Wilson Students Protest Lunch Restrictions

I was reminded by a faculty member today that billionaire Warren Buffet graduated from Woodrow Wilson High. Class of 1943.

DC Mayor Adrian Fenty also attended the school in upper Northwest, long considered among the City's best.

Today Wilson's sixteen hundred students are restricted to the building, prohibited from leaving for lunch, under new emergency restrictions enacted by Chancellor Michelle Rhee, following a series of attacks on students.

13 Wilson students have been arrested. Some have been injured in attacks around the Northwest campus.

When I arrived at the school today with cameraman Keith Williams dozens of students were defying the order and gathering outside the school on the football field.

Elsewhere some Seniors, leaving after half day, said they are considering a school wide walkout to protest Rhee's "lock down".
They called on the Chancellor to include student leaders in future discussions and to enforce the rules of conduct already on the books.

Rhee has stopped any more enrollment at Wilson for the remainder of the year. A zero tolerance policy has been implemented.

Some of the instigators are believed to be from Oak Hill-the District's Youth Reformatory. Rhee says she'll meet with Oak Hill staff. Three additional Security Guards have been added at Wilson today. That's a total of ten.

Mafara Hobson, A spokesperson for the Chancellor told me the lunch time restrictions will be replaced by permanent new security guidelines later in the week.

The problem says Hobson is there are 16 hundred students and a cafeteria that holds only 400 students and when everyone goes to lunch at the same time "You can't now supervise everyone" she says.

Click here to watch Bruce's TV Report on the Student Protest at Wilson High .

Wilson High on Lock Down?

DC Students return from Spring break on Monday and DC School Chancellor Michelle Rhee, in response to recent attacks on students at Wilson High, has ordered students to remain on campus during their lunch periods.

Once the top rated City school Wilson has been the scene of repeated violence, arrests and lots of parent frustration.

They are blaming recent 9th graders who have been added to the student roles here and at other high schools. Included in those numbers at Wilson, according to some parents, are a few 18 year old 9th graders who spent time at Oak Hill, the District's Youth Reformatory.

The letter that Rhee sent home to Wilson parents is shown below

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Office of the Chancellor
825 North Capitol Street, NE, 9th Floor, Washington, D.C., 20002-1994
(202) 442-5885 – fax: (202) 442-5026
March 20, 2008
To the parents and guardians of students at Wilson Senior High School,
As you know, there have been a number of incidents of violence at Wilson recently. This
week alone 13 students were arrested in conjunction with incidents that occurred.
Because of this, we need to take immediate action. As a follow-up to a meeting with
parents last evening, I am writing to update you on the plan of action we are taking in
order to address these issues.
When students return from spring break, a new plan will be in place to decrease the
incidents of violence and to help all students to remain focused on their learning and feel
safer in school. This plan is a short-term solution in the interest of student safety as we
work out the longer term plans to protect our students so they may focus on learning.
Following are some of the measures that will be in place when students return on
March 31st:
• I am appointing Tom Whittle, a former principal who has been working at Wilson
as a dean in charge of student discipline. I am confident in his experience as a
former principal and am supporting his authority in meeting with students and
teachers to enforce DCPS rules of student conduct and teacher accountability. He
will continue to work with Principal Williams as he builds necessary protocols
such as entrance screens and student identification cards.
• The major incidents we had, occurred during the lunch period. We have a
cafeteria with a capacity of 400. However, because we only have one lunch period
we have 1,600 students who need to eat at the same time, and students are forced
away from supervision. This is a situation that is not set up well, and we will be
working with students, parents, teachers and administrators to create a lunch plan
that works for Wilson’s students. In the meantime, because staff is critical to
preventing and resolving disputes as well as enforcing rules of student conduct, I
am reducing the staff-to-student ratio by moving students to their classrooms for
lunch. This is a temporary solution, and students who are productive and
complying with student conduct codes will soon be moved out of the classroom
into a more standard environment. Dean Whittle will facilitate this process. I
would like to be clear that we are not punishing students for their classmates’
behavior. We must reduce the teacher-student ratio to restore an environment in
which teaching and learning can continue.
• We will implement a zero tolerance policy at Wilson. This means two things.
First, the most disruptive students are being notified that they have a “last chance”
agreement – one more incident and they will be removed from Wilson. Second,
infractions will be dealt with strictly and students who are expelled will not be
permitted to return to Wilson.
• An administrator will stand at each door with a full list of students who have been
suspended or removed, ensuring that these students are not entering the building.
• Wilson is now at capacity, and therefore enrollment at Wilson will be closed. No
new students will be admitted through the end of the school year.
• Incidents increase when a school does not have the appropriate or number of
teachers and classes that students need. We will be adding the special education
and ESL teaching positions that the school is missing, increasing both the number
of teachers in the building, and the classes that many students need.
• We have added three security officers to the existing staff of 7 (a total of 10
officers during the day). We have also added 4 officers for the after-school
program.
• We will meet with the staff of non-DCPS programs such as Oak Hill to determine
how to better serve students when they leave and enter the school.
Dean Whittle and Principal Williams have the full support of the Chancellor’s Office to
enforce all of the above actions. I will continue to monitor the situation closely at Wilson
when students return from the break. I am confident that these measures are the necessary
and appropriate steps I must take to keep our kids safe.
Sincerely,
Michelle Rhee
Chancellor

5 Year Old Boxing Phenom!

I know the town is caught up in March Madness and the opening of the Nats new ballpark; but you must check out this little boxing phenom. He's incredible although some may question why is his Dad is putting him through this at such a young age...and what part of his childhood is being sacrificed? Let me know what you think.

Click on the Youtube link to view the video of "Bam bam".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y65VcABUzr8

Ben's Chili Bowl Makes the Move!

I captured this picture that absolutely confirms the historic Ben's Chili Bowl will be among the local vendors at the new National's Ballpark on opening day Sunday.

Paying DC Police to Work the New Baseball Stadium

Photo by Jdland.com


It's all part of the deal with Major league Baseball according to DC Police Officials. They'll assign about 40 officers to a security detail at the New Nationals Ball park beginning Sunday March 30th Opening day.

The officers will already be on duty but won't be coming from neighborhood or street patrols, say officials. They'll be detailed from special operations and administrative assignments in the Districts according to Assistant Chief Patrick Burke.

DC Councilman Phil Mendelson who voted against the bill to provide 600 million dollars in public financing for the stadium project is equally skeptical about the police detail to the stadium because taxpayers and not the Nats owners will again be picking up the tab.

The FOP head Khristopher Baumann goes further and says if the city has 40 officers available for duty they should be assigned to community policing and not be made available on taxpayers dime to the stadium.

Last year MPD provided police officers for security at Nats games at RFK...that was okay with the FOP because the officers were off duty and being paid overtime. The DC Sports and Entertainment Commission should have picked up the overtime tab; but that agency is broke and so the police department had to absorb the nearly two million dollar overtime expense.

I checked with Police about their arrangements with the Verizon center where the Wizards and Capitols play. Turns out there is a much smaller special Police operations detail assigned to the center; but police spokesperson Traci Hughes says the city is reimbursed for their services by Wizards owner Abe Pollin

The Funeral for Hector Collison

It's rather different watching hundreds of well educated, prosperous and accomplished physicians bid farewell to a superstar colleague, killed in his prime at age 54.

Hector Collison was coasting with more than 40 employees working for him at several Washington area hospitals and private offices. The noted cardiologist had graduated from High school, College and Howard University Medical school early, before his classmates had entered their final years.

He made himself an expert-in the Cath lab-at angioplasty; a procedure that identifies then removes blockage in the arteries that cause heart attacks and deaths. His skilled hands helped save my life years ago at the Washington Hospital Center.

On Friday Doctor Hector Collison's colleagues, most of them still stunned, in pain and in more than a few cases in tears, bid farewell to the man who believed in working hard, living well, in the big City.

Collison and his 15 year old gifted son, Sean both died a week earlier when the single engine plane flown by the Doctor crashed in the Shenandoah Valley near Front Royal where the Father had flown in to scoop up his boy from a private school to fly him home for spring break.

Their funeral was held at Reid Temple A.M.E. in Glen Dale Maryland.
There might have been several thousand people there. The Choir was inspiring and powerful.

Bishop Joseph Taylor of Faith Fellowship Ministries reminded us that Hector and Sean were arriving in heaven during the most holy season for Christians. And Peter would be announcing them at the pearly gates as "The physician and his son".

Sean's classmates and child hood playmates, George Hetherington, Valerie Mainwaring, Michael Richards and others told the church about a young man who loved to laugh, rap and talk about Kanye West. It was a very impressive group of young people.

Doctor Collison's classmates and colleagues spoke of their love and respect for the man. On a few occasions a physician not on the program stepped up to the mike to tell us how special this man had been to him.

For my part, I spoke for all Doctor Collison's patients. I asked those in attendance to stand and give him and Sean a standing ovation. Another Collison patient insisted on addressing the audience. She drew lots of laughs when she told the church that "Doctor Collison told me "to stay away from the fried chicken".

Throughout the service I was seated up front and couldn't take my eyes off Hector's widow Connie who was grieving the loss of a husband and son. How could any wife and mother go on after this?

The Doctors were hurting and still in shock after the service in the lobby. Said one, as though looking for an explanation, "He (Collison) did everything he said he'd never do,Fly a plane, fly a plane at night in bad weather"!

Hector Collison had accomplished a lot on earth. The poor boy from Mount Pleasant, had the boat, the cars, the recently purchased mansion in Potomac, Maryland and money to send his children to the best private schools in the country. There were plans to bring Cath Labs to Ghana and other parts of Africa.

Doctors are accustomed to healing people and saving lives. They are among the smartest of us....they can explain and accept almost any illness or cause of death...

On Friday at Reid Temple we were reminded that death can be random. We all have our date stamped. We just don't know when it will come up.

Hector Collison had it right! Live life to the fullest. Love your family.Help others as much as you can. In the end we're only assured of the present.

Covering the Supreme Court

It was my first assignment to the US Supreme Court after thirty years of reporting in DC. I was excited! The nation's highest Court had never clearly decided whether the Second Amendment protects citizen rights to keep a gun for self defense. Was it a right only associated with serving in a State militia as DC officials had contended in defending their tough ban on hand guns?

I was up at 5:30 Tuesday morning. Had to be at Channel 9 by 7:30 to meet cameraman Mike Trammel. I had read everything needed on the issue. More importantly in my preparation, I had covered the City for three decades which included scores of slayings and attempted slayings using the weapon of choice in this city--the illegal and supposedly banned semi automatic handgun.

We arrived at the Supreme Court, which sits behind the Capitol at about 8:15 and were greeted by a lot of live TV camera crews, a handful of protesters of the gun ban and dozens of people who had been camped out for over 24 hours to get one of the prized seats available to the public.

I entered through the Maryland Avenue side of the building, as fellow reporter Gary Nurenberg had directed me, from his times covering the highest court.

I walked in with veteran court reporter Wyatt Andrews of CBS. We first met years ago on assignment in Moscow.

I followed Watt to the press room and was greeted professionally and warmly by a Supreme Court staffer and longtime Channel 9 viewer who welcomed me and congratulated me in the same sentence on my long stay at the TV station.

The experience really gets interesting from this point on..I'm given a folder with the names and pictures of all 9 justices. "Chief Justice John Roberts is number one", she says. "Of course he is" I insist. Not knowing why they would be ranked. 'Stevens is number two. Scalia..number three. Kennedy is number four and so it went all the way to Alito at number nine.

It turned out that we would need the numbered pictures because most of us would never see the Justices nor the courtroom proceedings. We were given seating numbers. I had ticket number F-13 which in the end got me a front row seat--behind a curtain--off to the far side of the room, that allowed for very limited viewing. Peering into the stately and historic room, I could only see four Justices on the far right end..Alito, Ginsburg, Beyer and maybe a part of Justice Scalia.

I could barely hear any one. our chaperon was there to sneak peaks around a pillar into the room-to identify who was talking-and then hold up her fingers to identify the Justice. "Number one", she says. That means Chief Justice John Roberts is speaking. I would write that down as part of my notes. "Number eight", she whispers. Justice Breyer is now asking a question.

I could see DC Mayor Adrian Fenty, Police Chief Cathy Lanier,City Administrator Dan Tangerlini City Councilman Vincent Gray and Youth advocate Ronald Moten. They had great seats in the middle of the room. I was told the Chief executive was given five or six passes. How did Moten qualify for that great view,I wondered to myself?

The Justices were quick to interrupt and cut off the attorney for the City Walter Dellinger. I could sense the gun ban was in trouble.

Clarence Thomas was the only Justice not to speak on the subject. Veteran observers say if he had--it would have been news--he never asks questions.

The Court should have a decision in June on whether the Second Amendment protects citizen's right to have a gun, which would kill the city's ban on hand guns

In the end my assignment at the Supreme Court was a great experience--can't get this during the course of the day anywhere else--only in DC.

Doctor Hector Collison

The call came in Saturday, late afternoon or early evening, as I was getting ready for work. No early six O'clock news cause of basketball games. It was JR on the other end. JR is really Doctor Joseph Robinson, my frat brother and more importantly my cardiologist. He sounded serious. It can't be my bad news. I had passed a physical months ago and now my only health problem was coping with arthritic hips that ended my running career and made me go out and buy a road bike.

JR's mood is somber...he doesn't get to the point soon enough though. Finally.."Do you remember Hector Collision..the other physician who was in the emergency room when you were flown in by helicopter with your heart attack? How could I forget the guy who along with JR had saved my life! "Hector was killed last night when his plane went down with his son also in it".

I'm stunned. A Howard University Medical school phenom Collison had "blown up" as physicians can...he had several offices, business ventures, hundreds of grateful patients who continue to be productive because of his skilled hands. Collison had just bought his dream home in Potomac. He loved flying and kidded JR who refused to go up with him...

He was really on what could be considered a short commute when he left BWI Thurgood Marshall to pick his son up and fly him home for spring break.

I had already been to two funerals this week. As I now prepare for another-Hector Collison and his son Sean--I am reminded of the question I asked myself when my life was saved with the help of those doctors at the Washington Hospital center some years ago--
So now what are you going to do with the rest of your life?

Carlise Davenport! Send her the Children

Photos by Marvin T Jones




We packed Israel Baptist Church in Northeast DC this past Friday to give one of this country's great educators the proper send off. I don't think Clarice Davenport ever wrote a book on how to teach toddlers and elementary school boys and girls. She just DID IT.

A native of Ahoskie, North Carolina, Clarice Davenport came to DC in the 1950s and by 1959 opened what was to become the Tot's Developmental School. For the next half century the North Carolina A and T University graduate would teach any child whose parents could find her; No need to advertise. What took place in her private school on Shepherd Street in Northwest was so successful, word of mouth, was enough to keep enrollment steady.

DC Mayor Adrian Fenty was at the funeral and said some great and funny things about Ms Davenport (that's what us parents always called her). The Mayor's twin sons are students at Tot's.

Councilman and former Mayor Marion Barry talked the longest. His son Christopher went to Tot's at the same time that my son Brandon was there.
That's Brandon (on the left) and Christopher in the picture at the top of the article with Ms davenport walking along the C and O canal.

She took some of her students home on the weekends; and during the summers, parents had enough confidence in her, that while somewhat apprehensive and scared, we still permitted her to take our babies down Interstate 95 to Ahoskie, NC to spend time on her parents farm, weeks at a time. They came back smarter and more independent. I've always said since then that city kids need to get away to the country.

Former Council Chairman Linda Cropp spoke at the funeral. Her grandson was being taught by Mrs Davenport who showed up at the school until a week go, the day before she died.

Marshall Purnell, the DC architect who designed the 611 million dollar Nationals Stadium was there at Israel Baptist.

Well connected Lawyer Claude Bailey,CBS sports commentator James Brown, hospital executive Regina Woods, and Ivanhoe Donaldson were there on Friday to pay their final respects to Carlise. The woman had a great smile and even bigger laugh.

Drs Warren and William Strudwick, Doctor Betty Catoe, Tracey Pinson, Denise Gibson Bailey were there along with Gwen Mitchell and her husband Bobby, the NFL Hall of Famer and Redskins great.

We exchanged stories of how when we dropped our kids off, "it was Miss Davenport's way, or the highway". There was no compromise in what or how she taught. Reading, writing, math, public speaking and self esteem seemed to be her ingredients.

The results were seen and felt throughout Friday's gathering. Her former students, including my son stood, while the lambs, eagles and graders sang or shouted the school song.

Like the many other people who came back on Friday--I was there to say thanks Mrs Davenport for helping make us parent's jobs a little bit easier.

DC Police Want to Search Homes For Guns

DC Mayor Adrian Fenty and Police Chief Cathy Lanier have launched a new anti gun violence initiative that asks homeowners to voluntarily allow police into their residences to search for illegal guns.

It's but one part of a three part program announced today at Seventh District Police headquarters; It's the home searches for guns that got the most questions from reporters.

Chief Lanier says they're hoping parents who suspect their children might have guns will call police to come confiscate the weapons. Lanier says the homeowner will be granted amnesty from the city's law that prohibits people from owning handguns in their homes--unless it's determined the weapon was used in a crime-then all bets are off--a full criminal investigation would be launched.

I should also point out that the new Safe Homes Initiative comes a week before the US Supreme Court is set to hear arguments over the DC handgun ban. A lower court ruled the law that prohibits handguns n the home is unconstitutional and violates the second amendment right to bear arms.

Click here to watch Bruce's Report on New Gun Searches.

Exclusive! One on One with Mother of Garrison Twins

I sat down Tuesday afternoon with Karen Garrison, mother of Lawrence and Lamont-the Howard University graduates who are serving a combined 35 years on crack cocaine charges- crimes they insist--they never committed. The Garrison's claim their names were thrown into a drug conspiracy by a drug dealer turned FBI informant who was merely trying to get his own time reduced.(He served 36 months)

Karen Garrison for the past five years has been on staff at the non profit Families Against Mandatory Minimums organization in DC., where she has become an activist for her sons and others serving lengthy terms due to the disparities between crack sentences and powdered cocaine sentences.

The Democratic controlled Congress recently approved a bill that reduces that disparity, although crack sentences are still much longer; Garrison, last Friday filed papers in Alexandria Federal court that asks the judge to modify the sentences of Lawrence and Lamont..meaning one of her boys could be home within a year, the other would be released four years earlier than his original release date. Lamont got additional time for taking the stand during their trial to process his innocence.


Click here to watch Bruce's Interview With Karen Garrison.

Local DC Restaurant Accepting Euros

The Amsterdam falafel shop is not in the Netherlands and the food is really vegetarian middle eastern grub--

This place is located in the District's multi cultural called Adams Morgan neighborhood were-- almost anything legal-- goes. .

Scott and Ariane Bennett, opened the shop three years ago. The husband and wife team took the name Amsterdam from the European city they love to visit--and they wanted to copy the way the Dutch laid out the ingredients for their falafels..

More recently they thought it would be good for business to begin accepting the Euro at the cash register--They posted signs advertising the Euro inside and outside their shop.

The Euro has surpassed the dollar as the currency with the most value worldwide...320million people in Europe and elsewhere use it... and the Euro is now worth about one and a half times as much as the US dollar.

Ricard Gonzalez, a journalist for a newspaper in Spain, working in DC, says he gets paid in Euros, so the more the dollar falls against the Euro, the more money he makes.

By the way, you don't get one and a half times as much food at the Amsterdam falafel shop and if you have change coming after paying with Euros, the change is dispensed in US Dollars and not Euros.

To view Bruce's report that aired On Nine News Now on the Amsterdam Falafel Shop go to the link below.

Click here to watch Bruce's DC-Euro.

Exclusive! Child's Drink Spiked With a Razor Blade

Tamika Jones of Capitol Heights Maryland followed me and 9 News Now cameraman Keith Williams on Wednesday to the front steps of the Supreme Court building.
We were preparing a report on the upcoming March 18th arguments over the DC ban on handguns.

Ms Jones, mother of two girls, wanted to give us another story. "You won't believe this" she said.

She had pulled her car over and produced a plastic bottle that had a rusting razor blade at the bottom. She said the bottle had contained a grape drink that she had purchased at the Shopper's Food Warehouse store on Silver Hill road in Capitol Heights.

It's a popular children's beverage called "Mondo" squeeze drink and you get ten for ten dollars', she explained.

Tamika says her seven year old daughter complained of not feeling well after drinking the juice and when she examined the bottle she discovered the razor blade embedded inside.

A complaint was filed with Shopper's Food warehouse; but the mother says the manager of the store didn't believe her and even accused her of tampering with the bottle.

Shoppers Corporate office gave Nine News Now a statement in which they say "We sincerely regret this unfortunate incident and we are conducting a thorough investigation of quality control procedures".

Tamika Jones says she has heard from the Corporate office, their insurance company and the bottler of the drink in Chicago. All are promising to get to the bottom of the razor blade incident.

Click on the link below to see Bruce's story as it aired on Channel 9 Sunday night at Eleven. .

Click here to watch Bruce's Razor Blade in Bottle.

DC School Chancellor Fires 98

Dc School Chancellor Michelle Rhee sent 98 employees--all of them said to be in administration or management-packing on Friday afternoon. They will be on paid administrative leave for two weeks, according to school spokesperson Mafara Hobson...and then terminated after that. Under a bill approved by the DC Council as part of the Mayor's school reform the fired school employees have no appeal rights; they can be let go without cause.

Garrison Twins Apply For Reduced Sentences

I began covering the story of Lawrence and Lamont Garrison roughly a decade ago. The Howard University graduates have been in prison all that time on federal crack-cocaine convictions that came on the testimony of an admitted-and convicted drug kingpin seeking to reduce his own pending sentence after he was caught.

I won't repeat the entire story here--The Garrison story has in recent months been seen nationally on CNN and elsewhere; This after the Congress approved legislation to bring the crack sentences closer to the powder cocaine sentences. Lamont got 15 and a half years; His brother 19 and a half. The Garrisons have never stopped insisting on their innocence. They had never been arrested; There was no video, audio, drugs or cash that connected them to the drug conspiracy.

Their mother Karen Garrison filed the sentence modification papers,prepared by the twins themselves, on Thursday with the clerk in the Alexandria Federal Courthouse.

If a judge agrees to modify their sentences--after ten years in prison- Lawrence could be released later this year. Lamont who got additional time after taking the stand to profess his innocense, could be released in four years.

Click on the link below to watch Bruce's exclusive full report on Lamont and Lawrence Garrison

Click here to watch PRISON NIGHTMARE.

DC Ready to Defend Gun Ban Before the Supreme Court!

The noted attorney who will argue the case for the District says it's a reasonable law and not a total ban on guns... and therefore not a violation of the Second Amendment's protection of the people's right to keep and bear arms. Walter Dellinger says DC Citizens can still keep shotguns and rifles in their homes with the proper permits.

Dellinger, former US Solicitor General and now in private practice helped file the government's final brief on Wednesday with the Supreme Court-the last step before the March 18th showdown with opponents of the ban on handguns in the home.

A lower court has sided with citizens who oppose the ban..oral arguments, beginning at 10:a.m will last about an hour with an audio transcript made available shortly after that...

Karen Wiggins, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Police Department's Firearm Examination Branch produced a number of recovered handguns for this reporter on Wednesday..as she skillfully disassembled the Glocks, Smith and Wessons and other semiautomatics, she reeled off a number of facts; about twenty three hundred weapons seized last year--more than eighty percent of them used in street crimes.

Police say if the Supreme Court allows handguns in the home more people will be injured and more guns will be stolen and end up on the streets.

The District's Acting Attorney General, Peter Nickles, lives in Northern Virginia, but agrees with the administration's position on handguns in the home. He doesn't own a handgun although he could in Virginia.

Mayor Fenty says he's convinced a majority of citizens support the ban.

Click here to watch Bruce's Gun Ban Report.

Columbia Heights is Transformed, Why Now?

You can't help but be impressed with the new look Columbia Heights where 14Th and Irving streets intersect in Northwest. Whether you live in the neighborhood and have been bothered by the years of construction or you stalled in traffic while trying to get to the Maryland suburbs, you can't ignore the changes.

Today, Tuesday, Mayor Fenty, Ward One Councilman Jim Graham, At Large member and Chair of the DC Council Economic Development Committee Kwame Brown were there to officially open the new Target store. The public can get inside on Wednesday.

There will be a Best Buy, Marshall's, Bed Bath and Beyond, a Starbucks and lots more-and that's just inside the Mall.

Lining the sidewalks, leading to and from the Columbia Metro station will be even more pedestrian friendly stores...five or six of them small businesses or neighborhood owned.There is a new Giant supermarket and Tivoli Theatre. Offices, high end condos and apartments are also going up. More than a dozen new sit down restaurants now exist where there were empty lots before.

All this roughly 40 years after the riots left this part of town a virtual urban desert--no big business would come here-no upscale housing developer could see a market for buyers or renters in these parts.

DC Officials today were quick to point out there has been no major uprooting of fixed income long term residents. There is low and moderate housing in the neighborhood.

The developer of DC-USA or the Columbia Heights Mall is Drew Greenwald of Grid properties, developers of a similar mall in Harlem. He told me at today's dedication that big stores like Target are reaching a saturation point in the suburbs and looking for new locations; He says they also feel big cities like DC are more accommodating (with 42 million dollars in tax incentives). Greenwald might have added the big stores are following the markets... and scores of yuppies and buppies with good jobs and incomes began discovering DC and neighborhoods like Columbia Heights at about the time that Metro opened the Columbia Heights station--no need for a car.

Neighborhood parking will be even tighter-despite the dollar an hour-one thousand parking spaces under the Mall. You'll want to avoid 14Th street beginning this weekend (think Midtown Manhattan) .

Did I mention the seven hundred jobs available in the DC-USA Mall, alone. Target officials told me 60 percent of those positions will go to DC residents. That's ten percent above what they agreed to with City officials.

All vowed today that the same kind of economic development is coming to other depressed DC neighborhoods. I'll keep you posted.

Click here to watch Bruce's Columbia Height's Story.

Father Runs Over and Kills Toddler Son

It's the kind of story that rips your heart out and makes a veteran reporter want to drop his notebook and throw his arms around the grieving couple.

I got the assignment--Monday March 3rd--a sixteen month old boy is run over by an SUV in a garage under his family apartment building off embassy row in DC. At the wheel of that SUV was the boy's father! The mother saw the whole thing, apparently.

It turns out the mother and another woman were unloading one family car and the child wandered away from them. At the very same time the father was getting into a second vehicle-a Honda SUV- to move it forward freeing up a parking space. The toddler walked into the path of the Honda on the passenger front side--totally invisible to his dad.

The child was pronounced dead at Children's hospital

By late afternoon the mother was back at the scene--crying and only able to stand with the help of an official from the nearby Indonesian embassy. DC Police were finishing up processing the scene and hauling the fatal SUV away as part of their probe. No charges and no names were released by Police.

Click here to watch Bruce's Child Struck Story.

DC Housing Agency Moving to Anacostia

Downtown Anacostia was to have been the location for the NAACP's new headquarters; but internal bickering and financial problems forced the civil rights's group to hunker down at it's current location in Baltimore, even though DC leaders had approved a lucrative financial package for the group in hopes it's staff relocation could help revitalize one of the District's long neglected commercial strips.

Today comes word that Mayor Fenty will move one of the DC Government's agencies to Anacostia.

Here's what the press release said in part;

As an example the District’s desire to encourage new investment in emerging neighborhoods, (Mayor) Fenty said the District will move the Department of Housing and Community Development’s headquarters from the Union Station area to Anacostia Gateway, a 63,000 square foot building at 1800 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE. The building is partially controlled by the District and DHCD’s 178 employees will make the move East of the River in September.


The Center City strategy is intended to solidify the District’s position as the heart of the region by encouraging investments in housing, arts, culture, recreation and transportation. It is the Administration’s goal to transform the District into a globally competitive and sustainable model capital city. The District’s traditional downtown is nearly built-out and development is surging to new neighborhoods like NoMa, the Southwest Waterfront, the Capitol Riverfront and Anacostia.

Exclusive New Video of Illegal Street Race

A spectator used his digital camera to record video and audio of the start of that illegal street race in February. The event took place in the early morning hours on Route 210 in Accokeek, Maryland. As that race was ending a third vehicle seemed to come out of nowhere to mow down and kill eight people who had moved into the street. The camera was made available to this reporter at a secret location Friday night.

Click on the link below to view the newest exclusive video which aired on Nine News Now Saturday night at eleven.

Click here to watch Drag racing report.