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Mayor Vincent Gray approves $24 million for D.C. worker pay raises
Alan Blinder
Yesterday
D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray, in a nod toward key segments of his political base as he weighs a re-election bid, on Thursday signed into law pay increases for about 23,000 District government employees and a significant expansion of affordable housing programs. "It delivers on a couple of promises...
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D.C. Council votes to end municipal bond tax, spend Internet sales tax
Alan Blinder and Eric P. Newcomer
Published: Wed, May 22, 2013
The D.C. Council, setting aside its members' annual frustrations about a public budget fashioned in private, voted unanimously on Wednesday to support a $10 billion plan that would increase Circulator bus fares, end the city's tax on certain bonds and earmark a potential spigot of Internet sales...
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D.C. gets OK for June unveiling of U.S. Capitol statue
Alan Blinder
Published: Tue, May 21, 2013
The House has approved a measure that will allow Emancipation Hall to host the June unveiling of the first District-selected statue inside the U.S. Capitol. "Today, after years of work, our city receives closure that residents will be represented in the Capitol with a statue, like each of the...
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Mayor Vincent Gray: D.C. will help Oklahoma 'in any way we can'
Alan Blinder
Published: Tue, May 21, 2013
"My thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Oklahoma City and Moore, as well as to the residents of the District who have family members and other loved ones in the affected areas," Gray said in a statement. "The District of Columbia stands ready to help in any way we can in response to...
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Audit: District missed out on $6.5 million windfall
Alan Blinder
Published: Mon, May 20, 2013
The District didn't collect $6.5 million in tax penalties because its chief financial officer refused to enforce a D.C. law tied to electronic-filing requirements for certain businesses, the city's inspector general has found. Businesses facing a tax tab of more than $10,000 are required to...
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CFO Natwar Gandhi's tenure riddled with secrecy, employee misconduct
Alan Blinder
Published: Mon, May 20, 2013
Although Natwar Gandhi, the District's chief financial officer, has accumulated widespread praise for his efforts to rehabilitate the city's economic image since he took office in 2000, his office has been criticized regularly for secrecy and employee misconduct. Gandhi's greatest crisis took...
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D.C. Council to hold hearing on public financing
Alan Blinder
Published: Mon, May 20, 2013
A D.C. Council committee will hear testimony in July about whether the District should adopt a public financing system for its local campaigns. Ward 5 Councilman Kenyan McDuffie, the chairman of the D.C. Council Committee on Government Operations, said on Monday that his panel will stage a...
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Mayor Vincent Gray, Councilwoman Muriel Bowser trade barbs over D.C. budget
Alan Blinder
Published: Tue, May 14, 2013
D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray's administration intensified its criticism of Ward 4 Councilwoman Muriel Bowser on Tuesday as it dismissed her adjustments to Gray's $10.1 billion budget proposal as ignorant and politically tainted, allegations that Bowser, a mayoral candidate, said were baseless....
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National Aquarium, feds talk about staying in D.C.
Alan Blinder
Updated: Mon, May 13, 2013
The National Aquarium, which is set to empty the tanks at its D.C. location after it closes in September, said Monday that it is engaged in negotiations with the federal government that could someday lead to a Constitution Avenue homecoming for its menagerie of sea creatures. "We are...
