Washington, D.C

DC records more than 100 homicides in earliest time frame since 2003

Published

1 year ago

June 7, 2023

DC records more than 100 homicides in earliest time frame since 2003

Washington, D.C., has recorded 100 homicides in the first six months of 2023, the earliest that the district has hit the mark in two decades.

The 100th homicide was reported on Wednesday in southeast D.C. on South Capitol Street just after 6:30 p.m. Police officers who arrived at the scene found a man suffering from gunshot wounds in the street, per Fox 5 DC. The victim died at the scene, and investigators are searching for a vehicle connected to the killing. Later on Wednesday night, a man and woman were shot on 49th Street, marking the 101st homicide in the district with no suspects or motives identified.

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The D.C. Police Union issued a statement on the 100th homicide report, claiming it was the earliest date the district has reached 100 homicides since 2003.

“In 2022, the 100th homicide was recorded on June 24. In 2021, the date was July 10. Over the past 10 years, the average date that we have reached this grim marker is October 25,” the union wrote in a press release.

Crime rates compared to 2022 have been steadily increasing. Homicides are up 19% from this time last year, total violent crime is up 16%, and total overall crime is up 27% as of Wednesday.

“This increase in crime is due to D.C. Council’s implementation of misguided ‘police reform’ legislation,” Union Chairman Gregg Pemberton said. “The Council’s actions have had a chilling effect on professional and responsible policing and caused over 1,200 police officers to leave the agency.”

The union claimed that recent legislation and police reform strategies that began in 2020 are to blame for the mass exodus of officers from the Metropolitan Police Department. Two bills have been subjected to scrutiny in recent months: one focusing on the criminal code and one focusing on police reform.

The D.C. Council overwhelmingly approved a bill last year that would have implemented a massive overhaul of the city’s criminal code, completing a project district lawmakers had been working on for 16 years. The law would have weakened penalties for several crimes, including carjackings and homicide, and would not have gone into effect until 2026.

The bill became a source of in-fighting between Mayor Muriel Bowser and council members. The council passed the bill in November 2022 but it was vetoed by Bowser. However, the council overrode her veto in January, allowing it to become law.

Washington, D.C.’s criminal code, like all legislation coming out of the district, is subject to congressional oversight. In February and March, the House and Senate voted to overturn the overhaul of the criminal code, marking the first time in 30 years that Congress has repealed a local law passed by the D.C. Council. President Joe Biden went against the calls from the more left-leaning members of his party and signed the bill, overturning the D.C. Council’s law.

The D.C. Council pushed back against Congress during the process, at one point withdrawing the bill in an attempt to prevent Congress from overturning the code. The vote still went through, effectively scrapping the district’s attempts to soften punishments.

The second bill to appear before Congress focused on police reform. Several of the police reforms focus on prohibiting the use of neck restraints, increasing access to body camera footage, and revising officer discipline procedures. Both the House and Senate voted to overturn these reforms in May. However, Biden vetoed the congressional effort, which allowed the police reforms to remain in effect.

“Resignations are now outpacing retirements, and recruiting numbers are abysmal. Without serious efforts to repeal this legislation, this situation will only continue to get worse,” Pemberton said.

In March, a report released by DC Crime Facts showed that the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., declined to prosecute 67% of people arrested by police officers in 2022. U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves said there were several reasons for not prosecuting less serious crimes, such as an unaccredited crime lab and police body-camera footage leading to severe scrutiny.

“Since 2019, we have been taking more time at arrest to determine if we are going to file charges. With body-worn camera and the proliferation of surveillance cameras, we have more information at the charging stage to assess the strength of the evidence we would be presenting later to courts and juries,” Graves said.

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Former D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee, who retired on June 3, said in March that his officers were not to blame for the lack of prosecutions and that prosecutors may also be not as willing to push a case if they have concerns about witnesses.

The Washington Examiner reached out to D.C. police for comment on the homicide figure.

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Washington, D.C

KY homelessness activists heading to D.C. after Supreme Court ruling

Published

51 mins ago

June 29, 2024

Press Room

KY homelessness activists heading to D.C. after Supreme Court ruling

LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — The Supreme Court ruled Friday that homeless people can be arrested and fined for sleeping outside. The ruling overturned a law in the West that determined punishing someone for sleeping on public property who has nowhere else to go was a violation of the 18th Amendment and constituted cruel and unusual punishment.

We have local reaction from the Supreme Court’s decision. A large crowd gathered outside of the Catholic Action Center, set to take a trip to Washington D.C.

They’re headed to the Mass Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March taking place Saturday.

“This is not one of those happy go lucky trips that we’re on.”

Tayna Fogle stood before several people outside of the Catholic Action Center just before departing for D.C.

This group, equipped with matching t-shirts, includes at least 45 members of The Street Voice Council in Lexington.

“We are at a starting line trying to get to the finish line as far as being homeless, as I always say, we just need a little bit of help, and this is a start,” said Greg Searight.

Searight, ambassador for The Street Voice Council, like Maurice Noe, a leader from Vocal Kentucky, has this reaction to the Supreme Court ruling.

“Today, this just shows that people in America, they don’t have a voice, they don’t have a voice,” said Noe.

House Bill 5, the Safer Kentucky Act, goes into effect July 15, meaning anyone unlawfully camping can be arrested or fined.

Jacques Wigginton addressed this group’s mission and how it plans to protest HB 5.

“It’s time for all of us to get off our couch, and make a statement, because otherwise, we become complicit in what we do.”

The effort continues on a nine-and-a-half-hour trip to D.C. after three months of planning for this event.

Former urban county councilmember Jacques Wigginton told us Friday that the group making the trip to D.C. is “part of an overall movement, that is a call to morality.”

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Washington, D.C

American Airlines and Flight Attendant Union Summoned to Washington DC On Saturday As Strike Ruling Looms

Published

8 hours ago

June 28, 2024

Press Room

American Airlines and Flight Attendant Union Summoned to Washington DC On Saturday As Strike Ruling Looms

American Airlines and the union which represents tens of thousands of flight attendants at the carrier have been summoned to a rare Saturday meeting of the National Mediation Board (NMB) in Washington DC as a decision looms over whether flight attendants will be allowed to go on strike.

The NMB is an independent federal agency which oversees labor relations in the railway and aviation sectors. The NMB’s three-person board of members selected by the President gets the ultimate say over whether transport workers are allowed to go on strike.

Despite the overwhelming majority of flight attendants at American Airlines voting to back strike action back in August 2023, the NMB has so far blocked the union’s request to take ‘self-help’ action and has been pushing the two sides to reach a compromise deal in protracted contract talks.

Those negotiations entered a new make-or-break phase several weeks ago, but despite intensive bargaining sessions, which even involved Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su meeting flight attendants, the talks ended in failure.

Since then, the NMB has been mulling whether to finally allow American Airlines flight attendants to go on strike.

That decision may be announced after the agency summoned representatives from American Airlines and the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) to the NMB’s headquarters in Washington DC, on June 29.

“After weeks of intensive mediation broke off last week, your APFA Negotiating Team has continued to aggressively press our case that American Airlines Flight Attendants need a contract that addresses our concerns,” the union said in a statement.

“The time is long overdue for American Airlines management to resolve these negotiations and agree to the contract we deserve.”

If the NMB does approve the union’s request to take self-help action, the agency will declare an impasse in negotiations and release the two sides into a 30-day cooling-off period, after which flight attendants would be allowed to go on strike.

The flight attendant union has already indicated that it wouldn’t call an all out strike but instead adopt the so-called CHAOS system which was pioneered by sister union, the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA).

CHAOS, which stands for ‘Create Havoc Around Our System’, involves calling out flight attendants from seemingly random flights at the last minute. The tactic means that the airline wouldn’t have enough time to restaff affected flights while passengers would have no idea if their flight were about to be hit by a walkout.

Of course, the tone of the union’s Friday afternoon memo also suggests that the two sides may be nearing a compromise deal and strike action could be averted.

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Mateusz Maszczynski

Mateusz Maszczynski honed his skills as an international flight attendant at the most prominent airline in the Middle East and has been flying throughout the COVID-19 pandemic for a well-known European airline. Matt is passionate about the aviation industry and has become an expert in passenger experience and human-centric stories. Always keeping an ear close to the ground, Matt’s industry insights, analysis and news coverage is frequently relied upon by some of the biggest names in journalism.

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Washington, D.C

Best spots to see fireworks in the D.C. area for July Fourth

Published

15 hours ago

June 28, 2024

Press Room

Best spots to see fireworks in the D.C. area for July Fourth

Looking for a show in the sky to celebrate America’s birthday? Here are some of the best D.C.-area spots to see fireworks in the next week.

The West Lawn of the Capitol opens at 3 p.m. for the audience of the free A Capitol Fourth concert, hosted by Alfonso Ribeiro, which begins at 8. Performers include Smokey Robinson, Fantasia, Darren Criss, Fitz and Noelle of Fitz and the Tantrums, Sheila E., the National Symphony Orchestra and various military bands. The fireworks display begins at 9:09 p.m., and the concert is timed so the NSO performs Tchaikovsky’s “1812” Overture while the fireworks are booming over the Washington Monument. Visitors will be required to go through security screenings to enter the Capitol grounds or public viewing areas on the Mall west of 14th Street. (There’s a map of closures, first aid stations, restrooms and other important landmarks on the National Mall website, nps.gov/nama.) If the crowds or the lines are too much, there’s usually more room to spread your picnic blanket closer to the Smithsonian Castle.

Mount Vernon’s An American Celebration gets underway at 9:30 a.m. with a reading of the Declaration of Independence and features an 18th-century magic show, Revolutionary War music and Army encampments, talks with reenactors, and, to the delight of all ages, daytime fireworks that create billowing puffs of colorful smoke over the Potomac River at 1 p.m. Admission is $26 for adults, $13 for kids, and free for children age 5 and younger.

Fireworks beyond the Fourth

Love shimmering pyrotechnic displays but can’t swing it on July Fourth? Fear not: The fun isn’t limited to Thursday night. Here are more events taking place throughout the week leading up to the holiday.

Saturday: Fireworks, Food and Family Fun at Lake Fairfax

Fairfax County’s annual celebration kicks off at noon June 29 with live music and food trucks, while fireworks begin at 9:15 p.m. Tickets are $15 per car in advance, which does not include admission to the Water Mine Family Swimmin’ Hole; those tickets are sold separately.

Tuesday: Vienna’s Independence Day Celebration

The town of Vienna’s annual party fills George C. Yeonas Park with a mix of live music — Latin American from Cantaré, pop and funk from Thunderball — as well as family activities, food trucks and picnicking on baseball fields. The event runs from 6 to 10 p.m., with fireworks beginning around 9:30. Free parking is available off-site.

Wednesday: Baseball and fireworks

Fireworks illuminate baseball diamonds across the region on Independence Day Eve. The Nationals, who won’t have fireworks after their July 4 day game, will launch “Freedom Fireworks” after the last out of their 6:45 p.m. game against the Mets on July 3. The Bowie Baysox, who regularly host fireworks after weekend games at Prince George’s Stadium, promise their biggest show of the year after the Orioles’ AA affiliate’s 6:35 p.m. game against the Richmond Flying Squirrels. The single-A Fredericksburg Nationals, home of the regular “Fireworks Friday” promotions, host a “patriotic edition” of the popular event following a 6:05 p.m. game against the Delmarva Shorebirds.

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