WTOP / Jimmy Alexander

WTOP / Jimmy Alexander

WTOP / Jimmy Alexander

WTOP / Jimmy Alexander

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Former Washington Commanders wide receiver Santana Moss spent Saturday morning running drills, greeting families and encouraging young athletes at a clinic for children with special needs.

The event held at Ballou High School in Southeast D.C. was hosted by Moss’ 89 Ways to Give Foundation in partnership with Health Services for Children with Special Needs.

“We’ve got a bunch of kids out here going through drills,” Moss said. “I’m here to make sure they have a great time.”

Between stations, Moss stopped to shake hands, pose for selfies and talk with participants and their families.

“You can come out and make a difference. Make an impact with just your presence,” he said.

Organizers said the clinic was designed to give children a chance to learn the basics, build confidence and have fun in a supportive environment.

Ashley Young, who helped plan the event, said creating opportunities for children with disabilities is personal to her.

“Even though my child doesn’t have a disability, being able to work with kids who do and put on events like this means a lot to me,” Young said.

Moss said the clinic was about more than football fundamentals. He said he wants kids to leave believing they can succeed well beyond the field.

“I always tell them, if you can touch me, you can be me,” Moss said. “It’s not necessarily about being a football player it’s about being successful in life.”

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Three fallen Mississippi law enforcement officers will be honored in the nation’s capitol.

The names of Hinds County Deputy Martin Shields Jr., Jackson Police Officer Bryan Pippin, and Jackson County Deputy Joshua Brashears, were added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C. The memorial serves as the nation’s monument honoring federal, state, local, and tribal officers who died in the line of duty.

This year, the names of 363 fallen officers were added to the memorial. Of the new additions, 109 officers lost their lives in 2025. Shields and Brashears are among those who died last year.

“As we come together to honor the officers we’ve lost, we reflect not only on their sacrifice, but on the commitment that called them to serve,” William Alexander, CEO of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, said.

“Their bravery and dedication leave a lasting mark on our nation and on all who follow in their footsteps. This is a moment to remember their stories, support their loved ones, and carry their legacy forward with enduring respect.”

Shields, who was 37 at the time of his death, was responding to a domestic services call on Midway Road in Terry on the night of Feb. 23 when Eric Brown, 42, shot and killed him. Brown shot two others, confirmed by law enforcement to be his wife and a “female accomplice,” before turning the gun on himself.

Brashears, who was 45 at the time of his passing, was involved in a fatal car wreck on Highway 15 near the Harrison and Stone county line while heading home on Oct. 17. The deputy’s cruiser reportedly collided with a horse at the scene.

Pippin, on the other hand, passed away in 2021 after losing a months long battle with COVID-19. The veteran Jackson police officer was 52 at the time of his passing. Pippin was hospitalized with the virus in July 2021 and died two months later.

All of the officers added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial this year will have their names read aloud during a candlelight vigil on May 13.

President Donald Trump touted plans Thursday to coat the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in an “American flag blue” hue, one of the president’s latest construction efforts to refashion government buildings and monuments in Washington, D.C.

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Trump said he was inspired to oversee renovations after a friend visited from Germany and noted its decay.

“He said, ‘it’s filthy, dirty. The water is disgusting looking. It’s not representative of the country,’” Trump recalled during a White House event Thursday on drug prices.

Trump posted a video speaking about the renovation of the over 2,000-foot-long pool on Truth Social, shortly before his White House event with reporters.

“Right now, it’s got no water in it because it was in terrible shape. It was filthy, dirty, and it leaked like a sieve for many years,” Trump said in the video. “So I actually went over, went with Secret Service and a group of people, and I took, took a look at it.”

The president said there were initial plans to remove the granite in the pool and replace the stone, but that process would have cost $300 million and taken more than three years to complete.

Instead, Trump said he contacted his own private contractors to clean the stone and then coat it in a new color, which he described as “American flag blue.”

“We scrubbed the surface of the existing granite that’s been there since 1922. We then grouted all of the granite, fixed it up,” Trump said in the video. “It took about two weeks, and now we have a nice, clean surface on which we’re putting an industrial grade swimming pool topping.”

Trump said the project is expected to cost between $1.5 and 2 million dollars and will be completed “long before July 4” for the country’s 250th celebration.

“In another couple of weeks, we’re going to have the most beautiful reflective pool between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial that you’ve ever seen,” Trump said at the White House.

Trump has pledged to overhaul the pool in the past. The president said in a post on Truth Social last month that he and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum were “working on fixing the absolutely filthy Reflecting Pool between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument.”

The pool, the site of historical events such as Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech, had its last major renovation in 2012 in a $34 million project that lasted almost two years.

Trump’s efforts to revamp the reflecting pool come alongside a number of other construction projects spearheaded by the president across Washington, D.C., including his plans to build a $400 million ballroom and military bunker in the East Wing of the White House and a major renovation of Kennedy Center.