WAMU 88.5 Contributors

Ashley Dejean

News Assistant

Dejean does a little bit of everything—from filing stories to keeping tabs on the latest local news. The youngest member of our news team got her radio chops interning for Houston Public Radio, where she won first place in the Texas AP Broadcasters Contest Best Feature-Light category. Dejean also interned at Washington City Paper and a local daily in Pune, India before coming to WAMU.


Articles Written by Ashley Dejean

WAMU 88.5
The Arlington County Board is voting on whether to move forward on plans to develop a new homeless shelter. The county is considering buying a seven story office building near the Courthouse Metro and converting two floors into a comprehensive service shelter for the homeless. The permanent shelter would provide housing and services, including counseling. Arlington Cou...
WAMU 88.5
George Washington University is no longer ranked as one of the top schools in the nation by U.S. News and World Report. The school's coveted 51st ranking is being removed, because the admissions office overstated the percentage of incoming freshman in the top 10 percent of their high school class. U.S. News says George Washington will have an "unranked'' status until c...
WAMU 88.5
The final vote in Fairfax County wasn't cast until 10:30 p.m., and Chairman Sharon Bulova, who sits on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, says that's unacceptable. "I believe that we should create a bipartisan commission looking at ways to address the long wait times, the long lines, and altogether just streamlining our election process," she says. While the Boa...
WAMU 88.5
George Washington University reported 78 percent of incoming freshman in the class of 2015 graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school class, but it's actually 58 percent. President Steven Knapp says the university wasn't intentionally overstating the numbers. Since many high schools no longer rank their students by percentile, the admissions office guess...
WAMU 88.5
One in seven licensed drivers under 25-years-old admit to nodding off while driving in the past year, according to a new survey by AAA. It estimates that young drivers are 78 percent more likely than drivers between the ages of 40 and 59 to be drowsy during a crash. "What we discovered to our shock and we are never shocked, young drivers are the biggest sleepyheads on the road...
WAMU 88.5
After months of waiting, it's now a little easier for Metro commuters to purchase SmarTrip cards. "We're in the process of rolling out 100 new SmarTrip dispensers so that customers can purchase a SmarTrip card at any Metorrail station," says Metro spokesman Dan Stessel. "And actually, the rollout of those 100 new machines is pretty much complete. We're about a day away from th...
WAMU 88.5
Several hundred people, some dressed up as Sesame Street characters, such as Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, rallied in front of the Capitol Saturday for the Million Puppet March, a demonstration held in support of public broadcasting. The march came three days before the election. Organizers of the Million Puppet March say they're concerned because during the first president...
WAMU 88.5
After a big storm like Sandy, unscrupulous contractors may try to take advantage of the bad situation and scam property owners who need repairs. "What you're going to find is people who will come and hang solicitations on your door, or put something in your mailbox or just come up to your door and knock on it and ask if they can help," says Julie Rochman, head of the Insurance...
WAMU 88.5
This election season, a number of young people are running for local office in D.C. One undergraduate seeking office may set a mark as the youngest openly gay person elected to public office in the United States. Craig Cassey is a 20-year-old Georgetown student running unopposed for an Advisory Neighborhood Commission seat. He says his candidacy shows the change in his communi...
WAMU 88.5
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is holding public hearings on proposed changes to bus routes starting Monday. Most of the proposals aim to improve service, but one proposal in particular is due to violence, Metro says. The W6 and W8 bus lines have been subject to people throwing rocks at the buses, putting customers and bus operators in danger, according to...
WAMU 88.5
A Muslim group is speaking out and condemning the attempted terrorist attack on the New York Federal Reserve building, where Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, a 21-year-old Bangladeshi national, believed he was detonating a 1,000-pound bomb in lower Manhattan's financial distric...
WAMU 88.5
More people die of gunshots than from motor vehicle accidents and crashes in our region, according to a new study by a group aiming to reduce gun violence. The study by the Violence Policy Center compares gun and vehicle deaths in Maryland, Virginia and the District. Kristen Rand, the group's legislative director, says the numbers come from the National Center for Injury and P...
WAMU 88.5
The Council on American-Islamic Relations is countering provacative "Defeat Jihad" ads posted in several Metro stations this week by the American Freedom Defense Initiative. The new CAIR ads quote the Qu'ran, saying "Show forgiveness, speak for justice and avoid the ig...
WAMU 88.5
At least nine undergraduate students in D.C. are running for local office this election season. Students from Georgetown University, George Washington University, American University, Marymount University, and Prince George's Community College are all vying for different Advisory Neighborhood Commission positions. Jackson Carnes is a George Washington University student runnin...
WAMU 88.5
For the first time, the District is using its own money to help young residents attend college locally. Education official Gregory Meeropol says the new Mayor's Scholarship Fund is only for students in need who aren't receiving financial support from their parents. "So many times, students get concerned with their financial situation, they maybe have one or two jobs," he say...
WAMU 88.5
In the past, street vendors in District paid a flat fee instead of collecting sales tax. Now, many of them will be charging sales tax just like brick and mortar stores. In the case of food trucks, that means a 10 percent sales tax — just like restaurants. Che Ruddell-Tabisola, executive director of the District's Food Truck Association, says the association supports the t...
WAMU 88.5
The Office of Police Complaints is recommending that the Metropolitan Police Department revise its current policies for off-duty officers enforcing traffic rules. "We have received a number of complaints where motorists were stopped by officers who were not in uniform," says Nicole Porter, a special assistant with the OPC. "They were off duty and they were driving either their...
WAMU 88.5
Building, road and other projects have boosted construction employment in Washington, D.C. 14 percent since last year, according to the Associated General Contractors of America. Ken Simonson is chief economist for the trade association. He says there are more construction jobs now than before the economic crisis began. "From November 2008 to February 2010, D.C. lost 3...
WAMU 88.5
Some readers of Metro Weekly, a news magazine serving the District's LGBT community, have found feces and rotting food in the news box stands around the city. Sean Bugg, co-publisher of the magazine, says this has been happening for the past 2 to 3 months. "It's a hate crime toward my readers because the people who are really getting affected by this are...
WAMU 88.5
Capital Bikeshare has more members who use the service as a part of their everyday lives than any other bike share system in the country, according to a report released by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The District's bike share system allows customers to pick up a bike at any of its 175 stations and use it...