WAMU: Local News

Virginia Travel Campaign Encouraging Road Trips

WAMU 88.5 - American University Radio — Sat, 26 May 2012 12:12:07 -0400

Virginia tourism officials are encouraging old-school road trips as part of a new travel campaign.

The Virginia Tourism Corporation is launching it's "Go Old School" campaign, trumpeting what it calls "the small town pleasures and quirky roadside wonders of Virginia."

The project, launched at Doumar's Barbecue and Cones in Norfolk, claims to have invented the ice cream cone. The campaign features Virginia's musical legacy and roadside wonders -- including giant roller-skates and supersized frying pans.

The effort also highlights the Commonwealth's wines, brews and spirits, along with old-fashioned diners and classic drive-ins.>

AAA Offers Memorial Day Travel Tips

WAMU 88.5 - American University Radio — Sat, 26 May 2012 11:58:20 -0400

This Memorial Day weekend, nearly half of all travelers in the Washington region will be traveling with family, including children.

Even though the average family in the region isn't expected to travel far form home, some will drive up to 500 miles round trip with anxious kids who might often ask, 'are we there yet?' AAA Mid-Atlantic's John Townsend has a few tips to allow for a more pleasant trip.

"Sometimes it's wiser if one parent drives and another sits in the back seat with the child," he says. "This keeps them pre-occupied, and it's a more pleasant ride for everyone."

Townsend also reminds parents to carry plenty of snacks and drinks, and a photo of the child in case they get lost in a crowed area.

Seagrasses Declining In Local Waters

WAMU 88.5 - American University Radio — Sat, 26 May 2012 10:57:24 -0400

Seagrasses are suffering sharp losses in coastal bays on the Eastern Shore, according to a new survey released by Maryland and Virginia officials.

Seagrasses are important because they provide food and shelter for many species, and are an indicator of water quality. Seagrass acreage dropped 35 percent between July 2010 and May 2011, according to the figures released this week. Water quality and high summer temperatures were blamed for the drop, which coincided with decreases in the lower Chesapeake Bay.

The Chincoteague Bay lost the greatest amount with a decline of more than 2,700 acres or about 27 percent of grasses, split nearly equally between Maryland and Virginia.

Assawoman Bay and the Isle of Wight, lost nearly all of their grasses, and the St. Martin River lost its last 1.6 acres.

Reward Offered For Info On C&O Canal Theft

WAMU 88.5 - American University Radio — Sat, 26 May 2012 10:47:28 -0400

A reward is being offered in Maryland for information regarding the theft of equipment in the C&O Canal National Historical Park.

The thefts took place earlier this month in the McMahons Mill area of the park in Washington County in western Maryland.

The National Park Service says trespassers forced their way into trailers being used for the Big Slackwater construction project.

Stolen items including Dell laptop computers, handheld two-way radios, and work tools. Anyone with information on this crime is encouraged to call the park.

Dewey Beach Laws Are Costly For Musicians

WAMU 88.5 - American University Radio — Sat, 26 May 2012 10:10:19 -0400

Two new laws in a Dewey Beach, a popular Delaware resort, have musicians and bar owners up in arms. One law requires musicians to purchase a business license before plugging in, while the other requires bar owners to turn the volume down.

Some say Dewey Beach is a mile long party zone during summers in coastal Delaware, but apparently not everyone is being entertained by all the live entertainment.

Angry residents, who were fed up with the noise ricocheting off the bay from waterfront clubs and rattling their homes, urged the town council to pass a new law on noise. Local leaders obliged, and passed a law, lowering the allowable decibels in Dewey Beach to 70 during the day, and 60 after 10 p.m., which is about the decibel level of a normal conversation.

In addition, musicians and DJ's who are booked in Dewey, whether full band or solo, must now purchase a $109 business license to play in the resort or face a $500 fine.

Town officials say it's a matter of fairness and quality of life for everyone in Dewey, while business owners believe the noise law will drastically hurt their business.

Rolling Thunder Rolls Into D.C. Memorial Day Weekend

WAMU 88.5 - American University Radio — Sat, 26 May 2012 08:48:56 -0400

For 25 years now, bikers from across the country have rolled into Washington, D.C. to rally in support of veterans and those missing in action.

The annual Rolling Thunder event takes place the Sunday before Memorial Day, and residents and visitors should expect to hear revved up motorcycles engines throughout the weekend.

More than 400,000 people are expected to convene Sunday at the Pentagon for the main rally. Arlington Police will close Washington Boulevard from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. Sunday, between I-395 and the Memorial Bridge.

Drivers should also expect road closures on Fairfax Boulevard Sunday morning for the Ride of Patriots, a precursor to the main event.

A Weekend To Remember Love Ones Lost

WAMU 88.5 - American University Radio — Fri, 25 May 2012 18:22:29 -0400

A Kentucky woman with Virginia roots traveled to Washington this weekend to remember her late husband, a retired Naval Commander. Mary Bower-Keef is a navy wife, two times over. Her current husband is a retired Navy Captain, but she came all the way to Washington this weekend to pay tribute to her first love.

"My first husband was Duane Bruce Bower, and he died in 1996," said Bower-Keef.

Married at 18, they had two children together and moved 28 times.

"He was absolutely dedicated to his country," she remembers.

Mary shakes her head, still obviously grieving from his passing. Today, she is sponsoring a commemorative plaque in her late husband's name at the U.S. Navy Memorial. The Vietnam vet is buried at the National Memorial Cemetary of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.

"And his family was a little distressed that he was so far away and they're from Silver Spring, Md. and I just thought it was important to have something here in the mainland that they could get to," she said.

His name will soon be featured on a wall filled with brushed aluminum plates for all to see and remember.

Analysis: Mayor Vincent Gray, 'A Fool Or A Liar'

WAMU 88.5 - American University Radio — Fri, 25 May 2012 17:27:38 -0400

Bob McCartney, Washington Post columnist

It's been a rocky week for leaders in the District this week, as two former campaign aides to D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray pleaded guilty in a federal corruption probe for making fraudulent donations to former mayoral candidate Sulaimon Brown, destroying evidence of those donations, and then subsequently lying about it. Those pleas are prompting questions about how much the mayor knew. Meanwhile, an apology from Councilman Marion Barry to one ethnic group wound up offending another. Washington Post columnist Bob McCartney spoke with Morning Edition anchor Matt McCleskey about these issues. Here are some excerpts:

On his comment that "Mayor Vincent Gray is either a fool or a liar —and I'm included toward the latter:"
"I find it hard to believe now that he knew nothing at all about [the illegal payments.] One of the people making these payments who has pleaded guilty — Thomas Gore — is somebody that Gray had known for 20 years. Now we know, one of the other people involved in this, although this person hasn't been identified yet in court, is almost certainly his former campaign chairman Lorain Green, and she was one of the mayor's closest friends and associates."

On whether D.C. residents think he is a liar:
"It's hard to know exactly what most Washingtonians think. We haven't had any opinion polls since this new information came out. But I can say this: we know from previous polls that Gray's support dropped a lot. His approval rating was only 32 percent in a poll in December, and that's almost entirely because of the scandals. So I would guess that this recent news has hurt him even more. Also, I was out in Ward 7 on Tuesday, talking to people there. This is Gray's own ward, east of the Anacostia River. People there didn't know the individual details, all the twists and turns in this complicated case, but there was a widespread sense there — and this is an area that went strongly for Gray in the election — that while they like all things that Gray has done for Ward 7, in terms of getting city loans, they were very disappointed in the city scandals."

On how this is affecting city government:
"It's certainly a huge distraction for the mayor, fellow politicians and the media. It's hard to get any traction on making any changes in the city in a policy sense when this is just dominating everybody's attention. Give the mayor some credit though, he's not paralyzed. He's doing business as usual as much as he can. He was in Las Vegas at the start of the week, trying to attract investment from retailers here in the city. He had a meeting with the press on Wednesday, his first day back. He went to this planned event in Adam's Morgan where they were widening sidewalks and putting in streetlights to help business. So he's sticking to his script."

On whether Councilmember Marion Barry did more harm than good with his comment on Polish-Americans in making his apology for disparaging comments to the Asian community:
"I think he didn't do more harm than good. I think that, for the Asian community, this was a very important meeting. This was something that Barry set up to patch things up for two earlier comments that offended the Asian community. This unfortunate comment about Polish-Americans was regrettable, it attracted national attention, national Polish-American groups demanded an apology, but I think that, for the Asian Community, just the fact that he made this effort will be positive."

Lady Arm Wrestlers Kick Butt, Entertain In Charlottesville

WAMU 88.5 - American University Radio — Fri, 25 May 2012 16:15:42 -0400

A women's arm wrestling league that started in Virginia is spreading across the country. Now the national league is coming together for its first ever tournament.

This summer, a horde will descend on Charlottesville, Va. — a sort of fight club, but a superhero fight club. Among the attending will be The Homewrecker, Pain Fonda, the Dirty Butcher and many others, going head-to-head. Who are these superheroes? They are the lady arm wrestlers of CLAWUSA.

CLAW, which stands for the Collective of Lady Arm Wrestlers, started in early 2008 as a make-believe arm wrestling league in Charlottesville.

"There was no league to begin with, we just said there was," said Jennifer Hoyt Tidwell, one of the co-founders of the Charlottesville Lady Arm Wrestlers. You can tell she has fun with this, because she ends nearly every sentence with a laugh.

When the fake league became real, Jennifer and her friend Jody had stumbled on something big, and kind of absurd: it's part theater, part arm wrestling, and part philanthropy. Here's how it works: The theater takes the form of personae. All of the women wrestle as someone else. Jennifer is C-ville Knievel. There's Malice in Wonderland, June the Cleaver, Tragedy Ann, you get the idea.

"It's like Carnivale," explains Tidwell. "It's a time where you can try on anything and you cannot take things too seriously."

But don t let the theater mislead you. Part two is the arm wrestling, and women train for this stuff. Believe it or not, they've had two wrestlers break their arms during competition.

Then you add in the final piece of the CLAW puzzle: all of the profit from the event funds different causes in the community.

"We are activists," says Tidwell. "We are active using our full body and our minds and our mouths to get stuff done."

The first ever CLAW competition in Charlottesville raised about $500. The most recent competition raised over $3000, all of which went to VOCAL Virginia, an organization that aims to empower youth with mental health disabilities.

But CLAW hasn t just grown in Virginia — it's grown all over the country. Sian Richards has been involved since the beginning: "Like Johnny Appleseed, Charlottesvillians propagated the whole thing."

There are now eight full lady arm wrestling leagues that make up the Collective of Lady Arm Wrestlers.

"It's only called CLAW in Chicago, and they have two Ls," says Tidwell. "DC calls it DCLAW, Durham, North Carolina is LEWD, there's the Hudson Valley BRAWL, there's NOLAW in New Orleans, RAW in Portland, Oregon, SLAP in Portland, Maine."

They realized that together they had what Jennifer describes as, "potential fundraising amazingness." So CLAWUSA was founded and in downtown Charlottesville, on June 16, for the first time ever, they will face each other at SuperCLAW, head to head, arm to arm, and of course, wearing ridiculous costumes.

Road Closures Abound For Memorial Day Weekend

WAMU 88.5 - American University Radio — Fri, 25 May 2012 14:17:48 -0400

In Washington D.C., Memorial Day isn't just about a long weekend, holiday travel and barbecues. It's also a time to bring out the the red, white, and blue and participate in a classic American pastime — parades. While parades are a joy to behold on foot, they can cause a headache for drivers. The following are road closures across the District and Northern Virginia throughout the weekend.

Sunday, May 27, The Rolling Thunder will have their annual motorcycle ride beginning at 11 a.m. from the Pentagon parking lot, which will close the following routes:

Memorial Bridge, to include Memorial Avenue from Route 110 to Arlington Memorial Circle
Ohio Drive from Independence Ave. to Virginia Ave.
Ohio Drive, Riverside, from the inlet Bridge to Independence Ave.
Independence Ave. from 1st Street, SW to 23rd Street, SW
Constitution Ave. from Pennsylvania Ave., NW to 23rd Street.
3rd, 4th, 7th, 12th, 14th, 15th, 17th and 23rd Streets between Independence Ave. and Constitution Ave., to include one block north of Constitution and one block south of Independence Ave.
Henry Bacon and Daniel French Drives

On Monday May 28, will be the annual Memorial Day Parade, which will take over Constitution Avenue, NW and 7th Street, NW between Constitution Avenue and Independence Avenue. There will be no parking on Constitution Avenue, NW, between 7th and 23rd Streets. There will also be no parking on Virginia Avenue, NW between Constitution Avenue and 23rd Street, NW. These parking restrictions will be in effect from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m.