The Weekly Feed: Experimentation Edition
Morning Roundup: Change Edition
Former Blade Staffers Launch 'DC Agenda'
D.C. Unemployment Rate Reaches 11.9 Percent
D.C. Insurance Dept. Denies Birth Control Coverage Meddling
Good morning, Washington. Not that you could have missed the fact that it's awfully windy this morning after yesterday's late fall rainstorm, but the National Weather Service has issued a wind advisory for the metro area, effective through 1 a.m. Tuesday morning — this wind will consistently be 25-30 mph until late tonight, with gusts over 46 mph expected. If you drive an SUV or another type of high profile vehicle, you're asked to use extra caution, and don't be surprised if you experience a power outage today. NBC4 is predicting the first possible snow of the season on Wednesday.
New Fraud Tally at $44 Million: The ratcheting up of the total amount that may have been stolen from the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue is starting to feel routine. On Sunday the Washington Post estimated the figure upwards one more time, to approximately $44 million. The paper identified 160 checks since June 1999 that lacked the court orders that are required for legitimate refunds, though that doesn't necessarily mean all 160 of those checks were successfully cashed, explains the Examiner in a follow-up this morning. Also noteworthy: computerized records from the tax office only exist from May 1999. Federal investigators are still trying to determine how far back the fraudulent checks go. Prosecutors have also given co-defendant Diane Gustus a single day of immunity in the hopes that she can help track down the money trail.
Fenty Vs. Council, Round 2: The tension between the D.C. Council and Mayor Adrian Fenty over the mayor's school closures plan is apparently serious enough for the Post to run a B1 follow-up story detailing every blow this morning. Some things we hadn't heard before: Ward 8 Council member Marion Barry evidently cursed the mayor after he cut him off at the same breakfast meeting that saw Fenty and Ward 1 Council member Jim Graham publicly disagree for the first time we can remember.
Briefly Noted: ... Oxon Hill woman killed in hit-and-run in Southeast ... Mayflower Hotel offering amnesty to thieves ... Woman murdered with samurai sword in martial arts academy.
Photo by krisetya
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As a native son of DC, I've never been more proud of our criminal class! Why, I'm as giddy as a callgirl! This is just the sort of grand larceny that makes Donald Trump soil his Depends in envy.
The fact that a few DC Public School graduates managed to master the black art of double-entry bookkeeping shows that there's still hope for kids in DC to get a quality education AND stick it to The Man. No more of this penny ante parking ticket fixes, licensing grifts, or manhole cover traffiking for today's DC bureautard! DC has raised the embezzlement bar for everyone; this is Enron-level burglary. Surely, another Silverado savings and loan debacle looms in DC's future?
I only wonder how many Bothans died to bring us this information.
Is this going to be the final tally for the fraud? I understand the need to quickly reveal when fraud occurs, but as the numbers contune to climb, it looks worse and worse, maybe they should have held off till the full extent was known!
Amanda from DC Metrocentric
One of the articles I read when the tax office story broke mentioned that these ladies may have learned how to do this from others that had been doing it before them ... How much has been taken may never be known because it is going to be a monumental task to figure it all out and at some point it becomes like the saying goes "throwing good money after bad".
Lmao......I hope they at least bought some good stuff. Nobody should go to federal prison for 20-30 years without a brand new gucci bag
Isn't this exactly the kind of garbage that brings more attention and oversight from Congress? Monkey's parody is, sadly, probably reflective of the attitudes of many people across the District. Of course those people can't make the logical connection that this will bring more oversight and attention from 'the man', and hurt DC independence in other areas. This is just a sad, sad failure of public oversight that will probably result in even more bureaucracy that hurts everyone.
Krisa - unfortunately when it comes to fiscal matters DC needs all the oversight congress can spare and then some! The only places I can think of that are at least as corrupt as DC are Louisiana (where even the dead are allowed to vote) and Hialeah, Fl (where re-election is guaranteed if you are an x-con).
Isn't this exactly the kind of garbage that brings more attention and oversight from Congress?
Sure, but since the earliest checks we have were issued in 1999, this stuff happened during the last Barry administration and the first Williams administration WHEN THE CONGRESSIONAL CONTROL BOARD WAS ALREADY RUNNING "OVERSIGHT!" Who knows how far back this goes? Like Logan posted, these ladies didn't invent this scam; they learned it from their predecessors and simly took it to the next level.
Brrr... chilly wind.
Also, I swear that last night as I was walking down the street the wind blew my right foot into my left leg. It's like old man winter was saying "why're you kicking yourself?"