New police boundaries now in effect
On Thursday, January 10th, MPD’s new police district and police service area boundaries went into effect. One the past nine months, MPD evaluated boundaries established in 2012, taking into account current workload, anticipated population growth, economic, development, and community needs. The realignment is meant to be purely structural in nature. All police districts had some changes; some were minor, whereas others much more significant.
Summer Youth Employment Program now accepting applications
The application period for youth and employers who wish to participate in the 2019 Mayor Marion S. Barry Summer Youth Employment Program (MBSYEP) is now open. District youth ages 14 to 24 and employers interested in hosting those youth can now apply online for MBSYEP 2019 at www.summerjobs.dc.gov.
The program aims to provide six weeks of meaningful employment and work readiness training, beginning Monday, June 24th and ending Friday, August 2nd, 2019. District youth are primed to have the opportunity to earn money and gain work experience, be exposed to various interesting career industries, interact with dynamic working professionals, and learn skills and attitudes necessary to succeed in today’s workforce.
Trump AG nominee unlikely to interfere with D.C. marijuana law
Trump’s Attorney General nominee William Barr says he does not plan to interfere with D.C.’s marijuana law. Barr suggested during his Senate confirmation hearing that he would not enforce federal law prohibiting the possession and sale of marijuana in states that had legalized it. “To the extent people are complying with the laws in distribution and production and so forth, we’re not going to go after that,” Barr said.
Bowser warns Airbnb, short term rental restrictions “legally insufficient”
Mayor Bowser raised doubts over restricting rentals governing Airbnb and other such short term stay companies, saying they are likely to be overturned by the courts. She returned the Council’s recent bill on the matter with no signature, yet no veto either, which normally would mean that the legislation becomes law after D.C.’s standard congressional review period. Yet in her letter to the Council on January 15th, Bowser said the Office of the Attorney General “has advised that the legislation is unlikely to survive a potential legal challenge and therefore is legally insufficient.” She specifically cited a recent New York court ruling that was found to violate the Fourth Amendment due to mandatory reporting requirements amounting to an unconstitutional seizure of booking services’ data. The Council’s contentious legislation would primarily prevent property owners from renting out homes on a short-term basis, including spare rooms and basements in their primary residences for more than 90 days per year when they are away.
Norton decries Senate bill attempting to permanently ban D.C. funding for abortion
Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton is once again fighting Senator Roget Wicker’s (R-MS) bill to permanently prohibit the District from spending its local funds — approved by Congress — on abortion services for low-income women. Wicker has introduced this bill in each of the 112th, 113th, 114th, and 115th Congresses, though the Senate has never taken it up for a vote. The District remains subject to an appropriations rider for fiscal year 2019 that prohibits the city from spending its local funds on abortions for low-income women, which has the potential to be amended with Democrats in control of the House, during the upcoming appropriations process for fiscal year 2020.
