President Joe Biden smiles during a U.S.-E.U. Summit led by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel, in the Cabinet Room of the White House on Friday. Photo by Al Drago/UPI | License Photo
Oct. 23 (UPI) — President Joe Biden will give a speech on the economy at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C., Monday afternoon, during which he is expected to tout the benefits of his administration’s initiatives, especially in terms of new clean-energy jobs.
While the White House did not give advance details of the speech, it did release an analysis by Heather Boushey, chief economist in the president’s Investing in America Cabinet, in which she analyzed so-called “Bidenomics” in relation to investments in clean energy and its impact on the current robust economy.
Bidenomics has become a shorthand term to describe the administration’s economic push that puts a foremost focus on middle-income benefits.
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Boushey said growth in the clean energy sector has been “a key pillar” in Bidenomics and his economic plan to expand the economy “from the middle out and bottom up.”
“Strong investment in clean power generation and supply is critical to meeting President Biden’s goals of building the clean energy economy with high-quality job opportunities for American workers and addressing the climate crisis,” Boushey said in the released statement.
“Since the start of the Biden-Harris administration, private companies have announced plans for about 94 [giga-watts] of new clean power generation projects, representing an estimated $133 billion in investment as of August 2023.”
Boushey said 21,000 jobs were added to the economy in power generation and supply from 2021 to 2023. She said it marked the sector’s highest hiring total in more than a decade.
“These job gains were driven by increased employment in electricity transmission and distribution and increased clean electric power generation,” Boushey said. “Between January 2021 and March 2023, the economy added 11,000 jobs in electric power transmission and distribution,8,000 jobs in solar power generation, 2,000 jobs in wind power, and 1,000 jobs in hydroelectric power.”
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The president increasingly has stressed his economic plan as part of his officials duties and on the campaign trail, too. This past month, Biden used a similar economic speech in Maryland to contrast his economic views with that of MAGA Republicans.
Looking for a show in the sky to celebrate America’s birthday? Here are some of the best D.C.-area spots to see fireworks in the next week.
The West Lawn of the Capitol opens at 3 p.m. for the audience of the free A Capitol Fourth concert, hosted by Alfonso Ribeiro, which begins at 8. Performers include Smokey Robinson, Fantasia, Darren Criss, Fitz and Noelle of Fitz and the Tantrums, Sheila E., the National Symphony Orchestra and various military bands. The fireworks display begins at 9:09 p.m., and the concert is timed so the NSO performs Tchaikovsky’s “1812” Overture while the fireworks are booming over the Washington Monument. Visitors will be required to go through security screenings to enter the Capitol grounds or public viewing areas on the Mall west of 14th Street. (There’s a map of closures, first aid stations, restrooms and other important landmarks on the National Mall website, nps.gov/nama.) If the crowds or the lines are too much, there’s usually more room to spread your picnic blanket closer to the Smithsonian Castle.
Mount Vernon’s An American Celebration gets underway at 9:30 a.m. with a reading of the Declaration of Independence and features an 18th-century magic show, Revolutionary War music and Army encampments, talks with reenactors, and, to the delight of all ages, daytime fireworks that create billowing puffs of colorful smoke over the Potomac River at 1 p.m. Admission is $26 for adults, $13 for kids, and free for children age 5 and younger.
Fireworks beyond the Fourth
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Love shimmering pyrotechnic displays but can’t swing it on July Fourth? Fear not: The fun isn’t limited to Thursday night. Here are more events taking place throughout the week leading up to the holiday.
Saturday: Fireworks, Food and Family Fun at Lake Fairfax
Fairfax County’s annual celebration kicks off at noon June 29 with live music and food trucks, while fireworks begin at 9:15 p.m. Tickets are $15 per car in advance, which does not include admission to the Water Mine Family Swimmin’ Hole; those tickets are sold separately.
Tuesday: Vienna’s Independence Day Celebration
The town of Vienna’s annual party fills George C. Yeonas Park with a mix of live music — Latin American from Cantaré, pop and funk from Thunderball — as well as family activities, food trucks and picnicking on baseball fields. The event runs from 6 to 10 p.m., with fireworks beginning around 9:30. Free parking is available off-site.
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Wednesday: Baseball and fireworks
Fireworks illuminate baseball diamonds across the region on Independence Day Eve. The Nationals, who won’t have fireworks after their July 4 day game, will launch “Freedom Fireworks” after the last out of their 6:45 p.m. game against the Mets on July 3. The Bowie Baysox, who regularly host fireworks after weekend games at Prince George’s Stadium, promise their biggest show of the year after the Orioles’ AA affiliate’s 6:35 p.m. game against the Richmond Flying Squirrels. The single-A Fredericksburg Nationals, home of the regular “Fireworks Friday” promotions, host a “patriotic edition” of the popular event following a 6:05 p.m. game against the Delmarva Shorebirds.
This French Colonial-style house at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac in D.C.’s Massachusetts Avenue Heights neighborhood is somewhat deceiving. Its out-of-the-way location, two miles from downtown Washington, helps camouflage the role it has played as a gathering spot for high-powered business, political and sports leaders.
Seclusion is part what attracted owners Michelle Fields and Jamie Weinstein to this white, painted-brick house, built in 1966, as the venue for their much-discussed (in some circles) off-the-record dinner parties.
Weinstein, a journalist and political commentator, runs the flagship podcast for conservative digital media company the Dispatch. He began hosting soirees at his Ritz-Carlton Georgetown corner unit in 2012, pairing young reporters with their sources — and subjects — for evenings of privileged discussion. Since 2020, the parties have been held at 3115 Normanstone Terr. NW, now on the market for $3.29 million.
The get-togethers, Weinstein said, sometimes last four or five hours. There are no planned topics of conversation for the reporters and notable guests, who recently have included New York Mayor Eric Adams, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, businessman and TV personality Mark Cuban and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Weinstein declared the dinner with Sanders “particularly fiery” in an Instagram post.
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Such parties were “top of mind,” Fields said, when she and husband Weinstein bought the house. They wanted one that had plenty of entertainment space and that was removed from the bustle of downtown.
“It helps [guests] open up a little bit more because you’re not in the center of the work world in a certain way,” Weinstein said. “When you’re in D.C., you see the buildings all around and feel work, work, work, work, work. And when you’re here, you feel like you’re in the country.”
Another consideration favoring a larger house was their growing family. The couple had a year-old child, and Fields was pregnant with a second. They made some child-friendly renovations, including closing off a spiral staircase.
Before Weinstein and Fields lived here, the house was owned for decades by Stanley Rabinowitz, a long-serving rabbi at the Adas Israel Congregation in Washington, where he led services attended by members of Congress, White House officials and visiting Israeli prime ministers.
The house was built in 1966 and has two floors above a finished lower level and more than 5,000 square feet of living area. The front door opens to a foyer with marble floors. On one side is a dining room with hardwood floors and crown molding. The other side has a living room with a fireplace and French doors that open to a rear terrace. The kitchen — with an island, wine storage and a breakfast area — connects to a family room with oversize paned windows and a vaulted ceiling. This level also has a powder room and a gym.
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The second floor has a primary bedroom suite with a fireplace, a balcony, a walk-in closet and a bathroom with a two-sink vanity. There are three more bedrooms on this floor, one with an en suite bathroom and two that share a bathroom, one of which has a balcony.
On the lower level, a recreation room with a fireplace connects to an office. This level also has a bedroom with an en suite bathroom, and it has a laundry room and access to a covered terrace.
The property includes a detached two-car garage across the street.
3115 Normanstone Terr. NW, Washington, D.C.
Bedrooms/bathrooms:5/6
Approximate square-footage: 5,000
Lot size: nearly half an acre
Features: This 1966 house has several fireplaces, crown moldings, French doors, paned windows and several outdoor spaces. The property includes a detached two-car garage.
Listing agent: Michael Rankin, TTR Sotheby’s International Realty
DC ranked 8th best place to celebrate Fourth of July
Washington, D.C. is the eighth best place in the country to celebrate the Fourth of July, according to a new study by WalletHub.
The Fourth of July is commonly associated with food, fun, and of course, fireworks – but the number of injuries caused by fireworks may catch some Americans by surprise.
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According to a report released this week by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), there were eight deaths and an estimated 9,700 injuries involving fireworks in 2023.
“Many people just aren’t aware of the risk involved with fireworks, and we want to help change that to help keep people safe,” explained CPSC Public Affairs Specialist Thaddeus Harrington.
The report also said that between 2008 and 2023, injuries from fireworks increased overall. And while teenagers ages 15-19 had the highest rate of emergency room visits due to fireworks injuries in the four weeks surrounding last year’s holiday, kids between the ages of 5-9 had the second-highest rate.
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“Really there is no such thing as safe fireworks,” Harrington said. “Even sparklers burn at about 2000 degrees, as hot as a blowtorch. So if you wouldn’t let your child run around with a lit blowtorch, same goes for sparklers.”
More information about the report – as well as safety tips – can be found here.
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Here’s more information about which fireworks are – and are not – legal in DC, Maryland, and Virginia.
