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One Media Launches NextGen TV Emergency Alert Pilot in Metro Washington D.C. Area

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One Media Launches NextGen TV Emergency Alert Pilot in Metro Washington D.C. Area


WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) and One Media 3.0, a subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group, have launched the nation’s first pilot mission to make use of Subsequent Era Broadcast to disseminate Superior Emergency Data.

It’s the nation’s first use of NextGen TV broadcasts for superior emergency info, COG and One Media mentioned. 

“The jurisdictions that we symbolize are all the time on the lookout for extra and higher methods to tell the general public throughout emergencies,” mentioned Scott Boggs, managing director, homeland safety and public security at COG. “We see NextGen AEI as a strong new software for each public warning and offering very important info for restoration after catastrophe strikes. As a result of it makes use of over-the-air broadcast alerts, AEI will be particularly efficient for reaching underserved audiences.”

In line with Jerald Fritz, govt vice chairman strategic and authorized affairs at One Media 3.0, the pilot mission is a chance to showcase the life-saving capabilities of NextGen Broadcast. 

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“Sinclair and One Media 3.0 have developed an open-source broadcaster app that gives a spread of recent client companies, with AEI being essentially the most highly effective from a public service perspective,” Fitz mentioned. “Sinclair has made an enormous funding in native journalism at our stations throughout the nation. Working with the COG to voluntarily deploy AEI by way of the 7 Information newsroom paves the way in which to increase our ‘first informer’ function to many extra markets,” he mentioned.

The pilot program will present free, over-the-air redundancy to emergency messaging presently despatched by native governments through textual content, electronic mail. social media, and different system platforms. 

One Media 3.0, by way of its affiliated WJLA (7 Information) newsroom, can even present enhanced, wealthy media dietary supplements to these emergency messages that meet its newsworthy standards.

Initially, the pilot will deal with emergency messages from Arlington and Fairfax Counties in Northern Virginia and the District of Columbia. The pilot will likely be expanded to different space jurisdictions in coming months. The pilot program will initially use the services of WJLA’s sister station in Washington, WIAV, after which migrate to WJLA 7 Information with its broader attain.

NextGen TV customary, aka ATSC 3.0, allows exceptionally superior alerting and informing instruments, One Media and COG pressured. 

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Fairly than easy textual content crawls throughout a TV display screen {that a} twister is approaching, for instance, NextGenTV powers a way more sturdy sign that may render actual time doppler radar, climate photos, evacuation routes, shelter areas, flood maps – and do it in a number of languages, the backers of the pilot program mentioned. 

As well as, the messages will be geo-targeted to only the realm affected by the emergency warning primarily based upon inputs by the viewer. Not restricted to climate emergencies, the brand new software will likely be employed for nearly all emergencies together with civil unrest, hazardous spills, and AMBER Alerts.

This Superior Emergency Data (AEI) can embody each alerts and very important restoration info obtained on a variety of enabled client gadgets and linked automobiles. As a result of TV stations function independently of the mobile community and have backup energy, they’ll proceed to distribute emergency messages even when the mobile community and electrical grids are down. 

The pilot is an outgrowth of the AWARN Washington, DC Roundtable, which introduced collectively native TV broadcasters and emergency managers from throughout the Nationwide Capital Area. The discussions centered on the voluntary deployment of Superior Emergency Data utilizing the NextGen platform and methods to proceed COG’s longtime dedication to supporting emergency communications.

AWARN Govt Director John Lawson mentioned the Nationwide Capital Area pilot is an extension of a dialogue on the nationwide and grassroots ranges between broadcasters and emergency managers in a number of areas. 

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“By our AWARN roundtables, we discovered that expertise is barely the front-end of the dialog,” Lawson mentioned. “Simply as vital is creating the relationships between native stations and emergency managers to really use the expertise. The Washington AEI pilot is a testbed for each technical capabilities and the working relationships between broadcasters and emergency managers which might be very important to maintain the general public protected,” he mentioned.

Anybody within the WIAV (show Channel 58) viewing space who has a NextGen TV set or a NextGen set-top converter field ought to have the ability to obtain the emergency messages from WIAV. As different gadgets, together with NextGen-enabled telephones, are deployed, these too will profit from this refined new emergency software.



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Washington, D.C

Preparations underway in DMV for snowstorm

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Preparations underway in DMV for snowstorm


Local and state snow crews are preparing to treat secondary and neighborhood streets throughout D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

“It’s me and three other fellas, so it’s fairly small,” said Jason Swain with the Department of Public Works in Kensington Maryland.

He says his team may be small, but they’re mighty and ready.

“We get the plows ready, make sure everything’s working,” Swain said. “We have salt, which has been kindly given to us by the state, ready to put into the spreaders.”

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He says the biggest hurdle when plowing snow, oftentimes, is cars.

“Some people don’t have driveways, but if they’re going to park on the street, try not to park directly across from each other because when we come through, you literally got inches between the edge of our plow and the cars,” Swain said.

In the District, plenty of people decided to step out before snow crews put plow to pavement for a potential all day snow event.

“Mayor Bowser activated the snow team, and they’ll begin their operations tonight, treating and then plowing roads throughout the day tomorrow,” said Clint Osborn with the District’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency.

D.C.’s smaller plows will be on back roads and alleys, while heavy trucks will focus on primary streets.

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“We’ll have a full deployment out throughout all day tomorrow into Monday as we support the inaugural activities in the District,” Osborn said.

Icy conditions in Prince George’s County during the region’s last snowstorm led to different strategies this go round.

In a statement, the county’s Department of Public Works and Transportation says, “We have implemented adjustments to strengthen our response, and these improvements have prepared us for this round of winter weather.”

The biggest piece of advice for tomorrow:

“Tomorrow would be a good day, since it’s a Sunday, to stay home,” Swain said. “Read a book, have some hot chocolate, relax. Can come out after we finish.”

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Days before Trump takes office, thousands of protestors march in Washington, D.C.

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Days before Trump takes office, thousands of protestors march in Washington, D.C.


WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of people from around the United States rallied in the nation’s capital Saturday for women’s reproductive rights and other causes they believe are under threat from the incoming Trump administration, reprising the original Women’s March days before President-elect Donald Trump’s second inauguration.

READ MORE: Trump arriving in nation’s capital for inaugural celebrations to mark his return to power

Eight years after the first historic Women’s March at the start of Trump’s first term, marchers said they were caught off guard by Trump’s victory and are determined now to show that support remains strong for women’s access to abortion, for transgender people, for combating climate change and other issues.

The march is just one of several protests, rallies and vigils focused on abortion, rights, immigration rights and the Israel-Hamas war planned in advance of inauguration Monday. Around the country, over 350 similar marches are taking place in every state.

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Jill Parrish of Austin, Texas, said she initially bought a plane ticket to Washington for what she expected to be Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris’s inauguration. She wound up changing the dates to march in protest ahead of Trump’s swearing-in instead, saying the world should know that half of U.S. voters didn’t support Trump.

“Most importantly, I’m here to demonstrate my fear, about the state of our democracy,” Parrish said.

Demonstrators staged in squares around Washington ahead of the march, pounding drums and yelling chants under a slate-gray sky and in a chilly wind. Protesters then marched to the Lincoln Memorial for larger rally and fair, where organizations at the local, state and national level will host information tables.

They held signs with slogans including, “Save America” and “Against abortions? Then don’t have one” and “Hate won’t win.”

There were brief moments of tension between protesters and Trump supporters. The march paused briefly when a man in a red Make America Great Again hat and a green camo backpack walked into a line of demonstrators at the front. Police intervened and separated him from the group peacefully as marchers chanted “We won’t take the bait.”

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As the protesters approached the Washington Monument, a small group of men in MAGA hats walking in the opposite direction appeared to draw the attention of a protest leader with a megaphone. The leader veered closer to the group and began chanting “No Trump, no KKK” through the megaphone. The groups were separated by high black fencing and police officers eventually gathered around.

Rick Glatz, of Manchester, New Hampshire, said he came to Washington for the sake of his four granddaughters: ” I’m a grandpa. And that’s why I’m marching.”

Minnesota high school teacher Anna Bergman wore her original pink pussy hat from her time in the 2017 Women’s March, a moment that captured the shock and anger of progressives and moderates at Trump’s first win.

With Trump coming back now, “I just wanted to be surrounded by likeminded people on a day like today,” Bergman said.

Rebranded and reorganized, the rally has a new name — the People’s March — as a means to broaden support, especially during a reflective moment for progressive organizing after Trump’s decisive win in November. The Republican takes the oath of office Monday.

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Women outraged over Trump’s 2016 presidential win flocked to Washington in 2017 and organized large rallies in cities throughout the country, building the base of a grassroots movement that became known as the Women’s March. The Washington rally alone attracted over 500,000 marchers, and millions more participated in local marches around the country, marking one of the largest single-day demonstrations in U.S. history.

This year, the crowd was far fewer than the expected 50,000 participants, already just one-tenth the size of the first march. The demonstration comes amid a restrained moment of reflection as many progressive voters navigate feelings of exhaustion, disappointment and despair after Harris’ loss.

WATCH: Harris loss causes some to question what it will take to elect a woman president

“Before we do anything about democracy, we have to fight our own despair,” said one of the event’s first speakers, Rachel O’Leary Carmona, executive director of Women’s March.

The comparative quiet contrasts sharply with the white-knuckled fury of the inaugural rally as massive crowds shouted demands over megaphones and marched in pink pussyhats in response to Trump’s first election win.

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“The reality is that it’s just hard to capture lightning in a bottle,” said Tamika Middleton, managing director at the Women’s March. “It was a really particular moment. In 2017, we had not seen a Trump presidency and the kind of vitriol that that represented.”

The movement fractured after that hugely successful day of protests over accusations that it was not diverse enough. This year’s rebrand as a People’s March is the result of an overhaul intended to broaden the group’s appeal. Saturday’s demonstration promoted themes related to feminism, racial justice, anti-militarization and other issues and ended with discussions hosted by various social justice organizations.

The People’s March is unusual in the “vast array of issues brought together under one umbrella,” said Jo Reger, a sociology professor who researches social movements at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. Women’s suffrage marches, for example, were focused on a specific goal of voting rights.

For a broad-based social justice movement such as the march, conflicting visions are impossible to avoid and there is “immense pressure” for organizers to meet everyone’s needs, Reger said. But she also said some discord isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“Often what it does is bring change and bring in new perspectives, especially of underrepresented voices,” Reger said.

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Middleton, of the Women’s March, said a massive demonstration like the one in 2017 was not the goal of Saturday’s event. Instead, it’s goal was focusing attention on a broader set of issues — women’s and reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, immigration, climate and democracy — rather than centering it more narrowly around Trump.

“We’re not thinking about the march as the endgame,” Middleton said. “How do we get those folks who show up into organizations and into their political homes so they can keep fighting in their communities long term?”

Associated Press writers Gary Fields, Ellen Knickmeyer and Mike Pesoli contributed to this report.



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DCA warns flyers to bundle up after heating system outage

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DCA warns flyers to bundle up after heating system outage


The primary heating system at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) has been out since Friday evening, and the airport is warning travelers to bundle up before they arrive.

“We apologize for any discomfort to travelers as we work diligently to return the heat to normal levels,” DCA said on its website.

DCA is still operational, and the broken heating system has not affected flights, TSA or airline operations, or any of the shops and restaurants inside. Temperatures outside in Alexandria hovering around 45 degrees Fahrenheit, and according to a statement from the airport, temperatures inside the building are “generally in the 60s.”

“We are conserving heat in the building and are running alternate heating sources in a few locations,” DCA said in a statement posted to X.

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Airport maintenance crews are working to repair the heating system, and have been since Friday night.



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