Good morning, Washington. In less than 24 hours, two D.C. Councilmembers have called for Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr. to resign after he agreed Friday to pay back $300,000 in city grant funds that he was accused of improperly using on personal expenses. The decision settles a lawsuit brought last month by the D.C. Office of the Attorney General.
On Friday, after the terms of the settlement were made public, At-large Councilmember David Catania told reporters that Thomas should resign. He followed up with a statement Saturday saying that, “With such serious allegations unanswered and an on-going investigation by the U.S. Attorney, I believe that Councilmember Thomas should resign from the Council of the District of Columbia.”
Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh also issued a statement Saturday calling for a resignation.
“It appears that [Thomas] inappropriately diverted public money intended for youth activities to his own benefit,” Cheh said. “This implicit acknowledgement will, I believe, make it very difficult for him to continue to effectively serve the citizens of the District, and, therefore, I hope he will seriously consider stepping off the Council.
The Washington Examiner reports that other Councilmembers’ reactions ranged from stern to confused to supportive.
The Washington Post’s editorial board also weighed in: “The continued service of Mr. Thomas on the council is an affront that should not be tolerated any longer.”
>> The Washington Examiner reports that almost eight months into Mayor Vince Gray’s administration, the Mayor is still encumbered by the transgressions of his 2010 mayoral campaign — a reality that may persist until the U.S. Attorney’s Office concludes its investigation without Gray being charged. On Friday, Gray released a report on the administration’s accomplishments of its first 200 days in office.
>> Congressional leaders are working today to try to reach a deal to avoid a debt-ceiling crisis on Aug. 2 and to assure investors before the Asian stock markets open. House Speaker John Boehner said he wants to announce the outline of a plan by 4 p.m. today.
>> We broke a record. Somehow it doesn’t feel victorious. It hit 102 in D.C. Saturday, breaking the record high for the date. We’re told we won’t likely break records or hit triple digits today, but we’re still code orange for air quality, which means its unhealthy for sensitive groups. We’re looking at a partly sunny day in the mid to upper 90s. Some thunderstorms my help cool us out.
>> On Friday, a federal judge ruled that Metro needs to pay 3 percent wage hikes per year to its largest union, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689, for the past three years. Metro can still appeal the decision.
>> In sports, the Washington Nationals lost 7-6 to the Los Angeles Dodgers Saturday, and D.C. United lost 3-1 to English Premier League club Everton.
>> Singer Amy Winehouse was found dead at her house in London Friday. She was 27. The Guardian’s obituary chronicles the singer’s tempestuous life and career. It notes that her final public appearance was three days before her death at the Roundhouse, Camden, where Winehouse apparently danced wistfully and then disappeared without singing a note.
>> Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, the first foreign-born soldier to become the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, died Saturday morning in Washington state. He was 75. The general was born in Poland, and apparently learned English from watching John Wayne movies.
>> A federal judge threatened on Friday to hold the Prince George’s County Council in contempt for rejecting a recent application from a congregation trying to build a church in Laurel. The judge wants an explanation for why the council continues to oppose the church. A federal jury had earlier ordered the county to pay damages to the church for religious discrimination.
>> The media is vexed with the media. Some journalists have been pointing fingers at those who were quick to blame Muslim groups for the Oslo attacks when the man accused is now Anders Behring Breivik, a conservative, right-wing Christian. The shamed include Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun which had on its front page “Al Qaeda Massacre: Norway’s 9/11;” the Wall Street Journal which ran an editorial on the bombings that starts by referencing Islam; and a Washington Post piece by conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin, quoting the Weekly Standard connecting al Qaeda to the attacks.
>> A NASA-funded look into the cosmos has uncovered a “feeding black hole” 12 billion light years away. It’s the “largest and farthest reservoir of water ever detected in the universe.”
