Thomas Nelson, a 54-year-old SYEP supervisor, pled guilty today on charges that he sexually abused a 17-year-old girl working in the program. more ›

Have you used the Washington Post's website to look for a job in the District? If so, don't be shocked if you get some extra spam over the next few weeks. more ›

Unemployment in the District of Columbia went up in May after the federal government didn't hire as many people as it had been. So, obviously, the District government is trying to fill in the gaps. With strippers. more ›

Several dozen protesters -- standing alongside D.C. Councilmembers, lawyers and local labor leaders -- chanted "Chipotle, listen up, we're not done fighting," outside the chain's Columbia Heights location yesterday. It was one of the vocal components of a demonstration protesting the recent firing of approximately 40 workers from the chain's D.C. locations without notice. more ›

There's an almost palpable gnashing of teeth as Glenn Beck et al. were just handed another reason for middle Americans to bash our nation's capital. According to legal blog Above the Law, D.C. beat out San Francisco in a 61 percent blowout as the top destination for lawyers in a March Madness style poll. more ›

Here's an intriguing idea currently before the D.C. Council, courtesy Ward 1's Jim Graham. Proposed legislation could potentially ban city employers from using a job applicant's credit history as a factor in hiring decisions, the Examiner reports. The bill provides for a few important exceptions, such as top positions with financial institutions. But the idea is that employers shouldn't discriminate against hiring someone just because they screwed up on some credit cards payments. "Why put up an artificial barrier to hiring when it is already an uphill battle to find a job?" Graham told the Examiner. What do you think? Is it unfair for prospective employers to run credit checks before they hire someone? Or are they just trying to reasonably protect themselves from hiring someone who has been known to be irresponsible? more ›

The Metrorail operator who was involved in the pocket track derailment at the Farragut North station on Feb. 12 has been fired, WMATA officials announced today. more ›

The D.C. Council took care of their Marion Barry problem earlier this afternoon, so now it's time to turn our eyes toward something else that always has the possibility to be a debacle for the city: the start of the Summer Youth Employment Program season, which officially kicked off today. District youth ages 14 to 21 may register via the DOES web site now through April 16. more ›

Jack Requa will take over as Assistant General Manager of Bus Services for WMATA, the transit agency announced today. The hiring marks the first position to be filled from the December management shake up that saw several top managers resign. Requa, 63, replaces Milo Victoria as the top Metrobus official at WMATA. He's one of the most experienced officials at Metro, having previously served as Acting General Manager for several months in late 2006 before John Catoe was hired, as well as Chief Operating Officer of Metrobus and Assistant General Manager of Operations Services. WTOP recently reported that Requa turned down again serving as Acting General Manager once Catoe leaves in April. more ›

Can't say we're surprised, but WTOP's Adam Tuss has the story: WMATA is having a difficult time finding anyone to take on the job of interim general manager. Tuss writes that "at least two internal candidates have been offered the top spot at Metro, but they have declined." Some external candidates have reportedly turned down the job, too. more ›

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management has declared that Tuesday is another two-hour delay/unscheduled leave day. We were actually a bit surprised by the decision, but at least it'll help stagger out the morning commute. more ›

Despite increasingly ominous snowfall predictions, the latest from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management is that the feds will stay open tomorrow, albeit with an unscheduled leave policy in effect. more ›

D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee spent the last couple of days not responding to questions from reporters regarding her controversial comments to Fast Company magazine, but finally gave an exclusive interview to WRC/NBC4's Tom Sherwood late Monday. While she didn't name names, as D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray has been calling for her to do, she did offer some more specific numbers on the teachers she said were fired "who had hit children, who had had sex with children, who had missed 78 days of school."

She told us that one teacher had been on administrative leave for sexual misconduct and that the teacher had been fired as part of the budget purge. more ›

This afternoon, DCPS released final details of the budget reductions that have caused an uproar in the schools community since probable staff cuts were first announced last month. more ›

The Wall Street Journal has one of their career trends by ordinal list pieces today on where young people in the United States are deciding to move during the recession, and once again Washington, D.C. is at the top of the list. We've heard almost all of this before, but here's why the newspaper says the D.C. area is the best option for young job seekers:

Government hiring is projected to grow fast, and jobs in lobbying, aerospace, defense contracting and professional services are also a draw. Mr. DeVol calls Washington the national leader in high-tech services, surpassing Silicon Valley. Washington's 4,000-plus nonprofits hold appeal for service-minded youth. And amid rising regulation of financial markets, says Barbara Lang, president of the DC Chamber of Commerce, "much of Wall Street is now moving to K Street."

Metro's board of directors voted to renew General Manager John Catoe's contract for another three years at their meeting today, the Post is reporting. Presumably they managed to come to that decision before board chairman Jim Graham was pulled out of the meeting to deal with the fact that his chief of staff had been arrested. WTOP says the only vote against Catoe came from City Administrator Neil Albert. Catoe's annual salary of $315,000 will remain the same, according to WTOP. more ›

Are you plagued by the worry that all your friends make more money than you? Well Reuters's Patricia Reaney has filed this story to confirm all those fears! The D.C. area has "the nation's highest percentage of 25-34 year-olds making more than $100,000 a year," according to The Nielsen Company. more ›

We wanted to extend our hearty congratulations to Prince of Petworth, aka Dan Silverman, who announced on his site last night that he has quit his day job in order to devote himself full-time to neighborhood blogging. Dan's been talking about making this move for a long time, so it's great to hear that his dream is finally coming true. As a 2+ year veteran of the Guild of Professional Bloggers, I can tell you that Dan is about to join an elite group of individuals who find themselves spending a preposterously high percentage of their time searching for coffee shops with reliable wireless internet, and far less time worrying about showering or putting on pants. Way to live the dream, Dan! more ›

Or so says the Human Resource Association of the National Capital Area, which is the source for this Washington Business Journal story proclaiming it to be so. Considering how many people we talk to who say that they, due to the recession, didn't get raises this year, the 3.4 percent number just kinda feels slightly high, doesn't it? Oh wait, that explains it:

The financial services industry saw the highest salary increases at 9.3 percent. Publishing and broadcasting jobs saw the lowest raises, at 1.5 percent. more ›

In the wake of several recent high profile shenanigans on the part of Metro employees, including one Metrobus driver who was fired after being charged with kidnapping, and another who turned out to have a suspended license, WMATA today announced that it has implemented some new hiring standards. more ›

WMATA offers this update on the fate of three Metrobus drivers who have been under investigation recently. Two bus operators have been fired this week, according to Metro. The first is the driver who was arrested and charged with kidnapping after refusing to let a passenger off the bus during a verbal dispute. The second fired driver had been driving with a suspended license, which Metro only discovered after the operator got into an accident with another vehicle on July 30. And finally, the bus driver photographed by a passenger while talking on her cell phone, made public by the local blog Unsuck DC Metro, will in fact keep her job, after an investigation determined she had used her personal cell phone to report a mechanical problem with her bus. "The internal Metro investigation revealed that the bus was stopped and secured when the operator communicated with Central Control and she did not operate the bus while on the phone. She has been re-instructed regarding operating procedures and returned to service." Metro General Manager John Catoe originally said that the driver would likely be fired. more ›

Do make sure to check out the Washington City Paper's latest update on the Marion Barry girlfriend contract saga, which reveals that a previous paramour of Barry's, Sharon Bowen (she's the one who lives in Ohio), had a job arrangement with the Ward 8 Council member that was remarkably similar to the one that Donna Watts-Brighthaupt did.

Like Watts-Brighthaupt, Bowen was tasked to work in the area of poverty research. According to her personal-services contract with the District, Bowen was paid to “conceptualize, design, plan and execute” a poverty summit for the council’s housing and urban affairs committee, which Barry chairs. more ›

Credit goes to the increasingly excellent local blog Unsuck DC Metro for the news that a Metrobus operator will soon be fired for talking on a cell phone while driving a bus. more ›

Serious inquiries only, this is very important to my family. Young Money Baby!Hopefully all of the sighted attendees of this birthday party can stop themselves from laughing during the Fake Lil' Wayne performance long enough to fool this kid. more ›