Washington, D.C

Councilmember White, DC community leaders join in call for ’40 days of Increased Peace’

Published

1 year ago

May 25, 2023

Councilmember White, DC community leaders join in call for ’40 days of Increased Peace’

WASHINGTON (7News) — One by one leaders in the DC community and the heads of service organizations stood up in the Temple of Praise church in Southeast and announced the services they provide to the people of the city.

They were gathered there by DC Councilmember Trayon White for an initiative he’s calling “40 days of Increased Peace.”

“I believe over-resourced communities are less violent and we have the gifts, talents, and skills in our community to address all the issues in our community,” White said.

This pooling of resources is an effort to get out in front of the grim headlines, the crime, and the tragedies that tend to rise in the summer months.

He should’ve been celebrating his graduation, instead he was calling the police

It is a violent trend Asiyah Timimi knows all too well.

“All three of my sons are victims of gun violence,” she said. “My youngest son is paralyzed from the waist down. It’s personal.”

“It’s a spirit of fear in the community when people don’t feel like they can go to the grocery store, can’t go to school, and it’s getting worse,” said Councilmember White.

“We ran the narrative too long that crime is down in the city. Yes, crime is down… down the street.”

The hope is to transform the hotspots on the city’s crime map by offering a steady course of positive activities and assistance.

Advocacy groups ‘thinking outside the box’ to reach DC youth in the midst of violence

The offerings will be pinpointed in hotspots and will also provide families with wraparound services for everything from housing to trauma-informed care.

“We want to get some of our young people internships and summer jobs,” added White.

Next, White’s office said it will create an app that will send push notifications about offerings.

The current network of 250 people and organizations will also be able plug in upcoming events.

That way people like Tamimi, who also teaches a life skills course through her organization “ROCK Now,” can coordinate and fight back against violent crime this summer.

During the meeting she said she just learned that one of the students in her course had been shot.

“I don’t want to see another mother get the calls that I got, or that any mother received, that their child was shot or their loved one was shot,” she said.

“We have to keep this momentum going because it’s going to be a long summer, because it’s been a long winter,” White told the crowd.

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Washington, D.C

Boil water advisory issued for all of D.C., Arlington County due to algae blooms

Published

5 hours ago

July 4, 2024

Press Room

Boil water advisory issued for all of D.C., Arlington County due to algae blooms

7/3: CBS Morning News

19:56

A boil water advisory was issued Wednesday night for the entire District of Columbia and neighboring Arlington County due to a spike in algae blooms in the Potomac River, officials said.

The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority said the advisory, which it described as “precautionary,” also included the Pentagon, Arlington National Cemetery and Reagan National Airport.

“We have no information that the water was contaminated by this incident, but we issue this advisory as a precaution while we test the water,” the agency said.

The Washington Aqueduct is sourced by the Potomac River and serves as the public water supply for about one million people in the D.C. area, Arlington County and other portions of Northern Virginia.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said in a news release that the advisory stemmed from “elevated turbidity levels in the water supply caused by increases in algae blooms in the Potomac River.”

Turbidity is a measure of the clarity and cloudiness of water.

“Customers may notice their water looks cloudy or hazy,” Arlington County said in a news release.

The Washington Aqueduct has two water treatment plants. The Army Corps of Engineers responded to the elevated turbidity by temporarily transferring all water treatment operations from the Dalecarlia plant to the McMillan plant, DC Water said.

The Environmental Protection Agency also authorized adding additional copper sulfate and sodium permanganate to the aqueduct’s reservoirs to combat the algae, the Army Corps of Engineers said.

Residents were advised to bring drinking water to a rolling boil for one minute before letting it cool. Water should then be stored in a covered container.

The advisory will remain in effect until further testing deems the water safe to drink.

Faris Tanyos

Faris Tanyos is a news editor for CBSNews.com, where he writes and edits stories and tracks breaking news. He previously worked as a digital news producer at several local news stations up and down the West Coast.

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Washington, D.C

DC staring at $4.4 million penalty for errors in paying out SNAP benefits – Washington Examiner

Published

12 hours ago

July 3, 2024

Press Room

DC staring at $4.4 million penalty for errors in paying out SNAP benefits – Washington Examiner

The federal government is fining Washington, D.C., $4.4 million due to what it considers a higher-than-acceptable error rate in its payments to recipients of food assistance programs.

It is the second year in a row that district officials have exceeded the error rate in processing benefits in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The Department of Agriculture found that in 20% of cases, the district either overpaid or underpaid SNAP recipients.

The USDA only issues a penalty if the payment error rate exceeds 6% two years in a row.

Roughly 140,000 district families rely on SNAP benefits in order to make ends meet. Instances where an error occurs can have a severe impact on families as it can take months to correct them. Typically, the district’s Department of Human Services won’t even pick up on the errors as it falls on the families to bring it to the officials’ attention.

“Even when these errors are corrected, potentially months later, the impacted recipients and their families are not made whole,” Haley Hoff, an attorney with Legal D.C. advocating families who rely on SNAP, told the Washington Post. “District residents go hungry when [the D.C. Access System] prevents them from obtaining their full SNAP entitlement.”

Laura Zeilinger, director of the district’s Department of Human Services, and Wayne Turnage, deputy mayor of health and human services, attended a city council hearing to address concerns regarding the high payment error rates. The D.C. Access System — which is in control of administering SNAP benefits, the Temporary Assistance For Needy Families program, and about 300,000 Medicaid enrollees — is tremendously stressed, according to Turnage. It has reportedly cost taxpayers $600 million to develop and maintain the D.C. Access System.

Turnage said the staff managing the system have struggled to keep up with its high demands, and the have had to work overtime and weekend shifts. Since 2022, Washington, D.C., has the slowest processing rate for SNAP applications in the nation.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

USDA is allowing the district a few options in dealing with the fine. The agency would allow the city to reinvest half of the penalty in making improvements in the SNAP system.

Turnage said that the department is working to identify the core problems within the SNAP system.

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Washington, D.C

FanDuel Fuels Record Totals For Washington D.C. Betting In May

Published

19 hours ago

July 3, 2024

Press Room

FanDuel Fuels Record Totals For Washington D.C. Betting In May

FanDuel‘s strong May numbers in its first full month as the D.C. Lottery’s primary sports betting operator fueled a record-setting month as the rest of the district’s operator figures were released Monday.

Overall, the nation’s capital reported all-time highs of $5.4 million in sports betting revenue and $35.4 million in handle. It was the second consecutive month with a record handle after FanDuel made an immediate impact on April’s numbers when it replaced GambetDC as the district’s primary operator.

May’s operator revenue was over $1 million more than the previous high of $4.4 million set in November 2021.

The 15.4% hold ranked 14th in 49 months of wagering in Washington D.C. It’s currently the highest among 29 states and jurisdictions with commercial sports betting for May, with only Arizona, Illinois, and Kentucky yet to report.

The district saw an all-time monthly high of $544,600 in tax receipts, and FanDuel’s entrance has put the year-to-date total of $1.4 million in tax revenue $513,300 ahead of the 2023 total through five months.

BetMGM Also Enjoys Strong May

FanDuel accounted for 84% of the district’s handle and 89% of the revenue, as it posted a 16.4% hold on $29.7 million in handle to reap $4.9 million in winnings. Both figures would have ranked first in all-time Washington D.C. monthly totals.

Despite finishing third in handle with $1.6 million, BetMGM pipped second in revenue among all operators with $217,400, posting a 13.9% win rate from wagers placed at and around Nationals Park.

Caesars, which operates at Capital One Arena, had a more modest 5.4% hold as it collected $145,800 in winnings from $2.7 million worth of wagers. FanDuel’s retail sportsbook at Audi Field — home of DC United — had a 5.3% hold on $284,000 in bets placed for $15,100 in revenue.

Among Class B licensees, both of Grand Central’s locations finished in the red as bettors came out a combined $5,775 ahead on $192,400 in handle. Sports & Social had an astounding 49.2% hold in keeping $15,700 ahead of the $32,000 wagered, while the Cloakroom topped $10,000 in revenue for the year after winning $2,600 and posting a 26.2% hold on $9,800 in handle.

Despite the recent upswing in betting fortunes across the district with FanDuel’s entrance, bigger changes still are likely to come. The Washington D.C. Council included the Sports Wagering Amendment Act of 2024 in its Fiscal Year 2025 budget, which would allow numerous sports betting apps to operate in the district.

FanDuel’s entrance came by way of being subcontracted through Intralot, whose performance in the sports betting space was widely derided and criticized by both the betting public and local legislators in the district.

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