District Links

Happy Presidents Day! Mayor Muriel Bowser is having a rough time making the rounds of the national media as a top surrogate for Michael Bloomberg.

TGIF! The DC Council last year did not advance a bill to decriminalize sex work. Now there's a national group looking to put the issue on the ballot for voters to decide.

Happy Thursday. After news that Metro Transit Police arrested a 13-year-old boy, WaPo reports that Metro's officers held a contest last year to encourage arrests.

Happy Wednesday. Statehood for DC will likely pass the U.S. House for the first time ever, after legislation advanced out of committee yesterday on a 21-16 vote.

Happy Tuesday. Ever so briefly at today’s House committee markup of DC statehood, the ranking Republican — speaking on an amendment to the bill — echoed the comments that Democratic proponents had offered earlier on behalf of the…

Happy Monday. Can campaigning for Michael Bloomberg give Muriel Bowser a path to becoming a national figure? Will it put a spotlight on DC's mayor not seen since the days of Adrian Fenty?

TGIF! DC's homeland security director delayed the release of a cybersecurity report for over a year, and yesterday he got a shellacking at a DC Council hearing from Charles Allen, whose committee oversees his agency.

Happy Thursday. The next big ballot initiative in DC could reduce local enforcement of laws against 'magic mushrooms' and psychedelic drugs, if supporters can gather more than 25,000 signatures in time for November.

Good Wednesday morning. Washington Metropolitan, the struggling school set for closure, came one council member's vote short of staying open yesterday.

Good Tuesday morning. Mayor Muriel Bowser may have cut off a line of attack from her left-leaning critics in the education world, declaring yesterday that she will increase the spending formula for public school students by 4%.

A clarification on this morning's newsletter: Our introductory item today cited Jack Evans' criticism of the idea of publicly financed campaigns in his responses to a 2016 questionnaire from the DC chapter of the Sierra Club. The item…

Good Monday morning. Jack Evans as council member in 2016 slammed the idea of publicly financed campaigns, telling advocates he didn't believe “tax dollars should be spent on political campaigns.”

TGIF! Michael Bloomberg is amassing a club of mayors to back his unconventional bid for the Democrats' presidential nomination, and Muriel Bowser is his newest surrogate.

Good Thursday morning. Mayor Muriel Bowser has been talking up ex-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg since word got out he would enter the presidential race. Bowser will endorse Bloomberg in H Street NE today, WaPo reports.

Good Wednesday morning. WaPo yesterday walked Georgetown, home to Jack Evans, to find out that even some past supporters can't stomach him running again — particularly so soon.

Good Tuesday morning. Jack Evans’ resignation from the DC Council and his attempt at a political comeback are officially separated by just 10 days.

Good Monday morning. In a city with a right-to-shelter law during freezing temperatures, some homeless people still prefer the streets.

Students walk out: The Bowser administration has decided to shut down a public school for the first time in seven years, confirming yesterday that Washington Metropolitan will close at the end of the year despite students’ protestations.

Happy Thursday. It never looked all that likely, but the streetcar extension to Georgetown has now been “effectively scrapped” by the District Department of Transportation, WTOP reports.

Students fight for school: Washington Metropolitan Opportunity Academy is on the chopping block, with a final decision expected soon on a DC Public Schools proposal to make it the first school since 2013 to be shut down.