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Morning all. Clear skies make for a nice change here in the nation’s capital. Nothing like a little sun trickling onto the screen of LLD! A perfect backdrop for summing up all the D.C. headlines that you care about, and perhaps one or two that are completely inconsequential. Let’s fire it up.
Mayor Adrian M. Fenty vetoes bill that would have essentially taken schools disciplinary policy out of the hands of schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee. “The bill ‘turns the governance structure upside down, which will only serve to defeat and dilute our shared responsibility,’ Fenty wrote,” according to a Post account. This is the very piece of legislation against which the Post‘s editorial board recently inveighed. D.C. Wire report on same.
God bless Richard Moe. Moe totally kicks ass. On a really key issue facing the District, he is dead on, squarely right, totally correct. That issue is the notion that the Department of Homeland Security should occupy the campus of St. Elizabeths Hospital in Southeast. Moe says no. “Instead of sparking new jobs and spinoff business activity in Ward 8, a part of the city that has suffered from decades of neglect and disinvestment, the DHS complex would be a high-security citadel whose 14,000 employees would have little reason or opportunity to interact with the community outside the gates.” Moe is the president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and he’s never spoken truer words (at least that LLD knows of). Redevelopment of this complex could do wonders for Ward 8, but not if it turns into a police state. Of course, LLD feels that St. Elizabeths will never reach its true potential until the city gives it an apostrophe. That’d be a great press event!
What’s up with Madam’s Organ’s booze license? City Desk follows up on Raw Fisher item. Hey Duggan: Call me if you need any more press.
Like clockwork, any time the city needs more cash, parking fees go up, as reported by NC8.
This news comes from the Washington Post: Nearly 800 teachers in the D.C. school system aren’t “highly qualified” according to reigning federal standards. Woohoo! Is that all? Time to break out the champagne in DCPS HQ. The reporting on this matter comes from the Post‘s Bill Turque, who has been on Rhee‘s no-comment list for months now. True to form, Rhee refused to chat with Turque about this issue, instead referring the matter to spokesperson Dena Iverson, who is quoted as follows: “In our estimates, [student performance] is far more important than whether or not a teacher is highly qualified.” It’s been pretty well established that Rhee has no legitimate reason for icing Turque. When will this pettiness stop?
Child-welfare advocates are saying that the city’s Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) is going berserk with foster placements ever since the Banita Jacks tragedy of one year ago. “The 41 percent increase in children placed in foster care in the first nine months of 2008, compared with the same period in 2007, is ‘a foster-care panic that cut a swath of destruction through families in the District,’ said Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform.”
Note to landlords and property-management companies: Stop those leaks. The Fenty administration announced that the city’s 4,800 apartment buildings would be inspected on a four-year cycle.
Rough times hitting hard at the Whitman-Walker Clinic.
Examiner‘s Nei-man reports that millions in city grants to key nonprofits haven’t been released. Also on the Nei-man beat: Possible tax credit for people who volunteer to mentor D.C. youth.
Jonetta Rose Barras offers scoop on an IG investigation of D.C. Department of Health Senior Deputy Director Carlos Cano after “receiving complaints from individuals inside the agency regarding contracts and time and attendance reports.”
—-THE INAUGURATION SECTION—-
WaPo on Gridlock! Examiner on same. WashTimes on same.
WTOP’s Mark Segraves reports some sobering news for drunken revelers around inauguration time: No “Sober Ride” services.
As if we didn’t already know: “U.S. intelligence officials say the Jan. 20 inauguration is an attractive target for international and domestic terrorist groups, but they know of no specific threat that might disrupt the celebration.”
Shocker: Department of Public Works will not grab your trash and recycling on Monday—MLK Jr. Day—but it will brave the streets on Inauguration Day. Haven’t they read the traffic advisories?
Fenty looking to lure Mary J. Blige to Armory ball, use proceeds to benefit DCPS—D.C. Wire. Fenty discusses inauguration with WRC-TV.
Qorvis Communications attempts the impossible: A comprehensive ball inventory.
The Examiner comes up with the scoop of the entire inaugural season. Here ’tis: “Brewood Engravers, a paper engraving shop at 1701 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, plans to close unless the store can find an inauguration-related product to sell. ‘We know it’s going to be really crowded,’ said Ernest Atkinson, chief executive of Brewood Engravers. ‘Unless we have something to sell for the inauguration, we will be closed. I would like to stay open, but I really have to find something to sell for the crowd.'”
Bike valet stations, Washington Post commemorative inaugural editions, and other stuff.
Twenty million bucks coming from local and state governments for transpo costs to accommodate inaug crush.
WRC-TV looks at volunteers. And WUSA a little late to the story about people skipping town for the big event.
Susan Nixon, publisher of Capitol File magazine, appears on Fox5 to talk about inaug. Her insights: “Washington has become Hollywood”; “All eyes are on Washington”; “I’m not sure who’s going to be watching whom”; “Creative Coalition is hosting a gala and they have 25 A-listers who are coming to that event”; “This is such a historic event”; to catch a glimpse of the stars, “walk the streets, get out, be a part of what’s going on. Go to the Willard, go to the hotels— Cafe Milano. You have to go to Cafe Milano. If you’re going to see Oprah or Brad Pitt, they’re going to be there.”
—-END INAUGURATION SECTION—-
D.C. COUNCIL TODAY—-Nothing
ADRIAN FENTY TODAY—-
6:30 am: Guest, Connecting with the Mayor
Location: NBC 4
7:10 am: Guest, Fenty on Fox
Location: FOX 5
7:30 pm: Remarks, Fort Stanton Civic Association Meeting
Location: Fort Stanton Recreation Center. 1812 Erie Street SE