Tom Howell Jr.
Articles by Tom Howell Jr.
Tax-reform panel aims to untie D.C. code’s ‘knot’
A newly seated edition of the D.C. Tax Revision Commission began wading through layers of the city's Byzantine tax structure on Monday and brainstorming ways to keep the city's finances in step with its flourishing population. Published August 6, 2012
New D.C. health director ready for challenges
Dr. Saul Levin left his native South Africa in 1984, a time when his country was still under the grip of a racially driven apartheid system and HIV/AIDS awareness was uncertain territory. Published August 5, 2012
Vouchers available to 1,788 D.C. students
More than 1,700 students from the District will get the chance to attend a private school this year through a federal voucher program, despite an ongoing debate among leaders in the city and on Capitol Hill about whether "school choice" should stay within the bounds of the public school system. Published August 2, 2012
Senator seeks to attach D.C. abortion measure to cybersecurity bill
A Republican senator from Utah relaunched a measure that bans abortion in the District after 20 weeks of pregnancy mere moments after the House defeated its version of the bill Tuesday night. Published August 1, 2012
Effort to restrict abortions in D.C. fails in House
House Republicans could not muster enough votes Tuesday to pass a bill that bans abortions in the District after 20 weeks of pregnancy, a closely watched measure that pitted Democrats 'claims of a "war on women" against pro-life advocates' state-by-state defense of the unborn. Published July 31, 2012
House scheduled to vote on D.C. abortion ban
The House is scheduled to vote late Tuesday on a bill that prohibits abortions in the District after 20 weeks of pregnancy, a controversial move that has been heavily promoted by pro-life advocates and decried by city officials and Planned Parenthood. Published July 31, 2012
Issa gives commuter tax idea a big boost
A D.C. lawmaker in charge of local purse strings thinks an influential congressman's look at a tax on out-of-state residents who work in the District could be a "game changer" for the city's finances. Published July 30, 2012
Mayor, D.C. school officials cheer rise in test scores
D.C. school officials on Thursday praised overall gains in 2012 test scores as another baby step toward the ambitious, long-term goals for school reform — although less than half of the city's students were proficient in math and reading. Published July 26, 2012
In Gray’s defense, he’s getting good at defending himself
For the third time in as many days, D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray stood at a podium on Wednesday to highlight the District's progress during his tenure — a defiant stand less than a week after his attorney rebuked the media's "rush to judgment" over a shadow-campaign scandal that has besmirched Mr. Gray's first 18 months in office. Published July 25, 2012
D.C. agency grades have improved service, officials say
The D.C. government says a pilot program designed to cull feedback on its services has nudged upward the mediocre marks obtained by five agencies that frequently deal with the public. Published July 24, 2012
Gray’s AIDS speech overshadowed
Eager to tout the District's progress on the HIV/AIDS epidemic at a worldwide summit on his home turf, D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray took the stage at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on Monday for a respite from the scandal that has dogged his days and nights since the 2010 campaign. Yet trouble found him. Published July 24, 2012
Running for mayor on Evans’ to-do list
D.C. Council member Jack Evans is definitely running for mayor "the next time an opportunity comes up." But he is not looking to push embattled Mayor Vincent C. Gray out the door. Published July 22, 2012
McDuffie: Bloomingdale neighborhood needs help now
D.C. Council member Kenyan McDuffie is calling for an "all hands on deck" effort to stem too-frequent flooding in the Bloomingdale neighborhood after a string of devastating rainstorms this month. Published July 22, 2012
D.C. unemployment declines to lowest level since March 2009
The unemployment rate in Washington, D.C., decreased slightly from 9.3 percent to 9.1 percent in June, its lowest level since March 2009, city officials said. Published July 20, 2012
Delegation for D.C. hits the roof in search for more space, revenue
Building out space on city rooftops for work and play is a common-sense and potentially lucrative tweak to a century-old law that restricts the height of buildings in the District, D.C. officials and analysts told federal lawmakers Thursday. Published July 19, 2012
Issa open to discussion of D.C. commuter tax
A year after he suddenly proposed greater fiscal freedoms for the District, Rep. Darrell Issa dangled yet another enticing plan in front of D.C. officials on Thursday. Published July 19, 2012
Gray attorney accuses media of ‘rush to judgment’
D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray's attorney accused members of the media and critics on Thursday of engaging in a "rush to judgment" over Mr. Gray's responsibility for an off-the-books scheme that injected about $650,000 into his 2010 campaign and places his political future in doubt. Published July 19, 2012
Not all giving back tainted donor cash
Despite the return by President Obama and the Democratic Party of a tainted $10,000 donation from D.C. fundraiser Jeffrey E. Thompson, dozens of other federal and local campaign committees, Democrat and Republican alike, continue to hold on to tens of thousands of dollars they have received from the contractor now at the center of Mayor Vincent C. Gray's deepening fundraising scandal, records show. Published July 18, 2012
House committee passes bill restricting abortions in D.C.
The House Judiciary Committee approved a bill on Wednesday that bans abortions in the District 20 weeks into pregnancy, despite objections by Democrats and city leaders that the bill unreasonably singles out residents of the nation's capital. Published July 18, 2012
Supporters rally around D.C. Mayor Gray
A diverse gathering of D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray's supporters raised their voices —and their megaphones — in prayer and song at a rally in front of city hall on Wednesday, evoking religious teachings and the right to due process to defend a man who has been labeled either an election-swindler or an innocent victim of his surrogates' sins. Published July 18, 2012
