Here is our new weekly update recapping the past week’s stories involving Chairman Mendelson.

Are D.C. railways secure? The Council asked and EMS answered.– Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D), who hosted the hearing and led the questioning on rail security, asked if the city’s emergency agencies know how often CSX conducts security drills. [The Washington Post]

DC Statehood Hearing Will Feature Mix of Officials And Experts – A witness list released by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee includes two panels, one consisting of nonvoting Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, Mayor Vincent C. Gray and D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, Democrats all. [The Washington Post]

DC Anti-Truancy Program is Getting More Kids to School – Phil Mendelson (D), chairman of the D.C. Council, said that the city is shifting its approach to addressing truancy. “In the past, we’ve treated it as something wrong, to be punished,” he said, noting that it instead should be something that “tells us that something is going on.” [The Washington Post]

An Interview with Phil Mendelson, Chairman, DC City Council – “I see my role as the chair of the legislative branch, the co-equal branch of government.”  [The Georgetown Dish]