Results tagged “tomsherwood”

For those of you who weren't able to tune in to The Politics Hour on WAMU earlier (you can download the audio if you'd still like to listen), you missed House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) in his first appearance ever on the program. Hoyer called in half way through the show to discuss the most recent developments on the D.C. House Voting Rights act, expressing his regret that he couldn't get the bill scheduled for a vote next week.

Yesterday we threw together a list of the people in the District we considered influential, taking after a similar annual list put together by GQ that compiles the movers and shakers on the federal side of the city. One of our nominees was Dorothy Brizill, a well-known civic activist and political gadfly who runs DC Watch, the closest thing we have to a citizens' inspector general. And as we expected, last night she offered us...

David Beckham made his long-awaited MLS debut last night at RFK stadium, entering the game in the 72nd minute but unable to help his Los Angeles Galaxy overcome a 1-0 defeat to D.C. United. We will have a full post on the game later this morning, but in the meantime, how was your evening commute affected by the 46,686 soccer match attendees crowding into Metro? Police Move Not Really Canceled?: So says the Washington...

You heard it here first: The bloom is officially off the rose of the Fenty administration. On Monday, the Mayor held an opening ceremony for the District's public swimming pools, at which he failed to fulfill our simple request that he make sure somebody did a cannonball. The Examiner was there yesterday afternoon to witness the pitiful display of showmanship where Fenty opened the city's pools, not with a dive, but with a whistle. While...

Since 1983, Loose Lips, the City Paper's weekly local politics column, has been the place to get quirky news and commentary on the District's political figures. But today, James Jones, Loose Lips columnist for the last two years, bids farewell to the paper. Jones came to the City Paper after a stint at WAMU, and his first column was published on March 11, 2005. According to the folks at the City Paper, Jones has taken...

Ever since he took office after eight years of Mayor Anthony Williams' tenure, the question has burned in our minds: Will D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty continue Williams' tradition by opening the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation's public swimming pools with a cannonball dive? He's been asked the question a number of times already, but always with a different answer. First Fenty said maybe his twin sons, Matthew and Andrew, would do the honors. Then...

Fans of DCist's resident municipal politics expert Martin Austermuhle will want to tune in to the D.C. Politics Hour with Kojo and Jonetta today at noon. Martin will be a guest on today's show along with Ward 1 Council member Jim Graham and Vincent Schiraldi, head of the D.C. Dept. of Youth Rehabilitation Services. Kojo and guest host Tom Sherwood of NBC4 plan on discussing a wide range of topics, including the school takeover plan...

Damn alarms. We're a little late on flipping through our newspaper this morning, so stay tuned as we live-blog the news. 9:29 a.m.: Since Adrian Fenty doesn't already have enough to do, he'll be fielding questions in an online chat over at the Post at 11 a.m. We'd like to know how he can spend the time keeping his head so nicely shorn when we're still trying to balance sleep, work, and shaving once...

It's just over a month until the September 12 primary, and the endorsements are starting to roll in. Non-governmental organizations, newspapers, and big-name individuals are throwing their weight behind specific candidates, hoping to given them the final boost they need before election day. In the first big mayoral endorsement of the campaign season, the Current newspaper group -- which publishes the Georgetown Current, the Dupont Current, the Foggy Bottom Current, and the Northwest Current --...

There is something reassuring about seeing police officers on the streets. And the more of them a city has, the more they can deploy themselves and make their presence known, or so goes the logic. But how many police officers is too many? At what point do we start seeing diminishing returns for every new officer brought on to the force? Does the District, now in the midst of a violent summer, have too many...

It may have been the shortest State of Emergency declaration the District has ever seen -- imposed on Tuesday night in response to two days of heavy rainfall, only to be quietly rescinded on Wednesday. But as the city dries off, residents are starting to wonder whether the declaration was needed at all. More importantly, concerns are being raised over what the response to heavy rain says about the city's ability to deal with a...

Carpetbaggers are carpetbaggers, no matter how good their intentions may be. At least that's what NBC 4's Tom Sherwood wrote yesterday in a submission to The Mail, D.C. Watch's bi-weekly email newsletter: Did we miss Mr. Nader’s becoming a legal resident of the District? The issue came up in 1998 when the national consumer advocate endorsed Anthony Williams for mayor. More recently, Nader has attempted to join the public debate on the baseball stadium. At...

The Post, Examiner, and Washington Times are all reporting on yesterday's hearing before the City Council on a lease for a new stadium for the Washington Nationals. Beyond the substance of the hearing, which featured the regular cast of characters playing their expected roles, DCist has these observations to make: MLB: Hasn't yet learned its lesson. Every time the league has threatened or spoken down to the council (which, at this point is many times),...

Given that MLB is still trying to seal the deal on the new, $535 million stadium, and, conseqently, finalize the $450 million sale of the Washington Nationals to a new owner, DCist is nothing but surprised at how badly the league's strategic planners and negotiators have approached their dealings with the city. We recognize that MLB is a government-sanctioned monopoly and can act pretty much as it wishes, but can't they try and sell themselves...

In the December issue of the Washingtonian, the magazine lauds the "Best of Washington," including restaurants, dance clubs, pizza, late night dining, hip clothes, and more. Among the magazine's bevy of lists is a ranking of the "50 Best & Most Influential Journalists," written by Garrett Graff, formerly of Fishbowl DC fame. While journalists for the usual suspects abounded -- Mike Allen of Time; Dan Balz, David Broder, Steve Coll, Marc Fisher, Al Kamen, Howard...

Last night the five mayoral candidates -- Adrian Fenty, Marie Johns, Vincent Orange, Linda Cropp, and Michael Brown -- squared off in the first debate of the 2005-2006 campaign season. Facing an audience of 700 at the University of the District of Columbia, the candidates debated education, school modernization, economic development, affordable housing, crime, and yes, the stadium. Moderated by the Post's Colbert King, the candidates gave brief opening questions, faced withering questions from...

We're finally within 365 days of when District residents head to the polls to choose their next mayor, and what better way to celebrate than an old-fashioned debate? Yes, tonight marks the official beginning of the 2006 campaign season, and all five officially-announced mayoral candidates will be taking each other on in what promises to be a battle royale over school modernization, taxes, development, crime, and affordable housing. Ok, it may not be that exciting....

It's early enough in the 2006 mayoral campaign season that candidates can get away with mouthing applause-inducing platitudes about what's gone wrong, what's gone right, how they'll right the wrong, and how they were probably responsible for the right. But now that the race has all but been called a two-way contest between Council-member Adrian Fenty (D-Ward 4) and Council Chair Linda Cropp -- the Post and NBC 4's Tom Sherwood have termed it...

With the double benefit of a long weekend and sunny skies, area residents return to work with spirits and energy restored. But that feeling may be fleeting -- transportation experts warn that the first Tuesday after Labor Day is often referred to as "Terrible Traffic Tuesday," or T3 for short. Sandwiched somewhere between Manic Monday and T.G.I.F., T3 is the day that workers hit the roads, students at local universities return to campus, and school...

Four months ago the 2006 mayoral race was pure speculation. Come next week, though, we will finally have a confirmed slate of candidates -- and a year's worth of campaigning ahead of us. Council-members Adrian Fenty (D-Ward 4) and Vincent Orange (D-Ward 5) have been in the game for the better part of the summer, while former Verizon executive Marie Johns only recently joined the race and Council Chair Linda Cropp and lobbyist Michael...

You heard it here first. Linda Cropp, current chair of the D.C. City Council, is running for mayor. Well, let's be honest. We heard it first from NBC 4's ace political reporter Tom Sherwood, but you may be hearing it first from us. So if Cropp does finally jump in the race, give us the credit, if she doesn't, blame Sherwood. But seriously, Sherwood reports that Cropp, above, has set her sights on the city's...