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 yesterday approved a $10.1 billion budget that directs money to affordable housing and seniors, scraps the city's gas tax, paves the way for fare increases for Circulator buses, and pays for expanded library hours and more parks. The spending plan—over $7 billion of which comes from local sources—was originally proposed by Mayor Vince Gray in late March, a...
WAMU 88.5
The National Zoo has a new resident—Bozie, a 37-year-old Asian elephant, arrived yesterday after traveling 1,100 miles from Baton Rouge.  Bozie will join Ambika, who is 65, Shanthi, 38, and Kandula, 11, in the zoo's new $56 million Elephant Trails exhibit, where the four elephants will...
WAMU 88.5
Users of Capital Bikeshare, the region's popular bike-sharing system, say that they're making trips they otherwise wouldn't, are less likely to use a car or other forms of transit, save some $800 per year on personal travel, and even feel healthier than they used to. Those findings—and many others—are included in a ...
WAMU 88.5
Amtrak has plenty of problems as it is, and a pair of congressmen are tackling a relatively minor one: an existing ban on pets on the train. Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) and Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) have introduced a bill that would allow A...
WAMU 88.5
Each state can place two statues or busts in the U.S. Capitol, but D.C. has never been extended that privilege—until now. The House of Representatives voted yesterday to approve a bill that would move a statue of abolitionist Frederick Douglass into the U.S. Capitol's Emancipation Hall, ending a long-standing battle by D.C. residents and officials seeking the same recognitio...
WAMU 88.5
College students across the country often emerge with at least one thing in common—they're saddled with debt from the loans they took out to finance their higher education. But graduates in D.C. and Maryland are carrying the heaviest load. A report from the Federal Reserve of New York finds that students in the two Mid...
WAMU 88.5
A statue of famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass has forlornly stood in the lobby of a D.C. government building since 2007, but it may soon be making its way to the U.S. Capitol. Today the House of Representatives will vote on a measure that would authorize the move of Douglass' statue to the Capitol's Emancipation Hall, where it would join statues of prominent historical fig...
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Washington, D.C. is dotted by iconic monuments and federal buildings, and soon a local university's basketball court will be dotted by images of those very monuments and buildings. Yesterday George Washington University unveiled a new design for the floor of the wooden court in the Charles E. Smith Center where the un...
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With the revitalizing H Street NE corridor serving as a backdrop, Council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) formally launched his mayoral bid on Saturday. With the announcement, Wells ended his three-month-long exploratory campaign and now joins Council member Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4) in the race for the April 2014 mayoral primary. In a speech to supporters on a soggy afternoon, t...
WAMU 88.5
Two D.C. legislators have introduced a bill that would allow Pepco customers in the city to opt out of the installation of new electricity meters that some say pose health and safety risks.  Under the bill introduced by council members Kenyan McDuffie (D-Ward 5) and Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7), the city's Public Service Commission would hav...
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Earlier this week we had a stunning video of workers at the top of the Washington Monument putting in the last of the scaffolding that has come to surround the structure as part of the repairs to damage cause by the August 2011 earthquake. Today, the U.S. Department of Interior provides a time lapse video of the scaffoldi...
WAMU 88.5
There's plenty of differences between D.C., Maryland and Virginia. But one thing seems to cross regional boundaries and preferences—and it's a baby's name. According to the Social Security Administration, Sophia topped the list of most popular names for newborn girls in 2012 in all three locations. In Maryland,...
WAMU 88.5
More and more people who work in D.C. are opting to live in D.C., according to a new study by the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board on commuting patterns in the region between 2000 and 2011. The study reports that of the 46,000 workers D.C. added in that time, 90 percent chose to live in D.C. instead of the surrounding jurisdictions. As a consequence, a lar...
WAMU 88.5
If you've got vertigo, this video isn't for you. But if not, it's worth watching to see just how good the view from the top of the Washington Monument is. The last of the scaffolding that's enclosing the 555-foot-tall Washington Monument is in place, part of the repairs being done to the structure in the wake of the August 2011 earthquake. And on May 13, the workers putting th...
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D.C. officials say that the blackouts that follow severe storms could be a thing of the past if the city and Pepco join forces on a $1 billion plan to bury power lines.  A task force created by Mayor Vincent Gray today recommended just that, saying that the plan would help keep power on in the parts of the city that still rely on overhead power lines. Under the plan, 60 p...
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Most 16-year-olds can vote in student elections, but in one Maryland community they'll soon gain an important right afforded only to adults in the U.S.—the right to vote in local elections. On Monday the Takoma Park City Council voted 6-1 to approve an amendment to the municipal charter lowering the voting age for local contests from 18 to 16. ...
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On Sunday, thousands of University of Maryland students and their proud parents will descend on the College Park campus for that joyous annual rite of passage: commencement. They won't be getting there via Metro, though. Metro will be closing the College Park Green Line station this weekend as part of its weekly schedule of track work. According to Metro, it will be replacing ...
WAMU 88.5
If you're a smoker in D.C., finding a place for your nicotine fix could soon get a lot harder. D.C. Council member Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) said yesterday that she is considering introducing a comprehensive bill that would ban smoking within 25 feet of a playground, as well as forbid smokers from lighting up in parks and even at bus stops. At a hearing on a smoke-free measures int...
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Depending on who you ask, Washington, D.C.'s squat skyline is either iconic or a missed opportunity. That's a question that a new task force of D.C. and federal officials has started exploring. The National Capital Planning Commission and D.C. Office of Planning have teamed up to conduct a six-month study of the 100-year...