WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — Smoke was seen billowing in a Northwest D.C. neighborhood Sunday afternoon after a row house caught fire, prompting a large presence of first responders.

In a post on the X platform just after 12:40 p.m., the DC Fire and EMS Department said crews were responding to a box alarm at a row house in the 2100 block of 13th Street NW. There, firefighters found smoke coming from the top of three attached row houses.

Crews determined that the flames were coming from the attic of one of the three-story row homes, but that it was at risk of spreading to both adjacent homes. As a result, firefighters upgraded the response to a two-alarm fire, aggressively attacking the flames from the inside.

Officials noted that firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze, which involved the entire attic, and that it only spread to one of the attached row houses.

No injuries were reported; however, officials were working to learn how many people would be displaced.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Every day this week, our foreign correspondents will accept the challenge of finding the best meal possible in their city for the equivalent of €120. First, Keith Duggan introduces us to dinner in a Washington bookshop.

You won’t live the high life in Washington, DC on a dining budget of €120, but nor will you starve.

The return of Donald Trump in January this year coincided with a prolonged winter blast of snow and the sense of an entirely new era in the city.

Within weeks, Butterworth’s, on Capitol Hill, began appearing in news and magazine articles as a popular meeting spot among the ascendant Maga set – it was the restaurant of choice for Steve Bannon when he participated in the “Lunch with the FT” feature, cheerfully assuring readers that Trump would run for a third term.

Aside from attracting Maga-ites it has drawn rave reviews for an unfussy reimagining of standard bistro favourites and terrific staff. They’ll happily let you in the door in Butterworth’s with your modest budget. But it won’t take them long to serve you.

You could book an evening dinner table, split the crispy cauliflower with miso caramel ($18), have mains of dry-aged duck breast with kale and sauce verjus ($37) or lamb heart Bolognese ($29, and a Maga fave, one imagines), definitely forsake the cocktail menu and have a couple of glasses of Sancerre – and still leave a standard tip of at least 20 per cent.

But a better option, on this budget, would be to take yourself off to one of Washington’s venerable old haunts, Kramers. It’s essentially a wonderful independent bookshop masquerading as both a bar and cafe/restaurant that has been a fixture on Connecticut Avenue, just above the famous green and water fountain on Dupont Circle, since the 1940s.

It was where the concept of the bookshop cafe originated in the United States and for a time, in the boozier decades, it remained open all night.

Now, like much of Washington, the shutters come down early.

Celebrated past visitors include Maya Angelou and Barack Obama, but the place hit national headlines in 1998 when the owner, Bill Kramer, fought a court petition from independent counsel Kenneth Starr to have the bookshop reveal the titles of the books bought by one of its customers, Monica Lewinsky.

[ Patrick Freyne’s quest for the best Christmas sandwich in Dublin: ‘I give it five Santas out of five’Opens in new window ]

It’s a hugely popular weekend brunch location, particularly when it’s still warm enough to sit outside. Unsuspecting first-time visitors often move from the poetry section through a narrow doorway and in to the darkened bar, mirroring the pathway of many an actual poet. The bar is low-lit, even during the day. The restaurant is at the rear.

Decor is minimalist, to put it politely, but the menu is eclectic and everything is good. Steak and eggs ($29) and Kramers Benedict ($22) are brunch staples. For dinner, the cream of crab soup ($14) is served with grilled ciabatta and the crispy Brussels sprouts ($12), with lemon, parmesan and a side of ranch dressing, do much to rehab the reputation of that maligned veg.

Pizzas and those ginormous American sandwiches also feature, but highlights on the mains are blackened salmon ($25) and the shrimp and grits with Andouille sausage in a spicy tomato sauce ($22). It’s the sort of place that invites parking of calorific anxieties at the door.

The Triple Chocolate Devil’s Food Cake ($12) is the best reason to visit Kramers, and possibly Washington itself. It’s an obscenity, in the best sense.

The wine list is short and modestly priced: a bottle of the (only) Sauvignon Blanc is $35. So that’s a three-course meal for two for $120 (if you skip the caffeine) – a bill which would suggest a tip of around $30. And you might even pick up a book. kramers.com

Whether 2025 was the best of times, the worst of times, or both, congratulations: You made it to the end, dear reader, and a fresh start is just around the corner.

Maybe you clicked on this good news article because you want to keep the warm-and-fuzzy holiday vibes going. Or maybe you clicked it because you needed something to pick you up again after one too many hits.

Whatever the reason, let’s take a second to appreciate the good stuff — and no matter how hard times get, there is always some good stuff to be found.

Baby animals were born. Neighbors helped each other through hard times. Problems were solved, and new plans were made.

Cheers to everything we accomplished together in 2025… even if it was just making it to 2026. Let’s take a look back.

We saw some beautiful love stories

Katie Lettie and Vincent Bauer got married at the Arlington Central Library after winning a contest for a free wedding at the library.

Back before Valentine’s Day, the Arlington Public Library announced a contest to host a free wedding for one lucky DMV couple.

In July, that couple — Arlington residents Katie Lettie and Vincent Bauer — tied the knot at the Arlington Central Library location.

It made sense: The pair has the kind of love story you read about in books. The pair has been together for more than a decade, sometimes on opposite coasts, sometimes an ocean apart, according to the library system.

“Arlington was the first place that we were ever able to live that was permanent,” Lettie said. “Or had a sense that like, the future could go on, as the current moment was.”

The couple’s nuptials are a testament to the community they found and built in Arlington, with library patrons, staff, volunteers and local vendors coming together to pull off the wedding.

“This is such an amazing gift,” Lettie said. “It’s such a magical experience. It’s so cool.”

A Northern Virginia couple was so grateful for the care their daughter received in the Inova Fairfax NICU that they decided to have their wedding there. News4’s Aimee Cho shares their sweet story.

Later in the year, in nearby Fairfax County, another couple’s wedding was boosted by a community that lifted them up — and literally kept their family alive through hard times.

Timeshay Brown, a nurse at Inova Fairfax Hospital, and her now-husband Jarvis Parrish, had been planning their dream wedding for October.

But then their baby, Jayla, was born earlier than expected, at just 25 weeks.

“We went to the ultrasound, and the doctor came in and she was like, ‘Well, you’re gonna have this baby today,’” Brown said.

Taking care of baby Jayla became their priority. But amid their long nights in the NICU, Brown and Parrish knew they still wanted to be husband and wife.

Then, Brown had an idea, and her fellow nurses — many of whom had helped care for baby Jayla — ran with it.

Brown and Parrish exchanged their vows in November in the NICU, in front of their baby daughter and the medical team that saved her life.

“Because of you, our daughter will never have to wonder what real love looks like,” Brown told Parrish. “She’ll see it in the way you love me, and the way you protect her.”

Parrish, in return, promised Brown he’s committed to “always being a place of comfort and safety that you can rest your heart in completely.”

You did it, DMV! 1,435 couples came to Anthem Row in Northwest D.C. to break the Guiness world record for most couples kissing under the mistletoe in a single venue.

And about a month later, D.C. broke a world record — and maybe even started to turn the tide on its rocky romantic reputation.

A whopping 1,435 couples turned out to Anthem Row in Northwest D.C. to break the Guinness World Record for most couples kissing under the mistletoe in a single venue.

The Downtown D.C. Business Improvement District (BID) is now the proud owner of that record, beating out the previous record holder of St. Louis, Missouri with just 488 couples.

Community members came together

Speaking of love stories and community: Friends to Lovers bookstore in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, is an expert in both, at this point.

The romance novels are the main draw of the first romance bookstore in the D.C. metro area, of course. But after owner and founder Jamie Fortin poured her heart into her dream and then watched it go up in flames, Fortin learned that love also comes in the form of community – lifting it up, and being lifted in return.

The store’s first grand opening was in November 2024. But just three days after it opened, disaster struck.

“That night, really, I just got a call at like 11 p.m. that the store was on fire,” Fortin said. “Like I just got a text, ‘There’s a fire,’ in all caps, which was terrifying.”

The inside of the building was torched, and three women-owned businesses inside, including Friends to Lovers, were forced to close the night of Nov. 18.

But then the next day, the business owners from that building gathered with others on the block.

That’s when Fortin, who wanted to build up women and people in the LGBTQ+ community with her business, learned the community wanted to build her up, too.

“We all really rallied together immediately,” she said.

Within a week of the fire, the GoFundMe campaign raised $46,000, Fortin said. Donors ranged from local business owners to grad students sharing what little cash they had pitching in to help Friends to Lovers get back on its feet. Most of them were people who had never been in the store.

“About five months later, we were able to fully open a new location,” Fortin said. “And we are so grateful for where we’re at now.”

Over a year later, the bookstore is thriving, with a new location on Cameron Street and its own booth at the Downtown DC Holiday Market.