All posts tagged: d.C

2 killed, 5 others wounded in DC shooting

2 killed, 5 others wounded in DC shooting

Published by skeptic

Seven people were shot in an early morning shooting in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, leaving two killed and another five wounded, police said. The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) said its officers responded to the intersection of 7th and P Streets, Northwest, for reports of a shooting just past 3 a.m. on Sunday morning. They found two men with gunshot wounds who died at the scene as well as four victims who were injured on the scene. All four injured adults were transported to local hospitals while another injured victim walked into a local hospital asking for treatment of a gunshot wound. Police are still investigating the potential motive of the shooting. The police said in its press release that a preliminary investigation “suggests that one or more suspects intentionally discharged a firearm at the victims.” The police department is offering an award of up to $50,000 for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the incident. “We’re asking anyone who may have any information related to this incident or may have witnessed …

D.C.’s Crime Problem Is a Democracy Problem

D.C.’s Crime Problem Is a Democracy Problem

Published by skeptic

Matthew Graves is not shy about promoting his success in prosecuting those who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. By his count, Graves, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, has charged more than 1,358 individuals, spread across nearly all 50 states and Washington, D.C., for assaulting police, destroying federal property, and other crimes. He issues a press release for most cases, and he held a rare news conference this past January to tout his achievements. But Graves’s record of bringing violent criminals to justice on the streets of D.C. has put him on the defensive. Alone among U.S. attorneys nationwide, Graves, appointed by the president and accountable to the U.S. attorney general, is responsible for overseeing both federal and local crime in his city. In 2022, prosecutors under Graves pressed charges on a record-low 33 percent of arrests in the District. Although the rate increased to 44 percent last fiscal year and continues to increase, other cities have achieved much higher rates: Philadelphia had a 96 percent prosecution rate in 2022, …

Eyes on the Farm Bill! | Christopher Bosso

Eyes on the Farm Bill! | Christopher Bosso

Published by skeptic

Few pieces of federal legislation merit as much and receive as little attention as the Farm Bill.1 Most people who slog through this five-hundred-page-document are stunned by its breadth and complexity. Its many provisions deal with the production of a vast range of food commodities, some well-known (cotton, feed corn, beef, and dairy) and others more obscure (mung beans, sorghum, oilseeds, and hemp). It also covers agricultural research and rural development (including housing, water treatment systems, and broadband); farm credit, trade, and insurance; meat inspection, forestry, and horticulture; and nutrition—notably the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps. The Farm Bill is, in other words, about far more than farming. While it is primarily targeted at people engaged in agriculture, who make up less than 2 percent of the working population today, it effectively determines what, how, and how much the rest of us eat. At present its budget is roughly $140 billion a year, over 80 percent of which goes to SNAP and other programs directed at alleviating food insecurity, which …

Kari Lake woos D.C. lobbyists as Arizona Senate race heats up

Kari Lake woos D.C. lobbyists as Arizona Senate race heats up

Published by skeptic

Arizona Republican Senate Candidate Kari Lake speaks with reporters after leaving the office of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Capitol Hill on March, 6 2024 in Washington, DC.  Kent Nishimura | Getty Images Arizona Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake has been quietly meeting with lobbyists and raising money in Washington in recent weeks, according to people familiar with the matter. Lake has built her political brand around her willingness to buck the D.C. establishment wing of the GOP. On Tuesday, Lake met with about a dozen lobbyists in the nation’s capital, and the following day she attended a campaign fundraiser that was heavy with D.C. hired guns. Lake also met separately with a top GOP lobbyist recently to strategize how to get her in front of even more industry players, according to sources familiar with the meeting. Like others in this story, they were granted anonymity to describe private events. The Arizona Senate race is poised to be one of the most competitive and high profile contests in the nation this fall. President …

Trump claims he “purposely” lost D.C. primary while fuming over Nikki Haley on Truth Social

Trump claims he “purposely” lost D.C. primary while fuming over Nikki Haley on Truth Social

Published by skeptic

Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley won her first Republican primary in Washington, D.C. on Sunday — and Donald Trump doesn’t seem to like that. Haley beat out the former president by a nearly 30-point margin, garnering 62.9 percent of the votes in the district, compared to Trump’s 33.2 percent, and nabbing all 19 delegates. Trump took to social media Sunday night to mock the ex-South Carolina governor and downplay his defeat.  “I purposely stayed away from the D.C. Vote because it is the ‘Swamp,’ with very few delegates, and no upside. Birdbrain spent all of her time, money and effort there,” Trump wrote before boasting that he won in Missouri and Idaho’s caucuses and secured all 39 delegates allocated in Michigan’s GOP convention on Saturday. “BIG NUMBERS – Complete destruction of a very weak opponent,” he continued. “The really big numbers will come on Super Tuesday. Also, WAY UP ON CROOKED JOE!” Despite the ire from Trump, Haley’s win is a “welcome boost” ahead of Super Tuesday elections this week and amid calls to suspend …

Washington, D.C., Republican primary delivers Haley her first win ahead of Super Tuesday

Washington, D.C., Republican primary delivers Haley her first win ahead of Super Tuesday

Published by skeptic

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley won her first GOP presidential nominating contest Sunday, notching a victory in the Washington, D.C., primary, NBC News projects — a win her campaign hopes will spark some momentum ahead of next week’s Super Tuesday contests. Haley, who won the primary over former President Donald Trump, has for weeks pledged to stay in the race through Super Tuesday, when 15 states and American Samoa will hold nominating contests. Trump is dominating in nearly all of those states in most public polling and is expected to extend his commanding delegate lead.  Haley took 63% of the GOP primary vote to 33% for Trump. Just over 2,000 Washington Republicans cast ballots. Because Haley got more than half of the vote, she came away with the District’s 19 delegates. Washington’s moderate set of Republicans, many of whom work in politics or government, are seen as vastly different from those in other early states, like South Carolina and Iowa, which set up a scenario in which Haley had her first legitimate chance to …

Head Start Preschools Aim to Fight Poverty, but Their Teachers Struggle to Make Ends Meet

Head Start Preschools Aim to Fight Poverty, but Their Teachers Struggle to Make Ends Meet

Published by skeptic

WASHINGTON (AP) — In some ways, Doris Milton is a Head Start success story. She was a student in one of Chicago’s inaugural Head Start classes, when the antipoverty program, which aimed to help children succeed by providing them a first-rate preschool education, was in its infancy. Milton loved her teacher so much that she decided to follow in her footsteps. She now works as a Head Start teacher in Chicago. After four decades on the job, Milton, 63, earns $22.18 an hour. Her pay puts her above the poverty line, but she is far from financially secure. She needs a dental procedure she cannot afford, and she is paying down $65,000 of student loan debt from National Louis University, where she came within two classes of getting her bachelor’s degree. She dropped out in 2019 when she fell ill. “I’m trying to meet their needs when nobody’s meeting mine,” Milton said of teaching preschoolers. Head Start teachers — 70% of whom have bachelor’s degrees — earn $39,000 a year on average, far less than …

Jury Convicts First Rioter to Enter Capitol Building During Jan. 6 Attack

Jury Convicts First Rioter to Enter Capitol Building During Jan. 6 Attack

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The first rioter to enter the U.S. Capitol building during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack was convicted on Friday of charges that he interfered with police and obstructed Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory. Michael Sparks, 46, of Kentucky, jumped through a shattered window moments after another rioter smashed it with a stolen riot shield. Sparks then joined other rioters in chasing a police officer up flights of stairs, one of the most harrowing images from the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. A federal jury in Washington, D.C., convicted Sparks of all six charges that he faced, including two felonies. Sparks didn’t testify at his weeklong trial. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly is scheduled to sentence him on July 9. Sparks was the “tip of the spear” and breached the Capitol building less than a minute before senators recessed to evacuate the chamber and escape from the mob, Justice Department prosecutor Emily Allen said during the trial’s closing arguments. “The defendant was ready for a civil war. Not just ready …

Jury Convicts First Rioter to Enter Capitol Building During Jan. 6 Attack

Appeals Court Ruling That Vacates Capitol Rioter’s Sentence Could Impact Dozens of Jan. 6 Cases

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While a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld Larry Brock’s conviction, the court said a judge wrongly applied an enhancement that lengthened the recommended prison sentence range under federal guidelines. The enhancement — on the grounds that Brock’s conduct resulted in “substantial interference with the administration of justice” — has been applied in more than 100 other Jan. 6 defendants’ cases, said Patricia Hartman, a spokesperson for the Washington’s U.S. attorney’s office. If the ruling stands, those defendants who have not already completed their prison terms may push for new sentences. When asked whether prosecutors will appeal the ruling, Hartman said they are considering their options. Brock was sentenced last year to two years in prison after being convicted of a felony charge of obstruction of an official proceeding and misdemeanor offenses. He is currently serving his sentence at a federal lockup in Missouri and is expected to be released in December, according to online Bureau of Prisons records. Brock’s attorney didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment …

Active-duty airman dies after setting himself on fire outside Israeli Embassy in D.C. over Gaza

Active-duty airman dies after setting himself on fire outside Israeli Embassy in D.C. over Gaza

Published by skeptic

A 25-year-old man and active-duty airman died on Sunday after setting himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. in protest of civilian casualties in Gaza, according to the U.S. Air Force. Aaron Bushnell, a resident of San Antonio, Texas, reportedly live-streamed the filmed protest to social media platform Twitch, though the New York Times indicated it could not confirm who ran the account that posted the video. The video shows a man dressed in military clothing known as fatigues identifying himself as Bushnell and referring to himself as an active-duty Air Force officer. The Times reported that a U.S. Air Force spokeswoman, Ann Stefanek, confirmed on Sunday that Bushnell was an active-duty airman. “I will no longer be complicit in genocide,” the man in the video says. “I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest, but compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it’s not extreme at all.” After lighting himself on fire, he continues to yell, “Free Palestine!” Police officers …