspiring leaders like former President William Pollard and current acting President Stanley Jackson.
UDC: The basket case
- Some people hoped Stanley Jackson would resolve the problems at the University of the District of Columbia. But, as the current acting president, he has been generating a stream of complaints. Recently, the faculty senate unanimously voted “no confidence” in his leadership.
Locals recall fateful day: ‘My mom and dad were both crying’
- The depth of the pain caused by Martin Luther King Jr.’s death can be vividly recalled by many who lived in the District 40 years ago.
- The depth of the pain caused by Martin Luther King Jr.’s death can be vividly recalled by many who lived in the District 40 years ago.
Comprehensive financial picture coming to D.C.
- It’s getting curiouser and curiouser at the John A. Wilson Building. Some D.C. Council members threatened this week to introduce legislation to compel Mayor Adrian Fenty to provide more details of his recently submitted fiscal 2009 budget proposal. But, it’s the legislature that makes the final decision about the city’s spending plan. So, lawmakers can ignore or create their own details. And while the mayor’s proposal requires close reading, it’s not opaque.
Budget earmarking in the District
- Mayor Adrian M. Fenty is taking aim at earmarking — sort of. He proposes to eliminate one of several funds created by the D.C. Council and supported by tapping a portion of specific tax revenues for targeted programs.
‘The Fenty Show’ sidesteps real community involvement
- Mayor Adrian M. Fenty loves east of the Anacostia River. Last year, he held at least 23 percent of his media events in either Ward 7 or Ward 8. Ward 2, where many District government offices are located, was the only area to top that number with 31 percent of news conferences being held there, according to the mayor’s Office of Communication.
- Mayor Adrian M. Fenty loves east of the Anacostia River. Last year, he held at least 23 percent of his media events in either Ward 7 or Ward 8. Ward 2, where many District government offices are located, was the only area to top that number with 31 percent of news conferences being held there, according to the mayor’s Office of Communication.
Sending mixed messages
- Since D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee fired 98 administrative employees, pandering by some D.C. Council members has reached an almost nauseating level. Lawmakers are demanding loudly and in the press privileged information on affected workers, implying that something untoward has occurred. They know, however, that by law certain personnel data can’t be released.
Reform elusive at the D.C. office of child and family services
- Reading the story about a Georgetown family's fight with the District over accusations of child abuse, Ron Drake remembered his battle 14 years ago to satisfy the “last dying wish” of a mother that he and his wife adopt the mother's young daughter.
Calling what you do in the classroom teaching
- Where’s Ara Dozier when you need her? My seventh grade social studies instructor called what she did in the classroom teaching. These days it’s being heralded as “differentiated” instruction or learning.
Long gone is the urban agenda
- Once upon a time Republicans and Democrats talked about an urban agenda. The Republicans actually had one, proffered in part by then-U.S. Rep. J.C. Watts. As I recall, the District's own At-Large Councilmember David Catania was on the architectural team; those were the days before he became upset with President Bush, left the party and morphed into an independent.