Marion Barry Teaches Chemistry?: As Wonkette pointed out yesterday, Marion Barry went back to school and taught chemistry to a bunch of Ballou High School students as a visiting dignitary-turned-substitute teacher. While Wonkette makes light of Barry’s history putting certain chemicals in his body, as the Post reports, the former mayor-turned-Ward 8 councilman actually has a “bachelor’s and master’s degrees and some doctoral credit in chemistry.”
While Barry did talk a bit about chemistry, he was more interested in broader social issues, including the importance of education and staying off drugs. Says Barry, from the Post:
“I used to be on drugs. ‘One puff won’t hurt you,’ ” he said, referring to what drug dealers often tell new users to get them hooked. “Yes, it will.”
Oh Yeah, What Ever Happened to Riggs?: Remember Riggs Bank, which was found to have been involved in all sorts of international money laundering, hiding the assets for less-than-stellar characters such as Augusto Pinochet of Chile and members of the ruling family of Equatorial Guinea, (pictured in this map from the University of Texas’ excellent collection)? The 160-year old bank has agreed to cough up $41 million in criminal and civil penalties, the Post reports.
Regarding Riggs’ dealings with Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan, prosecutors “found no evidence that the Saudi withdrawals were criminal in nature, even if they should have been reported,” the Post reports.
This agreement also paves the way for Riggs to be bought by PNC Financial Services Group of Pittsburgh. The Post has a good timeline of events in this whole matter.
More on Hunters Brooke Fire: As the AP, via the W.Times reports, court documents show that one of the suspects in the massive Hunters Brooke subdivision arson in Charles County, Md., made racist statements angered that the “neighborhood is going black.” Meanwhile, the City Paper’s cover story is about the other part of the Hunters Brooke story, one that has nothing to do with the arson. In “Mire Beware,” Franklin Schneider explores the sprawling subdivision’s impact on the land it sits on.
Briefly Noted: D.C. police investigating the strangulation of a federal worker in a downtown apartment puzzling … In a boost for home rule, proposal would eliminate appropriations panels overseeing District of Columbia … D.C. rabbi presses Vatican to unseal records about hidden Jewish children in convents … Officials in P.G. County press on with move to close liquor stores at midnight.
