Washington, D.C
How the Luneta inspired US capital—and other PH links to Washington
PH INFLUENCE ON US A photograph of Luneta taken in the early 20th century. —photos from University of Michigan Library website and Erwin Tiongson
WASHINGTON, DC — Unknown to many, a picturesque national park in Washington, DC that features the iconic Tidal Basin and is widely known for its cherry blossom trees was inspired by Luneta Park in Manila.
US first lady Helen Taft, who had lived in the Philippines while her husband William Howard Taft Luneta Park was civilian governor general in the Philippines, wanted to have a public space in DC similar to Luneta where people could meet for social gatherings. Her husband was elected president of the United States in 1908.
Philippine and US ties first arose after Spain ceded its long-standing colony of the archipelago in 1898. It remained an American colony until the United States recognized its independence in 1946. Years later, Manila would become Washington’s oldest ally in the Indo-Pacific.
READ: Need for mini Luneta parks
During their time in the Philippines in early 1900, the Tafts spent most of their evenings at Luneta Park listening to the popular Philippine Constabulary Band, which would later be invited to Taft’s inauguration parade in DC and the launch of the park itself, the West Potomac Park.
“That Manila could lend anything to Washington may be a surprise to some persons, but the Luneta is an institution whose usefulness to society in the Philippine capital is not to be overestimated,” the first lady wrote in her memoir, “Recollection of Full Years,” published in 1914.
Connected histories
For Georgetown University professor Dr. Erwin Tiongson, a Nueva Vizcaya native now based in DC who describes himself as a community historian, this is just one of the many ways that illustrate how the Philippines and the United States in the US capital are deeply intertwined.
Tiongson and his family have spent the last 12 years digging up these kinds of stories for a passion project—dubbed as the Philippines on the Potomac—but it has been turning into an educational resource that people may look back on.
Just last year, he published a book called “Philippine-American Heritage in Washington, D.C.” that contains some of those stories they have so far discovered that traces the connected histories of the two nations along the streets of DC, which are often overlooked and rarely found in textbooks.
PH INFLUENCE ON US A 1910 postcard of West Potomac Park in Washington, DC. Georgetown
“When we started this project 12 years ago, in a way, we started it because we wanted something for our children,” Tiongson recently told Filipino journalists participating in a reporting tour hosted by the US Embassy in Manila.
“If you want to characterize this project that we’ve been leading, it’s an effort to find our older home right here where we live …. We were trying to find traces of our older home right around us,” said the professor, who first moved to the United States in the 1990s.
PH ‘executive experience’
Tiongson said his discoveries over the years have made him realize how Philippines-US relations became “mutually transformative.”
“I was taught to believe that the US basically created institutions in the Philippines. The derogatory term is sometimes, ‘civilized the Philippines,’” he said.
But the United States did not start as a centralized government, and it was their colonial experience in the Philippines that taught them how to run a country, he pointed out.
“In fact, some people call the Civil War the war of the states because some states wanted certain things, including slavery, and others did not. Imagine if that was the context, and then suddenly, in 1901, they were running a country, our country, and they were also designing for the first time programs that would later become part of their federal government here,” he said.
“It’s not like they taught the Philippines how to create institutions in a way that colonial experience taught them how to create institutions. It’s been mutually transformative that many people acquired important experience in the Philippines, which they brought back to the US and changed their way of life here,” he added.
Taft, for instance, became president of the United States “on the strength of his executive experience in the Philippines,” he said.
Tiongson and his family have been conducting free walking tours around DC over the last decade for small groups of professionals, students and even diplomats, to guide them around sites that display the cultural heritage of Philippine-American ties.
PH INFLUENCE ON US. University professor Dr. Erwin Tiongson said Luneta as an inspiration and model for the DC park is just one of many Philippine “traces” on Washington’s experience in its colonial administration of the country.
“We do it pro bono, so we don’t charge anybody. It’s just to raise awareness of all these aspects of Philippine-American history,” he said.
As part of the tour, he brings along all the artifacts he has collected, from postcards to photos and other memorabilia to show his guests.
They have identified over 100 sites in DC that showcase those Philippine-American cultural links. For instance, the Bataan Street NW was to honor the Filipino and American troops captured on the Bataan Peninsula by the Japanese during World War II. Manuel Quezon, who served as president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, lived on K Street where he was exiled. At the time, he was a nonvoting member of the US Congress as resident commissioner.
With the help of the Philippine Embassy in the United States, they have developed a map for a self-guided tour for these sites in DC.
There are many more stories waiting to be told. Tiongson estimated that his book only represents a fifth of all the stories he and his family have gathered over the years.
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“The work never stops. I’ve been telling friends, I teach economics at Georgetown, if I retire now and if all I do is to write about everything I found, I will never finish. That’s how much materials we have,” he said.
WASHINGTON – A dry and mild Thursday is ahead for the Washington, D.C., region, with highs in the mid‑50s before a rainy start to the weekend.
What we know:
The morning begins on the chilly side with some patchy fog. FOX 5’s Taylor Grenda says conditions stay dry as temperatures climb into the afternoon, with clouds building by evening.
Rain showers may develop late Friday afternoon into the evening, with highs in the upper 50s.
What’s next:
Steadier rain moves in Saturday morning. Temperatures rise into the 60s, but on‑and‑off rain is expected through the afternoon and evening.
Sunday turns much drier, though highs fall back into the 50s. By Monday, colder air returns with highs in the 40s.
The Source: Information in this article comes from the FOX 5 Weather Team and the National Weather Service.
Coshocton court reporter talks about her new job in the US Capitol
Lynn Els, who has been the court reporter for Coshocton County Common Pleas Court for 40 years, has a new job with the U.S. House of Representatives.
COSHOCTON − Court reporter Lynn Els has always wanted to see the cherry blossoms in bloom in Washington, D.C., and she’ll get that chance this spring thanks to a new job.
Starting Jan. 12, Els will work as a court reporter for the U.S. House of Representatives on the floor in the Capital building in Washington D.C. She’ll write for 10 to 15 minutes before a new reporter comes on.
The 62-year-old will then go to the downstairs office and enter what she wrote into the official Congressional record before going back to the floor, or what they call the well. One might be able to spot Els during hearings aired on C-SPAN.
“It’s not verbatim like I’m used to taking in the courtroom. Because of parliamentary procedures, things are supposed to be worded a certain way in the Congressional record. So, you have to clean it up or insert special language,” Els said of what she’ll be doing. “Now I always have transcripts hanging over my head. I won’t have that backlog of transcripts, because you’re continuing throughout the day building the Congressional Record.”
Distinguished duties
Els has been a court reporter since 1984 and and started with Coshocton County Common Pleas Court in 1986. She can type up to 300 words a minute. She was one of the first people in the nation to obtain a Certified Realtime Reporter designation in 1995.
“I’m excited for what’s new, but sad because I’ve done this for so long and it’s comfortable,” Els said of leaving her current court post. “The thing about this job is that I always have work to do.”
Along with serving as a court reporter for Coshocton County, Els has also done closed captioning for a variety of events. Everything from Cincinnati Bengals football games to the funeral services of Billy Graham and Whitney Houston to “Fox and Friends” to the royal weddings of Prince Harry and Prince William; all working remotely.
This has also included congressional hearings and recognition ceremonies at the Capital starting in 2013, which was the connection to Els’ new job. She worked as an independent contractor through Alderson Court Reporting.
Landing the job
With a laugh, she said living in a small, rural community was actually beneficial. Since she worked remotely and transmitted captions via landlines, the older equipment in Washington D.C. could keep up better with Els’ transmission, over digital lines from larger cities.
“They always kind of liked it when it was me. They knew they wouldn’t have any disconnection problems. So, I became their preferred writer,” Els said.
She was encouraged to submit her resume for the new position last summer. Els never dreamed she would get it, she just always wanted to travel to Washington D.C. to see what it looked like on-site.
Els went to D.C. for an interview and sat in on a committee hearing. She took notes and then typed them up back at the office. This was followed by a writing test and current events test. Els said captioning for the morning news program “Fox and Friends” helped her with that part.
“Just being there was exciting. I did it. I survived that day and it wasn’t bad,” Els said.
Els was slated to start in October, but that was pushed out due to the government shutdown. She will be living in a condo owned by a court reporter friend who works for the International Monetary Fund. Els said she’s received a lot of questions on her living situation, but she’ll be back in Coshocton when not working.
She’ll also continue to do some captioning work on weekends and her off hours, such as captioning for screens in the stadium for Bengals’ home games.
“I do want to keep my skills built up. It’s like playing a sport with captioning, because it’s fast,” Els said. “If you don’t do it, you lose that skill.”
Leonard Hayhurst is a community content coordinator and general news reporter for the Coshocton Tribune with more than 18 years of local journalism experience and multiple awards from the Ohio Associated Press. He can be reached at 740-295-3417 or llhayhur@coshoctontribune.com. Follow him on X at @llhayhurst.
WASHINGTON (7News) — Compass Coffee, the coffee chain founded in D.C. in the early 2010s, filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy on Tuesday in hopes of selling parts of the chain as it faces legal challenges from a cofounder, several landlords, and vendors.
The company, which has 166 employees and operates 25 cafes across Northern Virginia, D.C., and southern Maryland, said it plans to operate all stores as normal during the Bankruptcy process.
“Over the last decade, Compass has grown to 25 cafes across the DMV. Our original 7th Street cafe has never closed – not for a single day,” a portion of a statement from co-founder Michael Haft read. “Our spaces have been the setting for first dates that turned into marriages, interviews that led to dream jobs, and everyday moments shared over millions of cups of coffee. We have supported countless community causes, shipped coffee to all 50 states and to troops deployed overseas, and helped thousands of people navigate first jobs, in-between jobs, and next chapters.
The chain founded by Haft and Harrison Suarez said customer numbers have remained low since the COVID pandemic, and struggles remained despite also operating a roastery and distribution business. Documents showed the company began putting itself up for sale in 2021, and that the bankruptcy filing was made after reaching an agreement with a possible company.
Compass leadership has requested to end the leases on several properties, including its former headquarters and roastery on Okie Street, Northeast, which was closed in Dec. 2025. The company has seen previous legal disputes with Ivy City over the roastery location.
Suarez sued Haft and his father in 2025, claiming the pair lied about Suarez having an equal share in the company. Suarez, who met Haft in college and both served as Marines, said he was cut from the company in 2021.
Documents show the company has 100-200 creditors. EagleBank, the Small Business Administration, Square, and inKind have filed statements claiming a total of $1.7 million in liens on Compass Coffee.
Compass also owes roughly $5.2 million to over insider and outside investors on unsecured convertible notes, while about 100 others have claims totaling $4.8 million. Most of the $4.8 million comes from past due rent, unpaid purchase amounts for store acquisitions, and unpaid accounts to suppliers and other vendors, according to a statement filed by Haft.
Filing for Chapter 11 could allow Compass to pay back its lenders, both secured and unsecured, according to Haft in a legal filing.
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