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DC mayor, police chief to testify before House committee over crime increase

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DC mayor, police chief to testify before House committee over crime increase


D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is about to testify on Capitol Hill subsequent month in regards to the rise in crime within the metropolis. 

The mayor despatched a letter to the chairman of the Home Oversight and Reform Committee Wednesday confirming her look. She’s anticipated to take a seat on the witness desk because the committee continues its hearings on crime, security, and metropolis administration. 

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D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee III and Metropolis Administrator Kevin Donahue will be a part of her through the listening to. 

UNITED STATES – APRIL 12: D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser speaks in the primary corridor of Union Station throughout an occasion to kick off the Jazz in Bloom concert events sequence and announce initiatives to deliver extra folks downtown, on Wednesday, April 12, 2023. (Tom Willi

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Final week, the pinnacle of the D.C. Police Union Greggory Pemberton testified earlier than the committee in regards to the metropolis’s crime and policing. He instructed the representatives that a number of of the D.C. Metropolis Council’s actions have led to an exodus of officers and a rise in violent crime. 

“There are quite a few actions by the D.C. council, together with their rhetoric, that has led to a mass defection of officers and an exponential improve in violent crime.” mentioned D.C. Police Union’s Greg Pemberton. 

D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, Councilmember Charles Allen, amongst others had been grilled by the committee over insurance policies they mentioned had been too delicate on criminals and anti-police throughout a criminal offense wave. 

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Mendelson maintained that total crime numbers had been down. However he acknowledged {that a} spike in homicides and carjackings had fueled public anxiousness over issues of safety.

“Folks ought to really feel protected, and it’s a downside that many residents of the district don’t,” he mentioned.

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WASHINGTON, US – MARCH 29: Phil Mendelson, Chairman, D.C. testifies earlier than the U.S. Home Oversight and Accountability Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on March 29, 2023. (Michael A. McCoy/For The Washington Put up through Getty Pictures)

“D.C. clearly has a criminal offense disaster,” mentioned Comer, the chair of the Home Oversight and Reform Committee. “Our nation’s capital has deteriorated and declined. D.C. officers haven’t carried out their duty to serve the residents.”

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Bowser vetoed the council’s overhaul of the town’s prison code in January, saying on the time that the invoice didn’t make residents within the District safer. 

In her letter to the council, the mayor instructed that the D.C. Council “amend this invoice to take away provisions for which there stays deep divisions throughout the prison justice group. The Council ought to then proceed with passing a invoice that displays the provisions for which there’s consensus settlement. These provisions, which symbolize roughly 95% of the invoice, would nonetheless symbolize a major and much-needed replace to our prison code.”

The council voted to override the mayor’s veto. And in early March, Congress voted in favor of a disapproval decision that will overturn the prison code revisions. Mendelson and the council determined to withdraw the measure earlier than President Biden signed into legislation laws nullifying the current overhaul.

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Learn Mayor Bowser’s letter to the Home Oversight and Reform Committee under: 



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Washington, D.C

Preparations underway in DMV for snowstorm

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Preparations underway in DMV for snowstorm


Local and state snow crews are preparing to treat secondary and neighborhood streets throughout D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

“It’s me and three other fellas, so it’s fairly small,” said Jason Swain with the Department of Public Works in Kensington Maryland.

He says his team may be small, but they’re mighty and ready.

“We get the plows ready, make sure everything’s working,” Swain said. “We have salt, which has been kindly given to us by the state, ready to put into the spreaders.”

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He says the biggest hurdle when plowing snow, oftentimes, is cars.

“Some people don’t have driveways, but if they’re going to park on the street, try not to park directly across from each other because when we come through, you literally got inches between the edge of our plow and the cars,” Swain said.

In the District, plenty of people decided to step out before snow crews put plow to pavement for a potential all day snow event.

“Mayor Bowser activated the snow team, and they’ll begin their operations tonight, treating and then plowing roads throughout the day tomorrow,” said Clint Osborn with the District’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency.

D.C.’s smaller plows will be on back roads and alleys, while heavy trucks will focus on primary streets.

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“We’ll have a full deployment out throughout all day tomorrow into Monday as we support the inaugural activities in the District,” Osborn said.

Icy conditions in Prince George’s County during the region’s last snowstorm led to different strategies this go round.

In a statement, the county’s Department of Public Works and Transportation says, “We have implemented adjustments to strengthen our response, and these improvements have prepared us for this round of winter weather.”

The biggest piece of advice for tomorrow:

“Tomorrow would be a good day, since it’s a Sunday, to stay home,” Swain said. “Read a book, have some hot chocolate, relax. Can come out after we finish.”

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Days before Trump takes office, thousands of protestors march in Washington, D.C.

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Days before Trump takes office, thousands of protestors march in Washington, D.C.


WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of people from around the United States rallied in the nation’s capital Saturday for women’s reproductive rights and other causes they believe are under threat from the incoming Trump administration, reprising the original Women’s March days before President-elect Donald Trump’s second inauguration.

READ MORE: Trump arriving in nation’s capital for inaugural celebrations to mark his return to power

Eight years after the first historic Women’s March at the start of Trump’s first term, marchers said they were caught off guard by Trump’s victory and are determined now to show that support remains strong for women’s access to abortion, for transgender people, for combating climate change and other issues.

The march is just one of several protests, rallies and vigils focused on abortion, rights, immigration rights and the Israel-Hamas war planned in advance of inauguration Monday. Around the country, over 350 similar marches are taking place in every state.

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Jill Parrish of Austin, Texas, said she initially bought a plane ticket to Washington for what she expected to be Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris’s inauguration. She wound up changing the dates to march in protest ahead of Trump’s swearing-in instead, saying the world should know that half of U.S. voters didn’t support Trump.

“Most importantly, I’m here to demonstrate my fear, about the state of our democracy,” Parrish said.

Demonstrators staged in squares around Washington ahead of the march, pounding drums and yelling chants under a slate-gray sky and in a chilly wind. Protesters then marched to the Lincoln Memorial for larger rally and fair, where organizations at the local, state and national level will host information tables.

They held signs with slogans including, “Save America” and “Against abortions? Then don’t have one” and “Hate won’t win.”

There were brief moments of tension between protesters and Trump supporters. The march paused briefly when a man in a red Make America Great Again hat and a green camo backpack walked into a line of demonstrators at the front. Police intervened and separated him from the group peacefully as marchers chanted “We won’t take the bait.”

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As the protesters approached the Washington Monument, a small group of men in MAGA hats walking in the opposite direction appeared to draw the attention of a protest leader with a megaphone. The leader veered closer to the group and began chanting “No Trump, no KKK” through the megaphone. The groups were separated by high black fencing and police officers eventually gathered around.

Rick Glatz, of Manchester, New Hampshire, said he came to Washington for the sake of his four granddaughters: ” I’m a grandpa. And that’s why I’m marching.”

Minnesota high school teacher Anna Bergman wore her original pink pussy hat from her time in the 2017 Women’s March, a moment that captured the shock and anger of progressives and moderates at Trump’s first win.

With Trump coming back now, “I just wanted to be surrounded by likeminded people on a day like today,” Bergman said.

Rebranded and reorganized, the rally has a new name — the People’s March — as a means to broaden support, especially during a reflective moment for progressive organizing after Trump’s decisive win in November. The Republican takes the oath of office Monday.

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Women outraged over Trump’s 2016 presidential win flocked to Washington in 2017 and organized large rallies in cities throughout the country, building the base of a grassroots movement that became known as the Women’s March. The Washington rally alone attracted over 500,000 marchers, and millions more participated in local marches around the country, marking one of the largest single-day demonstrations in U.S. history.

This year, the crowd was far fewer than the expected 50,000 participants, already just one-tenth the size of the first march. The demonstration comes amid a restrained moment of reflection as many progressive voters navigate feelings of exhaustion, disappointment and despair after Harris’ loss.

WATCH: Harris loss causes some to question what it will take to elect a woman president

“Before we do anything about democracy, we have to fight our own despair,” said one of the event’s first speakers, Rachel O’Leary Carmona, executive director of Women’s March.

The comparative quiet contrasts sharply with the white-knuckled fury of the inaugural rally as massive crowds shouted demands over megaphones and marched in pink pussyhats in response to Trump’s first election win.

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“The reality is that it’s just hard to capture lightning in a bottle,” said Tamika Middleton, managing director at the Women’s March. “It was a really particular moment. In 2017, we had not seen a Trump presidency and the kind of vitriol that that represented.”

The movement fractured after that hugely successful day of protests over accusations that it was not diverse enough. This year’s rebrand as a People’s March is the result of an overhaul intended to broaden the group’s appeal. Saturday’s demonstration promoted themes related to feminism, racial justice, anti-militarization and other issues and ended with discussions hosted by various social justice organizations.

The People’s March is unusual in the “vast array of issues brought together under one umbrella,” said Jo Reger, a sociology professor who researches social movements at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. Women’s suffrage marches, for example, were focused on a specific goal of voting rights.

For a broad-based social justice movement such as the march, conflicting visions are impossible to avoid and there is “immense pressure” for organizers to meet everyone’s needs, Reger said. But she also said some discord isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“Often what it does is bring change and bring in new perspectives, especially of underrepresented voices,” Reger said.

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Middleton, of the Women’s March, said a massive demonstration like the one in 2017 was not the goal of Saturday’s event. Instead, it’s goal was focusing attention on a broader set of issues — women’s and reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, immigration, climate and democracy — rather than centering it more narrowly around Trump.

“We’re not thinking about the march as the endgame,” Middleton said. “How do we get those folks who show up into organizations and into their political homes so they can keep fighting in their communities long term?”

Associated Press writers Gary Fields, Ellen Knickmeyer and Mike Pesoli contributed to this report.



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DCA warns flyers to bundle up after heating system outage

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DCA warns flyers to bundle up after heating system outage


The primary heating system at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) has been out since Friday evening, and the airport is warning travelers to bundle up before they arrive.

“We apologize for any discomfort to travelers as we work diligently to return the heat to normal levels,” DCA said on its website.

DCA is still operational, and the broken heating system has not affected flights, TSA or airline operations, or any of the shops and restaurants inside. Temperatures outside in Alexandria hovering around 45 degrees Fahrenheit, and according to a statement from the airport, temperatures inside the building are “generally in the 60s.”

“We are conserving heat in the building and are running alternate heating sources in a few locations,” DCA said in a statement posted to X.

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Airport maintenance crews are working to repair the heating system, and have been since Friday night.



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