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Arizona students ponder political values during DC trip

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Arizona students ponder political values during DC trip


PHOENIX (AZFamily) — From the moment the students boarded their morning buses, they were challenged to think about political values like liberty, equality, and justice.

Thursday was the third day of an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, DC for 275 Arizona high school students.

At the Jefferson Memorial, they explored the complexities of a Founding Father who enslaved people.

Shirley Thoreson from Maryvale High School said it’s important to learn the nuances of key historical figures. “We need to acknowledge the truth so we can move forward and learn from the past.”

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Learning from the past is one of the major goals of the four-day trip.

The students arrived Tuesday on the Arizona Cardinals team plane. Team owner Michael Bidwill launched the annual civics trip three years ago, selecting students from Title I schools in a statewide essay contest.

For some students, it’s their first time on an airplane. Alexis Delgado marveled at the lush trees in the D.C. area. 

“It’s been like a dream, to be honest, because I’ve never experienced something so beautiful, coming from a dry place,” said the incoming PXU City High School senior.

All week, instructors with the Close Up Foundation have encouraged students to find their voice. Sixteen-year-old Janelle Harris found hers.

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“It was really scary, to be honest. I was really nervous,” she said.

On Wednesday, the 16-year-old walked straight up to U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly and asked him a tricky question about why he maintains support for Israel despite the suffering in Gaza.

“Seeing as he was an astronaut, I feel like it’s an astronaut’s duty to fight for the progression of humanity, not just Americans,” she said. 

She said this week’s lesson plan helped. “I definitely did use what we talked about in the deliberating process and just tried to get my point across as best I could in the small portion of time I had to talk to him.”

The senator was impressed. “It’s good to see that they’re interested in something,” Kelly said.

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Janelle knows she didn’t convince Sen. Kelly to change his views, but she found it powerful to express her political values.

“I thought it was a very interesting experience, and I’m very lucky to have had it,” she said.

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DC residents who’ve owned their home for 70 years now told they can’t park there

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DC residents who’ve owned their home for 70 years now told they can’t park there


Some D.C. residents told 7News they are fed up with the no-parking signs that have been added in front of their homes.

For the first time in 70 years, the view outside Anita Marsh’s home has changed.

“It’s very emotional,” said Marsh. “To be in a place where there’s no access to my door, no one can legally park for me to enter and exit my home. It’s frustrating, but more importantly, it’s upsetting. It’s very upsetting. I find it heartless.”

ALSO READ | DC considers tighter rat control restrictions after poison, tracking and trash concerns

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Video from Marsh showed what she woke up to on Monday morning. She said the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) installed no parking signs in front of her home.

“How do I walk? How do I get into my house? I’m not very ambulatory,” said Marsh. “I have mobility challenges. So what happens?”

Neighbors about a mile away, over on Kimi Gray Court, reached out with the same frustrations. That’s where 7News met Aaron Harris.

“DDOT put these signs up, these signs, and they are ticketing people who are trying to park in front of their home because they have multiple cars,” said Harris.

Both neighborhoods feel that access to their home will now cost them.

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“I’m very nervous because also financial impact is on a retiree,” said Marsh.

7News also got a call from businesses on MLK Jr. Avenue in Anacostia who said DDOT hit them with changes, too. 7News met Ronald Moton in front of his Gogo museum.

“They bring a bus lane without talking to us and take away 29 parking spaces,” said Moton.

Moton said business owners and customers have been hit with $200 tickets.

“This is a community trying to build itself up and survive,” said Moton. “You cannot come and dump stuff like this on us without talking to us.”

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“We can’t afford to pay $90 a week or $180 or $270 per week because we’re in violation in front of a property that wasn’t zoned this way,” said Harris. “At least we didn’t know it was owned that way until the signs went up and they started getting ticketed.”

“I’m very scared. I’m very scared. And very upset,” said Marsh. “I’m not going to be able to stay in my house. Then I’m going to be forced to go elsewhere. Because I’m not going to be able to enter and exit my house.”

7News reached out to DDOT and Councilman Charles Allen, who chairs D.C.’s Transportation and Environment Committee, and asked about the no-parking signs community members feel came out of nowhere. 7News has not heard back from either yet.



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ARCO Design/Build Deepens Its Presence in Washington, D.C. Market

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ARCO Design/Build Deepens Its Presence in Washington, D.C. Market


New office in Tysons, Virginia, brings the firm’s design-build expertise and national resources closer to clients across the capital region

TYSONS, Va., July 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — ARCO Design/Build, one of the nation’s leading design-build construction firms, today announced the opening of a new office in Tysons, Virginia, placing the firm in the heart of the Washington, D.C. market and directly on the Capital Beltway. The office expands on the presence ARCO has built in the region over many years and brings the firm’s people, design-build expertise, and national resources closer to existing and prospective clients across the District and Northern Virginia.

A significant share of ARCO’s work in the region has originated in the D.C. area. The Tysons office is the natural next step in the firm’s growth, and a commitment built on established relationships with a track record of completed work. With many of those clients headquartered in the capital region and building across multiple geographies, the Tysons office allows ARCO to be closer to decision-makers, active pursuits, and the opportunities shaping the market today.

The office is further strengthened by local leadership, including Drew Enstice, Vice President, whose experience in the region supports ARCO’s continued growth across the Washington market.

“The Washington region has been central to our growth, and the Tysons office lets us meet it with our full strength,” said Aaron Weir, President, ARCO Design/Build. “We’re building on the relationships and successful work we’ve already established here, while bringing the resources of a national builder to a market with growing opportunity across advanced manufacturing, food and beverage, life sciences, aerospace, defense, and other complex sectors that demand precision.”

ARCO’s integrated design-build approach brings design, engineering, procurement, and construction together under a single accountable team from the outset. The firm delivers cost certainty, compressed schedules, and a single point of responsibility that matter most on complex, regulated, and mission-driven facilities.

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About ARCO Design/Build

ARCO Design/Build is a national design-build construction firm delivering the strength, resources, and expertise of an award-winning national builder combined with the responsive, personalized service of a local partner. With more than 50 offices and over 1,800 associates across the country, ARCO provides comprehensive design, engineering, and construction services across various industries such as industrial, e-commerce, logistics, data centers, commercial, life sciences, defense and aerospace manufacturing, healthcare, food and beverage, retail, and light manufacturing facilities. ARCO is a 100% employee-owned company through its ESOP. To learn more, visit arcodb.com.

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DC nonprofit making millions of meals for the sick is set to expand – WTOP News

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DC nonprofit making millions of meals for the sick is set to expand – WTOP News


Food and Friends expects to double its impact with a $30 million addition and renovation.

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Nonprofit donating two million meals each year is now set to expand

Food and Friends prepares over two million meals each year for people in the D.C. region who are battling serious illnesses. The organization expects to double its impact with a $30 million addition and renovation.

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The first shovels went into the ground Monday at Food and Friends’ headquarters in Northeast D.C.

The 17,000-square-foot expansion will dramatically impact how many people the organization can serve on a daily basis, the nonprofit said.

“The demand has been so high, and so we need more room. And we’re really, really excited to be kicking that off,” Food and Friends CEO Carrie Stoltzfus said. “We’re going to be able to more than double what we do.”

Food and Friends currently packages roughly 7,100 meals per day and delivers throughout the D.C. region in an area approximately the size of Connecticut.

Staff described the current building as bursting at the seams, with many rooms doubling as food storage.

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“Most of the expansion space will be for food production and food storage because that’s really what drives everything else that we do and why we’re all here,” Stoltzfus said.

The new building, set to be completed in May, will include a state-of-the-art kitchen. The current kitchen will be transformed into a chilled food packing room.

This site plan for the Food and Friends’ facility includes its 17,000-square-foot addition. (Click to expand)

The expansion also adds private nutrition counseling rooms for clients who are battling diseases such as cancer, AIDS, renal failure and other illnesses.

All clients of Food and Friends are referred to the program by healthcare providers. Dietitians and chefs have developed 11 meal types tailored to specific health needs.

Rebecca Kahn, director of nutrition services at Food and Friends, said its food is medicine, leading to better health outcomes.

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“Hospital visits are going down as compared to before getting our services. Clients are saving money on healthcare costs,” she told WTOP.

Loris Adams is a volunteer and a former client who received meals from Food and Friends while she battled ovarian cancer. She’s thrilled with the expansion.

“People like me, people like your neighbors have an opportunity to be fed and nourished — body, soul and spirit — while they’re going through really hard and difficult times,” she said after the groundbreaking.

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