GOP Frontrunners Talk Jobs; DC and MontCo Joining Immigration Enforcement Program: Morning Links

Texas Governor Rick Perry, considered by some to be a strong condender for the Republican nomination, talked yesterday about the state’s economic growth during his tenure. Photograph by Flickr user Gage Skidmore

Morning, Washingtonians. Capital Weather Gang says a cold front is moving in today. Temperatures should still be in the mid 80s to low 90s today, with a 50 percent chance of showers in the early to late afternoon—with some possibility of heavy rain.

GOP Frontrunners Duke It Out Over Jobs: Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Texas Governor Rick Perry promoted their respective jobs plans yesterday. Romney promoted his experience restructuring businesses. Meanwhile, Perry promoted his work boosting economic growth in the state of Texas during his tenure, though Brian Beutler at Talking Points Memo pointed out that much of Perry’s job growth came from the government sector—something that may not play well with the party’s anti-government tea prartiers.

DC, Montgomery County Join Immigrant Enforcement Program: DC and Montgomery County are joining a federal program that targets jailed undocumented immigrants for deportation. The Secure Communities program, run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, left many communities under the impression that participation was voluntary. Recently, ICE clarified that all communities must join the program by 2013, despite objections from DC Councilman Phil Mendelson. Freeman Klopott at the Washington Examiner reports that DC’s jail held 185 undocumented immigrants on ICE warrants in 2010, but only 10 were released to ICE.

Speed Cameras Questioned: AAA Mid-Atlantic has been accusing speed cameras in College Park of recording inaccurate information. The city has issued 60,000 tickets based on the cameras, which have been in place since last fall. One motorist, WJLA says, has received several tickets that he claims he does not deserve.

Washington Post Runs Date Lab Contest: The Washington Post Magazine is now running an online contest to help it sift through the more than 4,000 submissions it has received for its Date Lab series. Instead of just applying and having staffers choose matchups, the magazine is calling on applicants to promote themselves as potential dates online. The contest is called “Pick Me!” and asks contestants to explain why they need Date Lab, why Date Lab needs him or her, and who he or she won’t date. And they said DC was a top ten city for single women. Looks like “winners” will be chosen by popular vote. Um, congrats?

Virginia Prepares New Lethal Drug Cocktail for Death Row: Virginia is switching to pentobarbital, a new kind of lethal injection, after an American manufacturer stopped making the previously used sodium thiopental earlier this year. A 30-year-old Williamsburg man is awaiting execution, the Washington Post reports. Jerry Terrell Jackson was sentenced to death for raping and murdering an elderly woman in 2001, and he could be the first recipient of the new drug.

Briefly Noted: Greater Greater Washington makes it simple for Riverdale Park residents protesting various iterations of a new Whole Foods, “A Whole Foods means either more buildings or more cars (or both); neither is not an option.” . . . It does seem to early to start thinking about snow days, but DC’s Public School Chancellor Kaya Henderson is already starting to think about how to schedule them. . . . LivingSocial’s new blog SocialStudies has an amusing map of stereotypes in DC.

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Kay Steiger