Washington, D.C
A look at the ‘districts’ that would come with the new Commanders stadium at RFK site – WTOP News
If the $3.7 billion to bring the Washington Commanders back to the District gets the green light from the D.C. council, it will bring five new and distinct districts to the 180-acre RFK campus.
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WTOP outlines the plan for DC’s new Commanders stadium
If the $3.7 billion deal to bring the Washington Commanders back to the District gets the green light from the D.C. Council, it will bring five new and distinct districts to the 180-acre RFK Stadium campus.
The districts would become housing, restaurants, retail and more, according to City Administrator Kevin Donahue.
“I think people have to get out of their minds what they see now, which is hard to do because it’s been there for generations,” Donahue told WTOP.
Among the districts is the anchor itself, the stadium, which Donahue said would have the smallest footprint, only 15% of the site, and would have a roof that lines up with the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and U.S. Capitol. He said in addition to football games, they expect some or all of the stadium to be used 200 times a year.
“Think about football games, concerts, international soccer games, and then about 100 to 150 other uses — that’ll be think convention center uses — conventiongoers coming to the stadium, activating it for private events, for public events,” Donahue said.
To the south of the stadium would be the Riverfront District, which Donahue said would convert an abandoned parking lot into residential housing, retail and restaurants close to the protected area near where the Anacostia Trail runs. But it won’t be on the water.
Behind the stadium would be the Plaza District, which Donahue said would be similar to what exists along half the street outside Nationals Park, with restaurants and entertainment spots for people to hang out before and after games. This, Donahue said, would be different from the games many remember at the old RFK, when thousands of fans would only leave the stadium and head to their car or Metrorail.
“You have people mingling in over the course of two hours before a game starts, then afterward, particularly if it’s a Thursday, Friday, Saturday game, you have people mingling and staying afterward,” he said.
Closer to Benning Road, an abandoned parking lot would become the Kingman Park District, and Donahue said the city intends to provide long-term leases to developers who put apartment style housing along Oklahoma Avenue. Of the rental properties, 30% would need to be affordable housing.
“There’ll be many affordable opportunities for people to make it their homes and make it places that they live, that they raise their children, access the local schools. And for the folks who live adjacent to RFK right now, they’ll have neighbors, and their neighbor won’t be a big parking garage,” Donahue said.
However, this district would also include two parking garages. Donahue said those will be tucked closer toward the stadium.
Next to the Kingsman District at the site currently known as the Fields at RFK, Donahue said the soccer and baseball fields would stay but what would be called the “Recreation District” would also include a state-of-the-art sportsplex, which would provide parents and athletes with a location for events such as cheerleading, gymnastics and other indoor activities.
“Think of the sportsplex as being a recreation center, except it has the recreational activities that you really can’t get at our wonderful rec centers around the city,” he said.
Also, in the Recreation District, 30% of the land would remain green space, he said.
Finally, 30 acres of land that is home to the Anacostia River Trail will not be developed.
“That won’t be touched, it’ll be restored. There will be public access, so it will not be cut off by private development,” Donahue said, referring to the nearby waterways.
Handling car and foot traffic
Planning the layout of the stadium campus is a big task, according to Donahue, because there is a lot of space to work with.
“If you live in D.C., if you’re familiar with Catholic University campus, a big campus, it’s about as large as this campus is. If you think of the Glover Park neighborhood, an entire neighborhood with a school in it, it’s about the size of this campus,” Donahue said.
Donahue said the campus would look totally different, because it would be redesigned with fewer instances of people and car traffic coming together.
“It’ll be a pedestrian-friendly design,” he said.
People could soon be crossing main streets by going over or under them, and they plan to make the stadium more accessible to people walking or biking from areas farther down the river, including Navy Yard.
“We really want to not have this be an island of development and residential housing separate from both this adjacent community,” Donahue said.
Some on the D.C. Council have been critical of the absence of funding for Metro in the plan, but Donahue said to be ready for opening day, the Metro needs are in place.
“There is a Metro station that is around the corner that people used, millions of people used, over the course of the lifetime of RFK when it was activated,” Donahue said.
He said when it comes to other transit investments — among them the needs of people who will work, live and come to the area to indulge at the retail and restaurants — that needs to be studied down the road.
“We have these unanswered questions that we need to study properly, and then we will invest. This is no question,” Donahue said.
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© 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
Washington, D.C
What’s that noise? What you need to know about D.C. flyovers Friday and Saturday – WTOP News
Reagan National Airport will close for America 250 flyover rehearsals Friday and celebrations Saturday featuring the Thunderbirds, Blue Angels and more.
Reagan National Airport will close from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday for rehearsals ahead of this weekend’s America 250 celebrations, meaning people around D.C., Arlington and Alexandria may hear and see low-flying military aircraft.
According to Freedom 250 event organizers, Friday’s “Wings of Freedom” demonstrations over the National Mall will feature parachute teams, helicopters and military aircraft, including the U.S. Marine Corps’ MV-22 Osprey and F-35B, the Navy’s F-18F and F-35C, the Air Force’s F-22 Raptor, the Thunderbirds and a tri-bomber formation.
On Saturday, the FAA will close the airport from noon to midnight for the full celebration. All arrivals and departures at Reagan National are scheduled to end before noon.
Flyovers and demonstrations are scheduled throughout the afternoon and evening along the National Mall and Washington Monument grounds, including appearances by Air Force One, the Thunderbirds, Blue Angels, military aircraft fleet reviews, parachute demonstrations and B-2 stealth bombers.
Highlights include an Air Force One flyover scheduled for 7:03 p.m., a Thunderbirds demonstration beginning at 6:25 p.m., a tri-bomber formation at 6:02 p.m. and a stealth aircraft flyover at 7:38 p.m.
Friday’s schedule of flyovers and demonstration rehearsals along the National Mall and Washington Monument
- 10 a.m.: Golden Knights, Leap Frogs
- 10:15 a.m.: Army Helo Flyover
- 10:20 a.m.: USMC V-22 Osprey Demo
- 10:35 a.m.: USMC F-35B STOVL Demo
- 10:50 a.m.: USN F-18F Demo
- 11:10 a.m.: USN F-35C Demo Team
- 11:30 a.m.: USAF F-22 Raptor Demo
- 11:50 a.m.: NASA F-5s
- 12 p.m.: HUGE (1) Formation
- 12:05 p.m.: USAF Thunderbirds
- 12:55 p.m.: USAF Tri-Bomber
Saturday’s schedule of flyovers and demonstration along the National Mall and Washington Monument
- 1:14 p.m.: – NASA F-5 Flyover
- 1:24 p.m.: -NASA Fleet Review
- 1:44 p.m.: USCG Helo Flyover
- 1:54 p.m.: USCG Fixed Wing Flyover
- 2:09 p.m.: Golden Knights, Leap Frogs
- 2:29 p.m.: Army Helo Flyover
- 2:44 p.m.: USAF Fleet Review – Wave 1 – Heavies
- 2:54 p.m.: USAF Fleet Review – Wave 2 – AFSOC
- 3:04 p.m.: USAF Fleet Review – Wave 3 – Fighters
- 3:29 p.m.: Executive Rotary Wing Airlift
- 3:39 p.m.: USMC Fleet Review – Wave 1 – Rotary
- 3:49 p.m.: USMC Fleet Review – Wave 2 – Fixed Wing
- 3:59 p.m.: USN Fleet Review – Wave 1 – Rotary
- 4:09 p.m.: USN Fleet Review – Wave 2 – Fixed Wing
- 4:19 p.m.: USN Fleet Review – Wave 3 – Fighters
- 4:21 p.m.: USN F-18F Demonstration
- 4:59 p.m.: USN Blue Angels
- 5:26 p.m.: USMC MV-22 Osprey Demonstration
- 5:44 p.m.: USAF Fleet Review – Fighters
- 6:02 p.m.: USAF Tri-Bomber Formation
- 6:05 p.m.: USN F-35C Demonstration
- 6:25 p.m.: USAF Thunderbirds Demonstration
- 7:03 p.m.: Air Force One Flyover
- 7:07 p.m.: USAF Thunderbirds Delta Break
- 7:17 p.m.: HUGE 1 Flyover Led by the Newly Renovated Air Force One
- 7:38 p.m.: U.S. Stealth Airpower Flyover
- 7:39 p.m.: F-22 Raptor Demo
- 7:53 p.m.: F-22 Raptor in Afterburner
- 7:59 p.m.: B-1 Flyover
- 8:07 p.m.: B-1’s in Afterburner
- 8:11 p.m.: HUGE ONE Fly Over Review
- 8:22 p.m.: Golden Knights Twilight Jump
- 10:36 p.m.: B-1 Afterburner Night Pass
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© 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
An Air Force major was arrested in uniform on the steps of the Capitol after he called for the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
U.S. Capitol Police arrested Jason Watson, an active-duty service member, on Wednesday afternoon following remarks at a news conference where he said Trump and Vice President JD Vance should be removed from office.
The event was organized by the Removal Coalition, a group that lobbies members of Congress to impeach Trump, and attended by Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, who has repeatedly introduced articles of impeachment against Trump.
“I’m here with him because Rep. Green is the only member of Congress that has demonstrated the courage and conviction to … force a vote on articles of impeachment,” Watson said at the event. “If Congress followed his example, we could remove the entire Trump administration, but Congress remains unconvinced of the urgency and necessity for them to honor their oaths, so we must persuade them with our unrelenting, uncompromising civil resistance.”
Watson said he is not a Democrat and does not share policy positions with Green, who lost his re-election bid this year. Green’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Watson’s arrest.
Capitol Police said in a statement that it “is generally against the law for the public to demonstrate on the House Steps unless they are with a Member of Congress.”
“Yesterday afternoon, a man was escorted to the House Steps by a Member of Congress,” the statement said. “When the Member of Congress left the area, our officers gave the man lawful orders to stop the illegal demonstration or he would be arrested. The man refused our lawful orders.”
Capitol Police identified the man as Watson, adding that he was arrested on charges of “Crowding, Obstructing, and Incommoding” and that it is legal to protest in other spots on the Capitol grounds.
Service members are subject to stricter laws than the average citizen when it comes to protesting. The Uniform Code of Military Justice prohibits officers from “using contemptuous language towards the President, Vice president, the Secretaries of War and of a military department, Congress, and certain other officials,” according to an Air Force memo last year.
An Air Force spokesperson said in a statement Thursday: “Service members must comply with all laws, regulations and policies governing conduct and the wear of the uniform. All Department of the Air Force personnel are expected to uphold the highest standards of discipline and professionalism, both on and off duty.”
All service members, not just members of the Air Force, are prohibited from participating in “political activities” in uniform.
Watson’s criticism of Trump and Vance focused on the administration’s actions in Venezuela and Iran, calling them “an unconstitutional usurpation of Congress’ authority and a violation of the War Powers Clause.”
“These violations resulted in the deaths of 13 service members and injuries of hundreds more,” he said, referring to the number of U.S. military deaths tied to the Iran war. “For this, the president and vice president must be impeached, convicted and removed.”
Watson also called the administration’s immigration policies and tactics unconstitutional.
The Removal Coalition did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Watson could not be reached.
President Donald Trump responded to criticism of a financial disclosure that listed $1.4 billion in crypto earnings largely driven by meme coins.
Berk Kutay Gökmen
02 July 2026•Update: 02 July 2026
US Defense Secretary Hegseth on Thursday faced protesters while hosting the Trump administration’s DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force ceremony in Washington DC.
During the ceremony at Meridian Hill Park, which saw the gathering of National Guardsmen, dozens of demonstrators gathered near the park to protest Hegseth.
Footage shows the demonstrators chanting a short distance away from where Hegseth and roughly 200 members of the National Guard had gathered in the park
In social media posts, one protester was seen holding a Palestinian flag, while another person was holding a sign that reads “arrest Hegseth.” The protesters want a “Free DC,” according to social media posts.
In his address to the National Guard, Hegseth said that “this background noise is perfect,” referring to the protests.
“It’s the sound of ingrates, of ingratitude—of people who are so blinded by ideology they can’t see law and order and common sense in front of them,” he said.
Meridian Hill Park was repaired by the National Park Service and the Interior Department as part of a larger initiative to restore and enhance federal parks and public spaces throughout the nation’s capital in preparation for America’s 250th anniversary, which falls on this Saturday, July 4.
Though such beautification projects are typically popular with the public, the current initiative has been controversial both for its choice of projects and the use of no-bid contracts to hire firms to do the work, sometimes with disappointing results.
The work aligns with President Donald Trump’s DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force, established by a March 2025 executive order that directs federal agencies to coordinate public safety and beautification efforts across Washington.
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