March 15, 2011 | 10:48 AM | By Anna
Flickr: urlgirl
Splurge on organic tomatoes, save money by buying conventional avocados and onions.
Thank you to DCentric reader TP, who sent in this helpful blurb, which was one of the “7 Worst Supermarket Rip-Offs“:
The Environmental Working Group, an organization that studies pesticide contamination, ranks onions and avocados as the most pesticide-free vegetable and fruit, respectively—even when grown conventionally.
In fact, as a general rule, anything you have to peel before you eat (such as bananas or garlic, for example) is relatively low in pesticides. If you want to eat organic, splurge on produce with permeable or edible skin, such as peaches, lettuce, and apples.
So add avocados, onions, bananas and garlic to your list of foods that don’t have to be organic. Since January, DCentric has been thinking about how everyone deserves education about and access to healthy food, regardless of income-level. We’re not the only ones:
…the food justice movement, a burgeoning group of dedicated farmers activists working to ensure that low-income families are included in efforts to promote food sustainability…By promoting CSAs and connecting local farmers to low-income communities, the food justice movement increases access to healthy food while providing community education about healthy eating and hands-on urban gardening programs, fostering a true community approach that allows folks to share family recipes and stretch every dollar.
Readers: thank you so much for your tips and story ideas. We love getting your emails, comments and tweets!
March 15, 2011 | 8:33 AM | By Anna
Good morning, DCentric readers! Here are your Tuesday links:
Medical Examiner Questioned About DC9 Case Well, this is kinda huge: “On Friday, the city’s chief medical examiner suggested top Metropolitan Police Department officials could have gotten the facts right from the outset if only they’d checked in…”Our morning meeting is open to all the detectives,” (Washington City Paper)
DC Police Execute Drug Raid on Wrong Home; 86-Year-Old Man Suffers Injuries “There’s a half million people in this city, so why did they have to pick on me?” Smith told FOX 5. The retired federal government worker has lived alone in the same apartment for more than 30 years and said police never offered an apology for the mistaken raid.” (myfoxdc.com)
Discounts on Houses in the District Bidding started at $300. “The two houses on Champlain and Florida avenues in Northwest were the first of 353 houses on which there were delinquent property taxes. The houses went to the highest bidders. To bid, a purchaser must make a deposit of at least 20 percent of the property’s purchase price.” (NBC Washington)
UPDATE: Roach bombs cause of rowhouse explosion Ugh, what is excessive? “D.C. fire officials said an “excessive use of roach bombs” for the cause of the explosion that rocked a townhouse in Southwest Washington. The explosion happened around 11 a.m. Monday.” (Washington Examiner )
Report exonerates Fenty in parks contract controversy “Former Mayor Adrian Fenty was exonerated and two of his fraternity brothers will likely be referred to the U.S. Attorney’s office for an investigation into possible perjury charges following the release of a report on yearlong independent investigation into a questionable $87 million contract.” (Washington Examiner )
Sorry, older folks, but by some business strategies, you’re obsolete “people called and e-mailed me to express how disappointed they are that Verizon is discontinuing its 936- weather line and 844- time line. In the space of just 10 minutes last week, I spoke with two women who both began the conversation exactly the same way: “I’m 89-years-old, and I call that every day.” (The Washington Post)
March 14, 2011 | 3:01 PM | By Anna
Twitpic: @dcguardianangel
Guardian Angels handcuffing five assailants who attacked one of their members on an Anacostia-bound train, Saturday night.
Earlier today, I storified tweets about the Guardian Angels voluntarily patrolling D.C.’s Metro system. This weekend, one Angel on an Anacostia-bound train tried to break up a fight between a black youth and a white woman; that man was violently assaulted by five people (including the youth from the original altercation) for trying to intervene. Other nearby Angels rushed to the train and detained all five assailants until police could arrive and arrest them. That’s the bare outline of what went down. But there’s more:
Alex Kaufer, an Angel in training, stepped in when a black male youth allegedly assaulted a white woman on a train as it pulled into the Anacostia Station on the Green Line about 11 p.m. Saturday. The youth and his friends apparently were making racial comments to the woman and her friend.
“The youths were harassing the girls. They were making fun of them because they were white and because of the way they were dressed,” John Ayala, East Coast director of the Guardian Angels, tells WTOP. “The girl got up and told the youths, ‘We are not afraid of you.’”
That’s when the fight started…
Continue reading →
March 14, 2011 | 8:35 AM | By Anna
Good morning, DCentric readers! Do you feel sunnier after losing an hour yesterday? We do!
City Officials Find Solution To Homeless Crisis: The Comfort Inn Families in limbo because there aren’t enough case workers: “It turns out city administrators have come up with an expensive solution to D.C. General’s limited space: The city has spent tens of thousands of dollars putting homeless families up at the refurbished Comfort Inn on New York Avenue.” (Washington City Paper)
Five arrested, man attacked while breaking up fight on Metro No good deed… “…a member of the Guardian Angels, said he was attempting to break up a fight between a white woman and a black teen when two other youths and two men intervened and all five began assaulting him.” (Washington Examiner )
In D.C. campaign scandal, key tests are physical evidence, Gray aides’ interviews Ouch! “Cynics in the newsroom said Gray must have set some kind of speed record by taking less than 10 weeks to get from his inauguration to a scandal involving the FBI.” (The Washington Post)
Stumbles by Gray disillusion many in D.C. “Terry Lynch, executive director of the Downtown Cluster of Congregations, said Mr. Gray has given credence to the narrative advanced by Mr. Fenty during the election: namely, that Mr. Gray would take the city back to the era of dysfunction that ushered in the D.C. financial control board.” (Washington Times)
Report: Sulaimon Brown Had Been Tried For Attempted Murder Talk about a “second-chance”: “investigators report former mayoral candidate and fired city employee Sulaimon Brown was once tried for attempted murder while living in Chicago. The same confidential report says Brown was charged with assault in Essex County, New Jersey.” (WUSA Washington, DC)
March 11, 2011 | 3:55 PM | By Anna
Flickr: Fernando Galeano
The cover of Felicia "Snoop" Pearson's Memoir
Life imitated art yesterday as the actress who played “Snoop” on HBO’s critically-acclaimed, Baltimore-based drama “The Wire” was arrested. Her charge? Conspiracy to distribute heroin and other drugs.
The creator of “The Wire”, David Simon, released a statement through HBO decrying the war on drugs as a war on the poor. Simon emphasized how different his life and opportunities were and are from Pearson’s; the actress was born addicted to crack, she was a product of the foster-care system and she killed another girl while still a teen. Pearson served time for that murder before being discovered at a club by Michael K. Williams, who also starred on “The Wire” as “Omar”. Here is part of Simon’s statement:
In an essay published in Time two years ago, the writers of ‘The Wire’ made the argument that we believe the war on drugs has devolved into a war on the underclass, that in places like West and East Baltimore, where the drug economy is now the only factory still hiring and where the educational system is so crippled that the vast majority of children are trained only for the corners, a legal campaign to imprison our most vulnerable and damaged citizens is little more than amoral. And we said then that if asked to serve on any jury considering a non-violent drug offense, we would move to nullify that jury’s verdict and vote to acquit. Regardless of the defendant, I still believe such a course of action would be just in any case in which drug offenses — absent proof of violent acts — are alleged.
Both our Constitution and our common law guarantee that we will be judged by our peers. But in truth, there are now two Americas, politically and economically distinct. I, for one, do not qualify as a peer to Felicia Pearson. The opportunities and experiences of her life do not correspond in any way with my own, and her America is different from my own. I am therefore ill-equipped to be her judge in this matter.
March 11, 2011 | 1:41 PM | By Anna
DCentric
Save $3 to 5 million by cutting service? Lose $7 million in revenue. Or $50 million in matching funds from D.C.
Metro’s proposal to cut late-night service on Fridays and Saturdays in order to save money and create more opportunities for maintenance may hit a financial roadblock (via WTOP):
A Metro source tells WTOP city officials are less inclined to kick in their share of dedicated funding if they know they are going to lose millions in revenue from the rollback of late night weekend hours.
If D.C. were to hold back its share of dedicated funding, it could set off a troubling chain reaction. The move would essentially break an agreement with the federal government, which sends $150 million in funds per year to Metro. That money is to be matched year after year by D.C., Maryland and Virginia — all putting in $50 million each.
We’ve already covered how this issue doesn’t just inconvenience privileged drunk people who’ve been out partying– it also means pain for members of the working class who depend on Metro to get home from their jobs at odd hours. Another issue? How much money will be saved by the service cuts vs. how much could be lost:
Continue reading →
March 11, 2011 | 10:49 AM | By Anna
Flickr: Susan NYC
Child playing in NYC.
Yesterday, the Motherlode blog from the New York Times featured a guest post called “Talking About Race (Etc.)” by Amanda Freeman, a white woman who parents two African-American step-kids along with her half-Asian biological daughter.
Freeman narrated two recent experiences which made her think critically about racism. In the first, a black cop rounds up “unattended” children at a playground, including–much to her shock and dismay–her step-children; the second anecdote is about a coffee date with another mother, who mentioned how Freeman’s African-American children had a better chance at being admitted to college than her half-Asian daughter.
Because we live in this new America that celebrates diversity, I have to remind myself not to forget these little happenings. The real danger lies in being lulled into complacency, erasing race from our national dialogue, checking off the completed box. Racial stereotypes in America run deep; they are woven into our everyday expectations. And we can’t let them go unexamined.
What I do know is that ignoring the subtext of these situations fails everyone involved. The more we try to process our complicated feelings about race, the less likely they are to erupt in ugly ways.
March 11, 2011 | 8:28 AM | By Anna
Good morning, DCentric readers! Just a few more hours until a potentially rainy weekend!
Offers of Help Pour in for Homeless Principal Follow-up on story from yesterday’s round-up. Happy news for a Friday. VIDEO: “Carol Dostert, a former principal who’s now homeless, gets generous offers of shelter, support and even work.” (NBC Washington)
Family struggles to cope after wife and mother of four killed by driver on PCP Family lost their home after surviving parent had to quit his job to care for injured children: “The most difficult part, he said, was bath time after the accident, when so many of the kids’ legs and arms were in casts. It was the harshest reminder that his wife was gone.” (The Washington Post)
Prostitution-free zones target visible sex workers in D.C. “The law theoretically prohibits police from identifying prostitution-related behavior on the basis of “stereotypes or ‘profiles’”; instead, police must rely upon “clearly articulated” signs of sex work…neighborhood objections to visible sex work often center on what women should and shouldn’t be wearing outside the house.” (tbd.com)
Scandals, scrutiny mount on Gray administration What budget shortfall? “Several top-ranking D.C. political appointees are being paid at a rate that would violate District law, it was revealed Thursday, yet another controversy in the scandal-marred first two months of D.C. Mayor Vince Gray’s administration.” (Washington Examiner )
Metro’s Plan to Improve Escalators It could get worse if Metro loses federal funds: “There’s a reason escalators always seem to be broken. One is they’re not keeping up on maintenance. Right now only 40% of preventative maintenance is done on time.” (myfoxdc.com)
Lingering federal inquiry could hamstring fledgling administration It’s all so distracting: “Federal authorities looking at accusations of impropriety by the Gray for Mayor campaign might mean more trouble for a fledgling administration that must quickly move to set a new course or potentially risk losing its way entirely, experts said.” (Washington Examiner )
