Washington, D.C
Say Goodbye to D.C.’s Black Lives Matter Mural | Artnet News
A controversial Black Lives Matter protest mural in Washington, DC, erected in a tense moment between president Donald Trump and Washington, D.C.’s Democratic mayor Muriel Bowser after the police murder of George Floyd in June 2020, is being demolished. Republicans threatened to withhold millions in federal funding if the mural was not removed and the site renamed. Bowser had dubbed the intersection of 16th Street and I Street “Black Lives Matter Plaza.”
The mural, which rendered the slogan in 35-foot-tall letters, was created on the surface of 16th Street Northwest, just a block north of the White House, by D.C.’s Department of Public Works. The move came after Trump ordered the National Guard to violently clear Lafayette Square of peaceful BLM protesters on June 1 so that he and some of his supporters could stage a photo of him holding aloft a Bible outside St. John’s Episcopal Church.
A “BLACK LIVES MATTER” mural installed by the Washington, DC Department of Public Works. Courtesy of Nadia N. Aziz via Twitter/X.
“There was a dispute this week about whose street this is,” John Falcicchio, the chief of staff for D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, wrote in a tweet at the time. “Mayor Bowser wanted to make it abundantly clear that this is D.C.’s street and to honor demonstrators who (were) peacefully protesting on Monday evening.” Mayor Bowser also tweeted a video surveying the mural accompanied by the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter.
Bowser announced last week that the mural would be removed after Republican representative Andrew Clyde of Georgia filed legislation threatening to withhold millions of dollars in federal funding unless the city removed the mural and renamed the stretch of pavement “Liberty Plaza.”
In a statement on X, Bowser acknowledged the mural’s historic significance, but acknowledged that losing funding would be disastrous.
Crews dismantling the Black Lives Matter Plaza street mural on March 11, 2025 in Washington, D.C. Photo: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images.
“We have long considered Black Lives Matter Plaza’s evolution and the plaza will be part of D.C.’s America 250 mural project, where we will invite students and artists to create new murals across all eight wards,” Bowser wrote. “The mural inspired millions of people and helped our city through a very painful period, but now we can’t afford to be distracted by meaningless congressional interference. The devastating impacts of the federal job cuts must be our number one concern. Our focus is on economic growth, public safety, and supporting our residents affected by these cuts.”
Megan Bailiff, CEO of Equus Striping, the pavement marking company that painted the letters, called the removal “historically obscene” in a conversation with an AP reporter, adding that the mural is ““more significant at this very moment than it ever has been in this country.” Protesters met the removal with banners speaking out against Trump.
Activist Nadine Seiler stands at Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House, holding a sign that reads “Black Lives Matter, Trump Can’t Erase Us,” as crews begin removing the iconic Black Lives Matter mural behind her. Photo: Probal Rashid/LightRocket via Getty Images.
Not everyone was in support of the mural when it was created, as Artnet News reported.
“This is performative and a distraction from her active counter organizing to our demands to decrease the police budget and invest in the community,” the D.C. chapter of Black Lives Matter wrote at the time. “Black Lives Matter means Defund the police.” Activists had argued against Bowser’s proposed 2021 budget, which increased police funding while cutting other programs, including a violence prevention initiative.
The Department of Public Works did not immediately answer an email inquiring about the demolition.
Washington, D.C
Man in critical condition after water rescue in Southwest DC
WASHINGTON – A man is in critical condition after falling into the Anacostia River in Southwestern Washington, D.C., Friday night.
What we know:
D.C. Fire and EMS reported the rescue effort shortly after 10 p.m. at James Creek Marina in Buzzard Point.
Crews believe a man fell from the dock into the water.
By 10:30 p.m., crews were able to pull the man out of the water.
Paramedics took him to the hospital in critical condition.
What we don’t know:
Officials did not identify the man who was rescued. No other information was immediately available.
The Source: Information in this story is from the D.C. Fire and EMS Department.
Washington, D.C
DC’s baseball team faces potential DOJ probe after exec allegedly admitted to religious discrimination
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FIRST ON FOX — Washington, D.C.’s professional baseball franchise could come under Justice Department scrutiny after a viral video showed a team executive appearing to admit to his religious discrimination against a Christian player.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., is urging Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon to investigate alleged religious discrimination against players for the Washington Nationals, according to a letter sent Thursday to and first obtained by Fox News Digital.
The letter comes after Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe published a secretly recorded video of Washington Nationals Director of Community Relations Sean Hudson saying the team does not include pitcher Trevor Williams in certain social media promotion.
He cited the player’s public criticism of another Major League Baseball franchise for hosting a drag group mocking Catholics.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., is urging the Department of Justice to investigate alleged religious discrimination within the Washington Nationals organization and across Major League Baseball. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
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“According to the reporting by James O’Keefe, it appears the Washington Nationals are engaged in unlawful religious discrimination,” Boebert told Fox News Digital in a written statement. “I urge the DOJ to take immediate and decisive action.”
A spokesperson for the Justice Department said they received Boebert’s letter.
“The Department is reviewing the matter and will evaluate all appropriate next steps. As always, we remain committed to enforcing federal law and protecting civil rights,” they told Fox News Digital.
A spokesperson for the Washington Nationals did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hudson, in the clandestine recording, pointed to Williams’ public objections to the Los Angeles Dodgers honoring the Sisterhood of Perpetual Indulgence — a drag group that dresses as nuns — during the team’s 2023 “Pride Night.
The event also drew condemnation from multiple Catholic bishops, who described it as “blasphemous.”
Trevor Williams of the Washington Nationals sits in the dugout before a game against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, Wash., on May 28, 2025. (Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)
Williams said he found the group’s anti-Catholic demonstration featuring vulgar caricatures of the crucifixion and sacred rituals to be “deeply offensive,” in an interview with Bishop Robert Barron last year. The professional baseball player said he made the decision with his wife to speak out even though it would put “a target on our back.”
“Baseball stadiums should be a place where everyone feels welcomed, like 100%,” Williams said in the interview. “We should all feel welcomed there. But that was clearly against one certain religion. If you don’t draw the line in the sand, who’s gonna do it?”
According to Hudson, that public criticism of the drag group’s performance later affected Williams’ opportunities at the Nationals franchise.
“Because of that we don’t use him on social [media],” Hudson told an undercover journalist in the video. “When they’re like ‘is a hot dog a sandwich’ and the players come up, we don’t ask him.”
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Boebert said she is concerned that Hudson’s admission could mean the franchise violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on religion and other protected classes.
“Americans of faith should not face professional repercussions for objecting to the mockery of their sacred traditions,” the Colorado Republican said in the letter. “MLB’s privileged legal position should not become a license for exclusionary practices.”
“Sister Unity” and “Sister Dominia” of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence were honored on Pride Night before the MLB game between the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on June 16, 2023. (Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire)
Hudson, in the video, described himself as “far-left leaning” and nonreligious. Meanwhile, he called Williams “super Catholic.”
The Washington Nationals executive also boasted about a Communist Party poster in his office and mused about pushing redistribution of wealth and other leftist agendas during baseball games at Nationals Park in Southeast Washington, D.C.
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“What a cool opportunity for us [Nationals] to also, be a little bit of like, the voice of reason,” Hudson said. “And a lot of people will tell you when I come to a baseball game, I don’t want to think about that s–t.”
“If you’re a sports fan and we piss you off, where else are you gonna go,” he went on. “I don’t give a sh–t.”
Washington, D.C
‘Gateway to our city’: $465M grant to renovate Union Station
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced Thursday hundreds of millions of dollars to help with what he says are critical structural repairs and upgrades for D.C.’s Union Station.
“It was built in 1908, over a hundred years ago, and it was the largest train station in the world when it was built,” Duffy said. “And over the course of decades, it’s become run-down,” Duffy said.
A $465 million grant aims to ensure the overall experience for those coming and going remains up to par and on track at the transit hub. It will help fast-track repairs like roof upgrades and passenger concourses, Duffy said.
The project includes the Amtrak lounge and the ticket experience.
For some travelers, alternatives to fast food are a must.
Retail, parking and office spaces will be priorities of the project to maximize the station’s revenue, as will public safety.
Already, Columbus Fountain is flowing again after being broken and dry for almost two decades.
“Now when you come out of Union Station, the gateway to our city, you’ll be met with a fountain that is beautiful and a fountain that actually works,” Duffy said.
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