WAMU 88.5 Contributors

Martin Austermuhle

Web Producer

Austermuhle joined WAMU as a web producer and reporter in April 2013. Prior to that, he served as editor-in-chief for DCist.com. Born in Switzerland, Martin lived throughout Latin America before coming to the U.S. to attend Penn State University and later Georgetown University, where he received a Master’s degree in Latin American Studies. He lives in Columbia Heights with his wife Carolina, a school teacher, and 105-pound yellow lab, Santi.


Articles Written by Martin Austermuhle

WAMU 88.5
The D.C. Council didn't disappoint on the last day before its two-month summer recess. During a marathon legislative session on Wednesday, the city's legislators moved bills on a wide range of topics. Here's a sampling of what they voted on. Living Wage for Walmart: All the details are ...
WAMU 88.5
The D.C. Council has a full plate for its last legislative session before a two-month summer recess, but it did take a few minutes today to recognize Spiderman. Well, kind of. During its morning meeting, the Council granted a ceremonial resolution to Mingering Mike, a D.C.-born artist whose large collection of album covers—painte...
WAMU 88.5
Getting caught with a small amount of pot in D.C. may soon fetch little more than a fine. D.C. Council members Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) and Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) will introduce a bill decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana on Wednesday. Under the provisions of the bill, the penalty for the possession of less than one ounce of marijuana will be...
WAMU 88.5
As in many years past, a proposed House spending bill for D.C. would fully ban any spending on abortions within the city. The bill unveiled on Tuesday by a House Appropriations subcommittee provides D.C. with $636 million in federal funds while laying out how the city can and cannot spend the money. The bill prohibits the use of federal funds for needle exchange programs and...
WAMU 88.5
D.C. businessman Anthony Cheng and his son Anthony Cheng, Jr. were indicted by a federal grand jury today for allegedly bribing two D.C. officials in order to gain licenses to operate taxicabs in the city. According to information provided by the office of U.S. Attorney for D.C. Ron Machen, the father-and-son duo attempted to work their way around a moratorium on taxicab lic...
WAMU 88.5
“I think that people have the right to defend themselves in their home but also on the street.— Tom Palmer On June 25, 2008 owning a handgun in D.C. was illegal, much as it had been since 1976. A day later, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in ...
WAMU 88.5
.onecol .mainpic img { max-width: 100%; height: 100%; } SURROGACY Traditional: When the birth mother is also the child's genetic mother. Gestational: When an embryo is transferred into and carried by a surrogate mother,...
WAMU 88.5
It was a big day for some D.C. officials who have fought for the city's representation in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall—they finally got their statue. Every state is afforded the right to place two statues of prominent individuals in the Capitol, but not D.C. For a decade D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton has worked to get representation inside the U.S. Capitol, though, a...
WAMU 88.5
More people, but less driving? It may seen counter-intuitive, but it's what the Metropolitan Washington Council of Government's Transportation Planning Board has concluded in a new report: though the region's population jumped 7.3 percent from 2005 to 2011, the number of miles driven per day held steady at 110 m...
WAMU 88.5
Earlier this week, Vice President Joe Biden, congressional leaders and D.C. residents gathered in the U.S. Capitol for a symbolic moment that was long in the making: the unveiling of a D.C. statue of Frederick Douglass. The Douglass statue is D.C.'s first and only contribution to the Capitol complex; while the 50 states are all entitled to two statues of prominent people, a ...
WAMU 88.5
The Montgomery County Council will hold a hearing this evening on a bill that would limit the scope of the county's five-cent tax on plastic and paper bags. The county implemented a the tax on disposable plastic bags, much like D.C.'s, at the start of 2012. It included bags not just at grocery stores, but also at retail outlets that didn't sell food. But a bill in...
WAMU 88.5
A solar-powered plane attempting to fly across the U.S. landed at Dulles International Airport on Sunday. The Solar Impulse landed shortly after midnight on Sunday morning following a flight of 14 hours and four minutes from Cincinnati. Pilot Bertrand Piccard was at the controls for the last time on the multi-leg journey, which star...
WAMU 88.5
Legislators may have to take a look at the city's laws to prevent further cases of influence-peddling and graft, said U.S. Attorney for D.C. Ron Machen said today on WAMU 88.5's The Kojo Nnamdi Show. "We can’t ignore the fact that we’ve had three council members plead guilty in the last 18 months to federal felonies," he said. "And so I think we need to look and s...
WAMU 88.5
The fast-moving thunderstorm that swept across the region on Thursday afternoon may not have packed the same wallop as last year's derecho, but it still left thousands of residents across the region in the dark. As of Friday morning, over 6,000 customers in D.C., Maryland and Virginia remained without electricity. All told, 4,800 Pepco customers and 1,960 BG&E stil...
WAMU 88.5
D.C.'s population is growing—and it's getting younger and whiter in the process. A new report released by the U.S. Census found that while D.C.'s population grew from 619,020 to 632,323 residents in the year ending on July 1, 2012, the majority of that growth was in the number of white residents—from 262,041 to 271,323. At the same time, population growth among African-A...
WAMU 88.5
On Tuesday afternoon, a cyclist was attacked and beaten by a group of at least 15 juveniles as he pedaled home on the Metropolitan Branch Trail, an eight-mile-long bike path connecting D.C. to Silver Spring. Now cycling advocates, police and residents are responding. The Washington Area Bicyclist Association and Ward 5 ANC Commiss...
WAMU 88.5
Almost 87 percent of students at 13 D.C. public schools closing this year have yet to re-enroll in receiving schools, testified D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson during a D.C. Council committee hearing yesterday. During the hearing, which focused on transitioning students and teachers from the closing schools to new public schools, Henderson said that re-enrollment was ...
WAMU 88.5
D.C.'s political world has been shaken by a string of scandals over the last three years. With all of the allegations, pleas, resignations, and special elections, it's sometimes difficult to keep track of which elected officials have been embroiled in some type of wrongdoing. Below is a primer on D.C.'s political scandals. CULPRITS Michael...
WAMU 88.5
Former D.C. Council member Michael Brown today pleaded guilty to one count of bribery, agreeing to serve 37 months in prison for taking $55,000 from federal agents posing as D.C. businessmen seeking preferential access to city contracts. According to a document laying out the government's case, Brown, 48, met with the undercover agents eight times between July 2012 and March...
WAMU 88.5
Capital Bikeshare has been a huge hit for commuters and cyclist in D.C., Arlington and Alexandria, but up until now, the Maryland suburbs have largely been left out of the popular bike-sharing program. By this summer, that will change. The Montgomery County Department of Transportation has announced that it will expand C...