Tom Howell Jr.
Articles by Tom Howell Jr.
Residency issue arises for nominee to D.C. elections board
Mayor Vincent C. Gray's pick to head the increasingly vital D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics faces an uphill route to confirmation because of his residency status, an issue that derailed another mayoral pick mere weeks ago. Published September 21, 2011
D.C. Council passes tax hike
The D.C. Council approved an income-tax increase on the city's highest earners on Tuesday, after a proposal dismissed in the spring was revived during closed-door negotiations and hotly debated by council members returning from summer recess. Published September 20, 2011
Term limits, council salary increases among proposed D.C. ethics reforms
A D.C. Council member is proposing a package of ethics-reform bills that would impose term limits on officeholders while raising to $170,000 the salaries of city lawmakers who are already among the most highly paid in the nation. Published September 19, 2011
Gray puts a different spin on jobs for jobless
D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray's new job-creation effort is modeled after a program that created 13,000 jobs in Atlanta, but the initiatives are more similar in spirit than in execution. Published September 18, 2011
D.C. revenue exceeds projections by $89 million
The District will finish this fiscal year with $89 million more in its coffers than its June revenue estimate indicated, according to a revised estimate released Friday. Published September 16, 2011
Senate bill has no limits on D.C. program spending
A D.C. spending bill passed a Senate committee on Thursday without any amendments that would restrict local officials from spending city money on controversial social programs. Published September 15, 2011
Gray urges hiring of D.C. unemployed
D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray implored major universities and other area employers Thursday to fill their job vacancies with unemployed city residents as part of the District's nascent "One City-One Hire" program. Published September 15, 2011
No riders attached to bill on D.C. spending
A D.C. spending bill passed the first of two hurdles this week when it emerged from a Senate subcommittee without any amendments that would restrict local officials from spending city money on controversial social programs. Published September 14, 2011
D.C. spending bill advances with no new riders
A D.C. spending bill passed the first of two hurdles this week when it emerged from a Senate subcommittee without any amendments that would restrict local officials from spending city money on controversial social programs. Published September 14, 2011
D.C. rights rally to coincide with King event
Mayor Vincent C. Gray and D.C.-rights advocates will resurrect their "D.C. Full Democracy Rally and March" in conjunction with the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial, now scheduled for Oct. 16. Published September 13, 2011
Barry fires back at Gray on DYRS funding
Council member Marion Barry has hit back at Mayor Vincent C. Gray for claiming he held up security enhancements at a Laurel facility with a history of escapes and violence against officers by juvenile wards of the District's juvenile justice agency. Published September 13, 2011
D.C. ethics bill to address constituent services spending
D.C. Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown on Monday pledged to revisit open-ended laws that govern how city legislators can spend money from constituent service accounts as part of a sweeping ethics reform bill that he says is decades overdue and intended to diffuse mounting distrust of city government. Published September 12, 2011
Barry disapproval ties up DYRS security funding
D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray says Council member Marion Barry's efforts to hold up $1.5 million in funding for a trouble-plagued juvenile detention center has delayed security upgrades by "more than a month." Published September 11, 2011
Gray plans to fill D.C. senior staff position vacated after voting scandal
D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray says his administration will fill the deputy chief of staff position suddenly vacated by Andi Pringle, who resigned Wednesday amid reports she voted in September's D.C. primary while living in Maryland. Published September 8, 2011
Gray staffer quits amid uproar over vote in D.C.
Mayor Vincent C. Gray's deputy chief of staff resigned from her post barely a week after she arrived at city hall, citing the "distraction" created by revelations she voted in September's D.C. primary despite living in Maryland. Published September 7, 2011
D.C. taps $10M in reserves for quake damage
The District has followed through on plans to borrow $10 million from its contingency reserve fund to cover damage from last month's earthquake — a conservatively high estimate of what it will actually need — as it continues to assess the monetary fallout from the hurricane that passed the region days later. Published September 6, 2011
Nationals fans jazzy for ‘Strassy’ (Stephen Strasburg)
The return of the Washington Nationals Stephen Strasburg has yet to reach the excitement level created when the pitching ace made his major league debut last year, but he is still on the minds - and jerseys - of baseball fans. Published September 5, 2011
Gray should not have to testify in lottery case
Mayor Vincent C. Gray should not have to testify this month about the D.C. Lottery contract because it is "unduly burdensome" and his legislative activities as council chairman are shielded by law, according to papers filed by D.C. Attorney General Irv Nathan. Published September 4, 2011
Motion seeks to spare Gray from testifying on D.C. Lottery contract
Mayor Vincent C. Gray should not have to testify this month about the D.C. Lottery contract because it is "unduly burdensome" and his legislative activities as council chairman are shielded by law, according to papers filed by D.C. Attorney General Irv Nathan. Published September 2, 2011
‘Other’ tops D.C. Council uses of funding for constituents
The law governing how D.C. Council members can spend money collected in "constituent service funds" is written so broadly that more than 60 percent of the 11,000-plus expenditures they have made in the past decade are classified in public records simply as "other." Published September 1, 2011
