The absolutely dreadful Washington Wizards managed their fourth win in 24 games Friday night, and if this season didn’t already feel like a slog, well, now there’s a dark lining to it all. Maybe, in five years, the Wizards will have pulled themselves from their status as permanent stakeholders in the NBA draft lottery. But even if they do, their trudge to relevance — to mere competence, even — is colored by their impending move to a new arena in Northern Virginia.
Washington, D.C
Perspective | Here’s something all D.C. fans would like to see built: Winning teams
What will the next five years look like — what will they feel like — for the Wizards and their hockey brethren, the Capitals? Ted Leonsis, the founder of the parent Monumental Sports & Entertainment that owns both teams, wants to move them to Alexandria. If that happens — and it says here that remains a big “if” — it won’t be until 2028 at the earliest. That’s a long time to wander in the wilderness — or, in this case, to scurry through the District’s streets, in danger of passing more vacant storefronts than restaurants filled with loyal and hopeful fans.
The news of Leonsis’s intention to move his top tenants from downtown in the nation’s capital to a strip of land in the suburbs — where he can develop his own $2 billion self-sustaining city that, in theory, would support those teams — still feels jarring. There are a lot of emotions to sort through, and that doesn’t even get to the finances, which are nothing short of staggering. According to reporting by several of my Washington Post colleagues, the new development would receive — make sure you’re sitting down before you read this — $1.35 billion in state and local funds.
That, my colleagues report, is a record total for one of these projects. So the idea that this is a done deal is beyond premature. This is a start, nothing more. There are no rubber stamps on $1.35 billion in public funds. Let the discussion — and the dissection — begin.
The potential move is going to define the Wizards and the Capitals until it happens, and Leonsis’s legacy as a civic-minded sports owner will be determined by whether a new facility brings a region together rather than rips it apart. In the days since the plans were first reported, it certainly feels like the latter. But there’s time.
The arena, though, shouldn’t be a distraction from the competitive state of Leonsis’s teams. Say whatever you want about the increase in crime in the neighborhood around Capital One Arena. The crime is on the court, too, and who wants to go see this disjointed 4-20 outfit?
Yes, the Wizards are at the beginning of a full-on reboot, and plenty of people believe in new president Michael Winger as a builder. There may well be better days ahead.
But the Wizards’ record with Leonis as owner stinks — and not just this season. Since he took over majority ownership in the team before the 2010-11 season, Washington ranks 24th of the 30 NBA franchises in winning percentage. The Wizards have missed the playoffs in eight of 13 seasons and will do so again this season. They have posted a .500 or worse record nine times and will do so again this season. They have never advanced to the Eastern Conference finals, nor have they been even a mild threat to win a title.
So when Leonsis said at Wednesday’s announcement, “That is the higher calling on everything that we do — to build these legacies through winning championships from doing the right things in the right way by our fans,” it’s laughable.
There is no taking away the 2018 Stanley Cup from Leonsis’s Capitals, and that title was earned by a collection of players who had been knocking on the door before finally kicking it down. It was thrilling, and it changed how Washington felt as a sports town. The results since — no playoff series wins and a murky transition ahead from the Alex Ovechkin era to whatever lies beyond — haven’t been encouraging.
So the key to the success of any sports arena isn’t the arena itself but the inhabitants and whether they win or lose. That’s true whether the teams play in the District or in Alexandria or on the moon. Deliver “championships” — plural, as Leonsis said — and your legacy will be secure in some eyes even if Chinatown doesn’t recapture the vibrancy Abe Pollin brought there.
The gap between the announcement of the deal and its potential execution has tentacles that affect not only the teams but the towns and leaders across the region. Already, D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) looks as if her administration was caught napping while Leonsis was negotiating with Virginia. Yes, the District has been in discussions on improvements to Capital One Arena for two years, and yes, Sunday’s offer wasn’t their first. It still seems as though getting to the “best and final” offer of $500 million could have come earlier, heading off a clear and present danger. Publicly, this felt reactive, not proactive.
So there is fallout. Bowser has openly courted the local NFL team, and Monumental’s proposed move comes at a time when the Commanders and their new owners are scouting for a new stadium site. Here are the mayor’s options: Land the football team for the District and be regarded — among some die-hards — as a hero because of it, or fail to land the football team and be the mayor who watched the basketball and hockey teams walk and couldn’t get the football team to come back.
That’s not a great dynamic. There is and will be a debate about what, if any, public money should be contributed to a new Commanders stadium regardless of whether it’s built in the District, Maryland or Virginia. There’s pressure on the mayor, which isn’t a strong starting point. Even the impression that one of the leaders trying to broker a deal is compromised leads to the idea that the primary goal could be to save face, not to do what’s best for constituents.
This feels, at the moment, like a mess. A mess of politics and business, sure, but of emotions and community ties as well. That doesn’t mean it will end up that way. But in the first days since the plans were unveiled, everything is still raw.
It’s important to remember, as we parse the details of the proposal, that this is a beginning, not a conclusion. Through all the twists and turns ahead, it’s also important to remember that the wins and losses people care about aren’t whether Monumental ends up with a practice facility attached to its arena attached to a concert venue attached to bars and restaurants. Rather, it’s what happens on the court and the ice. In the time before a new arena deal gets finalized or falls apart, hold Leonsis accountable for that, too.
Washington, D.C
New mural dedicated to DC’s ‘Mayor for Life’ honors career, contributions of Marion Barry – WTOP News
Ten years to the day after his death, D.C. leaders honored the life of the late Mayor Marion Barry with a new mural hanging in his namesake building.
(WTOP/Luke Lukert)
WTOP/Luke Lukert
(WTOP/Luke Lukert)
WTOP/Luke Lukert
(WTOP/Luke Lukert)
WTOP/Luke Lukert
(WTOP/Luke Lukert)
WTOP/Luke Lukert
Ten years to the day after his death, D.C. leaders honored the life of the late Mayor Marion Barry with a new mural hanging in his namesake building.
Mayor Muriel Bowser joined the former D.C. First Lady at the Marion S. Barry, Jr. Building in Judiciary Square on Saturday to pull the curtain down, revealing the new mural dedicated to the “Mayor for Life.”
“My husband really loved Washington, DC and its residents. The mural captures some of the major contributions he made to the City, and some of the people who worked with him to help build the City and empower its residents,” said Cora Masters Barry, Barry’s widow, in a statement.
“I was thrilled that so many residents and visitors were able to join us on this inspirational, entertaining, educational, and historical day, as we honored a man, Marion Barry Jr., whose legacy and love of this city was so deep and strong.”
The mural is broken into three parts, each with a different title and focusing on a different aspect of Barry’s life.
The first panel, titled “Big Vision,” displays Barry’s early years as a civil rights activist and his transition into politics.
The center panel, “Big Impact,” then focuses on his time in office as a Councilmember and four term mayor.
These sections emphasize Barry’s support for Black-owned businesses, summer jobs for youth, programs for seniors and leadership opportunities for women.
The last section of the mural is titled ”Big Legacy.” It highlights the influence Barry still has on the city — showcasing advocacy against apartheid, support for the Million Man March, contributions to the development of the MCI Center, and his work with the DC Control Board.
The many pictures show Barry beside the likes of President Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr.
Another focus of this panel is Barry’s political comeback after a high-profile arrest and conviction on crack cocaine possession charges in 1990. Four years later, he returned to the Mayor’s office after a commanding primary run.
“He told me a lot of things, and he taught us a lot of things, but one of the biggest ones was if you get knocked down, you get back up,” said Mayor Muriel Bowser at the unveiling.
Nabeeh Bilal, an artist based in Ward 8, created the mural.
“You’ll notice that there is not a single solo image of Marion Barry, and that’s because, with his accomplishments and achievements, it was always about others,” Bilal said.
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Friday’s event will begin with a solemn Mass celebrated by Cardinal Wilton Gregory, archbishop of Washington, followed by an opportunity to venerate the relics.
The major relics of St. Thomas Aquinas, “The Angelic Doctor,” are on tour and scheduled to make a stop in Washington, D.C., next weekend as part of the commemoration of the 700th anniversary of his canonization.
Members of the faithful will be able to venerate the relics, including his skull, on two separate occasions: first at St. Dominic’s Church on Friday, Nov. 29, and then again on Saturday, Nov. 30, at the Dominican House of Studies. The event is co-sponsored by the Thomistic Institute.
“In a time of renewed interest in the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas, the jubilees of his canonization (700 years in 2023), death (750 years in 2024), and birth (800 years in 2025) draw our attention to the masterwork of wisdom and sanctity which God wrought in him,” Dominican Father Gregory Pine, assistant director at the Thomistic Institute, said in a press release.
“The opportunity that we have to receive and venerate his relics makes this grace all the more proximate and precious to us,” Father Pine added.
Friday’s event will begin at 12:10 p.m. with a solemn Mass celebrated by Cardinal Wilton Gregory, archbishop of Washington, followed by an opportunity to venerate the relics of the revered theologian and philosopher from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. There will also be solemn vespers at 5:30 p.m. and night prayer at 6:45 p.m. with a Marian procession to follow.
On Saturday, the Dominican House of Studies will begin the day with solemn lauds and a votive Mass of St. Thomas Aquinas at 7:30 a.m., and veneration of the relics will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pine will also preach at 3 p.m. that day.
“‘Get wisdom, get understanding’ (Prv 4:5). One way is to study, another way is to pray for it, but an exceptional way is to pray for it in the presence of the skull of St. Thomas Aquinas,” Dominican Father James Brent, an assistant professor of philosophy at the Dominican House of Studies, also stated in the release.
The relic of St. Thomas Aquinas’ skull comes to the U.S. from the Dominicans in Toulouse, France, and is one of two skulls Church officials claim to have belonged to the 11th-century saint. The other is housed in the Italian city of Priverno. The Dominicans in France commissioned a new reliquary for the skull last year to celebrate the saint’s canonization anniversary.
After Aquinas’ death in 1274, his body was kept in Fossanova Abbey in Priverno until 1369, when his relics were moved to Toulouse, a city in southwestern France, where the Order of Preachers was established. Aquinas’ tomb rests in the Church of the Jacobins.
Researchers are currently weighing the possibility of conducting an in-depth forensic analysis of both skulls to determine their authenticity.
Where do the relics go next?
After two stops in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 29 and Nov. 30, Aquinas’ relics hit the road for their U.S. tour:
Charlottesville, Virginia: St. Thomas Aquinas on Dec. 2
Providence, Rhode Island: Providence College on Dec. 4
Cincinnati: St. Gertrude Priory on Dec. 6
Columbus, Ohio: St. Patrick Priory on Dec. 7–8
Louisville, Kentucky: St. Louis Bertrand on Dec. 10
Springfield, Kentucky: St. Rose Priory on Dec. 12
New York City: St. Vincent Ferrer on Dec. 14
Philadelphia: St. Patrick on Dec. 16
Baltimore: Sts. Philip and James on Dec. 18
Two brothers who spent decades in prison after being convicted of a 1984 murder in Washington, D.C., they say they did not commit, are seeking a presidential pardon.
Charles and Chris Turner were convicted as teenagers for the killing of Catherine Fuller in Northeast Washington, D.C. near the intersection of 8th and H Street, Fox 5 DC reported.
They have since been released and are fighting for a pardon that would help restore their rights.
“With the pardon, we get a chance to fix all that and bring a closure to this case once and for all,” Chris Turner told Fox 5 DC.
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Charles and Chris Turner were convicted as teenagers for the killing of Catherine Fuller in Northeast Washington, D.C. near the intersection of 8th and H Street. (iStock)
After decades in custody for a crime which they did not commit, the brothers maintain a positive view on the future and the impact they can have moving forward, stressing that they will not allow their case to mentally hold them back.
“People get upset more that we’re not bitter,” Chris Turner said. “We think if you remain bitter, remain upset about what occurred – even though it was an atrocity and it was injustice – that you stay locked up mentally.”
The case revealed allegations of suppressed evidence, coerced testimony and investigative errors.
Seventeen people were arrested in connection with Fuller’s murder, with eight ultimately convicted, according to Fox 5 DC. The six who are still alive all maintain their innocence after collectively serving more than 200 years behind bars.
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The Turner brothers have become involved in their community and remain hopeful about their futures, although limitations in areas such as career prospects remain due to their felony records.
“We’ve actually said we might join the police force if we didn’t have this on our record … I used to want to be in the Navy. I can’t serve my country because I have a record,” Charles Turner said.
The brothers’ fight for a pardon represents a crucial step in restoring their reputation and rights lost in the convictions.
The case revealed allegations of suppressed evidence, coerced testimony and investigative errors. (iStock)
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Charles Turner said he believes a pardon would bring validation to himself and the other five convicted men, as well as to his family, friends and others who have supported him.
“It would also validate – help to validate – what they know, not what they believe, but what they know. There’s a big difference there,” he said.
Most presidential pardons have been granted between Election Day and Inauguration Day.
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