The question of whether Maryland will allow same-sex marriages to be performed is still up in the air, but the state can grant same-sex divorces. In a decision that Democrats herald as an important step toward equal treatment of gay and heterosexual couples, the Maryland Court of Appeals unanimously ruled ...

18 May 2012 | 4:29 pm

McDonnell signs voter ID law, orders Election Board to issue new registration cards

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell on Friday signed into law legislation that will require voters to bring identification to the polls, and issued an executive order requiring the State Board of Elections to provide a new registration card to every voter. The combination of the law, accompanied with Mr. McDonnell's executive ...

18 May 2012 | 4:02 pm

Man shot in leg at Rockville Metro station

Montgomery County police say one man was shot at the Rockville Metro Station Friday afternoon. The shooting was reported at 2:40 p.m. A man was shot in the leg and suffered what is believed to be non-fatal injuries, a county police spokeswoman said. No one is in custody for the ...

18 May 2012 | 3:27 pm

Arrest made in first D.C. homicide of 2012

A 31-year-old man has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder in the first death that was ruled a homicide in the District in 2012, according to the Metropolitan Police Department. Alex Jerome Cater, of Northeast, was arrested Friday and charged in connection with the stabbing and strangulation of Leroy ...

18 May 2012 | 2:49 pm

Thomas will go to Ala. prison next month

Harry Thomas Jr., the former D.C. Council member who was sentenced earlier this month to 38 months in prison, will report June 20 to a federal prison camp in Montgomery, Ala., a member of the Thomas defense team said Friday. Thomas' attorneys had requested that the disgraced lawmaker serve his ...

18 May 2012 | 2:17 pm

April unemployment down in D.C.

Statistics released Friday show the District's unemployment rate dropped from 9.8 percent in March to 9.5 percent in April, a positive sign that Mayor Vincent C. Gray touted as proof his employment programs have been effective although there is “more work to do.” Mr. Gray signaled earlier this week that ...

18 May 2012 | 11:49 am

Book of Caruth all about faith, triumph

David Caruth is a man of many almosts. He almost lost his life when he was struck by lightning. He almost lost his humanity when he fell into a drug and gang-fueled world. He almost lost his freedom when he was blamed for a violent crime. Sitting in his spacious ...

17 May 2012 | 10:31 pm

Capitol Hill eyes limiting abortions in D.C.

A House subcommittee heard diverging opinions on a bill that would ban abortions in the nation's capital once a fetus is 20 weeks past fertilization, a Republican-backed effort that city officials decried as a "cheap and cynical" way to promote an agenda on the backs of women in the District ...

17 May 2012 | 10:14 pm

D.C. police inspector at work after drug test

A member of D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier's inner circle said Thursday she recently was "put off work" after a visit to the Metropolitan Police Department's medical clinic, but insisted she was returned to duty after being cleared under the department's drug-testing policy. Inspector Deirdre N. Porter, a 21-year ...

17 May 2012 | 10:12 pm

Virginia lawmaker backs effort to bar part of terror law

A federal judge this week blocked enforcement of a section of federal law that critics say allows unlawful and indefinite detention of terrorism suspects — a case that Virginia Delegate Robert G. Marshall supported with his own legal brief. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Christopher Hedges, who has covered and traveled with ...

17 May 2012 | 9:24 pm

Customs not playing hide-and-seek with carry-on contraband

It's dinnertime at Washington Dulles International Airport, and Officer Steve Whittaker has found himself surrounded by a feast at the international-arrivals checkpoint — a pungent meal he has no plans to enjoy. On a stainless-steel table, beef kabobs give off a spicy scent as they cool. A roasted chicken is ...

17 May 2012 | 9:01 pm

Will Maryland do another tax hike in 2013?

After voting this week to raise income tax rates on the state's highest earners, Maryland lawmakers aren't ruling out more tax increases next year. The General Assembly passed legislation that will raise taxes on the top 14 percent of earners in an effort to balance the state's $35.5 billion budget ...

17 May 2012 | 8:17 pm

Yikes! Bed bugs invade D.C. health offices

Bed bugs have infested the vital statistics department of the D.C. Department of Health (DOH), according to emails obtained by The Washington Times that show DOH officials have been slow to eradicate the problem. The blood-sucking insects, found at the agency's North Capitol Street offices, first surfaced last Thursday, according ...

17 May 2012 | 7:29 pm

D.C. Council members take a ride in self-driving car

A pair of D.C. Council members on Thursday took a quick jaunt around the block toward the future and they like what they see. Mary M. Cheh, Ward 3 Democrat, and Tommy Wells, Ward 6 Democrat, took a brief spin in Google's self-driving car, an “engineering prototype” that could fundamentally ...

17 May 2012 | 1:22 pm

Man fatally shot in car in Fairfax County

A 47-year-old man was found fatally shot inside a parked car Wednesday night in the Mount Vernon area in Fairfax County. The man's name has not been released as police are still trying to contact his next of kin, said Bud Walker, a Fairfax County police spokesman. Officers responded to ...

17 May 2012 | 12:26 pm

Maryland Assembly OKs $260M tax hike, teacher pension shift

ANNAPOLIS — The Maryland General Assembly passed a $260 million tax increase Wednesday as it adjourned from a three-day special session that ended with Gov. Martin O'Malley saying he will bring lawmakers back for another session this summer. The House gave final approval to two bills that will raise income ...

16 May 2012 | 9:59 pm

SIMMONS: McDuffie says he heard what Ward 5 wants

ANALYSIS/OPINION: Kenyan McDuffie tells me he is taking to heart the message that Ward 5 voters sent on Tuesday about what happens to crooks, liars and wannabes. "I heard it throughout the campaign, and I heard and saw it [election night]," said Mr. McDuffie, who won a grueling battle to ...

16 May 2012 | 9:32 pm

Court plays tape of Marine's killing

The last hour of Philip Bushong's life is captured in black and white images by a store's surveillance camera, from his warm embrace of friends to falling face-first to the pavement with a hole in his heart. Bushong died last month after he was stabbed with a knife that Assistant ...

16 May 2012 | 9:30 pm

MWAA defers vote on Dulles rail labor

Though some had hoped for action on Wednesday, the regional authority overseeing the $6 billion rail-to-Dulles project will not discuss - or possibly vote on - a labor provision that is threatening to derail the second leg of the 23-mile rail line until as late as June 6. The board ...

16 May 2012 | 9:30 pm

Lanier gains lawsuit protection

The D.C. police chief's new five-year contract explicitly states that she is protected from civil and criminal lawsuits and drops a paragraph about collective bargaining at the center of a lawsuit brought by the Fraternal Order of Police. Including an indemnification clause, which means Metropolitan Police Department Chief Cathy L. ...

16 May 2012 | 9:30 pm

City wants its form of Hatch Act to prevail

The District's top attorney on Wednesday asked members of Congress to let the D.C. government rely on its own version of a federal law that polices public employees' participation in partisan politics, arguing the city is plagued by confusing applications of law. D.C. Attorney General Irvin B. Nathan, an appointee ...

16 May 2012 | 9:29 pm

D.C. mourns Chuck Brown

Chuck Brown, the "Godfather of Go-Go" and a native D.C. son, died Wednesday at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore. He was 75. His manager Tom Goldfogle said in a statement that Brown died from multi-organ failure brought on by sepsis. On Mr. Brown's Facebook page, which counted more than ...

16 May 2012 | 7:18 pm

Chuck Brown, the 'Godfather of Go-Go,' dies at 75

WASHINGTON — Chuck Brown, who styled a unique mix of funk, soul and Latin party sounds to create go-go music in the nation's capital, has died after suffering from pneumonia. He was 75. Brown died Wednesday at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore. Hospital spokesman Gary Stephenson confirmed Brown had ...

16 May 2012 | 5:44 pm

Md. House passes tax increases

ANNAPOLIS | The General Assembly closed its special session on Wednesday by granting final approval to a set of tax and revenue increases. The House approved a two-bill revenue package that will raise income tax rates on single residents making more than $100,000 a year and couples making more than ...

16 May 2012 | 2:28 pm

Gray: McDuffie 'an outstanding choice' for Ward 5

Mayor Vincent C. Gray said voters in Ward 5 made "an outstanding choice" in picking Kenyan McDuffie to restore integrity to a D.C. Council seat marred by scandal. Mr. McDuffie, an attorney from Stronghold who most recently worked for Mr. Gray in the office of the deputy mayor for public ...

16 May 2012 | 12:11 pm