Eric P. Newcomer

Updated: Mon, Mar 4, 2013

Mayor Vincent Gray wants to spend some of the city's budget surpluses on needy families by delaying, for another six months, reductions to welfare benefits for District families who have been receiving public assistance for five years or more. The D.C. Council passed legislation in April 2011...

Alan Blinder

Updated: Mon, Mar 4, 2013

The D.C. Council and Mayor Vincent Gray are poised for a rare showdown Tuesday as lawmakers consider whether to override Gray's veto of a proposal to reform the city's certified business enterprise program. "I cannot understand why this bill was vetoed," at-large Councilman Vincent Orange, the...

Rachel Baye

Published: Mon, Mar 4, 2013

A D.C. lawmaker is urging the city's public school system to create a middle school that admits students only through an application process. Creating an application-only middle school and an application-only high school in Ward 7 or 8 could be one way to expand access to high-quality school...

Eric P. Newcomer

Updated: Sun, Mar 3, 2013

With a seven-person at-large D.C. Council race slated for next month, most political observers believe Republican Patrick Mara and establishment Democrat Michael Brown have emerged as the race's leading candidates. Brown, a former councilman tainted by questions surrounding his former...

Alan Blinder

Published: Sat, Mar 2, 2013

As the federal government moved Friday to slash spending by $85 billion, D.C. leaders quietly contemplated how to use an enormous windfall. Armed with a forecast showing D.C. will take in $190 million more in the 2013 fiscal year than initially expected, Mayor Vincent Gray and lawmakers are...

Alan Blinder

Updated: Thu, Feb 28, 2013

Federal prosecutors on Thursday asked a judge to sentence Che Brown, the brother of ex-D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown, to six months in prison for lying about his income on mortgage paperwork. Prosecutors, who requested the sentence in a court filing ahead of Brown's sentencing on Tuesday,...

Jonetta Rose Barras

Published: Thu, Feb 28, 2013

The D.C. Council recently reprimanded Jim Graham. But it still has an ethics problem. Its labyrinthine rules handicap its ability to impose more severe penalties when there is no recommendation from the Board of Ethics and Government Accountability. Currently, absent an ethics board referral,...

Alan Blinder

Updated: Thu, Feb 28, 2013

The D.C. Council will vote Tuesday on whether to override a rare veto from Mayor Vincent Gray. Earlier this month, Gray moved to kill a package of reforms to the city's certified business enterprise program, citing the measure as "unworkable" and "short of the mark." But at-large Councilman...

Harry Jaffe

Published: Tue, Feb 26, 2013

With the official reprimand of Ward 1 D.C. Council member Jim Graham on Monday, I suppose our legislative body would like to see its ethical cloud receding into the rearview mirror. Not gonna happen. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson chose the easy way out. Rather than call for Graham's...

Alan Blinder

Updated: Tue, Feb 26, 2013

A D.C. councilman said Tuesday that embattled businessman Jeffrey Thompson should be held responsible for millions of dollars in unpaid insurance claims before city taxpayers have to foot the bill. "Before you come after the taxpayers, I want you to go after the guy who has the money,"...