Washington, D.C
Nurses at Washington D.C.’s largest hospital call on leadership to reverse planned cuts to maternal health
RNs at MedStar Washington Hospital Center say closure of postpartum unit will disproportionately harm marginalized and underserved communities
Union nurses at MedStar Washington Hospital Center (MWHC) in Washington, D.C. are demanding that management stop the planned closure of an entire postpartum unit, announced National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU). The hospital notified the union on May 26, 2026 of its intention to eliminate 11 maternal health beds and displace eight nurses by July 26, 2026, leaving MWHC with one postpartum unit.
In a follow-up town hall with staff nurses, Chief Nursing Officer Ariam Yitbarek confirmed the closure. Other leaders have additionally informed staff that the hospital will strictly limit scheduled C-sections and inductions for patients from numerous D.C. maternal health organizations. The list of organizations includes many that primarily serve low-income patients, immigrants, and patients of color, all communities with significantly higher risks of maternal mortality. Additionally, staff were informed that Kaiser Permanente, which notably insures a large number of DC city employees and even many of MWHC’s own workers, will see a strict limit on scheduling inductions and C-sections for their patients as well.
“Closing postpartum unit 5F will gravely impact those most affected by health disparities,” said Stephanie Sims-Coates, RN in the neonatal intensive care unit. “Our low-income families and families of color will be most affected by this closure. Families trust the medical staff at MWHC and plan to come to us for their care. In a city where Black women make up 90 percent of pregnancy-related deaths despite being only half the population, the hospital’s decision to close this unit is a significant mistake.”
Community leaders and healthcare workers are joining the call for MedStar to put patients before profits and keep the unit open. This past weekend, nurses met with D.C. mayoral candidate and Ward 4 councilwoman Janeese Lewis George about the planned closure and the impact it would have on DC’s most vulnerable residents.
“Maternal mortality is a crisis for Washington, DC, and our healthcare system needs to address the crisis immediately, rather than exacerbate the challenges that birthing parents face,” said Councilwoman Janeese Lewis George. “Now is the time to invest in health care, rather than make cuts. I want to work with the hospital to identify solutions that work for patients and the provider.”
“In my time at Washington Hospital Center, I’ve seen the hospital tout its Safe Moms, Safe Babies program and host a community baby shower specifically designed to call attention to the maternal mortality crisis,” said Marcqueata “Tiya” Butler, RN in the Mother/Baby unit. “Their current plan to shut down 11 postpartum beds betrays the hospital’s stated commitments. They are aware of persistent inequities in access to care. We are calling on the hospital to consider the impacts on the community, safeguard the mothers and infants of DC and commit to addressing the maternal mortality rate.”
In 2024, MedStar Health, a registered non-profit, reported $9 billion in operating revenue.
NNOC/NNU represents more than 2,200 registered nurses at Washington Hospital Center.
National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States with more than 225,000 members nationwide. NNU affiliates include California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.
New office in Tysons, Virginia, brings the firm’s design-build expertise and national resources closer to clients across the capital region
TYSONS, Va., July 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — ARCO Design/Build, one of the nation’s leading design-build construction firms, today announced the opening of a new office in Tysons, Virginia, placing the firm in the heart of the Washington, D.C. market and directly on the Capital Beltway. The office expands on the presence ARCO has built in the region over many years and brings the firm’s people, design-build expertise, and national resources closer to existing and prospective clients across the District and Northern Virginia.
A significant share of ARCO’s work in the region has originated in the D.C. area. The Tysons office is the natural next step in the firm’s growth, and a commitment built on established relationships with a track record of completed work. With many of those clients headquartered in the capital region and building across multiple geographies, the Tysons office allows ARCO to be closer to decision-makers, active pursuits, and the opportunities shaping the market today.
The office is further strengthened by local leadership, including Drew Enstice, Vice President, whose experience in the region supports ARCO’s continued growth across the Washington market.
“The Washington region has been central to our growth, and the Tysons office lets us meet it with our full strength,” said Aaron Weir, President, ARCO Design/Build. “We’re building on the relationships and successful work we’ve already established here, while bringing the resources of a national builder to a market with growing opportunity across advanced manufacturing, food and beverage, life sciences, aerospace, defense, and other complex sectors that demand precision.”
ARCO’s integrated design-build approach brings design, engineering, procurement, and construction together under a single accountable team from the outset. The firm delivers cost certainty, compressed schedules, and a single point of responsibility that matter most on complex, regulated, and mission-driven facilities.
About ARCO Design/Build
ARCO Design/Build is a national design-build construction firm delivering the strength, resources, and expertise of an award-winning national builder combined with the responsive, personalized service of a local partner. With more than 50 offices and over 1,800 associates across the country, ARCO provides comprehensive design, engineering, and construction services across various industries such as industrial, e-commerce, logistics, data centers, commercial, life sciences, defense and aerospace manufacturing, healthcare, food and beverage, retail, and light manufacturing facilities. ARCO is a 100% employee-owned company through its ESOP. To learn more, visit arcodb.com.
SOURCE ARCO Design/Build
Food and Friends expects to double its impact with a $30 million addition and renovation.
This page contains a video which is being blocked by your ad blocker.
In order to view the video you must disable your ad blocker.
Nonprofit donating two million meals each year is now set to expand
Food and Friends prepares over two million meals each year for people in the D.C. region who are battling serious illnesses. The organization expects to double its impact with a $30 million addition and renovation.
The first shovels went into the ground Monday at Food and Friends’ headquarters in Northeast D.C.
The 17,000-square-foot expansion will dramatically impact how many people the organization can serve on a daily basis, the nonprofit said.
“The demand has been so high, and so we need more room. And we’re really, really excited to be kicking that off,” Food and Friends CEO Carrie Stoltzfus said. “We’re going to be able to more than double what we do.”
Food and Friends currently packages roughly 7,100 meals per day and delivers throughout the D.C. region in an area approximately the size of Connecticut.
Staff described the current building as bursting at the seams, with many rooms doubling as food storage.
“Most of the expansion space will be for food production and food storage because that’s really what drives everything else that we do and why we’re all here,” Stoltzfus said.
The new building, set to be completed in May, will include a state-of-the-art kitchen. The current kitchen will be transformed into a chilled food packing room.
The expansion also adds private nutrition counseling rooms for clients who are battling diseases such as cancer, AIDS, renal failure and other illnesses.
All clients of Food and Friends are referred to the program by healthcare providers. Dietitians and chefs have developed 11 meal types tailored to specific health needs.
Rebecca Kahn, director of nutrition services at Food and Friends, said its food is medicine, leading to better health outcomes.
“Hospital visits are going down as compared to before getting our services. Clients are saving money on healthcare costs,” she told WTOP.
Loris Adams is a volunteer and a former client who received meals from Food and Friends while she battled ovarian cancer. She’s thrilled with the expansion.
“People like me, people like your neighbors have an opportunity to be fed and nourished — body, soul and spirit — while they’re going through really hard and difficult times,” she said after the groundbreaking.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
Two weeks after White House officials touted President Donald Trump’s efforts to make the city “safe and beautiful,” the water in the 13-basin fountain at Meridian Hill Park has turned into a murky, rust-orange hue.
(Courtesy CNN)
Courtesy CNN
(Courtesy CNN)
Courtesy CNN
(Courtesy CNN)
Courtesy CNN
(CNN) — At a ceremony in front of the iconic cascading fountain at Meridian Hill Park in Washington, DC, earlier this month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and top US officials touted President Donald Trump’s efforts to make the city “safe and beautiful.”
But less than two weeks later, the historic park that served as Hegseth’s backdrop has become the latest hurdle President Donald Trump is facing in his mission to give the nation’s capital a facelift, as the water in the 13-basin fountain has turned into a murky, rust-orange hue.
The fountain had been devoid of water for seven years before the Trump administration repaired and reopened it in May in a $4 million renovation that delighted residents. After the renovation, residents flocked to the park in the evenings, sitting on the steps bordering the fountain, having picnics, and reading books.
But this week, parkgoers observed a brown color overtaking the reservoirs.
“It looks like mud,” said James Langan, a New York resident visiting DC.
The fixture at Meridian Hill Park is one of nine fountains being returned to service under Trump’s March 2025 executive order calling to make DC “safe and beautiful” coinciding with preparations for the nation’s 250th anniversary. When CNN visited the nine fountains scattered across DC this week, only one appeared to still be inoperable, and two had brown-colored water.
Some residents and visitors said they welcomed running water at Meridian Hill Park, despite the coloring.
“Whenever I’d like come here before, I was kind of disappointed that the water was never on, and it was kind of like overrun with trash,” Washington, DC, resident Jedi Sworobuk told CNN. “I think it’s nice to have, especially in the heat in the summer.”
The Interior Department told CNN on Tuesday evening that the brown water at Meridian Hill Park is “sediment as a result of the reopening of two water lines that had been out of service for some time,” noting it expected the water to run clean in the next 24 to 36 hours.
A CNN crew observed workers cleaning the cascading basins on Wednesday, following social media buzz about the browning water.
On Saturday, the pools of water were still murky, but less orange.
The Interior Department did not respond to a request for comment on Saturday on the state of the Meridian Hill fountain, and on the fountains at the General Philip Sheridan statue in Sheridan Circle, which were inactive.
The fountain at Meridian Hill Park caught the attention of Alexandra McKenna, a London resident who traveled to DC and made the park a stop on her trip.
“It looks pretty gross,” McKenna said, laughing.
McKenna pointed to the water at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which has also generated headlines in recent weeks, adding, “It’s kind of a thing going on in Washington at the moment.”
The Meridian Hill Park scramble comes after the Reflecting Pool saga dominated conversations in Washington. After Trump called for the pool’s renovation in April, the more than $14 million project has taken on a lifecycle of draining, painting, filling and peeling.
Trump alleged vandals gashed the pool’s lining. In recent weeks, at least three people were charged with destruction of property after allegedly removing pieces of blue paint from the pool, and a former Olympian was indicted on that allegation. The canoeist, David Hearn, pleaded not guilty.
During a May Cabinet meeting, Trump said most of the fountains were in final stages or fixed.
In his recent July Fourth address on the National Mall, Trump declared the city “safe, gleaming, and beautiful again,” though some beautification projects, like the Reflecting Pool, appear to be in progress.
The National Park Service said work to restore and rehabilitate historic landscapes will occur in phases, noting that the public may experience closures or limited access at certain sites.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
-
Videos1 hour agoNew explosions near Iranian port cities, says state media | BBC News
-
Los Angeles, Ca1 hour agoBig rig crash spills cinder blocks on 101 Freeway; lanes blocked in Tarzana
-
Detroit, MI2 hours agoHow to watch ‘The Odyssey’ in IMAX, 70mm and more in metro Detroit
-
San Francisco, CA2 hours agoSold-Out SF Marathon 2026: The Races, Routes and Road Closures (Plus How to Watch It All) | KQED
-
Dallas, TX2 hours agoTop 10 Dallas Cowboys of 2026: Rashan Gary is Complete EDGE Dallas Needed
-
Miami, FL2 hours agoGirl, 12, shot while sitting in parked car in northwest Miami-Dade, deputies say
-
Boston, MA2 hours agoGBH Daily: Come sail away
-
Denver, CO2 hours agoNew ice cream shop with a ‘waffle theater’ bets big on downtown Denver
