With National Guard support and warmer weather ahead, D.C. officials expect faster service restoration as residents receive free salt and prepare for renewed sidewalk‑clearing requirements.
After a punishing snowstorm Sunday, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said the city is making progress and garbage removal and other city services will return this weekend.
City officials said they plan to resume home trash pickup this weekend, starting with homes that have their garbage removed from the front of the home.
“If your household normally gets front side collection, we will begin to pick up your trash tomorrow,” Bowser said Friday. “This weekend, we want to do the front side collections for Monday and Tuesday.”
The city is about a week behind on trash collection, so on Monday, they will collect for last Wednesday; and Tuesday’s pickup is actually last Thursday’s. It will be like this until the city gets back on a regular schedule.
For homes that have alley pickups, the city plans to use Bobcat machinery to get garbage cans that are trapped in snow and ice.
Mayor Bowser gave an optimistic status report on the snow and ice removal, despite many residents voicing complaints about snow- and ice-covered streets and sidewalks days after the storm.
In her three terms as mayor, Bowser said she’s never seen a storm that began with 6-plus inches of snow and then 10 hours of sleet, leaving streets and sidewalks coated in ice.
The mayor also said National Guard troops, which have been on D.C. streets since the summertime, are also pitching in.
“Some National Guard personnel have been approved to work with us, and we will be giving them some assignments related to clearing pathways for pedestrians to get to and from buses,” she said.
The D.C. National Guard also announced Friday evening its members would be helping remove snow at D.C.’s public schools, at the request of D.C. government. Those efforts will begin Saturday.
Overall, the mayor would not give herself or city officials a letter grade on the city’s performance — she said that is up to residents to decide. But she said 250 city plows and 130 contractors have been on the job since the first snowflake fell and she pointed to the fact that numerous downtown events have still been held, including the Washington D.C. Auto Show.
The mayor pointed out that the extreme cold temperatures have made the snow and ice removal even more difficult, because there has been no day above freezing this week and no melting.
“We are also urging our residents to take advantage of the sunlight and the increased temperatures next week to take care of your walkways and sidewalks. And if you don’t have that equipment, work together, in your neighborhood,” she said.
The D.C. Department of Public Works offers a sidewalk shoveling exemption to qualifying residents 65 or older for not removing snow from their sidewalks. D.C. workers do not shovel residents’ sidewalks, but the city has multiple programs, including D.C. Snow Team Heroes, that can help.
There’s no word yet when the city will restart its enforcement of fines for sidewalks that are not shoveled.
This weekend, the city will be distributing free salt at five distribution sites to help residents address the icy conditions. Signing up in advance is recommended.
From 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., noon to 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., residents who bring their own bucket or bag to carry salt can pick it up at the following locations:
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Violence may seem to be rising in D.C., but police say there is no citywide surge.
According to police, the violence has been in short, intense bursts, driven by conflicts between small groups.
Homicide numbers in the District are down this year, but this sudden burst of violence is raising new questions.
Police report 18 homicides to date for 2026. This is in comparison to 41 this time last year – which is a 56 percent drop.
But since April 1, MPD report seven homicides, including Tuesday’s murders of two boys ages 12 and 13.
“We’re still processing the scene but we do know there were a large number of shots fired in a very small period of time,” said MPD Police Chief Jeffrery Carroll at the Tuesday shooting scene.
SEE ALSO | Second boy dies in shooting near Northeast DC convenience store; $50K reward offered
So why now?
Police say this isn’t random. Instead, it’s targeted violence, driven by conflicts between small groups of people.
The kind of disputes that can quickly spiral.
“Over the past week, we’ve seen an increase in fatal shootings. It appears to be interpersonal violence between groups of individuals,” added Carroll.
With easy access to guns, even minor disputes can turn deadly – even with police seizing between 40 to 50 firearms in a typical week.
MPD said in 2025 they removed almost 3,000 guns off the streets.
In addition, with the warmer weather more people are gathering outdoors.
Cities often see short-term spring or summer spikes in crime.
Furthermore, MPD says the violence is concentrated in specific neighborhoods, especially parts of the southeast.
To combat spikes in crime, MPD will often respond by flooding high-crime hot spots with officers – which this year has meant federal agents, including ATF, Secret Service, and the National Guard.
Even with the recent spike in murders, D.C. remains on track for one of its lowest homicide years in decades.
A D.C. police officer was arrested and charged with sexual solicitation of a minor and child pornography.
Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Matthew Mahl, who previously served as chairman of the D.C. Police Union, was arrested in Harford County, Maryland.
MPD revoked Mahl’s police powers and placed him on administrative leave, a spokesperson said. The Harford County Sheriff’s Office contacted MPD’s internal affairs division shortly after he was arrested, they said.
“The allegations in this case are extremely disturbing, and in direct contrast to the values of the Metropolitan Police Department. MPD’s Internal Affairs Division will investigate violations of MPD policy once the criminal investigation concludes,” a statement said.
Court records show Mahl is being held without bond and is scheduled for a bond review hearing on Wednesday.
Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
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