DISTRICT BRIEFING

-- David A. Fahrenthold

WHITMAN-WALKER

Clinic Announces Cuts in Programs, Staff

The Whitman-Walker Clinic, a nonprofit community health organization and the largest provider of HIV-related services in the Washington area, announced cutbacks in client programs and staff yesterday.

The clinic plans to close its Northern Virginia office, which serves 1,100 clients, and shutter an eight-bed residential addiction-treatment program in the District. Whitman-Walker also announced that it will lay off 45 employees.

The reductions are in response to the bleak financial environment, said Donald Blanchon, chief executive officer. Government reimbursements for services have not matched the rising cost of care, according to Blanchon. Private donations are down 29 percent from last year.

Clients using the Northern Virginia office will be welcome at Whitman-Walker's two locations in the District, Blanchon said.

-- Anne Hull

FEDERAL COURT

SE Man Gets 16-Month Sentence in Gun Thefts

A federal judge in the District sentenced a 22-year-old college student to 16 months in prison yesterday for stealing guns from a Virginia sporting goods store and then selling them to drug dealers, prosecutors said.

Leon Waddy of Southeast Washington and an accomplice broke into the Green Top Sporting Goods Store in Glen Allen, Va., on June 13 and stole 34 semiautomatic handguns, prosecutors said. They were arrested a week later after selling several of the guns in Maryland.

The accomplice, ,Michael Henderson, 22, was sentenced to 18 months in prison last week by a federal judge in Greenbelt. The two men were ordered to pay a total of $22,610 in restitution to the store.

-- Del Quentin Wilber

NORTHEAST

Affordable Housing Included in Ivy City Project

More than three dozen vacant properties in Northeast Washington are to be turned into market-rate and affordable housing, Mayor Adrian Fenty (D) said yesterday.

The 37 properties are in Ivy City, a long-struggling neighborhood that District officials say has among the lowest rates of homeownership in the city. The District selected four developers to build 58 units of housing, including condominiums and single-family houses. Fifty-two of the 58 units will be affordable; the remaining six will be market-rate.

The developers chosen for the project are Mi Casa, Manna, DC Habitat for Humanity and MissionFirst. The project is scheduled in four phases, with Mi Casa planning to begin construction of eight apartments next month.

-- Paul Schwartzman