The D.C. area went through a lot of changes this year.

The highs included the Washington Commanders having the first great year in far too long, and pandas returning to the National Zoo.

The year had lows, too. The collapse of Baltimore’s Key Bridge killed six workers, tragic murders were uncovered across the DMV and severe weather shook the region.

The U.S. won big in the Olympics (our local athletes did too!), we gawked at weird pop culture moments like the Willy Wonka experience in Scotland (yes, that happened this year), and the country had a groundbreaking election with surprises to the very end.

In case you forgot, we put together some of the biggest stories of 2024 for you to look back on.

DC day care workers rush children out of building before explosion next door

The owner and employees of a Southeast D.C. day care center rushed more than a dozen babies and children outside when they smelled gas coming from a building next door in January. Minutes later, a building that was home to a convenience store was leveled and two other buildings were damaged in a gas explosion.

The day care center owner was commended for having an emergency plan and executing it fast and flawlessly, potentially saving the lives of every child and employee.

“I want every parent that sends their kids there to know they that are prepared and they do a good job,” D.C. Fire Chief John Donnelly said.

Snead said she felt honored and was just doing her job. “It took some very special people and some special skills to get the children out,” Snead said.

Plane lands on Loudoun County Parkway in snowstorm

“I look up and the plane’s like 20 feet above me and it lands like 20 feet in front of me,” a man said after a small plane made an emergency landing on the parkway. News4’s Mauricio Casillas reports.

In January, the D.C. area got its first snowstorm in two years — and days later, a second storm arrived, causing a plane to make an emergency landing on the Loudoun County Parkway. The small airplane had seven people on board when the pilot landed on the parkway. No one on the plane or on the ground was hurt.

“I look up and the plane’s like 20 feet above me and it lands like 20 feet in front of me. And, just driving, I’m like, ‘Uh, what’s going on?’ So, they go down, they land it. They got squirrely at the end here and crashed into the guardrail,” a witness said.

Firefighter Trevor Brown dies in a Northern Virginia house explosion

On Feb. 16, a volunteer firefighter was killed in a house explosion Friday that also injured 13 others. Trevor Brown, 45, a father of three, died in a catastrophic explosion that destroyed a home in Sterling shortly after a large propane tank was found leaking, Loudoun County fire officials said.

The tragedy spurred an outpouring of support, including a memorial at the site of the explosion with notes and flowers.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin spoke at Brown’s memorial service, describing him as a hero who worked a 12-hour shift, took his kids to school and likely said, “If not me, then who?” when responding to the Sterling emergency.

‘We lost our amazing sons’: Two little boys die after Clifton house fire

In April, two young brothers pulled from a house fire died after several days in intensive care, leaving their family devastated.

Northern Virginia Bureau Reporter Drew Wilder shows how the brothers, 3 and 6, are being remembered. 

Zachariah and William Brice and their 8-year-old brother, Logan, were in the care of their grandparents when the fire broke out in their Northern Virginia home. Logan ran outside and called 911, and his grandparents tried to get to his brothers but couldn’t, neighbors said. The younger boys were trapped in a deadly cloud of thick smoke that damaged their lungs and brains.

“When William and Zach were found, William was actually covering and protecting Zachariah. We knew that to be his character because that’s just who he is and he, himself, is a hero,” their father said.

William’s love covered Zachariah like a shield, protecting his little brother until the end.

Cargo ship strikes and collapses Baltimore’s Key Bridge, killing 6

The ship Dali suffered a power failure at the worst possible moment and then slammed into the Key Bridge in a crucial location, causing the bridge to crash down. Six workers who were on the bridge died in the collapse.

It’s one of the most catastrophic and preventable maritime disasters in Maryland history, Gov. Wes Moore said while announcing a sweeping lawsuit against the ship’s owner and its operator.

Maryland estimated rebuilding the bridge could take four years and cost nearly $2 billion. The federal government is set to foot the bill as lawsuits drag on.

DC strikes deal to keep the Caps and Wizards

The Capitals and Wizards have played at Capital One Arena in downtown D.C. for more than two decades. That won’t change anytime soon.

But a year ago, it really seemed like Washington’s pro hockey and basketball teams would be moving to Alexandria, Virginia. Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Monumental Sports and Entertainment CEO Ted Leonsis’ statement at the end of 2023 sounded like a done deal.

But then, a stunning reversal came after tumultuous months filled with bitter battles between community members, a billionaire and political leaders.

The new deal will keep the Caps and Wizards in D.C. until at least 2050 and could transform the neighborhood.

Stumpy’s last stand

D.C. lost a local icon in 2024.

Stumpy, the iconic half-dead cherry tree that grew new blossoms every peak bloom despite all odds, was removed from his home near the Tidal Basin to make way for a new seawall.

It was a loss we all expected – the gentle but relentless flooding near the Jefferson Memorial was the reason Stumpy earned his nickname, and took out his brethren years earlier – but it was a sad loss nonetheless.

After a series of heartfelt tributes during peak bloom in the spring, District residents visiting the tidal basin one sunny mid-morning in May were greeted with an empty square of construction netting where Stumpy once stood.

If you’re tearing up all over again remembering Stumpy, fear not: His descendant-clones are already growing at the National Arboretum, and will one day be planted in the same soil that sprouted our hero.

Solar eclipse

Thousands of people turned out at the National Mall, gathered on rooftops and put on eclipse glasses across the Washington, D.C., area on April 8 to celebrate a rare and mesmerizing solar eclipse.

Thousands of people in the Washington, D.C., area stepped outside Monday for a glimpse of a last-in-a-generation solar eclipse.

At 3:20 p.m., when the eclipse reached its maximum point, crowds began to cheer on the National Mall and at viewing parties around the D.C. area. More than 80% of the sun was blocked in D.C., and sunlight filtering through the trees cast crescent-shaped shadows.

Monday’s total solar eclipse was the last one that will be visible over the continental U.S. for another 20 years. D.C., Maryland and Virginia weren’t in the path of totality, but other major cities from Dallas, Texas, to Burlington, Vermont, saw a corona of light as the moon completely obscured the sun.

The Washington Commanders draft Jayden Daniels with the second overall pick

The Commanders needed a hero, and Jayden Daniels delivered.

The Hail Mary. Comeback victories. Ending the Eagles’ winning streak. Washington’s best start in a generation.
And next, playoffs.

Daniels made 12 touchdown passes in the fourth quarter and overtime, a record for an NFL rookie, and he’s favored for Rookie of the Year.

“As the moments get bigger, he gets better,” Mike Tirico said.

The Commanders made it to the postseason with an 11-5 record, and the vibes are as good as younger generations can remember.

Jayden Daniels might be single-handedly changing the outlook on the Commanders season.JP Finlay looks at how they pulled off a win against the Cardinals.

Police clear pro-Palestinian protesters at GW campus

As the Israel-Hamas war raged, D.C. police arrested 33 demonstrators after clearing the pro-Palestinian protest encampment at George Washington University on May 8. The police action on Day 14 of the protests began after 3 a.m., after school administrators asked for help removing students and others from campus property.

Protesters, which included GW students and others, demanded the university’s divestment from Israel and an end to Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip.

“They came in full riot gear – hundreds of cops,” demonstrator Mimi Ziad told News4. She said police shoved demonstrators and sprayed them with pepper spray.

Hours after police arrested protesters, crews worked to remove tents and wash chalk off the roadway. News4’s Joseph Olmo takes a look.

Northern lights dazzle the DC area

An unusually strong solar storm produced stunning displays of color in the skies across the Northern Hemisphere in May.

Sky watchers in the Mid-Atlantic shared photos of purples and greens overtaking the night skies.

It seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime stroke of luck, perhaps – until another strong solar storm in October brought the aurora borealis to D.C. and its suburbs.

Viewers sent in their photos of the northern lights visible in the area Thursday evening. Storm Team4 Chief Meteorologist Doug Kammerer shares some of those pictures.

‘Our entire state grieves’ after Maryland parole officer found slain in offender’s apartment

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore ordered flags in the state to be flown at half staff in June before a slain parole officer was laid to rest.

The agent, 33-year-old Davis Martinez, went to check on a registered sex offender who had been released from prison in 2021. But after Martinez didn’t return to work, Montgomery County officers went to the offender’s apartment. There, they found the body of the missing parole agent.

Martinez was pronounced dead at the apartment in the 2800 block of Terrace Drive in Chevy Chase, police said.

Gaithersburg tornado outbreak

A powerful tornado and storm tore through Montgomery County in June, leaving damage for at least 45 miles. Residents in Gaithersburg, Maryland were left with power outages and damaged homes as trees fell on top of them.

Five people were injured in one Gaithersburg home with one of them left with traumatic injuries. Two or three tornadoes hit in that area of Montgomery County, with winds as high as 105 mph, the National Weather Service said.

A motorist’s dashboard camera captured a moment when a funnel cloud touched down in Gaithersburg. He spoke with News4’s Walter Morris about what he witnessed.

Martin Perez was at home in Gaithersburg with his wife, daughter and two friends when a tornado struck and high winds toppled a tree onto his home, splitting it in two.

One man risked his life and went out in the storm to pursue his dream of being a tornado chaser.

‘Every woman, universally’: Military wife is first Asian American, transgender woman to win Miss Maryland

Bailey Anne Kennedy, the newly crowned Miss Maryland of 2024, made major history as the first Asian American woman and the first transgender woman to win the title. The military wife also competed in the first year that married women could be in the Miss USA pageant.

And to top it all off, this year’s competition was Kennedy’s first pageant.

Newly crowned Miss Maryland USA, Bailey Anne Kennedy is a military wife and the first Asian American and transgender woman to win the title.

Kennedy’s platform in the competition was that “beauty has no expiration date,” she told News4. Things like being a mother, or pursuing a childhood dream that you thought was no longer possible to achieve, are all part of the beauty of life.

“Now, having won the title, it’s amazing. I just want it to be a good reflection of the LGBTQIA+ community, that we’re all coming from different backgrounds and different walks of life,” she added. “We’re just like anybody else.”

Cold case murders of Shenandoah hikers solved nearly 30 years later

Nearly three decades after the murders of two women in Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park, the FBI says they now know who was responsible for the horrific crime.

Julie Williams and Lollie Winans were murdered at their campsite near Skyland Resort in May 1996. Winans was 26 and Williams was 24.

A fellow hiker and convicted serial rapist sexually assaulted and killed them, the FBI said, after new DNA testing.

28 years after two women were brutally murdered in Shenandoah National Park, the FBI says they have solved the case. News4’s Paul Wagner reports.

Walter Leo Jackson, originally from Cleveland, is the suspect in the double murder, members of the FBI’s Richmond Field Office said at a news conference. Jackson died in prison in 2018 after a criminal history that included rapes, assaults and kidnappings, the FBI said.

The FBI says investigators are still looking into Jackson’s past, and whether they can link him to other crimes.

Bethesda native Katie Ledecky expressed pride in how many swimmers from the D.C. area found success in the swimming portion of the Paris Olympics. She spoke with News4’s Jummy Olabanji.

Paris Olympics

The Paris Olympics was a wild ride, from an ambitious opening ceremony to controversies to hilarious memes. But hometown pride was our favorite story. The athletes of Team DMV not only brought home heaps of medals, but made history again and again.

Katie Ledecky, the Bethesda, Maryland, native, secured her title as the most decorated female Olympian of all time. Arlington’s Torri Huske won five medals in swimming.

Watch U.S. sprinter Noah Lyles win the men’s 100m at the Paris Olympics.

Alexandria’s Noah Lyles took bronze in the 200M – despite a COVID diagnosis. Just days before, he won the men’s 100m by fraction of a second in a wild photo finish.

And another runner, Maryland high schooler Quincy Wilson, made Olympics track history by running at the age of 16.

Another summer COVID surge

Another summer COVID surge had people asking: Should we worry about COVID anymore? And how do we navigate changing expectations?

News4 spoke to several health and infectious disease experts to get answers.

For the vast majority of people, COVID has become another respiratory virus to contend with, said Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. But, at the same time, the virus still hospitalizes and even kills some people.

“If you’re somebody that just had a brand new lung transplant, yes, you should care. If you’re a healthy 18-year-old, it’s probably less important to you. Each person is going to be impacted by COVID uniquely. No two cases are the same,” he said.

Adalja said it’s natural for the virus to be less disruptive to people’s lives with each successive wave in cases.

The search for Mamta Khafle Bhatt

Mamta Kafle Bhatt, a 28-year-old nurse, was reported missing after failing to show up for her shifts at work. Friends said that was highly unusual since she was caring for her baby and often active on social media.

Her husband, Naresh Bhatt, 37, of Manassas Park, was indicted in December on charges of murder and defiling the body of his wife. Police have said they believe her body was dismembered.

A grand jury indicted a Virginia man on a first-degree murder charge in the case of his missing wife. News4’s Walter Morris reports.

Mamta, originally from Nepal, moved to the U.S. for an arranged marriage in 2021. She missed her baby girl’s first birthday, and her family members rushed to the U.S. to take care of the child.

Friends and community members have helped search for Mamta and rallied to push police to find her.

“At the end of the day, we still stand here fighting for justice,” Holly Wirth, a spokesperson for friends and family of Mamta, said. “We are going to be Mamta’s voice until the end of the trial.”

Bounce house flies into air at Maryland baseball game, killing 5-year-old boy

A 5-year-old boy died after an inflatable bounce house went airborne during a professional baseball game in Waldorf in August.

Aug. 2 was a “Faith and Family Night” at Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf before tragedy struck. A bounce house with children inside “was carried approximately 15 to 20 feet up in the air, causing children to fall before it landed on the playing field,” Charles County officials said in a statement.

A Maryland church is holding a prayer service after the death of a 5-year-old boy in a bounce house accident. News4’s Drew Wilder spoke with the boy’s father.

Declan Hicks, the 5-year-old boy, was playing in the bounce house at the time. He and another child were rushed to a hospital where Declan later died.

“Words just can’t explain how remarkable he was,” his father said on a video call, saying Declan turned 5 only a month earlier.

DC Councilmember Trayon White arrested by federal authorities

D.C. Council member Trayon White was arrested on a federal bribery charge in August and accused of accepting tens of thousands of dollars in cash bribes.

White is 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 (ONSE) and the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) to extend several contracts, prosecutors said.

White was the chair of a D.C. Council committee that oversees several agencies, including DYRS. The D.C. Council stripped White of his committee leadership and in December took a step toward expelling him.

White is not set to stand trial until 2026.

DC Police Investigator Wayne David dies after gun he retrieved from storm drain goes off

D.C. police suffered a tragic loss in August. Investigator Wayne David, a 25-year veteran of the department, was shot and died of his injuries after he tried to retrieve a gun thrown into a storm drain in Northeast D.C.

A suspect threw the gun into the drain after running from a suspicious vehicle and jumping over a retaining wall. He then jumped on the back of a motorcycle and fled.

Wayne David, a 25-year veteran of the Metropolitan Police Department who died on the job last month, was remembered Thursday by D.C.’s mayor, the police chief and his children at a procession and funeral.

David, an officer with the Violent Crimes Suppression Division, attempted to get the gun out of the street. The gun fired, hitting him in the upper body and killing him. He was 52 years old.

Fellow members of MPD and members of David’s church in Southeast remembered him as a man with a big heart and a big smile who loved to give back to his community.

Two weeks after David’s death, the man accused of hiding the gun in the drain turned himself in to police at the 7th District Police Station. He was charged with carrying a pistol without a license.

In September, David was honored with a procession and funeral, where D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and D.C Police Chief Pamela Smith spoke alongside David’s children.

HFStival returns to DC

The D.C. and Baltimore area’s iconic (and long dead) HFStival returned to life this summer.

The Postal Service, Death Cab for Cutie, Incubus, Bush and Jimmy Eat World brought the sounds of the ‘90s and 2000s back to Nationals Park in September for one day of nostalgia and music.

Rock bands from the 1990s are making a comeback, and D.C. music lovers are wasting no time getting them to the District. News4’s Mark Segraves has the story.

Herndon double murder case updates

An au pair named Juliana Peres Magalhaes and Brendan Banfield, the father of the family for whom she worked, are accused of working together to kill Banfield’s wife, Christine Banfield, and a stranger, Joseph Ryan, inside the married couple’s Herndon home in February 2023.

Prosecutors said Brendan Banfield and the au pair concocted a plan to use a sex fetish website to lure Ryan to the home.

Detectives say the two claimed Ryan had attacked Christine, prompting Brendan — a law enforcement officer for the Internal Revenue Service — to fire his weapon at Ryan.

Nearly eight months after the killings, Fairfax County authorities arrested Peres Magalhaes and charged her with second-degree murder in Ryan’s death. Brendan Banfield was indicted in the murders of his wife and Ryan in September, nearly a year after Peres Magalhaes was arrested.

In a search warrant affidavit obtained by News4 in November 2024, investigators detailed recorded conversations between Peres Magalhaes and Banfield’s mother, Teresa Banfield.

New pandas arrive at the National Zoo

D.C. got two new residents in October! Giant pandas Bao Li and Qing Bao arrived at their new home at the National Zoo and several people in the D.C. area were there to give them a warm welcome.

It was announced in May that the Zoo would be getting two new pandas after Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and Xiao Qi Ji returned to China in 2023. Bao Li’s grandparents, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, arrived in D.C. in 2000 and lived at the National Zoo for nearly a quarter-century. Over the years, they welcomed the zoo’s first-ever surviving panda cubs.

On Oct. 15, panda fans were able to track the point where the pair were loaded into their crates onto the Panda Express to the moment they landed at Dulles Airport.

Zoo members will get a preview from Jan. 10-19. The new pandas will make their public debut Jan. 24.

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Trump wins; Harris delivers concession speech from Howard University campus

After the days-long wait for an election winner in 2020, Americans were expecting not to know the results of the 2024 election right away. The winner depended on the decision of a handful of swing states, with hours of careful ballot counting expected.

But all of those swing states were called for former President Donald Trump between the time polls closed on Nov. 5 and the early morning hours of Nov. 6. Other decisive results rolled in more quickly than anticipated.

State after state turned red on the electoral map. The initially electric atmosphere at Howard University, where Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign hosted its election night party, became subdued. Around 1 a.m., Harris’s campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond arrived on stage to tell the crowd that she would not speak that night.

Kamala Harris conceded to Donald Trump in a speech at Howard University and said she will help Trump enact a peaceful transfer of power.

The U.S. woke on Nov. 6 to the news that Donald Trump was projected to win a second term, becoming the nation’s 47th president. He gave a triumphant victory speech in the early morning hours, and his win was met with excitement.

All parts of the DMV were called for Vice President Kamala Harris in the historic 2024 election, with decisive wins in D.C. and Maryland, and a narrower margin in Virginia. Residents were “disappointed” and expressed sadness, worry and concern about a second Trump term.

But when Harris conceded the race from Howard’s campus that afternoon, her speech was not bleak or despairing.

“While I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign,” she said.

“On the campaign, I would often say, ‘When we fight, we win,’” Harris told the crowd, many of them in tears. “But here’s the thing: Sometimes the fight takes a while. That doesn’t mean we won’t win. That doesn’t mean we won’t win. The important thing is don’t ever give up, don’t ever give up, don’t ever stop trying to make the world a better place.”

‘Slave’ texts telling people to ‘pick cotton’ sent to DC, Virginia and Maryland residents

People throughout the D.C. area and across the United States reported receiving racist spam text messages the day after the election in November that told them to report to plantations to pick cotton.

News4’s Aimee Cho spoke with a D.C. mom about how the texts have affected her family.

One screenshot of the text said: “Greetings, You have been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation. Be ready at 12PM SHARP with your belongings. Our Executive Slaves will come get you in a Black Van, be prepared to be searched down once you’ve enter[sic] the plantation. You are in Plantation Group S”

The FBI is investigating the texts and is in contact with the Justice Department and other federal authorities, the agency said in a statement.

“It’s worrisome,” said Pam, a woman who didn’t want to be identified but said her family and friends received messages. “The whole election had people anxious, and then now we have to deal with random messages coming across our phone, to Black people, people of color. It’s not fair.”

Owl makes itself family’s Christmas tree topper

Christmas trees often have a star or an angel on top, but at one Arlington home the week before Christmas, an owl flew down the chimney like a certain jolly old elf and did a little decorating of its own.

Savannah Burgoyne was taking care of her baby Wednesday when she heard something in the fireplace. Later in the day, their dog got nervous and howled. A little while later, when Burgoyne went into the kitchen, she found herself face-to-face with a barred owl.

“I walked into our kitchen, and there was a huge owl sitting on our baby’s highchair,” she said.

The owl flew over to the Burgoynes’ Christmas tree, knocking the star off the top and replacing it.

“I’m, like, very personally sad that there’s no Hogwarts enrollment letter that it came with,” she joked.

The family called the Animal Welfare League of Arlington. After flying around and delighting the family’s 3-year-old and 6-year-old daughters, the owl departed off into the night.

Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States, dies at 100

Former President Jimmy Carter died Dec. 29 at age 100, prompting an outpouring of memories and plans for memorials, including remembrances in Washington, D.C.

Carter graduated from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis in 1946, but many in the D.C. area remember his local connections forged after his term in the White House from 1977 to 1981.

Jeni Stepanek, mother of Maryland writer Mattie Stepanek, spoke to News4’s Erika Gonzalez about her friendship with former President Jimmy Carter after his death Sunday.

He mentored young poet Mattie Stepanek, the Rockville boy whose message of peace captivated the country in his books including “Heartsongs.” Stepanek was diagnosed with dysautonomic mitochondrial myopathy. After the boy died at age 13, Carter helped Mattie’s mother, Jeni Stepanek, share her son’s message.

“When Mattie died, he became a dear friend of mine, and he began mentoring me as well,” Stepanek told News4. “And so he tried to support Mattie’s Foundation, his namesake Foundation, and teach me to be a leader. And he just mentored me as a friend and somebody that was coping with a lot of challenges.”

Carter even strapped on a tool belt to help build and rehabilitate homes in Northeast D.C. in 2010 while working with Habitat for Humanity.

He’ll be honored with a state funeral in Georgia and Washington in January.