D.C./Metro

This is the final installment of the three-part series on unemployment in Washington, D.C. It focuses on what outsiders, including business experts and owners, as well as common people, have to say about Project Empowerment and similar programs.

There is no consensus about whether Washington, D.C.'s Project Empowerment and programs like it are a good thing. Just ask local residents and experts.

Some see such programs as a second chance for those who come from disadvantaged positions in life to develop the skills necessary to find gainful employment and a steady course. Others worry about personal and property safety in the workplace.

Rev. Rob Hardies signs the marriage certificate for Terrance Heath (left) and Richard Imirowicz, officially making them one of the first same-sex couples to be married in the history of Washington, D.C.: Photo by William W. CummingsFor such a controversial couple, Terrance Heath and Richard Imirowicz are surprisingly ordinary.

Yet, many Americans consider this ordinary couple   a threat to the country's moral foundation because Heath and Imirowicz were among the first same-sex couples to get married in Washington, D.C., last month.

Medical marijuana at Venice Beach, Calif.: A medical marijuana proponent advocates for his cause at Venice Beach, Calif. Lawmakers in Washington, D.C., are looking at legislation from across the country to learn lessons about what was successful and what to avoid. photo by Kristen Becker

Twelve years after the initial law was approved by voters in Washington, D.C., the D.C. City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to pass a bill that would authorize the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

"I am pleased by the council's vote today," David Catania, I-At Large, said in a press release after the vote. "I believe this legislation will give residents with qualifying chronic conditions access to medical benefits of marijuana, but will also guard against its misuse."

D.C. Voting Rights posters along 7th St. between New York Ave. and L St., N.W.: Photo by Dbking, courtesy of Creative CommonsDelegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., announced Tuesday that they were removing the D.C. Voting Rights Acts from consideration on the House floor, ahead of a vote scheduled for later this week, because of an inability to reach a compromise with the powerful gun-rights lobby.

Tuesday's announcement represented a reversal for Hoyer and Norton, who last week had each pushed for the bill's passage despite the gun-rights amendment. Norton had argued the gun lobby would be able to force changes on the District's gun laws in a separate bill, and they might as well take a vote in Congress in exchange.

"I believe residents would not want us to pass up this once-in-a-life-time opportunity for the vote they have sought for more than two centuries," Norton said in a April 15 statement.

April 22, 2010 marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.

Earth Day, one day set aside to appreciate the earth, started as a grassroots environmental campaign that has since grown into a global day of awareness. Cities around the world are holding events to mark the anniversary and long-standing meaning of the day.

"Dapper," "suave," and gentleman are are just a few words that come to mind when describing Joseph Daniel Clipper. “In my day, we didn’t shake a young lady’s hand,” says Clipper, leaning in for a hug as I walked into the lobby of the Camden Roosevelt apartment building on 16th St., N.W. Standing next to Clipper in my sweatpants and tennis shoes, I suddenly felt underdressed. Most people leave the fancy work clothes in the closet and don something a little more comfortable on a Saturday, but not Clipper.

The Virginia Avenue Community Garden. photo by Stephen Weigand

Don't let the 90 degree-plus weather earlier this month fool you. It's still spring in the nation's capital and gardeners in the District are busy clearing planting beds and sowing seeds. 

This is the first in a three-part series exploring the movement to decriminalize marijuana use. The first part focuses on Washington, D.C.’s effort to implement its an initiative legalizing the use of medical marijuana.

This is the second part of a three-part series on unemployment in Washington, D.C. This installment puts the spotlight on the leaders of  Project Empowerment, a program in the district designed to help the unemployed become marketable in the work force.

(Part 2 in a series about the nickel charge for disposable shopping bags at District businesses that sell food. )

Many consumers who are unhappy with the 5-cent bag fee, and consider it a city tax, are using fewer disposable shopping bags and storeowners and managers have noticed the decline and change in consumer attitudes.