Mark Vaughn hoisted his newly adopted 3-month-old puppy into his arms. In a bustling adoption center lobby in Northwest Washington, surrounded by TV station cameras and other new dog owners, he cooed into the dog’s ear.
Washington, D.C
D.C. dogs, rescued from alleged abuse, find new homes
But before Moe was adopted by his new owner, his life had a frightening start.
Moe was one of 31 dogs that had been seized from a Southeast Washington home on Feb. 14, following an hours-long confrontation between the dogs’ owner and law enforcement officials. D.C. police were attempting to arrest the owner, Stephen Rattigan, 48, on charges of animal cruelty, officials said.
Rattigan barricaded himself inside with the dogs for the next 13 hours and fired on officers trying to take him into custody, according to D.C. police. Three police officers were shot when they forced the door open and were hospitalized.
Rattigan, who identifies himself as Julius James, was arrested and now faces several charges, including assault with intent to kill and cruelty to animals. When reached Saturday, Rattigan’s attorney declined to comment about the allegations at this time.
The Humane Rescue Alliance, which investigated the allegations of animal abuse, removed the dogs — 20 adults and 11 puppies — from Rattigan’s home. Many were found injured and confined to cages. The dogs ranged from two months to several years old and all appeared to be American bullies or “some mix thereof,” Lisa LaFontaine, president and chief executive of the rescue alliance, said in a statement.
According to an arrest affidavit, neighbors complained of foul smells and dogs “living in their own waste” to the rescue alliance. During the investigation, rescue alliance officers found evidence of Rattigan allegedly “striking and punching a dog,” LaFontaine said in the statement.
Chris Schindler, senior vice president of animal welfare, field response and rescue for the alliance, said the injuries on many of the dogs were bite wounds from the “chaotic situation” they had been living in, likely competing for resources. Their wounds were treated and not critical, and the dogs had not been involved in dog fighting, Schindler said.
On Saturday afternoon, the dogs would get a new beginning. At the rescue alliance’s adoption center, 14 of the puppies and dogs were up for adoption. Six had already been adopted by their caregivers and the remaining ones needed “a little bit more time” to address their care needs before they are ready, Schindler said.
Shortly before noon, families trudged in through the double doors, soggy from the rain, and waited in the lobby. Vaughn’s sister had called him earlier that morning so they could make it there early, as the dogs would be adopted on a first-come, first-served basis. She had seen the news of their troubled past and it brought her to tears.
“I was hoping that I’d get an opportunity to get my heart wrapped around one of these dogs,” Vaughn said. They arrived around 11 a.m., an hour before the event was scheduled to start.
When it was time, nearly a dozen people crowded the hallway leading to the dog kennels. They squeezed past each other to get a look at the available dogs and hurried back to the lobby with their choice. Some of the puppies laid on a blanket together inside one of the kennels as people peered at them through the glass. One by one, brown and gray puppies were handed on leashes to their new owners.
Vaughn wasn’t fast enough for Moe, at first, and thought he’d be leaving with another puppy. Then, he was told that his first choice was available after all.
Within 45 minutes, 7 of the 14 available dogs were adopted. One married couple took home a gray-colored puppy named November, which they shortened to “Ember,” to join their German shepherd at home. And, a mother and daughter pair left with a puppy named Asher to surprise the rest of the family.
“Saturdays are busy, but not busy like this,” Schindler said. “It’s a really incredible turnout. Every time we ask our community to show up, they always do.”
By evening, only two of the rescued dogs remained.
Vaughn carried Moe in his arms all the way outside to the car, with their next destination being home in Northeast. His previous dog, an 11-year-old Yorkshire terrier named Tyler, died about five months ago. He still has an unopened bag of treats at home, now waiting for Moe.
“They have a chance for a good life now,” Vaughn said, reflecting on the adopted pups. “All they need is unconditional love, and I’ve got a lot of that.”
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Seventy-two veterans took a trip Saturday to our nation’s capital to visit memorials honoring their service in the armed forces.
This year marks the 12th trip to Washington, D.C. for Honor Flight Tallahassee.
Early Saturday morning, veterans and their guardians met to take a charter flight up to D.C.
Throughout the day, veterans were taken to the World War II memorial, as well as the Korean and Vietnam War memorials. The veterans also visited Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
More Tallahassee news:
The day ended with a wonderful welcome home celebration.
Our Jacob Murphey, Julia Miller, Taylor Viles, and Grace Temple accompanied the veterans, capturing moments from throughout the day.
The team will have live coverage from Washington, D.C. on Monday to share more from the day’s events.
We will continue to have coverage throughout the month of May, leading up to our Honor Flight special on Memorial Day.
To keep up with the latest news as it develops, follow WCTV on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Nextdoor and X (Twitter).
Have a news tip or see an error? Write to us here. Please include the article’s headline in your message.
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Copyright 2026 WCTV. All rights reserved.
4 things to know about the weather:
- Chances of rain in the morning
- Gusty Sunday
- Chilly Monday
- Temps will rise again through the work week
Download the NBC Washington app on iOS and Android to check the weather radar on the go.
After a nice and warm Saturday, changes arrive for part two of the weekend.
The first half of your Sunday will have a chance for showers. Winds will pick up with our next system and are expected to gust to about 20-30 mph. Cooler air will settle in, and lows Sunday night fall into the 40s.
Highs temps Monday will reach only into the mid to upper 50s.
However, temperatures will rise through the week, so you won’t need your jackets every day.
QuickCast
SUNDAY:
Showers, then partly cloudy
Wind: NW 10-15 mph
Gusts @ 30 mph
HIGH: Lower 60s
MONDAY:
Partly cloudy
Wind: NW 10-15 mph
Gusts @ 25 mph
HIGH: Upper 50s
Stay with Storm Team4 for the latest forecast. Download the NBC Washington app on iOS and Android to get severe weather alerts on your phone.
Washington, D.C
‘It’s a twilight zone’: Iran war casts deep shadows over IMF gathering in Washington
The most severe energy shock since the 1970s, the risk of a global recession and households everywhere stomaching a renewed surge in the cost of living – hitting the most vulnerable hardest.
In a sweltering hot Washington DC this week, the message at the International Monetary Fund meetings was chilling: things had been looking up for living standards around the world. But then came the Iran war.
“Some countries are in panic,” said the fund’s managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, addressing the finance ministers and central bank bosses in town for the IMF and World Bank spring meetings. “The sooner it [the Iran war] ends, the better for everybody.”
Such gatherings are not typically used to fight geopolitical battles. “You don’t get people shouting at one another at these things,” one senior figure remarked. But, as a record-breaking April heatwave swept the US capital, no one could ignore the mounting damage from the Iran war.
Those familiar with the mood over breakfast at a meeting of the G20’s representatives on Thursday, which included Donald Trump’s treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, and the outgoing US Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell – said the atmosphere in the room was sombre amid an open exchange of serious views.
“It is such a twilight-zone meeting,” said Mohamed El-Erian, a former IMF deputy managing director who is now chief economic adviser at the Allianz insurance group. “There are several shadows hanging over it: one is the shadow that comes from concern about the global economy as a whole.
“The second is that some countries are going to be particularly hard hit, and it’s mostly countries that very few people are talking about. But the third concern is the adding of insult to injury: the fact that the US, which started a war of choice, is going to be hit, but by a lot less than elsewhere in relative terms.”
Before Thursday’s breakfast, Rachel Reeves had started her day with an early-morning jog. Joined by her counterparts from Spain, Australia and New Zealand for a run down the iconic National Mall, she posted an Instagram selfie with a not-so-subtle dig: “Friends that run together – work together.”
A day earlier, the chancellor had told a CNBC conference that she thought “friends are allowed to disagree on things” as she criticised Trump’s Iran war as a “mistake” and a “folly” that had not made the world safer.
Speaking at a venue just steps away from the White House, before a one-on-one meeting with Bessent, she said this “fair message” was needed because UK families and businesses were feeling the pain from higher energy prices triggered by the conflict.
Those close to Reeves insist her meeting remained cordial. Britain and the US have significant shared interests in AI, financial services and trade. The chancellor also said the UK government had little time for the Iranian regime.
But with the IMF having warned on Tuesday that the Iran war could risk a global recession – in which Britain would be the biggest G7 casualty – it was clear Reeves had travelled to Washington ready to pick a fight.
“I’m struck by how vocal she has been and the words she used,” said one global financier. “We know the disagreement between Bessent and [European Central Bank president] Christine Lagarde earlier in the year. But that was in private.”
At a cocktail party held at the British ambassador’s residence for hundreds of diplomats and financiers – including the Bank of England’s governor, Andrew Bailey, the chief executive of Barclays, CS Venkatakrishnan, and dozens of senior figures – this transatlantic tension, weeks before King Charles’s US state visit, was a major topic of conversation.
The other, in the balmy residence gardens, was one of its former occupants, Peter Mandelson, as revelations about the former ambassador’s appointment threatened to further rock the UK government.
Before the war, the agenda for the IMF had been about global cooperation; the adoption of AI, jobs and work to eradicate poverty. Each of those tasks had now been complicated, but not least the task of countries working together.
For many at the meetings, the focus was on forging closer global cooperation without the world’s pre-eminent superpower.
“Everybody is talking about how you hedge against American decisions,” said David Miliband, the former UK foreign secretary, who now runs the International Rescue Committee. “You can’t do without them, because they’re 25% of the global economy. But, in a lot of fora, they’ve pulled out.
“So everyone has to think, how does one structure international cooperation? The old west is not coming back. And so everyone has to figure out how to position themselves for that world.”
For those gathering in Washington, there was irony in the fact that they were meeting in the halls of institutions founded, under US leadership, to promote global cooperation after the second world war. The whole idea of the Bretton Woods institutions was to avoid the dire economic conditions and warfare of the 1930s and 1940s. Yet this year’s meeting was taking place amid these intertwining problems.
In their conversations about the best economic policy response to the shock of conflict, the economists also knew the real power to make a difference lay two blocks across town from the IMF and the World Bank – behind the security cordons and construction equipment blocking the White House from public view. “It is not clear they can do anything about it,” said El-Erian.
Still, with a booming economy driven by AI – including Anthropic’s powerful Mythos model, the topic of much conversation – most countries cannot afford to completely break off US ties.
“People want to find ways to insulate themselves from the mess. But, on the other hand, they admire the US private sector,” El-Erian said. “The best way I’ve heard it put, is: they want to go long the private sector and short the mess. But it’s almost impossible to do.”
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