Washington, D.C
Couples, community and a bunch of baby animals: Good news from the DC area in 2025
Whether 2025 was the best of times, the worst of times, or both, congratulations: You made it to the end, dear reader, and a fresh start is just around the corner.
Maybe you clicked on this good news article because you want to keep the warm-and-fuzzy holiday vibes going. Or maybe you clicked it because you needed something to pick you up again after one too many hits.
Whatever the reason, let’s take a second to appreciate the good stuff — and no matter how hard times get, there is always some good stuff to be found.
Baby animals were born. Neighbors helped each other through hard times. Problems were solved, and new plans were made.
Cheers to everything we accomplished together in 2025… even if it was just making it to 2026. Let’s take a look back.
We saw some beautiful love stories
Katie Lettie and Vincent Bauer got married at the Arlington Central Library after winning a contest for a free wedding at the library.
Back before Valentine’s Day, the Arlington Public Library announced a contest to host a free wedding for one lucky DMV couple.
In July, that couple — Arlington residents Katie Lettie and Vincent Bauer — tied the knot at the Arlington Central Library location.
It made sense: The pair has the kind of love story you read about in books. The pair has been together for more than a decade, sometimes on opposite coasts, sometimes an ocean apart, according to the library system.
“Arlington was the first place that we were ever able to live that was permanent,” Lettie said. “Or had a sense that like, the future could go on, as the current moment was.”
The couple’s nuptials are a testament to the community they found and built in Arlington, with library patrons, staff, volunteers and local vendors coming together to pull off the wedding.
“This is such an amazing gift,” Lettie said. “It’s such a magical experience. It’s so cool.”
A Northern Virginia couple was so grateful for the care their daughter received in the Inova Fairfax NICU that they decided to have their wedding there. News4’s Aimee Cho shares their sweet story.
Later in the year, in nearby Fairfax County, another couple’s wedding was boosted by a community that lifted them up — and literally kept their family alive through hard times.
Timeshay Brown, a nurse at Inova Fairfax Hospital, and her now-husband Jarvis Parrish, had been planning their dream wedding for October.
But then their baby, Jayla, was born earlier than expected, at just 25 weeks.
“We went to the ultrasound, and the doctor came in and she was like, ‘Well, you’re gonna have this baby today,’” Brown said.
Taking care of baby Jayla became their priority. But amid their long nights in the NICU, Brown and Parrish knew they still wanted to be husband and wife.
Then, Brown had an idea, and her fellow nurses — many of whom had helped care for baby Jayla — ran with it.
Brown and Parrish exchanged their vows in November in the NICU, in front of their baby daughter and the medical team that saved her life.
“Because of you, our daughter will never have to wonder what real love looks like,” Brown told Parrish. “She’ll see it in the way you love me, and the way you protect her.”
Parrish, in return, promised Brown he’s committed to “always being a place of comfort and safety that you can rest your heart in completely.”
You did it, DMV! 1,435 couples came to Anthem Row in Northwest D.C. to break the Guiness world record for most couples kissing under the mistletoe in a single venue.
And about a month later, D.C. broke a world record — and maybe even started to turn the tide on its rocky romantic reputation.
A whopping 1,435 couples turned out to Anthem Row in Northwest D.C. to break the Guinness World Record for most couples kissing under the mistletoe in a single venue.
The Downtown D.C. Business Improvement District (BID) is now the proud owner of that record, beating out the previous record holder of St. Louis, Missouri with just 488 couples.
Community members came together
Speaking of love stories and community: Friends to Lovers bookstore in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, is an expert in both, at this point.
The romance novels are the main draw of the first romance bookstore in the D.C. metro area, of course. But after owner and founder Jamie Fortin poured her heart into her dream and then watched it go up in flames, Fortin learned that love also comes in the form of community – lifting it up, and being lifted in return.
The store’s first grand opening was in November 2024. But just three days after it opened, disaster struck.
“That night, really, I just got a call at like 11 p.m. that the store was on fire,” Fortin said. “Like I just got a text, ‘There’s a fire,’ in all caps, which was terrifying.”
The inside of the building was torched, and three women-owned businesses inside, including Friends to Lovers, were forced to close the night of Nov. 18.
But then the next day, the business owners from that building gathered with others on the block.
That’s when Fortin, who wanted to build up women and people in the LGBTQ+ community with her business, learned the community wanted to build her up, too.
“We all really rallied together immediately,” she said.
Within a week of the fire, the GoFundMe campaign raised $46,000, Fortin said. Donors ranged from local business owners to grad students sharing what little cash they had pitching in to help Friends to Lovers get back on its feet. Most of them were people who had never been in the store.
“About five months later, we were able to fully open a new location,” Fortin said. “And we are so grateful for where we’re at now.”
Over a year later, the bookstore is thriving, with a new location on Cameron Street and its own booth at the Downtown DC Holiday Market.
There are plenty more examples of communities rallying after chaos caused by forces of nature. Back in June, you may remember, a series of powerful thunderstorms walloped the D.C. area several inexplicable weekends in a row.
If you remember those storms, you also remember the damage they did to several neighborhoods, including one in Arlington. One resident of that neighborhood told News4 that her backyard tree, estimated to be 80 years old, split in two and largely fell on her 90-year-old neighbor’s home.
When the tree came down, it crashed into an area of the house where that 90-year-old typically sits. She was thankfully elsewhere in her home at the time — and other neighbors took her in.
“My neighbors brought her over. They sat her down on their porch and had her relax and called her kids,” the resident said.
“The people here are nice. Everybody watches out for each other,” she continued. “My neighbor who lives on the other side of me is out of town and texted me to see we were OK and if we needed anything.”
“It really says a lot because this is an urban area. But people know each other. We watch out for each other.”
As the region braces for another day of high temps, officials in Montgomery County are making an urgent call for help as the AC goes out at Derwood Animal Shelter. News4’s Walter Morris reports.
And communities stepped up for each other, even for community members with four legs and a tail.
An animal shelter in Montgomery County, Maryland thanked residents for stepping up when its air conditioning went out amid a June heat wave in the D.C. area, and the animals needed temporary foster homes.
About 20-30 dogs at the animal shelter were at high risk in extreme heat due to age or other health conditions and needed to get out of the overheated building as soon as possible.
After the shelter put out a plea on social media, more than 40 animals got temporary foster homes from nearby residents, allowing crews to work overnight to repair the A/C system.
“THANK YOU for all of your help during this crisis,” the shelter said on its website.
Baby animals arrived in D.C.
Giant pandas Bao Li and Qing Bao played in the snow Monday at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C.
From dogs and cats to panda bears, D.C. saw plenty of new animals arrive.
The most pandemonium came with the public debut of Bao Li and Qing Bao at the National Zoo in January. The 3-year-old giant pandas made their official debut on Jan. 24, and the zoo’s Giant Panda Cam returned shortly after.
Before the public could go visit Bao Li and Qing Bao in person, the zoo gave us all a sneak peek with some footage of them both playing in the snow, after D.C.’s biggest winter storm in years dropped 5 inches on the District.
The pandas went on a brief hiatus again during the lengthy government shutdown this fall, but their brief absence just made DMV residents all the more excited when the National Zoo reopened.
The zoo’s reopening after the shutdown also brought exciting news about the cheetahs that live at the Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia.
On Oct. 17 and 18, a litter of four new cheetah cubs was born, and they were doing well when the zoo announced their birth after the six-week shutdown ended.
Their mom, Amabala, is a 5-year-old adult cheetah that was also born at the Front Royal facility back in 2020. It was a full-circle moment for an endangered species, and for the conservation program at the zoo.
The baby elephant could arrive anytime between February and March, the zoo said. News4’s Megan McGrath reports.
The good animal news will continue into 2026, too. The zoo announced one of its elephants is pregnant, and sometime this winter the National Zoo will welcome its first baby elephant in 25 years.
It’s not yet clear whether 12-year-old Nhi Linh will welcome a boy or a girl when she delivers her first baby.
It marks a landmark moment for Asian elephants, an endangered species with an estimated number of fewer than 50,000 living in the wild.
WASHINGTON – A man is in critical condition after falling into the Anacostia River in Southwestern Washington, D.C., Friday night.
What we know:
D.C. Fire and EMS reported the rescue effort shortly after 10 p.m. at James Creek Marina in Buzzard Point.
Crews believe a man fell from the dock into the water.
By 10:30 p.m., crews were able to pull the man out of the water.
Paramedics took him to the hospital in critical condition.
What we don’t know:
Officials did not identify the man who was rescued. No other information was immediately available.
The Source: Information in this story is from the D.C. Fire and EMS Department.
Washington, D.C
DC’s baseball team faces potential DOJ probe after exec allegedly admitted to religious discrimination
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
FIRST ON FOX — Washington, D.C.’s professional baseball franchise could come under Justice Department scrutiny after a viral video showed a team executive appearing to admit to his religious discrimination against a Christian player.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., is urging Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon to investigate alleged religious discrimination against players for the Washington Nationals, according to a letter sent Thursday to and first obtained by Fox News Digital.
The letter comes after Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe published a secretly recorded video of Washington Nationals Director of Community Relations Sean Hudson saying the team does not include pitcher Trevor Williams in certain social media promotion.
He cited the player’s public criticism of another Major League Baseball franchise for hosting a drag group mocking Catholics.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., is urging the Department of Justice to investigate alleged religious discrimination within the Washington Nationals organization and across Major League Baseball. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
EXCLUSIVE: KENTUCKY BARISTA TAKES LEGAL ACTION AFTER TERMINATION, CLAIMS SHE WAS FIRED FOR SHARING HER FAITH
“According to the reporting by James O’Keefe, it appears the Washington Nationals are engaged in unlawful religious discrimination,” Boebert told Fox News Digital in a written statement. “I urge the DOJ to take immediate and decisive action.”
A spokesperson for the Justice Department said they received Boebert’s letter.
“The Department is reviewing the matter and will evaluate all appropriate next steps. As always, we remain committed to enforcing federal law and protecting civil rights,” they told Fox News Digital.
A spokesperson for the Washington Nationals did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hudson, in the clandestine recording, pointed to Williams’ public objections to the Los Angeles Dodgers honoring the Sisterhood of Perpetual Indulgence — a drag group that dresses as nuns — during the team’s 2023 “Pride Night.
The event also drew condemnation from multiple Catholic bishops, who described it as “blasphemous.”
Trevor Williams of the Washington Nationals sits in the dugout before a game against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, Wash., on May 28, 2025. (Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)
Williams said he found the group’s anti-Catholic demonstration featuring vulgar caricatures of the crucifixion and sacred rituals to be “deeply offensive,” in an interview with Bishop Robert Barron last year. The professional baseball player said he made the decision with his wife to speak out even though it would put “a target on our back.”
“Baseball stadiums should be a place where everyone feels welcomed, like 100%,” Williams said in the interview. “We should all feel welcomed there. But that was clearly against one certain religion. If you don’t draw the line in the sand, who’s gonna do it?”
According to Hudson, that public criticism of the drag group’s performance later affected Williams’ opportunities at the Nationals franchise.
“Because of that we don’t use him on social [media],” Hudson told an undercover journalist in the video. “When they’re like ‘is a hot dog a sandwich’ and the players come up, we don’t ask him.”
CONGRESSMAN SAYS MLB IS OUSTING TREVOR BAUER DUE TO TRUMP SUPPORT, IN LETTER TO ROB MANFRED
Boebert said she is concerned that Hudson’s admission could mean the franchise violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on religion and other protected classes.
“Americans of faith should not face professional repercussions for objecting to the mockery of their sacred traditions,” the Colorado Republican said in the letter. “MLB’s privileged legal position should not become a license for exclusionary practices.”
“Sister Unity” and “Sister Dominia” of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence were honored on Pride Night before the MLB game between the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on June 16, 2023. (Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire)
Hudson, in the video, described himself as “far-left leaning” and nonreligious. Meanwhile, he called Williams “super Catholic.”
The Washington Nationals executive also boasted about a Communist Party poster in his office and mused about pushing redistribution of wealth and other leftist agendas during baseball games at Nationals Park in Southeast Washington, D.C.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
“What a cool opportunity for us [Nationals] to also, be a little bit of like, the voice of reason,” Hudson said. “And a lot of people will tell you when I come to a baseball game, I don’t want to think about that s–t.”
“If you’re a sports fan and we piss you off, where else are you gonna go,” he went on. “I don’t give a sh–t.”
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced Thursday hundreds of millions of dollars to help with what he says are critical structural repairs and upgrades for D.C.’s Union Station.
“It was built in 1908, over a hundred years ago, and it was the largest train station in the world when it was built,” Duffy said. “And over the course of decades, it’s become run-down,” Duffy said.
A $465 million grant aims to ensure the overall experience for those coming and going remains up to par and on track at the transit hub. It will help fast-track repairs like roof upgrades and passenger concourses, Duffy said.
The project includes the Amtrak lounge and the ticket experience.
For some travelers, alternatives to fast food are a must.
Retail, parking and office spaces will be priorities of the project to maximize the station’s revenue, as will public safety.
Already, Columbus Fountain is flowing again after being broken and dry for almost two decades.
“Now when you come out of Union Station, the gateway to our city, you’ll be met with a fountain that is beautiful and a fountain that actually works,” Duffy said.
-
Los Angeles, Ca15 minutes agoMan arrested for multiple Los Angeles freeway shootings: CHP
-
Detroit, MI35 minutes agoArchdiocese of Detroit’s list of parishes chosen for halted Masses grows
-
San Francisco, CA45 minutes agoGiants reassign 3B coach Borg; Wotus named interim replacement
-
Dallas, TX50 minutes agoVigil honors victims of Dallas apartment explosion that killed three and injured five
-
Miami, FL57 minutes ago
Miami kosher, Mutra, restaurant earns Michelin star | The Jerusalem Post
-
Boston, MA59 minutes agoRed Sox outfielder Roman Anthony suffers another injury setback
-
Denver, CO1 hour agoDenver weather: Warm weather to end May
-
Seattle, WA1 hour agoSeattle City Council proposal would use street closures to curb gun violence
