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Women’s hockey takes center ice in DC as PWHL brings its Takeover Tour to Capital One Arena – WTOP News

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Women’s hockey takes center ice in DC as PWHL brings its Takeover Tour to Capital One Arena – WTOP News


The Professional Women’s Hockey League is bringing its Takeover Tour to Washington, D.C., as the New York Sirens face the Montreal Victoire at Capital One Arena in a regular-season matchup highlighting the league’s rapid growth.

The PWHL regular season game between the Montreal Victorire and the New York Sirens at Prudential Center on January 2, 2026 in Newark, New Jersey, USA. (Photo by Evan Bernstein/The PWHL)(Courtesy New York Sirens and PWHL)

Women’s professional sports leagues continue to grow in popularity in the United States, with soccer and basketball leading the way. Now, women’s hockey is looking to forge its path.

In its third season, the Professional Women’s Hockey League organized a “Takeover Tour,” playing 16 regular season games on neutral sites during the 2025-26 season. One of those games will take place at D.C.’s Capital One Arena as the New York Sirens take on Montreal Victoire.

The game is set to take place on Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets can be purchased on Ticketmaster, with prices starting at $30.

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However, the game will not be an exhibition. As of Friday, both teams sat in the upper half of the eight-team standings, with Montreal in second place with a 7-4 record and New York in fourth place, 6-5.

It’s the third season the PWHL has played games outside of its teams’ cities. The second tour drew over 123,000 fans across nine games.

Montreal forward Laura Stacey said the league’s quick growth in three years before a Winter Olympics puts it into perspective of how far the sport has come.

“We never dreamed about being where we are right now,” Stacey said. “The fact that we’re here, we’re now going to Washington to play in Capital One Arena. I think slowly, every single year, we’re getting these moments of ‘Where are we? How are we doing this?’ And I think it really blows our mind every time.”

For Hayley Scamurra, Sunday’s game is a mini homecoming.

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While she was raised in New York, the Montreal forward is the daughter of former Washington Capitals defender Peter Scamurra, and her mother is from Maryland. Hayley also spent time in the D.C. area as a former coach for the Capitals Youth Development Program and ALL CAPS ALL HER initiative to bring hockey to women and girls.

Scamurra said she’s watched the D.C. region’s love for hockey grow, despite the region not having a notable women’s college hockey program. She added that, after speaking to people within the Capitals organization, the team and D.C.-area hockey fans will welcome the PWHL with open arms.

“Growing up, as a kid, no one knew what hockey was,” Scamurra said. “So now, to see so many girls playing hockey there, there’s like dedicated girls teams at the Caps organization and things like that. The growth has been immense.”

Before the game, both teams will host an open practice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, Virginia, where fans can meet players and received signed autographs. On Saturday night, Montreal’s Marie-Philip Poulin and Sirens player Kayla Vespa will participate in a ceremonial puck drop before the Capitals take on the Florida Panthers.

Vespa, a lifelong Capitals fan, said it is a “full circle moment” to be playing in D.C.

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“I’ve only watched them play on TV, so to be able to be there, at an NHL venue, just shows how much the game has grown,” she said. “To be a lifelong fan, it means a lot, and to be able to bring both teams here … is very exciting, and it’s the next step for us.

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© 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.





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Washington, D.C

Confirmed case of measles in DC as country faces significant resurgence – WTOP News

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Confirmed case of measles in DC as country faces significant resurgence – WTOP News


D.C. health officials are warning of the possible measles exposure at Dulles International Airport and multiple Metrorail lines between April 23-27.

Officials with the District’s Department of Health announced a confirmed case of measles in the city on Thursday.

In a release, D.C. Health are warning residents who may have been exposed to the contagious person at multiple locations around D.C.

  • Concourse B, the Aerotrain and the Baggage Claim Area of Dulles International Airport on Thursday, April 23, and Friday, April 24
  • M60 Metrobus northbound toward Takoma Langley Crossroads Transit Center from April 24 to April 27
  • M60 Metrobus southbound toward Fort Totten station from April 24 to April 27
  • Metrorail Green Line from Fort Totten to L’Enfant Plaza and the Blue Line toward Downtown Largo on Saturday, April 25, from 9 a.m. till noon
  • Metrorail Green Line from Fort Totten to L’Enfant Plaza transferring to the Orange Line toward New Carrolton on Sunday, April 26, from 7:50 a.m. to 10:50 a.m.
  • Orange Line from Minnesota Avenue transferring from L’Enfant Plaza to the Green Line toward Greenbelt on Saturday, April 25, and Sunday, April 26, in the evening
  • Red Line Metrorail from Fort Totten toward Shady Grove on Monday, April 27, from 5 p.m. to 7:15 p.m.

Anyone who was at those locations during the listed times should monitor for symptoms for 21 days and check their vaccination status. Early symptoms include fever, cough, runny nose and red eyes, followed by a rash.

D.C. Health officials said the virus can stay in the air for up to 2 hours after a contagious person leaves the space.

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As always, vaccination remains a key component in fighting the spread of the disease. Two doses of the vaccine are recommended for children between 12 months and 4 years old

“It is so contagious that about 9 out of 10 people who come near a person with measles will also become infected if they are not vaccinated,” D.C. Health wrote.

Three cases of measles were also confirmed in February among people traveling through the D.C. area.

People who think they might have been exposed to the virus should contact their healthcare provider or D.C. Health at 844-493-2652 for guidance.

Measles outbreaks have surged nationwide. This year through April, there were more than 1,814 confirmed measles cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.

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Roughly 2,300 cases were reported in 2025.

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© 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.



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Washington, D.C

LUCC members tackle housing affordability shortage

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LUCC members tackle housing affordability shortage


County officials representing large urban areas across the country traveled to Washington D.C. April 23 to discuss data-driven approaches to expanding housing supply and affordability at a think tank and relay local housing needs to federal agency staff and members of Congress at NACo’s Large Urban County Caucus (LUCC) fly-in. 

“Housing, especially housing supply and affordability, is one of the most pressing challenges facing our respective metropolitan areas,” said LUCC Chair Adrian Garcia, who serves as a Harris County, Texas commissioner. “It’s a core constraint, not only on quality of life, but also on economic growth and workforce ability.”

 

Best practices

Edward Pinto, senior fellow and co-director of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) Housing Center, outlined three ways local governments can increase housing supply:

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  • Allow houses to be built on smaller lots, increasing the amount of starter single family homes and townhomes
  • Allow lot split flexibilities on existing lots, enabling a variety of dwelling types and sizes to exist on one property (such as duplexes, ADUs and townhomes)
  • Expand flexibility to build homes near jobs

“The three most important things in housing affordability are small lot, small lot, small lot,” Pinto said. “Small lots cost less; you get smaller homes on small lots.”

Local governments should encourage the construction of small residential properties — specifically single-family buildings that contain between one and four separate dwelling units, according to Pinto. 

“That is the way that you actually make housing affordable,” he said. “… The first home I bought in 1975 [was] 1,400 square feet, three bedrooms, on a 4,800 square foot lot. We don’t build those houses anymore. They’re illegal. You need to activate that.”

Into the early 20th century, it was common to have multiple types of residences — small, large, duplexes, triplexes, townhomes — mixed in the same neighborhood as doctor’s offices, grocery stores and other commercial properties, Pinto said. And not just in urban areas, but in smaller cities, as well, he noted. 

That ended when Herbert Hoover, who was the U.S. Secretary of Commerce at the time, appointed a zoning commission to develop a model zoning statute for the states to pass. That statute was based on a Baltimore city ordinance that led to economic segregation, Pinto noted. 

In 1910, Baltimore passed the country’s first racial-zoning ordinance, making it illegal for Black people to live in predominantly white neighborhoods, and vice-versa. In 1917, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down racial zoning, declaring it unconstitutional to refuse to sell a home to someone because of their race, so the city then moved to control how land could be developed and used, requiring lots and homes to be a certain minimum size.   

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“They came upon economic segregation … That’s why they focused on single-family, detached [homes],” Pinto said. “They now could set lot sizes. They could set side yards, front yards, backyards … and they knew there was lots of research that showed that that would just drive the prices up, out of the reach of the people they didn’t want living there.”

Over a century later, it’s these restrictive zoning ordinances that continue to prevent the expansion of housing supply and affordability, Pinto said. In the United States, 38 million people between the ages of 25 to 65 qualify as low-wage workers, meaning they make less than $40,000 a year working full-time. Low-wage workers usually can’t afford to rent one- or two-bedroom units in high-rise buildings. So, if the goal is to expand affordable housing, those types of developments shouldn’t make up such a large share of new construction, he said.

“Of the 40% of low-wage workers that are in rental households, 60% of them live in single family-1 to 4 — the exact things that were being built in Los Angeles that [the Federal Housing Administration] stamped out back in 1935,” he said. 

“And the reason is because you can spread the cost … across more than one wager easily, either you’re married, you have roommates, whatever, you’re able to spread it, but it’s very hard to do that in a one-bedroom apartment.”

If counties do rezone land to maximize housing supply, they need to make the replatting process as simple and inexpensive as possible, so that it’s not dragged out, Pinto said. 

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“If you’re just taking 8,000 square feet, and you’re dividing it into four, 2,000 square foot lots, that should be drop dead simple,” he said. “If it isn’t drop dead simple, you need to make it drop dead simple.”

 

Federal housing priorities 

In December, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) finalized its housing target goals through 2028, which outline that a certain percentage of acquisitions that the enterprises make must support low-income households in low-income areas and multi-family housing, according to Leda Bloomfield, associate director of FHFA’s Office of Housing, Community Investment and Inclusion. 

“We want to make sure that you’re providing liquidity not just for the class A new construction, but also for starter homes and homes where we think the vast majority of Americans and families are,” Bloomfield said. “Thinking about, how do we achieve the American dream, to get them into those kinds of housing? And making sure that we support the spectrum of borrowers there.”

FHFA announced April 22 that it’s implementing VantageScore 4.0 and FICO 10T for mortgage underwriting, according to Daniel Fichtler, principal readiness adviser for FHFA’s Division of Conservatorship Oversight and Readiness. They are modern, trended-data credit models approved by the FHFA for mortgage underwriting by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA replacing older static models. Both analyze 24-plus months of credit behavior, including rent/utility payments, to better predict risk and expand homeownership opportunities.

“They use what’s called trended credit data, which is more accurate, more reliable,” Fichtler said. 

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“And they also do things like better account for rent payments — those types of obligations that aren’t always as visible on the credit bureau side, but that can give a better picture of certain borrowers’ credit worthiness. 

“We think this is going to be a really important development, because it both improves access and improves safety and soundness.”

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, bipartisan legislation the Senate passed in March, would modernize locally administered housing programs and cut artificial costs from regulatory barriers, according to NACo. 

If enacted, it would be a “very important step that’s going to help Americans access quality, affordable housing,” said Geoffrey Smith, general deputy assistant secretary, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations. 

HUD will continue to work with Congress to expand the housing supply, streamline regulations and lower housing costs for all Americans, Smith said. Deregulation is a “top priority” for the department, he noted. 

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“HUD is taking bold action to help American families with thoughtful proposals to increase housing and opportunity zones, promoting the value of manufactured housing and addressing just the mountain of red tape out there builders are dealing with right now,” Smith said. 



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Washington, D.C

Correspondents’ dinner attack suspect Cole Allen being held inside D.C. jail complex, source says

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Correspondents’ dinner attack suspect Cole Allen being held inside D.C. jail complex, source says


Cole Allen, the California man charged in the attack at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner over the weekend, is being detained at the Correctional Treatment Facility at the D.C. jail complex, a law enforcement source confirmed to CBS News. This is the same facility that previously housed many Jan. 6 defendants and is a newer facility than the main jail.  

The CTF, operated by the D.C. Department of Corrections, holds men, women and juveniles charged as adults.

Allen, 31, is charged with attempting to assassinate President Trump and two firearms-related offenses stemming from the shooting on Saturday night. He has not yet entered a plea to the charges.

Allen is being held in a restrictive cell in medical isolation, which is standard protocol, the law enforcement source said. Corrections protocol requires that Allen be held under suicide watch for the first 72 hours in a green suicide smock while he is assessed. A lawyer for Allen told the court Thursday that he is being held in a “safe cell” under 24-hour lockdown. 

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Also, according to the source, a D.C. correctional officer is posted outside Allen’s cell door 24/7 while he is under observation. During this period, he is under strict observation with no access to outside materials. Allen is brought finger foods on a tray and is not allowed utensils, the source said. He’s allowed to shower every 72 hours. Allen is also allowed religious materials in his cell, such as a Bible or Quran. He has not requested any religious materials, according to the source.

File photo of the Washington, D.C., jail.

Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images


The D.C. Department of Corrections says on its website that the facility consists of five separate, multi-story buildings situated immediately adjacent to each other, so the facility presents as one large structure. Housing units within the CTF range from 16 to 48 cells with a maximum capacity of 96 beds per unit. It is a separate structure from D.C.’s main jail. 

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The U.S. Marshals Service, which manages federal pretrial detainees, has a contract with the D.C. Department of Corrections, the law enforcement source said. The U.S. Marshals Service says on its website that it has contracts with approximately 1,200 state and local governments to rent jail space to house more than 63,000 pretrial detainees. 

The U.S. Marshals said it doesn’t release detention locations for high-profile prisoners due to security concerns.

CBS News has reached out to the D.C. Department of Corrections.

Allen has been compliant since his arrival, the law enforcement source said. 

During an appearance in federal court Thursday, Allen’s attorneys told the judge that he agreed to remain detained in the lead-up to his trial. A preliminary hearing is set for May 11.

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His attorneys had argued in a filing Wednesday that  Allen was “gainfully employed” as a tutor, is a “devout Christian” who “dutifully” attends church and is an “active participant” in his religious community. They said he has no criminal history and is college-educated, and that those factors weigh in favor of release.

After telling the judge that Allen instead agreed to remain detained, his attorney, Tezira Abe, asked the judge to order the jail to lift his lockdown restrictions. The judge said she did not have the authority to override the judgment of the jail but would accept briefs on the matter.

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