Who’s lined up to run in the 2022 primaries?
Nominating petitions for DC’s June 21 primary election won’t be available until Jan. 28, according to the DC Board of Elections calendar. In the meantime, prospective candidates have begun filing with the DC Office of Campaign Finance or,…
Can the mayor deliver on her call for equitable distribution of 12,000 new affordable housing units…
When the District government began planning the construction of a six-story homeless shelter on a publicly owned lot next to a police station in Cleveland Park, some neighbors had concerns. The density of the proposed building, they…
From Howard to the White House? DC campus astir over Kamala Harris
On the morning of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Kamala Harris announced in a TV appearance that she was running for president in 2020. Her next stop was her alma mater: Howard University.
Harris, the junior U.S. senator from California,…
Nearly 4 years after initial presentation, ‘Lady Bird’ project in AU Park still struggling to take…
A developer’s plan to build 219 residential units and new retail on the site of a long-vacant supermarket in American University Park is still nowhere close to groundbreaking, stymied by fierce resistance from some neighbors ever since its…
jonetta rose barras: time to rescue traditional public schools east of the river
The Ward 7 Education Council gathered last week to discuss DC Council member Charles Allen’s Public School Transparency Amendment Act 2019. As written, the proposed legislation would mandate public charter schools’ adherence to the same…
jonetta rose barras: Was the DC Council really talking about education?
“This is all about politics,” DC Council Chairman Pro Tempore and Ward 5 representative Kenyan McDuffie said repeatedly last week. He and his colleagues were engaged in a nearly two-hour debate about whether to relocate Benjamin Banneker…
A Connecticut Avenue apartment complex shows effects of a legal loophole and cracks in city housing…
In recent months, one Connecticut Avenue apartment building has become a focal point for criticism of the city’s subsidized housing programs, with problems reaching the attention of the police and DC Council and spawning debates over how…
Careless employee floods DC’s crime lab, soaking four floors and backing up critical wastewater…
A critical wastewater system backed up and flooded four floors of DC’s $215 million forensic sciences laboratory in Southwest DC after a careless employee left a faucet running, The DC Line has learned.
The incident — which had not been…
As DDOT studies options for Palisades Trolley Trail, questions arise over what’s most suitable
What’s now a grassy footpath along the Potomac River from Foxhall Road to Galena Place NW along the former Glen Echo trolley route could become a full-fledged pedestrian and bike trail connecting Georgetown and the Palisades, depending on…
The DC Lineup for the spring: Learn about world cultures, chocolate, the environment and more
Spring 2019 has finally arrived in the District after a long, stormy winter. For some local residents, it’s the return of baseball to Nationals Park that marked the change in seasons. Others see the cherry blossoms along the Tidal Basin —…
Groups pursue community engagement after Anacostia River Pool study documents the idea’s feasibility
A new study concludes that a swimming facility in the Anacostia River is feasible, suggesting that community interest should drive the project forward.
The DC Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE) collaborated with the Anacostia…
Officials cut ribbon at renovated Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library
Hundreds of local residents, officials, activists and onlookers crammed into the lobby and second-floor overhang of the renovated Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library on Saturday, awaiting a ribbon-cutting nearly two years in the making.…
Long-vacant Truxton Circle school may become community center, Peace Corps museum
Running across a vacant or blighted building in DC isn’t uncommon, much to the chagrin of residents. In May 2016, Greater Greater Washington put the “official count” of vacant and blighted buildings in the city at approximately 1,200, but…
District Links: Council rejects delay in ranked choice voting; McDuffie announces council…
The DC Council this afternoon voted down emergency legislation that would have delayed implementation of ranked choice voting until 2027.
District Links: Probes into MPD crime stats blast departing chief for ‘culture of fear’;…
In the wake of media reports about a draft U.S. Department of Justice report faulting DC's departing police chief and the Metropolitan Police Department's crime reporting under her leadership, the House Committee on Oversight and…
District Links: Proposed Metro budget lays out service improvements without fare hikes; draft DOJ…
Metro is looking to boost ridership with improved rail and bus service without any fare increases in the coming year, according to the proposed fiscal year 2027 budget released yesterday Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority…
jonetta rose barras: Political change everywhere and all at once in DC
Former DC at-large Councilmember Bill Lightfoot declared during an interview with me that this moment in the city’s political life is “an opportunity.” Is that an understatement?
After all, Mayor Muriel Bowser and Councilmembers…
District Links: Area leaders warn against expanding military access to DC airspace; House bill seeks…
Regional leaders are echoing objections raised by the National Transportation Safety Board about a provision in the final version of the fiscal year 2026 national defense funding bill that would permit exemptions to restrictions on…
District Links: DC Superior Court nominees back on track for Senate floor vote; three new…
As part of a broad package of 97 presidential nominations, three judicial appointments to the DC Superior Court cleared a key procedural hurdle this afternoon on a party-line 51-47 vote in the Senate.
District Links: DC reaches $1.5M settlement with construction firm over alleged wage theft;…
DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb today announced a $1.5 million settlement with a construction company to resolve allegations of a wage theft scheme.
Allister Chang: DC needs to craft graduation requirements that help our students navigate an…
“My kids are not being prepared to keep up with a changing world,” a parent told me at a recent PTO meeting. As I’ve talked with families and educators about DC’s Reimagining High School Graduation Requirements initiative, I’ve heard…
District Links: MPD chief stepping down midway through four-year term; Bonds won’t run in…
After two and a half years as chief of DC's Metropolitan Police Department, Pamela Smith is stepping down as of Dec. 31, midway through her four-year term.
District Links: DC reports rise in four-year graduation rate to 78.7%; Appeals Court pauses…
The District reached a graduation rate of 78.7% in the 2024-25 school year — the highest mark since 2011, when DC began using the current methodology for calculating graduation rates and a 2.6 percentage point increase from the prior…
jonetta rose barras: An absence of courage in the DC Council
“Honoring the will of the voters means protecting voter access, voter understanding, and voter confidence — especially for communities that have historically been disenfranchised in our election systems,” Ward 7 DC Councilmember Wendell…
District Links: DC Superior Court nominees part of package winding through Senate; Bowser dedicates…
Three judicial appointments to the vacancy-laden DC Superior Court are part of the slate of presidential nominees under consideration this week for Senate confirmation — a package that is at least temporarily stalled after an insufficient…
District Links: House Oversight Committee aims to undo DC standard on administrative deference;…
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform yesterday voted 24-19 along party lines to approve legislation to prohibit DC from requiring that courts and tribunals defer to the mayor's interpretation of statutes and regulations.
…
District Links: Council alters DDOT rules criticized as discouraging streateries; all National Guard…
The DC Council this afternoon approved emergency legislation to relax several aspects of the District Department of Transportation's new rules for streateries that took effect yesterday and reduce the newly established fees.
District Links: Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George launches mayoral bid; MPD is closing more…
Janeese Lewis George today launched her mayoral campaign as she aims to become the third Ward 4 councilmember to decamp from DC's legislature to its top executive office.
District Links: Bowser sets up wide-open mayoral race with announcement she won’t seek fourth…
Seven years ago, soon after winning a second term, Mayor Muriel Bowser memorably generated pre-Thanksgiving headlines by questioning whether mumbo sauce deserves its reputation as "quintessential DC." This year, she's again making news…
District Links: Car-sharing company to refund DC customers after OAG investigation; Metro…
More than 50 DC customers who were allegedly misled by a car-sharing company will receive refunds under a new settlement announced today by the DC Office of the Attorney General.
Sam Trumbull: DC’s outdated insurance laws are failing victims — and Councilmember McDuffie’s…
I was born in 1986. Marion Barry had just started his third term as mayor. The space shuttle Challenger disaster had shocked the nation. The Washington football team made it to the NFC championship game as a wild card. And, while seatbelts…
District Links: White, Schwalb team up on bill to strengthen tools against problem landlords; BID…
The authors of newly introduced legislation are calling for stronger protections for DC tenants living in dangerous housing and a fix to loopholes that have enabled problem landlords to delay repairs and address issues such as rodent…
District Links: Federal judge grants injunction against National Guard deployment in DC; rental…
A federal judge ruled yesterday that the federal government's ongoing deployment of National Guard troops in the District is illegal, granting the District's request for a preliminary injunction but also issuing a 21-day stay to give the…