Opinion

“The council is bringing this on itself,” Jack Evans, a former Ward 2 legislator and expert on District finances, said earlier this week during an interview with me about yet another congressional encroachment into the local government’s…

It could be, as some people have suggested, that Elissa Silverman's arrival back to the John A. Wilson Building as an at-large councilmember is karma's work. She might claim otherwise, saying that hard work and determination are what…

Summer concert season is here, but the usual enthusiasm among District residents is not. Across the country, reports have emerged of softer ticket sales. After years of rising ticket prices — concert ticket prices having surged 105%…

Since 2020, when Mayor Muriel Bowser and her deputy mayor for health and human services, Wayne Turnage, decided to reorganize the city’s multibillion-dollar Medicaid managed care program in the middle of an unprecedented global pandemic,…

The DC Council created an expert advisory panel in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This year the mayor and council have agreed to kill the District’s Homeland Security Commission despite solid successes during its 20-year…

Between the DC Council’s first budget vote on June 9 and its second earlier this week, its proposed spending jumped by $50 million — ultimately exceeding by nearly $500 million Mayor Muriel Bowser’s initial proposal. That add-on…

This month, the DC Council voted to reverse most of the mayor's proposed cuts to early childhood programs, adding roughly $60 million to the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund and nearly $50 million to the childcare subsidy program…

DC Council Chair Phil Mendelson may not seem a Yoda doppelganger: He lacks pointy ears; he is also considerably taller and much younger than the Star Wars Jedi Master. What’s more, compared to the Galactic Republic, DC’s government is…

As we approach DC’s first mayoral transition in over a decade, it is worth taking stock of how the city is performing on public safety, and how the next mayor can continue to move us further toward being one of America’s safest cities. …

On Sunday, just two days before the DC Council voted unanimously to give initial approval to the city’s nearly $22 billion Fiscal Year 2027 Budget and Financial Plan, I asked Chair Phil Mendelson whether it would be fair to say that he and…

We are parents of public charter school students from different wards, different schools and different backgrounds. But this week we are joining together with families from across the District to demand that the DC Council treat our…

Next week, the DC Council is expected to take the first of two votes on Mayor Muriel Bowser’s proposed $21.2 billion Fiscal Year 2027 Budget and Financial Plan. Don’t expect a smooth landing. The budget, combined with concerns…

“While change is good, prepared leadership is better,” Kevin Chavous said as he introduced himself during the DC Office of Campaign Finance’s at-large primary debate late last month. He is one of nine Democrats hoping to hit the lottery…

“It’s nice to see everyone so willing to work together,” journalist Michael Brice-Saddler quipped while moderating the recent debate sponsored by the DC Office of Campaign Finance principally for candidates certified under the Fair…

At a recent mayoral forum, moderator Dwayne Lawson-Brown asked the candidates to use three words to describe their political style. “Principled. Resilient. Effective,” said Ward 4 DC Councilmember Janeese Lewis George. “Bold.…

Last month, DC Justice Lab convened nearly 30 organizations to stand together on the steps of the Wilson Building and release the 2026 DC Public Safety Policy Agenda, a set of recommendations developed by policy experts, individuals…

Earlier this week, Wesley Williams, operations and policy officer for the DC Office of Campaign Finance, confirmed that his agency has opened an investigation into whether the relationship between Janeese Lewis George’s mayoral campaign,…

A diverse crowd of nearly 300 people squeezed into the auditorium at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library on Monday evening; it was a standing-room-only setting at the latest DC mayoral forum, one sponsored by The 51st, The…

It was a breathtaking revelation: In a clear violation of local ethics laws, DC Council Chair Phil Mendelson used government resources, including equipment and staff, as he engaged in prohibited political campaign activities in his office…

I never planned to be an early educator. In 2018, I was working as a cashier and knew I needed a change, so I applied to be an assistant teacher at a child care center. Once I started, everything clicked. It felt natural to work with…