About an hour before D.C.’s youth curfew kicked in Friday evening, in a neighborhood just added to the list of curfew zones for this holiday weekend, a huge brawl broke out, and a teenager was arrested for brandishing a knife, police said.

Dozens of teenagers got involved in the fight near the Banneker Rec Center in Northwest – one of five high-traffic areas where people under 18 are not allowed to gather in groups of nine or more in public or in businesses after 8 p.m. this weekend.

One of the teens waved a knife around but didn’t hurt anyone, police said. He was injured, however, and taken by ambulance to a hospital where he was in police custody Friday evening.

Not an hour later, at the other end of the same curfew area, dozens of young people gathered together in and around the McDonald’s restaurant. Police told them if they were under 18, they were not allowed to gather there in groups. Eventually, they complied and left the area.

D.C.’s chief of police and mayor have said youth curfew zones prevent teens from swarming nightlife areas, causing trouble and sometimes violence. Mayor Muriel Bowser wanted the D.C. Council to extend the chief’s authority to establish the zones for another three months, but it voted this week to delay that vote until the current order expires April 15.

“It was a decision by the Council as a whole,” Bowser said earlier this week. “The chairman moved for postponement, and all of the councilmembers agreed. And that is, in essence, killing the youth curfew.”
“So, the Council will say, Oh, we drove crime down, so let’s start going back to soft-on-crime policies,” the mayor said.

Council Chairman Phil Mendelson worries the mayor’s remarks will be used by Republicans who want to overturn home rule in the District or to encourage President Donald Trump to federalize the police department again.

“The mayor’s remarks can be used as ammunition against a District by Republicans in Congress who’ve done that before,” he said. “That’s a problem. And the mayor’s remarks can offend some councilmembers, and we need those councilmembers to get to yes.”

This weekend, the chief designated youth curfews in four other neighborhoods, as well: Navy Yard, U Street corridor, Chinatown and the Southwest Waterfront.

The citywide curfew starts at 11 p.m.

WASHINGTON – The Metropolitan Police Department is searching for two people who broke into a Quick Stop in Northeast Washington, D.C., last month.

What we know:

The robbery happened just after 5 a.m. on March 21. Two suspects were seen on security video breaking into a Quick Stop store on Bladensburg Road. 

The thieves broke the lock of the front door, destroying the entrance, police said, before grabbing some money and items before driving off. 

The MPD said the suspects drove off in a black Nissan Altima with a Washington, D.C., license plate with the number DU2168.

What you can do:

The MPD is still investigating the burglary, and asked anyone who could potentially identify either suspect to contact police at 202-727-9099.

TSA checkpoints have mostly stabilized at airports throughout the country, with the Senate advancing a proposal Thursday to fund the Department of Homeland Security in a move that could signal the end of a partial government shutdown that began in February.

Travelers often experienced hours-long lines through TSA during March, as hundreds of agents quit or called out of work while not receiving paychecks.

But following the Senate proposal and President Donald Trump signing an order to pay TSA officers, lines have shrunk, including at airports in the Washington DC area.

Here’s what to know if you’re traveling out of the DC-area airports Thursday.

TSA Wait Times at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport

As of 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, security checkpoint wait times at DCA are less than five minutes at all three terminals.

Wait times at all three terminals have mostly been under 10 minutes all week.

TSA Wait Times at Dulles International Airport

At Dulles (IAD), estimated wait times Wednesday morning are 0-15 minutes, according to the My TSA app.

Dulles says on its website screening lines “remain steady and within normal wait times.”

TSA Wait Times at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport

Lines are a little bit longer at BWI Thursday, but they still pale in comparison to last week’s lines that stretched outside the airport.

As of 10:30 a.m., the estimated wait times at BWI are 15 to 30 minutes, the My TSA app shows.