Sure, Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) was recently demoted from his beloved perch as chair of the D.C. Council's transportation committee. But he was given the parting gift of control over the District's Office of Planning. And it appears as if one of the first things Wells is focusing his planning efforts on might be a new stadium for D.C. United. more ›

The man who was arrested and charged in the Nov. 14 killing of 9-year-old Oscar Fuentes has been found dead inside his cell in the D.C. Jail, according to a report from WTTG/FOX5. Josue Pena, 26, had been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Fuentes, who died after being shot through the door of his Columbia Heights apartment. The Washington Post reported earlier that paramedics had been called to the jail for a call of an unconscious inmate this afternoon. WTTG says Pena was found hanged inside his cell just after 1 p.m. He was pronounced dead later at Howard University Hospital, with the cause of death determined to be cardiac arrest by asphyxiation. The report also includes these details:

Pena told prosecutors he had a gun in his waist band, but it accidently went off as he walked up the stairs. more ›

Ever since President Barack Obama announced that he would shut down the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, law enforcement officials and politicians across the country have been fighting to out-NIMBY each other in refusing to house the 241 detainees that would need to be tried stateside. Virginia officials have been especially adamant about the issue, lining up to oppose sending any of the suspected terrorists to a jail in Alexandria. The issue has even become a point of contention in the coming Democratic gubernatorial primary. more ›

It's a little difficult to cut through the Washington Times' scare-story, but here goes: as part of his budget proposal, Mayor Fenty has proposed extending an already-existing program in fiscal 2010, which would allow more of D.C.'s prisoners to earn nominal sentence reductions (think days, not months) in exchange for volunteering for work details, exhibiting good behavior, and completing various educational and vocational programs. An expanded early-release program, which Fenty estimates could save the cash-strapped District around $4 million, is certainly an initiative worth serious consideration and debate -- Virginia, for instance, has been going back and forth on a similarly-motivated program for quite some time now -- but it's certainly not a manic rush to release violent murderers and rapists, as the Times' wildly inflated "80 percent of the city's inmates" lede suggests. Quite the contrary: the program is mostly closed to inmates serving time for violent crimes. D.C. Department of Corrections Director Devon Brown also noted that interested inmates would be required to participate in qualifying activities for one month before they became eligible to earn reduction credits. Hmm, encouraging convicted offenders to engage in productive behaviors involving increasing education and getting jobs -- isn't this kinda the point of incarceration? more ›