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DC SNAP recipients are expecting a boost in benefits. They might not get it – WTOP News

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DC SNAP recipients are expecting a boost in benefits. They might not get it – WTOP News


D.C. residents receiving government assistance to help buy groceries are supposed to see their benefits boosted heading into 2024 — but now, according to officials, it is unclear if that will happen.

SNAP residents in D.C. were expecting a boost in benefits in 2024 that may not come.

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D.C. residents receiving government assistance to help buy groceries are supposed to see their benefits boosted heading into 2024 — but now, according to officials, it is unclear if that will happen.

For over 145,000 SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) recipients in D.C., the “Give SNAP a Raise” bill passed by the D.C. Council in March was meant to boost benefits by 10% between January and September.

The nearly $40 million of funding for that increase comes from the city’s excess revenue, but now, Mayor Muriel Bowser is second-guessing where she wants that money to go.

“Should we advance a nine month benefit that goes away? Or should we work on something that’s more sustainable for more people? That’s the question I put to the Council,” Bowser told NBC4.

Bowser’s administration cited budgetary and staffing constraints in their push back.

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Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George, who introduced the bill, released a statement encouraging Bowser to approve the aid. She emphasized that D.C. also has the worst processing rate of SNAP applications nationwide, according to the federal government.

“The US Department of Agriculture has even warned the District that its federal SNAP benefits could be at risk of being suspended if its processing of applications did not improve,” George said. “Our social safety net is in crisis.”

D.C. ‘s Attorney General Brian Schwalb is also putting his foot down in the debate, stating that Bowser is required to use the funds as the council directed stating in an opinion, the mayor “cannot unilaterally use them for another purpose.”

George posted the AG’s opinion on X, writing that “we need to stop balancing budgets on the backs of people who are suffering.”

Bowser said she is in talks with council members about how to best use the surplus funds.

SNAP will remain funded through 2024, as this decision will only determine whether there’s an increase in the program’s funds.





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Washington, D.C

Orchestra goes on strike in Washington DC – Slippedisc

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Orchestra goes on strike in Washington DC – Slippedisc


norman lebrecht

September 27, 2024

The National Symphony Orchestra has erased the start of its season.

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Statement from the Kennedy Center:
After months of largely collaborative and constructive labor negotiations, the Kennedy Center and the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) are disappointed to share that the NSO musicians, AFM Local 161-710, have decided to go on strike, effective today, Friday, September 27, thereby canceling the NSO 2024–2025 Season Opening Gala concert on Saturday, September 28.

That’s San Fran and DC on the picket line. Who’s next?



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Family seeking justice year after teen killed near Dunbar High

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Family seeking justice year after teen killed near Dunbar High


A year after a teenager was shot and killed near Dunbar High School, his family continues calling for justice as the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office says it can’t move forward with charges in the case.

Despite the U.S. attorney’s decision, Maurice Jackson’s family is still advocating for charges to be filed.

Video from Sept. 26, 2023, shows the 16-year-old boy walking on the sidewalk a few blocks down from Dunbar before encountered a group and a fight broke out. A gun was pulled, and Maurice was shot.

“He didn’t do anything to anybody,” said Maurice’s mother, Brittany Malloy. “He was standing there … He ran. Someone shot at him. He fell. The crossing guard let him fall to the ground.”

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D.C. police and the U.S. attorney worked the case before deciding not to move forward with charges.

“Hurt, disbelief, anger,” Malloy said. “It’s clear as day. There’s a video. You can clearly see that this was not self-defense.”

“We express our deepest condolences to Mr. Jackson’s family,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement. “When prosecuting a suspect for murder, in addition to proving the elements of the crime, we must also be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the suspect was not acting in self-defense or defense of another. This is a very high standard. We work with MPD’s homicide branch to determine whether enough evidence exists to meet this high standard. Based on our combined decades of experience with policing and prosecuting, we typically agree on when we have enough evidence to proceed and when we don’t.”



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Rudy Giuliani disbarred in Washington DC over role in Trump election plot

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Rudy Giuliani disbarred in Washington DC over role in Trump election plot


Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor who built a career as an uncompromising crime-fighter, has been permanently disbarred from practising law in Washington DC in a ruling stemming from his role in trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Donald Trump’s favour.

The decision came in the form of a one-page order issued by the US capital’s court of appeal and followed a similar order issued in July in New York, Giuliani’s home state.

Unlike that ruling, the decision in Washington was not directly related to his actions in Trump’s election-denying effort but was instead based on his failure to respond to a request that he explain why he should not be subject to the same penalty as meted out in New York.

“ORDERED that Rudolph W Giuliani is hereby disbarred from the practice of law in the District of Columbia, nunc pro tunc [a Latin term used in legal parlance to mean retroactive] to August 9, 2021,” Thursday’s appeal court order said.

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In 2021, the appeals court had suspended Giuliani’s law licence in Washington after being notified of a similar decision in New York.

The DC bar’s board of responsibility recommended in 2022 that Giuliani’s law licence be indefinitely revoked after its investigators found him guilty of unethical conduct over inaccurate and unsupported claims he made in testimony to a federal court in Pennsylvania while disputing the 2020 election results.

The DC court of appeals order did not hinge on those findings. By contrast, the New York appeals court made similar judgments in issuing its ruling, asserting that Giuliani “repeatedly and intentionally made false statements, some of which were perjurious, to the federal court, state lawmakers, the public … and this Court concerning the 2020 Presidential election”.

Ted Goodman, a spokesman for Giuliani called the order “an absolute travesty and a total miscarriage of justice”.

“Members of the legal community who want to protect the integrity of our justice system should immediately speak out against this partisan, politically motivated decision,” he said.

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The order is the latest blow to the standing of a man who was dubbed “America’s mayor” for the leadership role he played in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in New York in 2001, which happened when he was the city’s mayor.

Last year, two election workers in Georgia won $148m in damages after he defamed them by accusing them of fraud. A week later he filed for bankruptcy.



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