During her speech, she talked about her college years in the 1990s, the importance of financial aid and why students should follow their dreams. Washington is a 1998 graduate of GW.

More than 25,000 people attended the commencement, which took place on the National Mall.

Preaching that there is a "crisis of ethics" inside the District's city hall, Wells, who serves Ward 6 on the D.C. Council, says that he's committed to bringing an end to corruption in Washington.

"Residents like us are concerned about the future of Washington," Wells told a crowd at Starburst Plaza in Northeast. "We've seen the greatest ethical crisis since the beginning of home rule. People want that changed."

Wells is the second sitting councilmember to announce a run for mayor. On March 23, Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser also announced that she'd run in 2014.

D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray, who defeated incumbent Adrian Fenty in a contentious election in 2010, has not yet announced whether or not he'll run for reelection. His term in office has been ravaged by numerous scandals, including the disclosure of a shadow campaign.

Predicating his campaign on battling corruption and providing D.C. residents with livable, walkable communities, Wells said that one of his main goals will be to restore integrity in government.

"Everyone knows we've had a difficult journey," Wells said of the District's battles aginst crack cocaine, violent crime, murder and financial constraints. "We've pulled the city out of that.

"We're moving forward. We're bringing in new jobs. If we have a corrupt government, it's all at risk."

His vision for the city will focus on three main goals - cutting the number of juvenile crimes in half, making sure that every family in Washington has a quality elementary school in their neighborhood and build the next generation of public transit.

"This really is a way to manage our growth and create options," he said.

Wells, who has served Ward 6 on the D.C. Council since 2006, said that he will not take campaign contributions from corporations or lobbyists.

Ed Smith, president of the D.C. Firefighters Assoc. Local 36, says the changes could jeopardize lives.

Ellerbe's plan would shift the number of paramedics. Fewer would work over night. More would work during the day.

Smith admits there is a peak time in demand during the day, but he doesn't think the solution is to take away from the night shift.

"It's gambling on people's lives," Smith says. "You're going to take 14 units off the streets from 1 a.m. to 7 a.m. It's a bad, bad idea."

If approved, the proposal would affect advance life support paramedics.

Smith called the plan antiquated, saying some of the most violent medical emergencies happen overnight.

"When you take 14 units off the street, out of that 39, you're decreasing our transport capabilities, the ability to take somebody to the hospital by 36 percent."

He says the solution is not redeployment of staff but rather to hire more staff, something Smith says is not happening.

"It's tearing the department apart and the citizens and visitors are suffering," Smith says.

Initially, it seemed Ellerbe didn't want to answer questions from reporters. Then he changed his mind and addressed concerns from the union.

"We understand their concerns and we're going to do everything we can to accommodate them, the best way we can," Ellerbe says.

Ellerbe was questioned over the vacancies and lack of hiring in his department that some argue has created more tension with an already frayed union. But he says the department will start hiring.

"A lot of our attention has been turned into the District to help reduce the unemployment numbers here in Washington, D.C.," Ellerbe says. "If we don't have qualified paramedics here in the city, then we'll go outside the city."

Police say Brandon Andrews killed Leonard Bigelow and wounded Bigelow’s father in August 2011. He was found guilty of second-degree murder in February.

Prosecutors say Andrews often threatened Bigelow’s sister and she eventually ended their relationship of 10 months. After the break up, Andrews repeatedly called and sent threatening text messages to his ex-girlfriend, but she did not respond. Andrews often went by the Bigelow family home, though he was uninvited and unwelcome.

The threats were so bad Andrew’s ex-girlfriend sought a protective order against him.

On the night of Aug. 26, Andrews appeared at the Bigelow’s home on Emerald Street NE with a loaded semi-automatic pistol. He shot at Bigelow and his father twice, fatally striking Bigelow in the chest.

The next day, police found Andrews on the corner of 5th and F streets NW. A loaded .25 caliber semi-automatic pistol was found in his pocket and he confessed to the killing.

MPD officials say that Ephream Esheterom and Sharanjit Singh, both licensed taxi drivers in the District of Columbia, got into a fight with a third person at a gas station, which led to both of their arrests.

The incident that led to the suspension happened at about 9 p.m. on May 10, when a person got into an argument with both Singh and Esheterom after their cabs were blocking a gas pump. Police say both drivers refused to move their taxis, at which point the person began recording video of them with his cell phone.

Authorities say that Singh and Esheterom then assaulted the victim and took his phone. He was treated for minor injuries at the scene while the cab drivers were taken into custody.

"The behavior of these drivers is intolerable," DCTC Chairman Ron Linton said in a statement. "The Commission intends to use its statutory authority to suspend and possibly revoke the licenses of drivers who engage in behavior that threatens the safety of passengers in DC taxis or the public at large."

The drivers have the right to appeal their indefinite suspensions.

Esheterom and Singh are the fourth and fifth D.C. taxi drivers to be suspended this year. Two were suspended for assaulting a passenger and an inspector respectively. The other was driving on an expired license.

No work of any significance on the $4.1-million 17th Street levee has been done "for months," according to the Post. Work on the structure didn't start until January 2011, a month after it was originally supposed to begin.

The project was scheduled to be done by the summer of 2011. A contractor assigned to the project has subsequently been fired, the Post says.

A manager of the program, Anthony Vidal, told the Post that schedule changes, foundation problems and contractor issues have continued to hamper the project.

READ MORE at washingtonpost.com.

Tensions between conventional and organic agriculture boiled over this week during a late-night House Agriculture Committee debate on a sweeping farm bill that has for decades propped up traditional crops and largely ignored organics.

When Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., a former organic farmer, offered an amendment to make it easier for organic companies to organize industrywide promotional campaigns, there was swift backlash from some farm-state Republicans, with one member saying he didn't want to see the industry get a free ride and another complaining about organics' "continued assault on agriculture."

"That's one of the things that has caught me and raises my concerns, is that industry's lack of respect for traditional agriculture," said Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., referring to some organic companies' efforts to reduce the number of genetically modified crops in the marketplace.

At the same time, Scott acknowledged that he and his wife buy organic foods.

Growing consumer interest in organics has proved tough for some Republicans on the committee to ignore. Eight Republicans, most of them newer members of the committee, joined with all of the panel's Democrats in supporting the amendment, which was adopted 29-17.

Rep. Vicky Hartzler, a Missouri Republican who owns a farm equipment business and a corn and soybean farm, said she supported the amendment not only because helping organics is good for agriculture but because many of her constituents eat organic foods.

"Organics are a niche market in agriculture with a growing market share, so it makes sense for me to allow farmers to invest some of their own funds to promote their products," she said.

The amendment would allow the organic industry to organize and pay for a unified industry promotional campaign called a "checkoff" that is facilitated by the Agriculture Department but is no cost to the government. These promotional programs have traditionally been limited to individual commodities or crops, producing familiar campaigns like "Got Milk?" and "Beef: It's What's for Dinner."

The amendment would not set up such a program for organics, but it would allow USDA to approve an organic promotional campaign if the industry decided it wanted one. Laura Batcha of the Organic Trade Association says one reason the industry would approve a campaign is that many organic producers are concerned that consumers don't understand that products labeled "natural" aren't necessarily organic, which requires certification.

The organic industry has exploded in the last decade, with $35 billion in sales and 10 percent growth just last year. There are more than 17,000 certified organic businesses in the country.

Producers of organic crops and conventional crops have long been at odds, as organic products have grabbed market share - more than 4 percent of food and beverage sales in 2011 - and the industry has advertised organic foods as healthier than other foods. Organic products are required to be certified by the USDA and are grown without pesticides and genetically modified ingredients, mainstays of traditional agriculture.

Government-managed promotional checkoff programs like the one that would be allowed under the amendment are required to be positive and not disparage other products, and some lawmakers seemed wary that such a campaign would be possible.

"How do I present organic pork without disparaging non-organic pork?" asked House Agriculture Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., who opposed the amendment.

Mike Conaway, R-Texas, took issue with part of the amendment that would allow the organic producers to opt out of other commodity campaigns, an option that isn't given to conventional producers.

"Looks to me like they have a free ride on this thing," Conaway said, in an at times angry exchange with Schrader.

Despite the rancor, the chances that the amendment will become law are good, as the Senate Agriculture Committee added the same amendment to its version of the farm bill.

Schrader told his colleagues that embracing organics is essential to appealing to consumers in a time when big farms are often demonized by popular culture. He said that many young people are coming back to farms because of nontraditional agriculture.

"American agriculture is under siege," he said. "Urban folks do not understand where their food and fiber comes from. ... The point here is to hopefully position American agriculture where we're not always trying to catch up to what the American consumer wants."

The project to repair the monument, which suffered significant damage in the August 2011 earthquake, will last through the end of the year. Scaffolding began going up around the monument in March.

On Friday, the Department of the Interior released a time lapse video, condensing the entire project into two minutes.

The National Park Service hopes to have the Washington Monument reopened next Spring.

If the time-lapse video above isn't enough and you need something a little more dizzying, check out this National Park Service video from the top of the monument.

The incident happened near 1211 13th St. NW, just south of Logan Circle. Police say someone spray painted the lights of the cop car and set the rear of the car on fire. The trunk of the car was completely torched.

The vandalism is currently under investigation.

A task-force blamed an outdated sewer system for storm-related flooding in the Bloomingdale and LeDroit Park area. DDOT will soon begin work to install a sewer line under Rhode Island Ave. to help remove storm water. The city is also reworking Mcmillian Filtration plant to capture millions of gallons of water.

"We will begin the installation of a five foot wide sewer line in the median of the 100 block of Rhode Island Avenue Northwest," explained Mayor Gray.   "This drainage pipe will remove water from roadway so it can be released it a much more systematic way."

While the crews work to put in the new sewer line, the center lane in each direction along Rhode island will be shut down. The project is expected to be completed by Labor Day or sooner.

"We're not saying we approve of marijuana, but maybe it should be more of an administrative penalty than a criminal penalty" Wells says.

Wells says the bill would only decriminalize small amounts of marijuana and that it would clear the criminal records of those arrested. In Wells' opinion it would allow them to more easily get jobs and housing.

So now D.C. residents start the debate over whether the city should decriminalize marijuana.

"I don't see why something that is basically not harmful should be illegal," says Don Lawson.

Under current law, you can get sentenced to 180 days in jail and fined $1,000 for possessing up to a half pound of cannibis.

“I think drug laws are too strict in this country regarding that drug,” Annelle Sheline says.

Recent polls show support among D.C. voters for decriminalization. But not everyone ABC7 talked with was sure it is such a good idea.

“Okay, I can steal a cigarette from my mom now. Then I can steal a smoke from my brother or sister,” Donna Green says. “That is a real concern and parents and everybody in the city should be concerned about that.”

Under the revised process, the Kennedy Center will begin seeking recommendations from the public for the first time in the award's 35-year history. Recommendations can be submitted online beginning Thursday. The center will also seek more recommendations from a committee of artists.

To narrow the roster of potential honorees, the center is forming a new Special Honors Committee. Former honorees Chita Rivera and Yo-Yo Ma will serve on the panel, along with opera singer Harolyn Blackwell, dancer Damian Woetzel and two center board members, Elaine Wynn and Cappy McGarr. From there, the Kennedy Center chairman, president and award producers will create slates of potential honorees to balance the selections across artistic disciplines, and the executive committee of the center's board of trustees will make the final decision.

The Kennedy Center Honors have become a major cultural prize for excellence in dance, music, theater, movies or television. The honor includes a salute from the president and secretary of state each year, along with performances by top entertainers. The show is broadcast each December on CBS.

Last year, the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts criticized the center, saying it has long excluded Latinos from the prize. Two of the more than 180 past honorees were Hispanics- Placido Domingo, the acclaimed Spanish tenor, and Rivera, the actress and singer of Puerto Rican descent. The group suggested potential Latino honorees could include Carlos Santana, Rita Moreno, Joan Baez, Gloria Estefan and others.

Giselle Fernandez, a former journalist who was born in Mexico and appointed by President Barack Obama to the Kennedy Center's board, said the revised process opens up a bigger universe of candidates for consideration.

"You're going to see much more diverse and expansive access to excellence in all disciplines, all realms and all communities," Fernandez said. She added that the Kennedy Center could provide a model for other organizations seeking to reflect the nation's diversity.

Beyond considering more Latinos, she said a broader selection process will be open "to all communities that perhaps didn't have access before because the process was too closed over the years." Facing criticism was uncomfortable but resulted in a better process, she said.

In January, the center announced a formal review of the Honors with an advisory panel that included Latino arts groups, such as the Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture.

Kennedy Center Chairman David Rubenstein also met with Felix Sanchez of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, who publicly criticized the center last year for excluding Latinos for years.

In addition to the revised selection process, the Kennedy Center said Thursday that it is committed to bolstering its track record on diversity and its relationship with the Hispanic community. The center is working to form a Latino Advisory Committee to meet quarterly, said spokesman John Dow.

Navigating D.C. streets can be frantic, especially when you’re in a hurry or need to pick something up at the last minute. But now there’s an app for that.

“We’re basically a pick-up, drop-off service, but we can pick up anything you want,” says Ron Cade, the co-founder of Urban Delivery.

It’s a new twist on the bike messenger, but instead of just dropping off documents, they will be your personal assistant or shopper.

“You can have wine picked up for you for your dinner tonight, you can have your dry cleaning picked up, you can have your keys picked up if you left [them] at a friend’s house on the other side of town,” says Cade.

You can even have gas delivered if you run out, or flowers if you forgot.

The bike lanes may be the new express lanes for scatterbrains. If you went to work without your tie, they’ll get you one. As long as it’s legal and fits on a bike, they’ll get it for you.

“We had a gentleman who turned out to be a lawyer want to get wine from his cellar in Van Ness for some party… he was having later,” says Adrienne Sheares, co-founder of Urban Delivery.

Customers can track their delivery via GPS and be in touch with couriers.

“Especially people who can’t make it out of the house, injuries, handicapped, especially the elderly, those are the people I’m looking forward to helping,” says Gerald Blair, a courier.

The delivery fee is $10 while the beta testing wraps up, and will go up slightly when the app officially launches in June.

They can’t deliver anything illegal or living, but they will make beer runs as long as you’re 21.

Learn more about Urban Delivery.

Watch today's show below.

Friday at 10am: Congressman Steny Hoyer

A 50-year-old man was struck and killed Thursday morning while he rode his bike in the U Street corridor, police say.

MPD officials say that Andre Brands was riding near the intersection of 11th and U streets NW at about 10 a.m. Thursday when he was hit by a Nissan traveling southbound on 11th Street.

Brands, who was not wearing a helmet, was taken to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The driver of the striking car was not injured in the crash, which remains under investigation. The driver remained on scene.

The bill would mandate that prospective gun owners maintain at least a $250,000 policy. The policy would cover damages from negligent acts or intentional acts that aren't undertaken in self-defense.

A handful of states are considering similar measures, but none has passed such a law.

The District of Columbia has some of the nation's strictest gun-control laws. Handguns were banned in the city before a landmark 2008 Supreme Court ruling.

A council committee will hold a hearing Thursday on the insurance requirement. The bill was introduced by Democratic Councilmember Mary Cheh.

The life of the “Godfather of Go-Go,” as Brown was called, will be celebrated Thursday at the Howard Theatre.

Brown passed away last May 16 at the age of 75 after a month-long hospitalization.

The celebration will be headlined by The Chuck Brown All Star Go-Go Tribute Band, which includes Chuck’s daughter, KK, The Horny Horns, Sweet Cherie, Frank Scooby Sirius from Familiar Faces, Mighty Moe Hagans, Karlston “Ice” Ross, Marcus Young, and Milton Smith.

Celebrity guests will also be in attendance for the celebration, including Sheila E, Jas, Funk, Sugar Bear from EU, Whiteboy from Rare Essence, Derrick from Vybe, family members of Chuck Brown and many more.

"It’s hard, but he taught us to be strong,” says his daughter KK Brown. “We go to be strong for the fans."

And the children remembered the great outpouring last year from the crowds who lined up outside the Howard as he lay in repose, the thousands who attended the funeral the city government sponsored.

"It was a hard day for us but to see all the people rejoicing to see the street flooded with people dancing and being just grateful for who our father was," says Nekos Brown.

For more information on the celebration, click here.

In a hearing before the Alcohol Beverage Control board Wednesday, the owners of the Fur nightclub expressed frustration that they get blamed for any crime in the vicinity of their club on Patterson Street NE.

They presented a plan for heightened security after the May 6 stabbing in the club that’s kept them shut down by the city ever since.

Fur will restore a wandering policy they let lapse, turn over all weapons they confiscate to police, and get more sophisticated machines to check ID’s. The 19 year old stabbed was too young to be in the club.

Board members also asked about a shooting incident in March in which 13 people were shot, some believed to be patrons of the club.

The club said it would no longer host the go-go band TCB or any of its members in the future. Both the stabbing and shooting incidents occurred on nights the band performed.

In the hearing, ABC board members listened to Fur’s new security plan called for modest changes.

The owners of Fur will present their suggestions to the board on Friday. They could re-open this weekend.

The mayor on Wednesday accepted a task force's recommendation that the lines be moved underground. The task force was convened after a severe storm last summer that knocked out power to some Washington-area residents for a week or more.

“The city stepped up,” says Mayor Gray, (D) D.C. “We don’t own the utility, we don’t run the utility, but we do have a responsibility to the people.”

One section of Northeast D.C. almost always goes dark when severe weather knocks trees into power lines, but now they’re hopeful for a solution.

“So if it’s underground then there’s less chance of everything shutting down,” says Shirley Latta of NE.

Customers of the city's electric utility, Pepco, would pay for the majority of the project through higher bills. City officials say rates for residential customers would increase by $1.50 a month at first. The increase would top out at $3.25 per month by 2020.

“As we look at what I think is a very reasonable cost that’s been developed by the task force to think about what is it costing us now to have these outages,” says Gray.

“I think this solution gives us the biggest bang for our buck,” says Joseph M. Rigby, president and CEO of Pepco.

Despite their sometimes adversarial relationships, Pepco, the Public Service Commission, and the D.C. People’s Counsel worked together to develop the plan.

“I do believe this is a victory for consumers,” says Sandra Mattavous-Frye of the D.C. People’s Counsel. “I believe I know that the plan does what I thought it needed to do.”

The plan must now be approved by the D.C. Council and the District’s Public Service Commission. After a year of legislative activity, Pepco says customers could start seeing improvements in a few years with a projected completion in seven years.

Authorities investigated the incident at the hotel, located at 1919 Connecticut Avenue NW and cleared the hotel of danger at about 1 p.m.

Authorities shut down roads at T Street and Connecticut Avenue and T Street and Florida Avenue during the incident. The roads have since been reopened.

Scaffolding now covers the entire monument. It's been closed to the public for nearly two years because of cracks and damage to the granite and marble caused by the magnitude-5.8 earthquake that shook the D.C. area in August of 2011.

Now that the scaffolding is up, repairs should begin in about three weeks. Work will begin at the top, where most of the damage is. The scaffolding will be up until December and lights will soon be added to it.

The same crew worked to repair the monument about ten years ago.

The monument is expected to re-open next spring.

Repairs will likely cost about $15 million.

The break is in an eight-inch main on Randolph Street between Georgia Avenue and 10th Street Northwest. They expect the repairs to take between 6-8 hours and say some customers to be without service.

Crews received the call for the break at just after 5 a.m.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation will host the Hiring Our Heroes job fair at the John Mosby Army Reserve Center. It's located at 8831 John J. Kingman Road.

The fair will run from 10 a.m. through  1 p.m. Veterans must provide proof of service.

Click here to register for the event.

The TCB gogo band was playing at the Fur nightclub on May 9, the night a 19 year old survived being stabbed in the chest during a brawl. The police chief ordered the club closed for 96 hours for public safety. The club has a hearing Wednesday before the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration, whose report says Fur owner Ahmed Shah sent an email to ABRA stating he will no longer host TCB at Fur going forward.

“I’m trying to figure out how do we do anything different from any artist in town,” says Ben Adda, the manager of TCB.

Adda says they’ve also been banned in Prince George’s County.

“We don’t search the people. We provide proper security, proper police,” he says.

During the stabbing incident, the report says the club had 27 guards inside and 10 officers outside watching 300 patrons. However, the same nightclub came up after a drive-by shooting in March involving patrons that left 13 people wounded on North Capitol Street. The nightclub’s manager couldn’t remember whether TCB played that night, but some question banning particular groups.

“It wasn’t a problem for this band performing for our mayor when he was running for office in Southeast in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the city,” says Ron Moten, an activist.

The report says the security threw the brawlers, including the stabber, out of the club and they fled. Then security learned the victim had been stabbed.

On Wednesday, Fur’s owners will be before the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation AdministrationBoard and asked why a 19 year old was in the club, allegedly holding a drink in his hand, and why a knife was allowed in the club.

Washington City Paper reporter Will Sommer joined us to talk about the planned armed march on Washington, the D.C., the Redskins name debate and more.

And, the PGA is encouraging everyone to get out and play some golf. We talked with PGA pro Mike Aldridge about "Welcome to Golf" month.

Watch today's show below.

Monday at 10am: Anthony Brown launches his campaign to become Governor of Maryland.