Deborah Simmons — Life As It Happens
Related Articles
What do D.C. students know?
Do D.C. students benefit from D.C. education reforms? D.C. teachers can't answer the question. They don't know.
Are D.C. and prosecutors on the same page?
The news of a mass shooting Saturday evening in the nation's capital was heard around the world.
Chris Van Hollen crime-mental health bill misses mark
The key problem with Mr. Van Hollen's bill is that the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees social programs, would lead the federal pack (because of the mental health angle) to say that police are part of the problem if and when a "situation" escalates. His proposal would create a $100 million federal program to bolster local agencies that look to alternatives for a law enforcement response.
The cost of D.C. living
The cost of living in the nation's capital is on the rise, whether you want it to or not. Why? The cost of the pandemic is reaping much of the blame. Like most big cities, the District was shuffling personnel and agreements involving public, private and public-private ventures.
President Biden stumbles again
President Biden did it again. He stumbled on his way up, but this time instead of the stairs of Air Force One, he let his mouth get in his way. Mr. Biden weighed in on the fatal shooting this weekend of a young Black man named Daunte Wright.
Baltimore's Kweisi Mfume waiting on federal cash
Baltimore calculates that it expects to receive $670 million from President Biden's American Rescue Plan -- and for a city whose pre-pandemic unemployment rate stood at 12% for Black residents compared to 4% for Whites, it can surely use some help. Is a rehash of the Lyndon Baines Johnson's Great Society the most effective and efficient road to travel? Rep. Kweisi Mfume seems to think so.
D.C. loses track of who knows how much money
What's the point of a bunch of rules and regs regarding construction, housing and professional licensing if there's no long, stiff arm of law enforcement to verify?
One-size schooling doesn't fit all during the pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic has been a tough lesson for parents, teachers and politicians. The old-school one-size-fits-all way of education does not work. Charter school advocates have been saying as much all along.
Washington Football Team's fishbowl is shrinking again
Dan Snyder is on the hit list again. This time, it's the cancel culture's Time's Up who has drawn a bull's-eye on his back. The organization, whose supporters include Hollywood bigwigs Shonda Rhimes and Mark Walhberg, say the owner of the NFL's Washington Football Team is making a power grab.
Summer employment or political sham?
It's that time of year again, when mayors tout their summer jobs programs — and how things will turn out during the second summer of the COVID-19 pandemic is as uncertain as the first and as questionable as school openings.
Who's going to rebuild our infrastructure?
Mayors and governors, in particular, love ribbon-cutting ceremonies. President Biden is no different. Mr. Biden calls his infrastructure plan the "Build Back Better Plan." But it's really not a plan. It's a vision. Mr. Biden's vision to live "greener."
America puts immigrant children, families in crosshairs
Like huddled masses yearning to be free, children as young as 1 year old are cloistered in the United States.
Ask questions before schools reopen
Now that President Biden has signed the $1.9 trillion stimulus package and speechified during prime time, it's time for average Americans to ask a few sensible and detailed questions.
Kathy Gillchrist, daughter, finds her dad is mass killer Brad Bishop
Bishop has been on the run since 1976 and would be 84 on Aug. 1, unless he's dead. His daughter, Kathy Gillchrist, learned of her connection to Bishop after contacting a genealogist in Maine regarding her DNA.
Schools must leave no child behind
Students registered in public school systems around the nation are "missing" school due to closures blamed on COVID-19. But that the very public education systems designed to rescue children and save them from themselves leave kids behind is jolting.
Why D.C. can't flip the statehood script
If D.C. folks want to be a state, then they should stop wasting time trying to change the rules and jump in the game.
Prince George's County heads back to the classrooms
Teachers are being urged first to give instructions and lessons to those students who are virtual, and then repeat themselves for in-school kids. It's fairly clear who benefits from that academic deal.
A pop quiz on education
Forget, momentarily, that Joe Biden is president; Nancy Pelosi is the speaker of the House of Representatives, which controls the nation's purse strings; Chuck Schumer of New York rules the Senate roost; and a relatively unknown union leader oversees the federal Department of Education.
Save D.C.'s music history
The global music scene ain't what it used to be. Indeed, if DJ D-Nice hadn't taken to online music airwaves from his kitchen in March as the world shut down clubs, bars and concerts because of COVID-19, we all would have been deprived of one of the few things that unite us.
Wear the mask and do as I say
To lean in on the words of Donald John Trump, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. is a "swamp" creature, a member of the silent generation who's waded in Washington waters since 1973.
