Washington, D.C

On the Streets of D.C., Praise and Protest of a Landmark Ruling on Race in Admissions

Published

2 years ago

June 29, 2023

On the Streets of D.C., Praise and Protest of a Landmark Ruling on Race in Admissions

Smoke from Canadian wildfires hung over the Supreme Court, in Washington, D.C., on Thursday morning as a crowd of journalists, tourists, and protesters began whispering to one another.

“Affirmative action is down!” someone yelled.

Around the nation’s capital, scenes of defeat and victory, disappointment and division, were visible in the hours after the justices struck down race-conscious admissions.

The legal cases, against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Harvard College, cited claims of discrimination against Asian American students. Asian Americans were present both to protest and to praise the ruling.

Representatives of the Asian American Coalition for Education, which supported the court’s decision, held a large banner that read, “Equal Rights for All.”

“It’s a historic win for Asian Americans because our children will no longer be treated as second-class citizens in college admissions,” said Yukong Mike Zhao, the coalition’s founding president. “It’s also a win for all Americans because universities preserve meritocracy, which is the bedrock of the American dream.”

It wasn’t long before counterprotesters showed up. A handful of students from various colleges across the country, carrying light-blue handkerchiefs, told reporters about their opposition to the ruling as Asian American students, saying that the cases had wrongly pitted Asian Americans against members of other racial-minority groups.

“It’s unfair that our community is being used as a wedge to take down multiracial democracy, not only at the university level but at levels above,” said Jack Trowbridge, a third-year student at Wesleyan University, in Connecticut. “Because it all starts in higher education.”

Nearby, a sign propped against a police partition read, “We Are Not a Wedge.”

But others, like Christopher Banks, a guest lecturer at Washington Adventist University, condemned the ruling, calling it “highly regrettable.”

We call upon higher education to revisit its own standards and look inwardly.

A few blocks northeast of the court’s building, on Second Street, a group of Black, Latino, and Asian civil-rights lawyers — including a former New York City mayoral candidate, Maya Wiley — held a news conference in a small studio to voice their opposition to the ruling and express support for continued efforts to diversify America’s selective colleges.

“We call upon higher education to revisit its own standards and look inwardly because race-conscious admissions does some of the work but not all of the work,” said Damon Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. He said such colleges should further reduce their reliance on standardized testing and legacy status in admissions.

A few minutes earlier, the lawyers had watched President Biden appeal to those institutions to re-examine their admissions practices, an assertion that “heartened” them, they said.

An hour later, in a navy-carpeted room at the National Press Club, less than two miles away, the plaintiffs’ lead lawyers in both the Harvard and UNC cases, along with their clients, declared victory.

Today’s victory belongs to thousands of sleepless high schoolers applying to colleges.

Edward J. Blum, the founder of Students for Fair Admissions, the organizational plaintiff in both cases, heralded the ruling as a re-establishment of principles outlined in the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which, he said, “clearly forbids the treating of Americans differently by race.” He founded Students for Fair Admissions in 2014 to represent students who had felt discriminated against in college admissions because of their race.

“Today’s victory belongs to thousands of sleepless high schoolers applying to colleges,” said Calvin Yang, a student at the University of California at Berkeley whose rejection by Harvard in 2021 spurred his activism to take down race-conscious admissions. “It belongs to those with the last names of Smith or Lee, Chen or Gonzalez. Most importantly, it belongs to all of us who believe that if we work hard enough, we all can have a chance and get our own slice of this grand American dream.”

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Washington, D.C

Road closures: Cherry Blossom races shut down Downtown DC this Saturday – WTOP News

Published

6 hours ago

April 3, 2025

Press Room

Road closures: Cherry Blossom races shut down Downtown DC this Saturday – WTOP News

Road closures from the annual Cherry Blossom races will shut down tourist hot spots in the District this weekend.

The Credit Union Cherry Blossom Races are put on by a consortium of credit unions that have donated nearly $9 million to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals since 2002. The 5K on Saturday and 10-miler on Sunday mark the 52nd anniversary of the races.

The races draw over 20,000 participants and spectators every year.

The 5K race will start and end on Pennsylvania Avenue and 12th Street NW in Downtown D.C., heading down Pennsylvania Avenue and cutting around multiple museums and federal buildings.

The 10-miler starts and finishes at the Washington Monument, curling down Independence Avenue SW, along the Kennedy Center, across the Arlington Memorial Bridge and back along the Tidal Basin.

Metrorail will open two hours early on Sunday so race day participants of the 10-mile run can make the race’s 7:30 a.m. start time.

The road closures for both events are outlined below.

Road closures

The 5K race starts at 9:15 a.m. Saturday. Long stretches along Pennsylvania Avenue between 9th and 14th streets will likely be blocked off to vehicles.

The Tidal Basin will remain open to pedestrian traffic, but use alternative modes of transportation to see the cherry blossoms as it’ll be difficult to drive and park.

The following streets will be closed to vehicle traffic and posted as Emergency No Parking on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. for the National Cherry Blossom Festival’s Petalpalooza event:

3rd Street from Tingey Street to Water Street SE
4th Street from Tingey Street to Water Street SE
4th Street from M Street to Tingey Street SE (southbound only)
Water Street from 3rd Street to Tingey Street SE

The following streets will be closed to vehicle parking on Saturday from 2 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Pennsylvania Avenue from 3rd Street to 9th Street NW
3rd Street from C Street NW to D Street SW
Independence Avenue from 3rd Street to 7th Street SW
4th Street from Pennsylvania Avenue, NW to D Street SW
D Street from 3rd Street to 4th Street SW

The following streets will be closed completely on Saturday from 2 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.:

Pennsylvania Avenue from 9th Street to 14th Street NW
13th Street from E Street to Pennsylvania Avenue NW
12th Street from E Street to Constitution Avenue NW
11th Street from E Street to Pennsylvania Avenue NW
10th Street from E Street to Constitution Avenue NW

The following streets will be closed completely on Saturday from 8:15 a.m. to 11 a.m.:

Pennsylvania Avenue from 3rd Street to 9th Street NW
9th Street from E Street to Constitution Avenue NW
D Street from 8th Street to 9th Street NW
7th Street from Indiana Avenue to Constitution Avenue NW
6th Street from C Street to Constitution Avenue NW
Constitution Avenue from 3rd Street to 7th Street NW
Independence Avenue from Washington Avenue to 7th Street SW
4th Street from Pennsylvania Avenue, NW to D Street SW
D Street from 3rd Street to 4th Street SW
6th Street from Independence Avenue to Maryland Avenue SW
3rd Street from C Street, NW to Virginia Avenue SW

The following streets will be closed on Sunday from 6:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.:

Ohio Drive around East Potomac Park
Arlington Memorial Bridge
Rock Creek Parkway to Virginia Avenue
West and East Basin Drives

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Washington, D.C

Family photoshoot with DC cherry blossoms disrupted by photobomber: Barack Obama

Published

17 hours ago

April 2, 2025

Press Room

Family photoshoot with DC cherry blossoms disrupted by photobomber: Barack Obama

Obama responded to the photobomb on Instagram, saying, ‘Preston and Belle, I hope you enjoyed peak bloom! My bad for stepping into the shot.’

A Virginia family’s cherry blossoms photoshoot in Washington D.C. didn’t go as planned after a bystander walked into a frame meant only to include their two toddlers.

However, Falls Church resident Portia Moore had no complaints as the photobomber in question was former President Barack Obama.

Dedicating her full attention to the photoshoot at 7 a.m. Monday morning, Moore said she did not notice the 44th president passing by until her husband pointed him out.

“Once their shoot is all done I was like, ‘Jamie, what did you say?’ He was like ‘That’s President Obama over there,’ and I was like ‘Oh my goodness,’” Moore told USA TODAY Wednesday. “I was like, ‘You should’ve grabbed me and made more of a big deal about it.’”

Briana Inell, the photographer the family hired, proceeded to snap photos of Obama from about 20 to 30 feet away as he roamed the Tidal Basin tourist area. Soon after, Inell looked through their photographs and noticed the Democrat casually walking right by Moore’s 20-month-old son, Preston, and four-month-old daughter, Belle.

Inell said the image will sit right at the center of a six-by-two grid framed at their home in Falls Church, about 10 miles from DC.

Photographer also didn’t notice Obama photobomb

Inell, who has previously worked with the family, said she failed to notice Obama’s photobombing as the Tidal Basin area is typically so packed during tourist season. It wasn’t until she heard Moore’s grandparents point him out that she spotted him along with several Secret Service agents.

After several years as a DC-based photographer, she finally got to cross photographing a former president off her bucket list.

“I’ve always wanted to see Obama, and I am so shocked and surprised that it actually happened to me,” Inell said.

Obama himself posted on Instagram Monday to show off his own photos of the D.C. cherry blossoms, which typically bloom between March and April.

“It’s fun to be able to play tourist once in a while. The cherry blossoms were beautiful this morning!” he wrote.

Obama even responded to the photobomb on Instagram, commenting under Smith’s post: “Preston and Belle, I hope you enjoyed peak bloom! My bad for stepping into the shot.”

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Washington, D.C

DC Council changes open meetings law – WTOP News

Published

1 day ago

April 2, 2025

Press Room

DC Council changes open meetings law – WTOP News

The D.C. Council passed emergency legislation Tuesday that changes the city’s open meeting law to allow private meetings in certain situations. Critics of the measure are pouncing on the change, saying it would dramatically modify the way the city operates. But city officials insist it’s needed.

The D.C. Council passed emergency legislation Tuesday that changes the city’s open meetings law to allow private meetings in certain situations. Critics of the measure are pouncing on the change, saying it would dramatically modify the way the city operates. But city officials insist it’s needed.

Under this new law, council members will be allowed to have private meetings without the required two days of notice to the public, as long as the meeting is to discuss a possible terrorist threat, public health threats or to meet with the mayor. During those meetings, no votes or official actions can be taken.

Council Chairman Phil Mendelson argued that council members were not allowed to discuss items among themselves without the fear someone will claim they violated the current law.

“Sometimes we want to have a conversation, and they can’t be public, or we won’t have those conversations,” he said.

The council passed the emergency legislation 10-2. Once signed by Mayor Muriel Bowser, the law will be enacted for 90 days, during which the council will consider what changes it wants in a permanent bill. It will hold a public hearing April 22 to discuss the matter.

Mendelson said with the Trump administration in office, it is almost impossible for city officials to privately discuss strategy without running afoul of open meetings. He said the current law hinders getting anything done.

The bill gives the city more flexibility, Mendelson said, when it comes to dealing with federal issues and interference from Congress, especially after lawmakers passed a recent spending bill that cut $1 billion from the city’s budget.

But critics of the law are pushing back.

In a lengthy letter to the D.C. Council, the D.C. Open Government Coalition said the bill poses a substantial threat to government transparency and should not be enacted without more public input.

The coalition argued the council could resolve the issues “more efficiently through the modification of its rules without exacting such a toll on public access,” noting the bills have been in the works since at least last October.

“Regardless of what the DECLARATION says, there is no emergency — no ‘situation that adversely affects the health, safety, welfare, or economic well-being of the District, its residents, its businesses, or other persons or entities,’” Coalition Chairman Robert S. Becker said in the letter.

The legislation also gives an open meeting exemption to “consequential, large-scale business and economic development,” such as the recently completed, nearly $1 billion deal with Monumental Sports & Entertainment to remodel Capital One Arena.

Critics of the legislation say the timing is unusual, especially since the city, Washington Commanders and NFL could begin negotiations for a new stadium and they feel that information will be kept secret.

However, a city official told WTOP no member of the council has had any negotiations or discussions with the Commanders or the NFL about building a new stadium at the RFK Stadium campus and Mayor Muriel Bowser is the one taking part in those discussions.

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