The District Board of Elections and Ethics finally has a permanent executive director, the board announced late Friday. Rokey W. Suleman II, previously Fairfax County’s general registrar, will come on board in July after more than a year with only an interim director at the helm – a year which saw some controversial election irregularities during the September primary. The Examiner has more on the appointment, noting that Suleman will take on the job…
This Friday marks the start of D.C.’s Sonic Circuits Festival of Experimental Music, which will run through September 29 at venues around the city. The festival traces its roots back to 1993, when the American Composer’s Forum (ACF) curated a traveling program that was hosted by ACF chapters across the country and offered to any venue interested in presenting music based on electronic technology. The D.C. chapter of ACF first hosted the festival in 2000,…
Dorothy Brizill, the Executive Director of DCWatch, the ubiquitous local government watchdog group, was arrested and charged with assault yesterday after Tara Bridgett, an aide to deputy mayor for education Victor Reinoso, said Brizill grabbed her shirt and yanked the ID badge hanging from a lanyard around her neck. Brizill, who has been a local legend in D.C. politics for twenty years for her hardcharging questioning of municipal goings on, had been meeting with Reinoso…
Breaking just now: The DC Voting Rights Act (now H.R. 1905) is scheduled to return to the House Floor tomorrow, Thursday for a vote. The move comes after a week of speculation that Majority Leader Steny Hoyer had removed the bill from this week’s schedule for unclear reasons. Today it is now definite: the bill will come to a vote tomorrow. The bill originally stalled on the House Floor last month after three Republican…
It’s easy to dismiss yesterday’s Voting Rights March. Skeptics can point to the estimated number of participants (anywhere from 2,000 to 6,000, depending on who you ask) and claim that in a city of almost 600,000, that’s not very good turnout. They can point to the cause — a voting seat in the House of Representatives — and argue that the tough road it faces in the Senate and the veto it will likely receive…
Last year ended on a bit of a sour note for District voting rights, but activists aren’t letting a little bad news stop them. After being stymied by Republican leaders in the closing weeks of the 109th Congress, Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) and D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton re-introduced legislation on January 9 to grant the District one voting seat in the House of Representatives. The legislation, known as the Fair and Equal House Voting…
Written by DCist contributor Salima Appiah-Kubi. Remember when we thought the Source Theatre was doomed? After public outcry from the theater community, costumed protests and several tense ANC meetings, last Tuesday it was revealed that the Source has been saved. Pursuant to an agreement between the Theatre, the Cultural Development Corporation (CuDC) and the Bedrock Management Company, the Source has been wholly entrusted to the CuDC, which will run it as a performance space for…
Once again, everyone but the U.S. government might finally realize that the denial of voting rights for District residents is an affront to democracy and human rights. We’ve received word that Timothy Cooper, Executive Director of Worldrights, a human rights advocacy organization, testified on Monday before the United Nations’ Human Rights Committee in Geneva. Cooper’s grief? The lack of voting rights for District residents. In reference to the persistent injustice we constantly harp on, Cooper…
Pretty much everything has been proposed to get the District its long desired voting rights, but not much progress has been made since the city’s residents were disenfranchised in 1801. Will today be the day that changes? We can only hope so. At 9:15 a.m. today, Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) and D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton formally introduced new legislation that would grant the District one full voting seat in the U.S. House of Representatives….
The weekly Ist wrap-up is written by Seattlest editor Dan Gonsiorowski. LAist tracks an award-winning TV writer who worked on Good Times to a homeless shelter and sees a Little Old Lady get a jaywalking ticket because she can’t get across fast enough (in the same post!). Poets invade Metro and an LAist contributor’s new book asks WWJB. Gothamist gets down with the immigration rally and their readers want to be heard. The anniversary of…
