Guest List: Today’s Newsmakers

The Washingtonians in headlines today we’d like to have dinner with tonight

Written by Alyssa Rosenberg | Published on January 18, 2011

• Republican Representative Trey Gowdy. The freshman from South Carolina was a federal prosecutor for six years and beat Republican representative Bob Inglis in a tough primary last year. Now he’ll chair a subcommittee on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that oversees the District of Columbia as well as the US Census, the National Archives, and health-care issues. Because he’ll be overseeing our fair city, we’d love to show him around—and pick his brain on how he sees the District.

• Kelly Cherry. The Halifax writer, who grew up in Chesterfield, Virginia, is that state’s new poet laureate. Despite a stint at the University of Wisconsin and extensive world travel, Cherry told Southern Scribe magazine that she admires “the way Southern readers cherish and continue the tradition of literature about the South.” We’d love a recommended-reading list from her.

• Barbara Brueggemann. The longtime educational administrator will head George Washington University’s latest foray into high-school education: a competitive, college-prep-oriented online academy. Students may not get a brick-and-mortar classroom—or preference on GW admissions—but they will get college counseling and access to the university’s summer programs. And education in the region gets a new experimental model to watch.

• Prince George’s County state’s attorney Angela Alsobrooks. As Prince George’s County endures a murderous January with 13 dead so far, Alsobrooks is helping oversee a stepped-up effort—aided by the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives—to solve the county’s homicides. She’s also trying to stanch the flow, turning to county pastors to try to find leads and to help communities deal with the crime wave.

• DC United president Kevin Payne. As the search for a new United stadium site heats up, Payne has a big decision to make: If the team moves to Baltimore, the long-term revenue loss to the District will be huge. But if the United choose the Buzzards Point site in Southwest DC, they could kickstart the development that never quite took off around Nationals Park—and push for an extension of the city’s streetcar system into new neighborhoods.

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