At a recent meeting of the Chevy Chase Advisory Neighborhood Commission, the body of elected officials was set to vote on how to oppose the planned use of synthetic turf on a new athletic field.
Washington, D.C
For some District ANC commissioners, a difficult decision to run again
Gore is among the hundreds of Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners (often shortened to “ANC”) across the District. The unpaid role is one of the most important yet accessible positions in local politics, requiring just 25 signatures to make the November ballot. But data from the D.C. Board of Elections shows that as of Friday, 117 out of 345 commissioner seats did not yet have a single interested candidate.
Kent Boese, director of D.C.’s Office of the Advisory Neighborhood Commission, which provides oversight and technical assistance to all ANCs, said in an interview that this number should not be a cause for alarm. Some incumbent commissioners may be waiting until closer to the Aug. 7 deadline to pick up petitions and turn in signatures, which can be done in a day, he said. Those who aren’t on the formal ballot can also launch a write-in campaign during the general election, as dozens of ANC candidates did two years ago.
But Boese said a “much bigger concern” is a recent spate of commissioner turnover, which erodes the transfer of institutional knowledge. Sixty-three percent of commissioners who won election in 2022 were new to the job, he said — a likely sign of fatigue among incumbents.
In interviews, veteran commissioners said that it wasn’t an easy decision to run again for a position that has sometimes made them a target for angry neighbors. Others, describing the role as fulfilling yet thankless, say it can be difficult to perform well as an ANC while also juggling day jobs and familial obligations — renewing discussions about whether District lawmakers should consider more incentives, like a stipend, to fuel interest and more competitive races. A D.C. Council bill that could change that got a hearing last year.
Gore, who has twice run unsuccessfully for D.C. Council, said she hesitated before deciding to pick up paperwork this month to run for a third two-year term as an ANC, pointing largely to balancing the job with family commitments.
“Some community members are like, ‘Why put yourself through it?’ But at my core, I’m a public servant,” Gore said. “It seems like there’s more hesitancy than in the past. This is the first time we’ve had to scramble to ensure people are comfortable taking the seat.”
‘Why did I do this?’
Legal analyst Michael Zeldin, another two-term commissioner in ANC 3/4G, is done with it.
Zeldin, 73, said he found the job largely rewarding, but noted the role has also kept him busy for an average of 20 hours per week on issues that residents care about deeply, from the long-stalled Connecticut Avenue bike lane project to addressing “potholes the size of New Jersey.”
“There are moments where you think, ‘Why was I so unlucky to have won?’” Zeldin said. “When things affect people, sometimes those frustrations come to you in a very difficult way. And when I hear about other commissioners who are leaving because of that, I can say, ‘I get it.’”
City code instructs many D.C. government agencies to give “great weight” to recommendations and concerns raised by the city’s 46 Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, which represent about 2,000 residents and may contain anywhere from two to 10 commissioners depending on population density.
The commissions are tasked with keeping up regular public meetings, managing modest budgets, and frequently draft resolutions to indicate support of or opposition to local zoning decisions, liquor license renewals and more. But these elected officials are also often the eyes, ears and voices of their neighborhoods. And for some, the role is a first foray into local politics; some of the city’s most prominent leaders got their start as a commissioner, including Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D).
Tricia Duncan, who chairs the seven-person commission that represents Ward 3 neighborhoods including Foxhall, Kent and the Palisades, said she’s at times been treated harshly by neighbors during her tenure, particularly as the commission facilitated conversations on contentious proposals involving a marijuana dispensary and new school building. “I wasn’t sure if I was going to run again, if I’m being honest,” said Duncan, a well-known community advocate who ran unsuccessfully for the Ward 3 Council seat two years ago.
“Seventy percent of the things that people say to me are wonderful. They thank me for keeping an eye on the neighborhood, updating the listserv, and that’s what keeps me in this,” Duncan added. “But I also get shouted down when I go to my farmers market … I’ve had people scream at me that I should be ashamed.”
Former Ward 4 commissioner Zach Israel declined to run for a second term in 2022 after the birth of his second child, believing he wouldn’t be able to balance the role while caring for his growing family. But while some parts of the job were frustrating, Israel said he found even the tedious bits to be rewarding.
While no longer an elected commissioner, Israel still uses his social media to break news to residents and keep tabs on ANC vacancies, reminding anyone who will listen to pick up a petition. He is a proponent of legislation introduced by council member Christina Henderson (I-At Large) and backed by a majority of lawmakers that would stand up a task force to make recommendations on compensation for D.C.’s many elected officials, boards and commissions.
The legislation notes that there are nearly two dozen city boards and commissions whose members receive pay for their work.
“A lot is asked of ANC commissioners, and the mayor and ward-level council members often refer their constituents to their ANC,” Israel said. “There needs to be some level of monetary compensation for people engaged in these public services.”
‘Exhausting, to be frank’
Boese, the head of D.C.’s Office of the Advisory Neighborhood Commission who served as an ANC for 12 years, said that while he is confident that more residents will pick up petitions to access the ballot in the next couple weeks, he remains focused on how best to support the city’s high number of rookie commissioners.
“The other thing that played a big role in turnover last term, it was not easy to serve during the pandemic — it was exhausting, to be frank,” he said. “And for those who chose to continue, there may be a lingering effect as well.”
Many commissioners don’t find their stride until the closing months of their first term, Boese said. To support the newbies, Boese’s office offers a boot camp and trainings throughout the year. And after early challenges during the pandemic, virtual and hybrid meetings are a mainstay. His office is now better equipped to provide technical support.
Until the council takes up the issue of pay, Boese’s office is also pushing for ways to make notoriously complex commissioner roles, like treasurer, more accessible to residents. Until recently, he said as an example, ANCs could only make payments through checks and debit cards; but a change to the law his office pushed for creates more flexibility for electronic payments.
“We need checks and balances still, but we need paths for guidance so commissions aren’t hamstrung trying to do the basics,” Boese said. “It’s not sexy stuff, but sometimes the problem is in the details.”
Across the Anacostia River, the Rev. Wendy Hamilton, chair of ANC 8D, hopes more of her neighbors will show interest in joining her. Her ANC has two vacancies, and while some incumbents have shown interest in returning, none except Hamilton have picked up a petition to run.
She expects the seats will be filled — but recently spoke to one incumbent co-commissioner who made it clear they didn’t have the energy for a second term.
“They told me, ‘People don’t understand that we don’t get paid to do this,’” Hamilton said. “And they’re right. We don’t get paid, not only for the work we endeavor to take on, but even for some of the not-so-friendly, borderline abusive behaviors that we get subjected to.”
Whenever she does have negative encounter with a resident, Hamilton — who has run unsuccessfully to become D.C.’s nonvoting delegate to Congress — said she draws upon her background in ministry.
“I try to just let people be heard,” Hamilton said. “A lot of times, they just want to be validated.”
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(NEWS FROM THE STATES) – Visitors from across the United States traveled to the National Mall Thursday for the opening day of the Great American State Fair, a days-long event that is part of President Donald Trump’s Freedom 250 celebration of the nation’s semiquincentennial.
States and territories showed off cultural and agricultural exports at exhibits stretching nearly a mile. Attendees snapped photos on the small Grand Ole Opry stage in the Tennessee booth, kids tried putt-putt at Indiana’s miniature golf course and cowboys rode horses at Montana’s rodeo.
A 110-foot Ferris wheel slowly turned at the center of the freshly manicured lawn, framing the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol in the distance on either side. Nearby stood a model of Trump’s controversial “triumphal arch.”
People collected swag from each state — drawstring bags from Ohio, stickers from South Dakota, snacks from Tennessee — and could receive a stamp on state fair passports.
The fair is part of the larger Freedom 250 programming and kicked off Wednesday night with a rally on the mall featuring a speech from the president that closely resembled his remarks along the 2024 presidential campaign trail. The festivities will continue over Independence Day, when Trump will deliver a second speech followed by what is promised to be an impressive fireworks display.
The president will visit North and South Dakota as part of his Freedom 250 tour for the opening of the Teddy Roosevelt presidential library and Independence Day eve fireworks above Mount Rushmore.
Freedom 250 then extends into August with a high school athletic competition in Washington, D.C., dubbed the “Patriot Games” and a Freedom 250 INDYCAR race around the National Mall.
The administration’s celebration is separate from the America250 commission, created by Congress a decade ago, and which has its own nationwide programming this year.
From Lake Erie to the Ohio River
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and first lady Fran DeWine greeted guests in Ohio’s pavilion. The couple posed for photos in front of a map of the Buckeye State.
“We wanted to see on the wall all the different things, from Lake Erie to the Ohio River, all the different fun things you can do in Ohio,” the Republican governor said, adding the state has local celebrations and initiatives planned for the 250th anniversary, including “Movies in Ohio” for community showings of films that feature the state.
Ohio’s first lady showcased a children’s literacy exhibit on the opposite wall and touted the roughly 427,000 participants in the state’s partnership with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, a program that mails free children’s books monthly to households with kids under age 5.
“We’ve mailed out 27 million books. We know that a child’s brain is 80% developed by age 3, so we want to get them those books early,” she said.
Reflecting on America’s milestone birthday, the governor said, “We’re always a work in progress, Ohio’s a work in progress, this country is a work in progress.”
“I think you know the thing we need to keep in mind, all of us, is there’s some essential core principles that we all believe in. … We may disagree about different policies, but the core principles are the same,” he said.
Cartwheels on the lawn
People from various states walked from exhibit to exhibit, while stopped in the nation’s capital during road trip vacations.
Tanya Geders, 43, of St. Louis, Missouri, did a cartwheel in the mall lawn, trying to persuade her son to join in. The family stopped at the state fair on their way to Virginia Beach.
“We’re like, well, if we go to the ocean, we can go to D.C. and what a better time to be here than the 250th anniversary,” Geders said.
Robyn Toman, 71, of Severn, Maryland, escorted her 12-year-old grandson Miles to meet DeWine and grab a photo with the governor.
Toman said she remembers the country’s bicentennial.
“I was a kid about his age, and I came in 1976. I said, ‘We’re gonna go, let’s go down to D.C. for a couple days and see this,’” she said.
“We’ve enjoyed it. We went over to the archives yesterday, and saw the Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights. And, oh, that was so nice, that was fantastic.”
Not all states are there. A spokesperson for Washington state’s lieutenant governor’s office told States Newsroom the administration declined to join because of “the costs to the state associated with participating.”According to news reports, Connecticut, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont did not contribute exhibits, though many are still represented by flags outside the individual booths.The state officials did not immediately respond to States Newsroom for confirmation.
All states that reportedly did not participate, with the exception of Vermont, are Democratic-led.
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Washington, D.C
DC reaches settlement with man detained while protesting troops with Darth Vader song
The District of Columbia has reached a settlement agreement for an undisclosed amount of money with a resident who claims police illegally detained him for following an Ohio National Guard patrol while playing Darth Vader’s theme song from “Star Wars” on his phone — an act of protest against the Trump administration’s federal law-enforcement surge in the nation’s capital.
A court filing late Thursday says the plaintiff, Sam O’Hara, will drop his lawsuit’s claims against the District and four Metropolitan Police Department officers within three business days of receiving the settlement payment. The filing doesn’t specify a dollar amount for the deal between the district and O’Hara, who is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia.
In an email on Friday, an ACLU spokesperson referred to the settlement’s financial terms as “a significant amount” that O’Hara “is pleased with” but said they aren’t disclosing the dollar figure to protect his privacy. A spokesperson for D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb’s office declined to comment on the settlement.
O’Hara’s agreement with the district doesn’t resolve his related claims against an Ohio National Guard member. Attorneys for the Guard member, Sgt. Devon Beck, have asked a judge to dismiss O’Hara’s claims against him.
“He was there because that was his assigned duty,” Beck’s lawyers wrote. “This was not an accidental encounter or a one-time disagreement on a public sidewalk.”
An earlier court filing, in February, said O’Hara had reached a settlement agreement “in principle” with the district. In response, a judge agreed to suspend the case while they negotiated terms.
O’Hara sued the district last October, claiming police officers violated his First Amendment rights to free speech and his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable seizures and excessive force.
The ominous orchestral music of “The Imperial March” from Star Wars movies was the soundtrack for O’Hara’s peaceful protests against President Donald Trump’s ongoing deployment of Guard members in Washington. Millions of TikTok users have viewed O’Hara’s videos of his interactions with troops, according to his lawsuit.
A series of major events tied to the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations promise to bring big crowds and heightened security. On the News4 Rundown: That security is likely to include more National Guard troops as a new report says there’s a limit to their impact on safety in D.C.
O’Hara, an artist who works in the hospitality industry, says he didn’t interfere with the Guard troops during their Sept. 11, 2025, encounter on a public street. One of the troops summoned Metropolitan Police Department officers, who stopped O’Hara and kept him handcuffed for 15 to 20 minutes before releasing him without charges, according to the lawsuit.
“The law might have tolerated government conduct of this sort a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. But in the here and now, the First Amendment bars government officials from shutting down peaceful protests,” the suit says.
Trump, a Republican, issued an executive order declaring a crime emergency in Washington last August. Within weeks, hundreds of Guard troops and federal agents were helping police patrol the city. The surge inflamed tensions with residents of the heavily Democratic district. Hundreds of Guard members remain deployed in the district nearly a year later, with no clear end in sight.
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