Deborah Simmons
Articles by Deborah Simmons
Donald Trump, don’t do it
Don't do it, Donald Trump. Don't do it. Don't give the D.C. government control of RFK Stadium land and the D.C. Armory land, and please don't give the city the adjacent park land. Published August 8, 2017
NAACP stumbles on education
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is a bit off its mission and game, advocating as it is that public charter schools be as tightly bound to school bureaucracies and regulations as teachers and school employees are to unions. Published August 7, 2017
No-account affordable housing accountability
As members of Congress retreat for the summer to reach out and grab the (greasy) palms of those who put them in office, tax reform has been penciled onto the calendar. Published August 3, 2017
HBO’s ‘Confederate’: What if the South had won the Civil War?
HBO will again jump into the race for top TV dramas with a series currently titled "Confederate," and it has some moneymaking, award-winning powerhouses behind the project. Published July 31, 2017
D.C. Metro system gets another reset by judge
And the beat rolls on toward reforming the D.C. region's mass transit system. Published July 20, 2017
Hogan Crisfield crab clam bake
Politicking, networking and campaigning, and all-you-can-eat seafood? Published July 19, 2017
Education the Jack Kent Cooke way
Whether Jack Kent Cooke would have handled contract talks with Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins the way Dan Snyder did is inconsequential at this juncture. Published July 17, 2017
Metro has money, governance on its mind
The board of the regional mass transit agency known as Metro is finally getting around to what matters, now that safety and maintenance concerns are being routinely tending to -- reforming itself from within and ginning up ways to generate new revenue streams without opening the floodgates to the naming rights maze. Published July 13, 2017
Opioid epidemic hits Southwest Virginia hard
Welcome to Martinsville, Virginia -- NASCAR charter member and home of the Martinsville Speedway paper clip turn that clipped Jeff Gordon, and which Hall of Famer Wendell Scott called his hometown raceway. Published July 12, 2017
Deonte Carraway, P.G. County sex offender, cries victim
Deonte Carraway, the man who admitted he had pornographically exploited a dozen Prince George's County schoolchildren, now claims the justice system is exploiting his rights. Published July 11, 2017
A Trump Metro station? One for Reagan, too?
What if the Metro's Federal Triangle station was named after Ronald Reagan? Or another Republican president, Donald Trump? Published July 10, 2017
ATVs on D.C. streets show parents, police need your help
Several weeks back, a pack of ATV riders roared across a median in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol as if they were in the rural, dusty fields of Kansas. Published July 6, 2017
Women Declaration Independence Revolutionary War
When it comes men and America's independence, many of the ancestors' names and storied lives can easily roll off the tongue. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were two of our first three presidents, and died as frenemies just hours apart on July 4, 1826. Maryland's Charles Carroll, the wealthiest man in the colonies, was a Roman Catholic and a staunch believer of freedom of religion, also signed the Declaration of Independence. Published July 3, 2017
Barry Farm redevelopment — finally
Barry Farm is about to undergo its most important reconstruction since Reconstruction. Published June 29, 2017
LGBTQI D.C. driver’s license
The District of Columbia is marking a first. Published June 27, 2017
Larry Hogan puts schools probe on right track
Maryland's probe into whether Prince George's County administrators, teachers and others changed students' grades and credits to boost graduation rates is no small undertaking. Published June 26, 2017
Is ACLU lawsuit against D.C. cops a red herring?
"An officer told us to drop our pants," Shay Horse said. "An officer went down the row telling each of us not to flinch as he grabbed our balls and yanked on them, and then stuck his finger up each of our anuses and wiggled it around. I felt like they were using molestation and rape as punishment." Published June 22, 2017
Maryland opioid crisis and education
Reading the tea leaves of the 2018 gubernatorial in Maryland would be a foolish undertaking at this juncture. Published June 21, 2017
Metro troubled by governance, operations — not funding
This is the perception: At long last, officials are getting down to the real nitty gritty about the region's mass transit woes. Published June 20, 2017
Ben Jealous seeks to become Maryland governor
There's a long line of Democratic politicians hoping to succeed Republican Larry Hogan as governor of Maryland. Published June 19, 2017