From Jason Cherkis, who is covering today's Marion Barry press conference:

The Ward 8 Councilmember refused to answer reporters' questions about public contracts he awarded and then revoked from his former girlfriend, Donna Watts-Brighthaupt. Instead, this latest standup would be a "single-issue" presser on his arrest by the U.S. Park Police on a stalking charge and the U.S. Attorney throwing out that charge.

Upon leaving, Barry did respond to Washington City Paper's release of the voicemails he left for Watts-Brighthaupt and its cover displaying her quote: "You put me out in Denver 'cause I wouldn't suck your dick," as "trashcan reporting."

Barry began his remarks by thanking God for "intervening in the situation."

The arrest, he says, caused him "great pain....My mother called me the day after the arrest. She's 92 years of age. This could have caused her to have a heart attack or a stroke." The mother of his godson also called him and reported her kids were being teased regarding Barry's stalking charge.

The whole matter could have been avoided had the U.S. Park Police not erroneously arrested him, Barry continued, explaining that he was simply going home on the night of July 4. He says "90 percent of the time" he does go home by way of Anacostia Park because it is "serene. I don't hear gunshots. I don't hear ambulances."

When questioned about public funds appropriated to Watts-Brighthaupt, Barry indicated he would not answer and that this press conference was not the time.

His spokesperson, Natalie Williams, also spoke---essentially re-reading her statement from last night and reiterating that Barry has said from the beginning he never stalked "Miss Watts." Her statement was followed by Barry's lawyer, Fred Cooke, who said the U.S. Attorney's Office made "the right decision. We think this arrest never should have happened."

A reporter then asked Cooke if his client had violated his probation. Cooke responded: "He has not reoffended as the law requires."

Photos By Darrow Montgomery

"I'm just listening," she said quietly.

She was dressed in jeans, a thin sweater, t-shirt, and dark glasses. In her left hand, she held a drink from McDonald's. In the other, she held a cellphone.

She had found the cameras and the reporters and the microphones in front of the Wilson Building, and felt she needed to take it all in. She stood off to the side, away from the lights, and watched the woman talking into all those microphones.

At a little past 11 p.m. yesterday night, Marion Barry's spokesperson Natalie Williams had assembled the media throng for a quickie press conference to address allegations concerning the councilmember giving lucrative contract work to ex-girlfriend Donna Watts-Brighthaupt.The payments amounted to at least $20,000.

Williams began the presser with an attack on Watts-Brighthaupt. Reading from a typed script, she declared emphatically that the Barry Ex is "unstable" and had sought professional help at one point. This had nothing to do with the circumstances that led to the press conference---Barry's arrest for allegedly stalking Watts-Brighthaupt this past weekend. If she was so unstable, weren't these reasons enough not to hire her for those contract jobs?

Still, Williams kept on her talking point, repeating that word "unstable."

A few feet away, the girl stood still, trying to contain her anger and disappointment. She is 16. She mumbled that she is Watts-Brighthaupt's daughter.

"I'm trying to figure out why she's so unstable," she said of her mother, "when she's sending me off to college next year."

She said she's not surprised by Barry's wave of personal attacks against her mother. She explained: "He's Marion Barry."

There used to be a time not too long ago when Barry meant something important to her family. Although her mom broke things off with the councilmember shortly before his kidney-transplant surgery, she cared for him around-the-clock during his recuperation. "We cooked for him during his recovery," the daughter said. "Cooking and making sure he was comfortable. He had a team of people looking [after] him. Mom was part of the team."

After the press conference ended, she waited for her mom to pick her up. She said that she'll be graduating from high school in a year, that she hoped to attend Hampton University (where Effi Barry once taught). She said she wanted to major in political science.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Speaking for just under an hour, the President responded to his new tobacco legislation, clean energy reform, and health care in addition to Iran.  His first statement, saying that he "strongly condemns these actions" in Iran set off the audience and the majority of their questions dealt with the subject.  The technologically savy group at the Huffington Post asked questions sent in by Iranian citizens, making it extra clear that the President is finally going to start actively responding to the actions there.  Later, when he was asked if he had seen the video of Neda, the young woman who died in the streets of Tehran after being shot in the chest, he said he was devastated by the violence.  It only took a week, but it looks like America is finally responding to the chaos throughout the country.

When the questions finally shifted away from Iran, the reporters focused on Ben Bernanke, like they were hoping that Obama would take this opportunity to send the Fed chief out the door but to no avail.  The president thinks Bernanke is doing a "fine job."  Health care was also a major concern of the press corps but Obama seemed unphased and merely repeated what he previously said about the topic.  Apparently, it's too soon to speculate about who is gaining and losing benefits in this whole shifting of benefits.

Also on the topic of healthcare, one reporter directly asked the President about his own smoking habits following the signing of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act yesterday.  He says he's 95% cured and never smokes around his family.  But do not think that the law is about him.  Obama wants everyone to know that his smoking habits are news-worthy only in the sense of human interest.  He's not denying his faults and while it might be exciting for the press, today's press conference showed that Obama is taking everything as it comes.  Whether that will remain an effective strategy is yet to be seen.

Fenty is expected to make remarks on the red line crash this morning at 8:00 a.m. We'll be live-blogging the press conference here.

8:01 a.m. Mayor Adrian Fenty, Fire Chief Dennis Rubin, Councilmember Jim Graham step up.

8:02 a.m. Fenty says he wants the country to know that his first efforts are with the families and friends of the victims. 76 people were taken off of the train to the hospital. Yesterday, six were confirmed dead. This morning, the number of confirmed dead is seven. Not nine as previously reported.

8:03 a.m. Fenty says it's the deadliest crash in the history of WMATA. Two critically injured held stable in the hospital last night. One injured person was updated out of critical last night. Fenty says he'll begin making next-of-kin notifications today.

8:04 a.m. Heavy equipment came in today to begin cutting through the train. Fenty says that after the machinery comes in they'll have an updated number of confirmed dead. He hopes it doesn't rise from the current number, 7.

8:05 a.m. Fenty brings forward Fire Chief Rubin.

8:06 a.m. Rubin says at 5:30 a.m. a crane was able to come in to lift up some of the debris to help "thoroughly check every single space." Firefighters worked through the night. Brought in dogs to look for survivors underneath the train and in the wooded area near the tracks.

8:07 a.m. Rescue is on hold for now while the trains are moved off the train. There have been two minor firefighter injuries, Rubin says.

8:08 a.m. Police Chief Cathy Lanier gives an update on next-of-kin updates. She says that they will likely be able to be made later today.

8:09 a.m. WMATA chief John Catoe gives his condolences to the families of the driver and the passengers. "We will find out what happened here, what caused this, and put all the resources necessary to make sure this doesn't happen again." Says his heart goes out to the families of the dead and injured. Says he's heard comments from around the world about the crash.

8:10 a.m. Data recovery: NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) rep Debbie Hersman says they are making sure they document each step of that so they know the exact condition of the accident scene going forward. Investigators say there were nine data recorders on the train that was struck. The striking train, which hit the standing train, does not have the same level of recorders on it, so they are not expecting to get any data off of that. There are 9 NTSB investigators working on the scene.

8:12 a.m. WMATA operates in "ATO" or "automatic" mode during rush hour---the time of the crash. Hersman says one team will be looking at the drivers' records as well as cell phone and texting records to get more info about what they were doing at the time of the scene. There will also be an equipment investigation to see if there was any breakage. There's also a team looking at the condition of the track for any broken circuits or defects after the trains are moved. Another team will be working to interview survivors about what happened during the crash and how effective WMATA worked post-crash.

8:13 a.m. Hersman begins taking questions.

First question: Expound on the crashworthiness of the train cars. [Mike Debonis is on the crashworthiness question here].

Hersman says that the entire last car on the train was compromised in the crash. She says only that there have been recommendations made about survivability on the trains made to the feds and to WMATA.

Catoe adds in that any crash would compromise part of the car.

Second question: Even if the train was on automatic, shouldn't there have been some way for the driver to see the train ahead and manually stop it?

Hersman says that they'll do an investigation of the speeds of the trains and perform a sight-distance test to see whether it would have even been possible for the train's driver to see the train in front in time to step.

Third question: What is the best-case scenario of getting any recorded information off the 1000-series cars (the older car that hit the train ahead)?

Hersman says they don't expect to get any information from off that car.

Fourth question: [I missed this one, anyone catch it?]

Fifth question: Basically, if these 1000 series cars have poor crashworthiness and no recording devices, why are they in use?

Hersman says there have been recommendations made that the 1000-series cars are phased out. She says that there have also been recommendations for adding recording devices to those cars before they're phased out. But she cautions against assuming the cause of this crash.

Fenty says that they will reconvene at 5 p.m. for what he expects to be the final city-led press conference on the crash.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery