The ethics board for the D.C. government has censured Council member Trayon White and fined him $900 for failing to disclose his personal finances three separate times.

White violated the city’s code of conduct and undermined the public trust when he missed the deadlines to disclose his finances in November 2024, May 2025 and November 2025, the D.C. Board of Ethics and Government Accountability said in its decision Monday.

Council members are required to file a Public Financial Disclosure Statement (PFDS) twice a year and White was aware of his obligation to file, the board said.

“Public service is a public trust. The requirement for elected officials to file public financial
disclosures stems from the recognition that they should be held to a higher standard,” Norma Hutcheson, chairperson for the board, said in the decision. “The Council held themselves to that higher standard by requiring that Councilmembers file semiannual disclosure reports, instead of the annual reports required for other public officials … [White’s] failure to file the three reports at issue undermines that public confidence.”

White is back on the D.C. Council months after fellow legislators expelled him.

White is expected to go to trial later this year for a federal bribery charge. He was indicted in 2024, accused of agreeing to accept $156,000 in exchange for using his position to pressure employees of the D.C. Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement and the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) to extend several contracts, prosecutors said.

White received $35,000 in four cash payments in the alleged scheme, according to court documents.

He was reelected to the Ward 8 seat after the D.C. Council expelled him in February 2025.

In January, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said she “can’t wait” for White’s trial.

“I expect a conviction,” she added. “I think the evidence is solid. I’ve seen the evidence. I don’t like individuals who work for government – whether it’s federal, state, local – and who use that as an opportunity to line their pockets. It’s unacceptable.”

After a cool start in the 50s, we’ll see temperatures reach into the lower to mid-80s under partly sunny skies Tuesday afternoon. A stray thunderstorm is possible over the mountains region, otherwise any rain or storm chance holds off until at least late Tuesday night into Wednesday.

The heat and humidity will be building in for the rest of the week. Wednesday, highs will reach into the lower 90s, although we’ll likely see mainly cloudy skies, the WSW wind will usher in the heat and we’ll be dealing with scattered storms developing in the afternoon and evening.

Thursday will be hotter and humid with highs into the mid to upper 90s, but expect heat index values to reach into the triple digits thanks to dewpoints into the lower 70s. Thursday will be partly to mostly cloudy with isolated PM storms.

Friday brings a better chance of thunderstorms as a cold front will be swinging across the region. Highs will still be able to reach into the mid to upper 90s ahead of the front with heat index values into the triple digits again. Some of these storms could be on the strong to severe side, we’ll continue to monitor as we get closer.

For the weekend, highs will be back into the lower 90s, with isolated thunderstorm chances Sunday. Monday will bring scattered storms and highs back into the upper 80s.

GRAND BLANC TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Another group of distinguished veterans will tour the nation’s capital and memorials on June 16 and 17 with Honor Flight Mission 26, which will take off from Flint Bishop International Airport.

We recently caught up with one of the local men who will be on that flight. Cold War veteran Gene Rodgers has traveled the world, but has never been to Washington D.C.

“Shortly out of high school, the Korean War was just started and two of my buddies and myself decided we really didn’t know what we wanted to do with our lives so for some reason, we said let’s join the service,” said Gene Rodgers, Cold War Veteran.

At 19, Gene and those friends joined the United States Army Security Agency.

He served from September 1952 until February 1955, during the Korean and Cold Wars.

“I was at a little post called Herzo Base. and it was in the town of Herzogenaurach,” explained Gene.

That little post in Germany is where he and 99 others were assigned to a specialized mission, one that did not allow them to speak with others about what they did.

“My specialty became picking up morse code messages that dealt with the shipments of strategic materials and troop movements behind the iron curtain,” he said.

Iron curtain was the division of Europe into the Soviet-controlled Eastern Bloc and the western countries aligned with the United State and NATO.

Along with his unique job responsibilities, Gene says once a month he had a courier assignment.

“When it was your time to go, they strapped a leather pouch onto your wrist. You wore a sidearm. For the first time ever, I wore a 45 and you had two guards with you. and each day we ran that courier,” added Gene.

The information he carried went from Nuremberg to Frankfurt and then Washington D.C., a place he’s eager to visit with his brothers, sisters and guardians on Honor Flight Mission 26.

“To me it’s an honor because I’ve never been to Washington D.C. I’ve been to a lot of places in Europe where the military was engaged in battles and stuff like that, but I’ve never been to Washington,” said Gene.

It will be a time for now, 93-year-old Gene, to reflect and remember.

Gene came back to the states and earned a business administration degree from GMI, now Kettering University, and a MBA from the University of Michigan.

He adds, the Herzo Base where he served in Germany is now the headquarters of Adidas.

Gene is looking forward to visiting the Army Museum where he says he is a founding father.

Note: Mid-Michigan NOW Chief Photojournalist Mike Horne and Stella Daskalakis will once again have the honor of traveling with Honor Flight Mission 26.