News

Council debate over FY 2022 budget focuses on tax hike for high-income earners as backers take aim at ‘massive inequalities and inequities’

The DC Council debated several amendments to fiscal year 2022 budget legislation to include a measure to tax high-income earners at a higher rate to support a number of new initiatives, as well as a failed measure to allocate additional…
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Evictions will restart soon in DC. Here’s what you need to know about the protections and resources available to tenants.

With the public health emergency ending, DC tenants have a range of protections and resources available to help navigate responding to an eviction notice.
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Ahead of DC Council’s first 2022 budget vote, a look at some of the changes sought by committee chairs

UPDATE: DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson released the Committee of the Whole’s draft committee reports on the Fiscal Year 2022 Local Budget Act and the FY 2022 Budget Support Act on Monday afternoon. He also released a statement
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More chickpeas, fewer chickens: DC food emissions bill set to upgrade diets for city meal recipients

For Emilie Cassou, the meals served to students like her son at his public elementary school in the District aren’t worth the tray they’re served on. Some might look at a typical lunch served to students and see a ham and cheese
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DC sees growth in cashless businesses even after DC Council’s vote to prohibit them

A law meant to protect consumers by prohibiting businesses from refusing to accept cash took effect on April 4. There’s just one problem — it’s unenforceable. Or, rather, DC officials put off enforcement during the public health emergency,
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District Links

District Links: Bowser restores indoor mask mandate as of Saturday; Congress clears logjam over funding Capitol security; and more

Mayor Muriel Bowser is restoring the District's indoor mask mandate as of Saturday morning in response to increased community spread of the coronavirus along with new information about the extra dangers presented by the delta variant.
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District Links: Bowser asks council for $11M more to add 170 police officers; DC still forgoing extra taxes on blighted property; and more

Increased concern about gun violence and public safety is prompting a late push by Mayor Muriel Bowser to add 170 officers to the Metropolitan Police Department by the end of fiscal year 2022.
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District Links: Two MPD officers testify at House inquiry into insurrection; DC sees four-fold rise in COVID-19 infections in July; and more

Metropolitan Police Department Officers Michael Fanone and Daniel Hodges returned to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to offer their firsthand accounts of the Jan. 6 insurrection as the new House investigation gets underway.
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Opinion

Jasmine Graham: For DC working families, help is finally on the way

It is very hard to raise a family in the District — as a single mom of a beautiful 1-year-old boy, trust me, I know the struggle. Yet I have gained so much hope these last few days with actions taken by President Joe Biden and members of
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jonetta rose barras: DC budget politics

In presenting his recommended Fiscal Year 2022 Budget and Financial Plan to colleagues, DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson called the $17,962,963,587 spending proposal and the attached Budget Support Act (BSA) “transformative.”  (Photo
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Erica Williams and Kimberly Perry: By balancing the tax code, we can fund a just recovery

The DC Council has an unprecedented opportunity to address long-standing inequities in the District for residents of color and families with children that were inadequately addressed in Mayor Muriel Bowser’s proposed budget for fiscal year
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Amber Harding: DC must take action to avoid shifting from a public health emergency to a homelessness emergency

Mayor Muriel Bowser has decided not to extend the public health emergency past July 25. As a result, the DC Council had to scramble to phase out or extend many of the legal protections that were tied to the public health emergency,
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Arts and Culture

‘Read in Color’ aims to expand book access, diversify DC’s Little Free Libraries

Built of wood and featuring a distinctive A-frame construction, the new Little Free Library at CentroNía, a bilingual and multicultural early childhood education provider in Columbia Heights, looks much the same as the existing

Capital Fringe’s new digital series highlights community, climate and culture through local artists

Capital Fringe’s new digital, audio and video project “Down to Earth” highlights local artists as they explore the intersections of climate, sustainability, history, culture and community in Ward 7’s Kenilworth neighborhood. Capital

DC-based producer snags Academy Award nomination for Pixar film

Washington, DC, may bring home an Oscar this Sunday. Mike Capbarat, currently a producer for the DC-based storytelling studio Duke & Duck, is nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film as a producer of “Burrow” from

Features

For one little girl, sexual assaults changed her life until she took control. Now she’s a successful public defender.

“On the day my grandmother caught him fondling me, I was wearing my favorite pink cotton dress. Now pink is a trigger for me.”Roz Overstreet-Gonzalez Growing up, Roz Overstreet-Gonzalez lived a typical life in San Bernardino,

She walks in her truth: DC woman works to help other LGBTQ+ people of color

Heidi Ellis, 36, was taught early in life to love reading, to love her culture, and to love herself. In her home, bookshelves were filled with powerful stories about Black women and Latinx women like her. Ellis, who identifies as lesbian

Surviving trauma: Northwest resident shares her path from foster child to world-champion boxer in hopes of helping others go the distance

Growing up in the District’s foster care system, Lisa Cohen bounced among 13 different families over 19 years. Now 52, Cohen — a motivational speaker and former boxing champion who lives in Northwest DC — never had a birthday party as a

What We're Reading: DC Headlines

Washington Post: Mayor Bowser denies breaking newly reimposed mask mandate

Hours after the District’s reimposed mask mandate went into effect Saturday, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) officiated an outdoor wedding with an indoor reception, raising questions over whether she had

WTOP: With time running out, DC residents face struggles getting rent relief

The national eviction moratorium expired Saturday and on July 25, the District’s local ban on evictions, tied to Mayor Muriel Bowser’s public health emergency declaration, also expired, leaving

WTOP: Mayor’s office responds to reports Bowser went maskless indoors, defying new mandate

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office is pushing back against claims made by conservative media outlets that she went maskless indoors in defiance of her own indoor mask mandate, which was reinstated 5

Washington Post: D.C. wants to take back parole from the feds. But it’s taken almost no action as deadline looms.

By his third appearance in front of the U.S. Parole Commission, James Dunn had all but given up.

WTOP: ‘It’s really scary’: DC yoga studio says mask mandate could slow business

Many small businesses across DC are reopening with cautious optimism, despite concerns about the national spike in COVID-19 cases.

Washington Post: Workers, advocates push for D.C. to include additional $165 million in city budget for those excluded…

Protesters waved signs and shouted, ‘No me excluyas,’ during a protest Saturday in Northwest Washington

WTOP: Families receive free clothes, school supplies at back-to-school event in DC’s Ward 8

Families gathered at the Gateway Pavilion in Southeast D.C. for a free back-to-school event. People who attended the event received free clothing, school supplies, healthy food and were able to get a

DCist: D.C. Is Opening Clinics To Help Tenants Apply For Rent Assistance

Tenants struggling to complete an application for D.C.’s official rent and utility assistance program will soon be able to visit a clinic to get help.

WTOP: Metro Board member weighs possibility of fare increase for long-distance riders

Metrorail fares for long-distance passengers may be going up in the near future.

Press Releases