DCentric

Good morning, DCentric readers! While you were watching three locals compete on Top Chef Masters, we were out looking for links!

Marion Barry’s Ex-Girlfriend, Rose Anding, Writes Memoir of ’80s “…it’s full of tidbits Barryolgists will enjoy, like the fact that Anding would always check hotel rooms for recording devices before she and the mayor would do drugs. The book also adds a new perspective on Barry’s drug arrest and trial—arguably the most memorable event in D.C. politics—while confirming what we already knew: Barry was both guilty and framed. Or put another way, Barry was a womanizing crack user, but the bitch really did set him up.” (Washington City Paper)

DC9 Can Reopen in Two Weeks: ABRA “DC9 can serve alcohol if the accused co-owner and four employees cease their day-to-day relationship with the bar and all other license owned by Joe Englert, another DC9 co-owner, until Jan. 19, when another hearing will be held. In addition, club security must undergo background checks and get a training refresher. The club cannot detain people and will record incidents in a log and take part in the police department’s reimbursable detail program.” (NBC Washington)

Mayor-elect’s wallet stolen on Thanksgiving “A drugstore employee has been accused of stealing D.C. Mayor-elect Vince Gray’s credit card on Thanksgiving Day and then using it to buy nearly $40 in cigarettes and liquor in Southeast Washington. Twenty-two-year-old Tamika Garris was the cashier who rang up Gray’s tab at the CVS branch on the 2600 block of Naylor Road, according to court documents. When Gray left his wallet behind on the counter around 2:30 p.m., authorities say video surveillance caught Garris picking it up…” (Washington Examiner )

Hampton University President William Harvey Responds to WSJ Article on HBCUs “…representing 4 percent of all American colleges and universities, HBCUs conferred over 22 percent of all degrees awarded to African Americans. With only 13 percent of African Americans in higher education, these colleges awarded nearly 30 percent of all undergraduate degrees earned by African American students in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines; 50 percent of all bachelor’s degrees in teacher education received by African American students; and 85 percent of Doctor of Medicine degrees acquired by African Americans…” (The Root)

Potomac Gardens Housing Project Again Draws Neighborhood Ire “Virginia Spatz, a longtime resident, argues that much of the crime is a product of the neighborhood’s dramatic changes in recent years…”A one bedroom apartment in Jenkins Row…goes for more than three times what my husband and I paid for the three-bedroom home, in which we’ve raised our family. My family can’t afford to partake of much of the great ‘development’ in the area…and we are well-off compared to residents of public housing. I look on in confusion and sadness — and sometimes anger — as things change under our feet and over our heads; my neighborhood is disappearing and something I can’t afford is replacing it. For kids who’ve grown up inside Potomac Gardens, I can only imagine what they are experiencing.” (DCist)

Unemployment Benefits Expire “Deficit worries drove Republican objections, but some economists argue that stopping the unemployment benefits bill – with an estimated cost of $5 billion per month – will actually hurt the economy. “That’s $5 billion that’s yanked out of the economy every month,” said Heidi Sierholz, an economist at the nonpartisan think tank Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. “Each month, almost 1 percent of the GDP will be taken out of the economy if we don’t extend benefits, and that’s going to be a massive drag on growth.” (Slatest)