MONTREAL/CHICAGO – U.S. retailers performed better during the holiday shopping season this year than in historically dismal 2008, in line with lowered expectations, according to data released on Monday.

Activity tracked by SpendingPulse, a unit of MasterCard Advisors, showed retail sales rose 3.6 percent in the period from November 1 through Christmas Eve on December 24.

Factoring out an extra shopping day this year between the November 26 Thanksgiving holiday and December 24, that increase was closer to 1 percent, SpendingPulse said.

SpendingPulse figures reflect activity in the MasterCard Inc payment networks and estimates for other payments like cash and checks. They exclude gasoline and auto sales.

This year, fewer consumers had credit cards after issuers tightened lending terms, while many others said they preferred to pay with harder-to-track cash in order to stay on budget.

In 2008, spending fell 2.3 percent as tracked by SpendingPulse and 2.8 percent as tracked by the National Retail Federation, as the financial crisis led consumers to cut back.

“Last year the economy and consumer spending were in free fall. This year we’re talking about an environment that has stabilized. That has seen a leveling off,” said Kamalesh Rao, director of economic research at Spending Pulse.

Rao cautioned that a consumer return was tentative and far below 2007 levels. Holiday sales can account for 25 percent to 40 percent of annual sales for many retailers.

Looking at the holiday season as a whole, industry experts said retail sales neither added an optimism-inducing upside nor a deeply worrying downside to their forecasts.

“Holiday 2009 can be described in one word, ‘Adequate,’” NPD Group chief retail analyst Marshal Cohen said in a note.

The Standard & Poor’s Retail Index was up 0.3 percent by the end of trade on Monday. Top retail gainers included American Eagle Outfitters, up 2.9 percent.

NRF STICKS TO FORECAST

The National Retail Federation continues to expect a 1 percent drop in sales for November and December, while other forecasts predict a rise of up to 1 percent.

The NRF plans to issue its own holiday season tally, based on government data, on January 14. While it is not moving away from its forecast, “we’re encouraged by preliminary survey results,” spokesman Scott Krugman said on Monday.

Among stocks cited as holiday season winners this year, Gap Inc rose 1.4 percent. Wal-Mart Stores Inc, which offered early and deep discounts, rose 0.7 percent. Amazon.com Inc was helped by higher online shopping overall and its Kindle e-reader, and its shares rose 0.6 percent.

Wedbush, which tracked stores in four markets, said traffic at U.S. malls increased over the past weekend, with shoppers looking for last-minute items on December 24 and traffic up “significantly” on December 26 for post-Christmas sales.

Gap’s namesake chain was among the more promotional apparel retailers, offering an additional 40 percent off for clearance items on December 26, Wedbush said.

About 60 percent of the space at Gap stores was made up of sale merchandise, while that level rose to about 70 percent at American Eagle and 80 percent at Children’s Place and Gymboree, Wedbush said.

While visiting malls on New York’s Long Island on Saturday, Wall Street Strategies Inc analyst Brian Sozzi saw customers buy more items than they were returning.

“They were actually buying a mix of full-price and some of the discounted goods. So I think that’s a very positive sign as we go into January,” he said.

Coupons and gift cards handed out over the weekend to be used in January could also drive spending.

But it will be weeks before investors find out what the final push meant to retailers’ bottom lines. Several chains plan to report their December sales results on January 7. Full results will come after many retailers wrap up their holiday quarters on January 31.

ONLINE SAW BIGGEST JUMP

The increase tracked by SpendingPulse was aided by a 15.5 percent surge in online purchases as consumers became more comfortable shopping online and shoppers stranded by snowstorms on the East Coast and in the Midwest bought from home. Online retail sales account for about 5 percent of overall sales.

Sales at specialty electronics chains such as Best Buy Co Inc rose 5.9 percent after falling sharply in 2008.

Luxury sales edged up 0.8 percent. Jewelry sales shot up 5.6 percent and gathered steam just before Christmas.

Men’s apparel sales rose 3.9 percent, while women’s clothing sales edged down 0.3 percent. Sales at specialty apparel retailers such as Gap and Abercrombie & Fitch Co edged down 0.4 percent, but showed signs of life after Black Friday this year, rising 2.3 percent between the last Friday in November and December 24.

Source

WASHINGTON — The City Council voted Tuesday to legalize gay marriage, giving supporters a victory after a string of recent defeats elsewhere and sending the issue to Congress, which has final say over laws in the nation’s capital.

Mayor Adrian Fenty has promised to sign the bill, which passed 11-2, and gay couples could begin marrying as early as March if Congress allows it to become law. Democratic congressional leaders have suggested they are reluctant to get involved, though gay marriage opponents say they will try to get it overturned either in Congress or at the polls.

Federal lawmakers declined to weigh in the last time they had a chance, after the council voted in May to recognize gay marriages performed elsewhere. Congress let that bill become law without taking any action, avoiding what could have amounted to a referendum on gay marriage.

RELATED: N.Y. State Senate Votes Down Gay Marriage Bill

The bill that passed Tuesday had overwhelming support among council members and the outcome was no surprise. Two members said “I do” when their turn came to vote, and a packed chamber erupted into cheers and clapping when the bill passed.

“Make no mistake, 2009 has been one hell of a year for marriage equality,” said David Catania, who introduced the bill and is one of two openly gay council members.

The “no” votes included former mayor Marion Barry, who said, “I don’t,” when it was his turn.

If the bill becomes law, the district will join Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts and Vermont in issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. They will be able to wed in New Hampshire starting in January.

Gay marriage supporters have had less success elsewhere recently. Maine voters overturned the state’s same-sex marriage law last month. Earlier this month, the New York state Senate rejected a bill that would have allowed gay couples to marry. And New Jersey’s legislature, which had been working on a same-sex marriage bill, postponed a recent vote when the measure appeared headed for defeat.

RELATED: Maine Voters Repeal Law That Allowed Gay Marriage

Tuesday’s vote in the district came after several months of discussion, including two marathon council hearings at which some 250 witnesses testified.

Opponents included the Archdiocese of Washington, which said it might have to stop providing adoptions and other services because the law would force it to extend benefits to same-sex couples.

“Today the District of Columbia joined a handful of states where legislatures or courts have redefined marriage to include persons of the same sex,” the archdiocese said in a statement after the vote.

The law will likely take effect around St. Patrick’s Day in this city of 600,000, which is about 1/17th the size of Rhode Island. Congress has 30 working days to reject it, but that has happened with similar legislation just three times in the past 25 years.

Still, opponents plan to try. Members of a group called Stand4Marriage, led by local pastor Bishop Harry Jackson, have met with members of Congress to urge them to oppose the bill.

Attorney Cleta Mitchell said that after Fenty signs the bill, the group will ask a district elections board to put a referendum on the ballot asking voters to overturn it. She said in a statement before the vote that the law is a “decision for the people, not a dozen people at city hall.”

The group Mitchell represents made a similar request this summer, when the city passed a law recognizing gay marriages legally performed in other states. The board declined to put the issue on the ballot, saying that would violate a city human rights law.

Jackson said Tuesday he believed that the group had an “airtight legal case” and that “if it gets to the vote, we win.”

The group also has a lawsuit pending from earlier this year, when it tried to get an initiative on the ballot asking voters to define marriage as between a man and a woman. The elections board again cited the human rights law in saying no. A hearing in that case is scheduled for January.

From WISN.com

Lamya Cammon is angry, confused, and scared by the incident last week in which the apparently frustrated teacher cut one of her braids off after she wouldn’t stop playing with them in class.

Cammon, 7, sports a few dozen braids, but one is conspicuously absent.

“She told me to stop playing with it. Then cut it off and sent me back to my desk,” Cammon said.

Cammon’s a first-grader at Congress Elementary and said her teacher used a pair of classroom scissors to cut off one of the braids after she absent-mindedly kept playing with them.

Click Here For More

VIA MYFOXDC:

More students could be walking to school in Fairfax County in the future, rather than riding the bus.

Because of the significant drop in tax revenues, county officials have already trimmed police, fire, library, and transpiration budgets. Lee District Supervisor Jeff McKay is suggesting that school officials consider expanding the boundary distances that trigger bus eligibility.

Currently, if a student lives more than a mile from an elementary school, or more than 1.5 miles from a middle or high school, that student is eligible for free bus service.

“It costs us as much money to operate a school bus each year as it does to put a teacher in a classroom,” says McKay, who adds he would rather spend money on more sidewalks and trails, and get more children walking to school.

Residents appear divided on the proposal. Retiree Carl Sell believes, “There are some areas, my community — Rose Hill — [where more walkers] will work pretty well. I can think of other areas — Clifton, the Western part of the county, where it won’t work so well.”

Tracey Coon, a mother whose child attends Lee High School adamantly opposes McKay’s idea. “I want [my kid] on a bus,” Coon declared.

Supervisor McKay concedes he’s gotten some grief for floating the idea, and says he’s not married to the concept of trimming school bus service. But McKay points out that the projected budget deficit for next year is around $500 million, and he believes many program cuts are likely.

Source

VIA WJLA:

D.C. police have made an arrest in the shooting death of 9-year-old Oscar Fuentes, a Metropolitan Police spokesperson confirmed.

Law enforcement sources identified the suspect as Josue Pena, 26. He was arrested on Drexel Street in Hyattsville just before 6 a.m. Tuesday, the sources said.

Oscar was shot to death in his family’s apartment in the 1400 block of Columbia Road in Northwest Saturday night.

Authorities plan to announce more details at a 10 a.m. news conference Tuesday.

A vigil was held Monday night for Oscar Fuentes and a community wrapped its arms around a family devastated by his death. They gathered in front of the Columbia Heights Apartment where Oscar was killed.

“He was an angel,” said Oscar’s cousin Rufino Fuentes. “He’s not suffering in this world anymore.”

We’re told Oscar’s mother was too distraught to be there, but sent this message:

“She wants justice, she want the person who killed her son to be behind bars. And she’s going to be waiting for that moment,” stated Fuentes.

Fuentes says, according to family members, this is what happened the night they lost Oscar: someone was hassling the family in the hallway and the family fled to the safety of their apartment.

“And they believe he stayed behind the door watching through the little hole in there to the hallway,” said Fuentes.

Moments later, someone fired a shot into the door.

Fuentes said, “And then they saw the little boy was crying and calling ‘Mom, Mom look what they did to me.’”

The night of remembrance proved too overwhelming for one of Oscar’s cousins, who collapsed near the end of the vigil. She was checked out and expected to be ok. It was yet another moment of uncertainty for a family who has already experienced enough heartache.

“There’s a reason we didn’t bring the entire family,” said Fuentes. “This is just too devastating.”

Residents in the community remain concerned about the level of security while city leaders focus on the troubling building, riddled with gang activity.

“You don’t have to look any further than the front door these are all gang tags,” said D.C. Councilman Jim Graham.

Managers of the Columbia Heights apartment building tell ABC 7 News a new, more secured door will be installed in a couple of days. Property managers also say they plan to hire security officers to keep watch of the building during operation hours.

Source

VIA MYFOXDC:

ARLINGTON, Va. – A fire at a home along Glebe Road and 9th Street has left sixteen people homeless.

The fire started around 3 a.m. and was discovered after one family member came home from work and found smoke in the house.

Everyone made it out safely.

Firefighters found one smoke detector in the home, but it was not working.

The family is now working with the Red Cross to find a place to stay and fire investigators are searching for the cause.

Source

object type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” id=”video” width=”640″ height=”520″ data=”http://www.myfoxdc.com/video/videoplayer.swf”>

VIA MYFOXDC:

WASHINGTON – A fire department photo-op went horribly wrong after a firefighter was badly burned during a fire safety exercise on the campus of Galludet University.

DC Fire and EMS Department Chief Dennis Rubin has apologized for the incident which he said, according to firehouse.com , looked like a “comedy act.”

The incident took place last Wednesday as firefighter set a mock dorm room on fire.

As the firefighters began to put the fire out, a Plexiglas curtain caught fire, melted, and began to drip flames on the men.

“Some of the failures on our part — and I’ll take full responsibility — had to do with the idea that we wanted to have a demonstration was impactful so that the equipment would work in a reasonable timeframe,” Rubin said on firehouse.com.

Source

VIA WJLA:

There’s a new controversy over speed cameras in one part of Montgomery County Monday night. The issue is around how to spend the money made from the fines imposed.

In Chevy Chase Village, the police department wants to buy tasers with the money — but that’s not sitting well with everyone.

Montgomery County expects to rake in $29 million from speed camera tickets this year. Now, one of its villages wants to spend part of its share on tasers — 12 of them for each officer in the Chevy Chase Village Police Department.

“It gives us the opportunity to equip each of our officers with a less-than-lethal device,” said Chief Roy Gordon of the Chevy Chase Village Police Department.

For some drivers who are already fed up with the seemingly ubiquitous cameras, the plan to spend the revenue on electroshock weapons is just icing on the cake.

“I think that’s about as backward as you could possibly sculpt a law and I say [thumbs down],” said David Bernstein, a driver.

Even Phil Andrews, president of the Montgomery County Council, has reservations. “I think the best use of the money from speed cameras is to have it go back into initiatives that improve traffic safety, pedestrian safety and emergency response to traffic crashes,” he said.

But Andrews says the village may we be within its rights. Under county law, funds from speed cameras must be used for public safety and it can be argued tasers serve that purpose.

“I think it’s fine. If that’s where they need to use the funds to make Chevy Chase safer, I think they should,” said Scott Foreman, a driver.

In addition to the $30,000 it would spend on tasers, Chevy Chase Village also plans to spend more than $1 million for a sidewalk on Brookville Road, and more than $4 and-a-half million for new streetlights.

It’s now getting feedback from the public.

Source

Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM) evolved from the “Day of Unity” in October 1981 conceived by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. The intent was to connect advocates across the nation who were working to end violence against women and their children. The Day of Unity soon became an entire week devoted to a range of activities conducted at the local, state, and national levels.

The activities conducted were as varied and diverse as the program sponsors but had common themes: mourning those who have died because of domestic violence, celebrating those who have survived, and connecting those who work to end violence.

In October 1987, the first Domestic Violence Awareness Month was observed. That same year marks the initiation of the first national domestic violence toll-free hotline. In 1989 the U.S. Congress passed Public Law 101-112 designating October of that year as National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Such legislation has passed every year since with NCADV providing key leadership in this effort. Each year, the Day of Unity is celebrated the first Monday of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

The work of the DVAP strives to creatively bring to life its statement of purpose:

The Domestic Violence Awareness Project (DVAP) supports the rights of all women and girls to live in peace and dignity. Violence and all other forms of oppression against all communities of women and their children must be eliminated. To change belief systems and practices that support violence against all women, the DVAP recognizes and promotes the participation of the entire community in building social intolerance towards domestic violence.

The purpose of the DVAP is to support and promote the national, tribal, state and local advocacy networks in their ongoing public education efforts through public awareness campaigns, strategies, materials, resources, capacity-building and technical assistance. These strategies include campaigns that address the victimization of women throughout their lifespan. The voices, leadership and expertise of women who have been battered are acknowledged as critical and necessary components of these campaigns.

SAFETY ALERT: If you are in danger, please call 911, your local hotline, or (in the U.S.) the National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 or TTY 1-800-787-3224.

For more information on National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, visit the Domestic Violence Awareness Project website.

VIA MYFOXDC:

WASHINGTON – Councilmember Marion Barry was admitted to Howard University Hospital early Tuesday morning after suffering from dehydration.

He is expected to be hospitalized for a few days.

In February, Barry underwent a successful kidney transplant from which his doctors say he continues to recover.

Statement from Ms. Natalie Williams, Director of Communications/Spokesperson

(October 6, 2009) Councilmember Barry was admitted to Howard University early this morning after suffering from dehydration. According to Dr. Clive Callendar, Mr. Barry continues to recover successfully just 7 months after undergoing a kidney transplant on February 20, 2009. He is expected to be hospitalized for a few days.

Source