WAMU 88.5 Contributors

Michael Lee Pope

Reporter

Pope is an award-winning author and journalist who lives in Old Town Alexandria. He has reported for WAMU, Connection Newspapers, the New York Daily News and the Tallahassee Democrat. A native of Moultrie, Ga., he grew up in Durham, N.C., and graduated high school in Tampa, Fla. He has a master's degree in American Studies from Florida State University, and he is a former adjunct professor at Tallahassee Community College. Pope is the author of Shotgun Justice (2012), Hidden History of Alexandria, D.C. (2011) and Ghosts of Alexandria (2010), all published by History Press in Charleston, S.C.


Articles Written by Michael Lee Pope

WAMU 88.5
Should Arlington have the kind of housing authority that already exists in Alexandria and Fairfax County? John Reeder of the Arlington Committee to Save Affordable Housing says yes. "A majority of people who live in Arlington are renters," says Reeder. "We need to have a better housing assistance program in Arlington, and what we've done is an abject failure even though we a...
WAMU 88.5
The campaign season is in full swing in Virginia, as candidates enter the final push toward Election Day. Several statewide candidates made some familiar refrains at a Fairfax County forum Sunday night. The forum was hosted by a coalition of minority business groups — an unprecedented cooperation between blacks, Asians and Hispanics. But when the candidates arrived, voters h...
WAMU 88.5
Virginia state Democratic leaders are moving forward with a federal lawsuit they hope will prevent tens of thousands of voters from being purged from the rolls. The suit was filed in Alexandria federal court against Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and the State Board of Elections. Democrats are seeking to stop a purge of 57,000 voters because an ...
WAMU 88.5
In Virginia, government workers who have free time are hitting the Mount Vernon Trail. There's only one problem—it's closed because of the federal government shutdown. Yesterday National Park Service officials started to shuttering federal facilities across the country, including many local parks, memorials and monuments—none of which are in short supply in and around th...
WAMU 88.5
In Virginia, new standardized test scores show that students who live along the Route 1 corridor in Fairfax County are struggling to meet minimum standards. It's after 8 o'clock on a school night at Mount Vernon High School. Most of the students and teachers have left the building. But Parent-Teacher Association President Jeanette Kraynak is here. "We're holding pa...
WAMU 88.5
The political action committee of the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce is endorsing Democrat Terry McAuliffe for governor. It's the first time in more than a decade that NOVABizPAC has supported a Democrat for the state's highest office. The endorsement follows extensive interviews with both candidates as well as ...
WAMU 88.5
In Virginia, candidates for governor met for the second big showdown last night to duke it out—and it wasn't pretty. It was attack and counter-attack at the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce debate in McLean last night, as Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Ken Cuccinelli traded zingers and accusations. (See a full transcript ...
WAMU 88.5
In Virginia, candidates for lieutenant governor squared off in Arlington last night. Republican E.W. Jackson and Democrat Ralph Northam disputed each other a number of times throughout the debate, most notably when it came to social issues — God, guns and gays. But when mental health came up, the debate became personal for Jackson. "Look, I don't want to scare yo...
WAMU 88.5
A Democratic state senator from Richmond is asking a court to compel the state attorney general's office to release communications involving the principal figure in a political gift-giving scandal. State Senator Donald McEachin (D-Richmond) filed the suit in Richmond Circuit Court. His open records request sought communications involving Attorney General and Republican guberna...
WAMU 88.5
A week after two news outlets mistakenly identified a Stafford, Va., man as the Washington Navy Yard shooter, Rollie Chance is still trying to set the record straight—and grieving because one of the 12 killed was a personal friend. NBC News and CBS News mistakenly reported in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 16 attack that Chance was the Navy Yard shooter. The confusio...
WAMU 88.5
One of Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell's signal achievements in education reform during his time in office is the Opportunity Educational Institution law, an effort that allows a newly created statewide school division to seize control of troubled schools. But Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli questions the constitutionality of handing over local tax money to the state and says...
WAMU 88.5
In Virginia, Fairfax County's new police chief hopes increase the transparency of his department. For many years, the Fairfax County Police Department has denied the public access to video footage taken from police cruisers. That even includes family members of those who are shot and killed by police officers. But now that Edwin Roessler has taken charge of the fo...
WAMU 88.5
Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli has given a Richmond charity $18,000, the same value of gifts he accepted from a troubled nutritional supplements maker and its CEO. Cuccinelli announced in a video to his political supporters that he has written a personal check to Cross Over Ministry. He said he will not be reimbursed. "For those who’ve bee...
WAMU 88.5
City leaders in Alexandria are back at the Virginia Supreme Court again, this time in a case against the Old Dominion Boat Club. At the heart of the case is a 1789 deed that establishes a private right to a 30-foot easement — a right that lawyers for the Boat Club say applies to members, who use the alley to move their boats to a launch. City attorney James Banks i...
WAMU 88.5
In Virginia, city leaders in Alexandria are back in court once again to consider various parts of its controversial waterfront plan. Alexandria City Attorney James Banks will be back in Richmond today, arguing yet another case before the Virginia Supreme Court. Today's oral arguments come just days after the state supreme court ruled in a separate case—one brought by oppo...
WAMU 88.5
At Woodlawn Stables in southern Alexandria, the future is bleak. Cindy Mitchell owns the business on land owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, but a new road project threatens to displace it. "We will no longer be at this location. We will try to go somewhere else and keep doing what we do and be another part of another community," she says. A roa...
WAMU 88.5
When voters head to the polls in November, they will be confronted with a hotly contested race for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. In addition to that, every seat in the House of Delegates will be up for election. But voters in Arlington will see something extra, a ballot initiative asking the following question: Is there a need for the redevelopment and...
WAMU 88.5
In Virginia, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli says he will not defend one of Governor Bob McDonnell's signature education reform laws in court. The Virginia School Boards Association and the Norfolk School Board are preparing to challenge the new law allowing the st...
WAMU 88.5
With days left to go before the first day of school, leaders in Alexandria are searching for a new superintendent—the School Board abruptly accepted the resignation of Superintendent Morton Sherman after a closed-door executive session on Thursday night. Sherman was just given a new three-year contract last year, but that was by the previous School Board. Since that time, ...
WAMU 88.5
Superintendent of Alexandria City Public Schools Morton Sherman is expected to submit his resignation to the School Board. Ever since he became superintendent in 2008, Sherman has been a lightning rod for controversy. Critics say he has a hard-charging leadership style. Supporters say he was willing to take on big challenges. Last year, he found himself under inte...