Washington, D.C
The Whitmires are going to Washington
This is an opinion column.
Sometimes, the universe winks.
From above me came a noise I had heard only in movies — a shrill high-pitched announcement alerting onlookers below that the show was on.
“Here I am!” it seemed to say.
It couldn’t be, could it? Here? Now? No, way! But then I looked up, and there it was.
“Is that a %#*ing eagle?” I said, hoping someone nearby would tell me I wasn’t the only one seeing this.
And not just any old eagle, but a bald eagle coasting on the wind high above the U.S. Capitol.
It was the first time in my life I had seen one. And that it should happen the first time in my life I set foot in that place seemed a little too on the nose. Perhaps I was still in my hotel bed and didn’t know it, sleeping through the hearing I was there to cover.
I tried to take a picture of the thing. I captured a tiny silhouette — enough to show folks back home I hadn’t made this up — and then it glided away.
Well, that was weird, I thought.
I went back to the business I was there for, but I never quite put that bird out of my mind. I’ve had a feeling ever since then I would be going back there someday to look for it.
As it turns out, someday will be early next year.
Recently, my wife accepted a job in D.C. We’re packing our things and tidying up our home for someone else to live in. The Whitmires are going to Washington.
This, however, is not goodbye.
Beginning in January, I’ll be what we’re calling the Washington watchdog columnist.
But I’ll be leaving the place I’ve called home since I was six months old.
Alabamian for life
Where are you from? In the South, that question means three things.
- Where were you born?
- Where did you grow up?
- Where do you live?
I was born in Georgia — a fact my mother reminded me of every time Alabama acted out in some embarrassing, national-news sort of way.
I grew up in Thomasville, Ala., where my family moved when I was three. It was two hours from the nearest movie-plex and a great place to do a lot of reading.
Nearly 30 years ago, I moved to Birmingham to attend a small college that sadly no longer exists. This city is where I met my wife. It’s where my children were born. It’s where I covered the mad foibles of a lunatic mayor and chronicled the once-largest municipal bankruptcy in the history of the United States. And it’s from here that I watched the poisonous politics of my home state seep into the national bloodstream.
Alabama has been good to me, although not so much for others. I’ll be sad to leave it.
Alabama has been and always will be my home.
Alabamafication of D.C.
There’s a great change happening in our nation — that thing I’ve nicknamed the Alabamafication of America. The epicenter of that shift, however, was never Montgomery, but Washington, D.C.
Hating on Washington has become a national pastime and a gimmick charlatans use to win public trust they never earned. What George Wallace started, long before I was born, now threatens our national character, our stability and our standing in the world. When a president-elect chooses a Fox News TV personality to lead the Defense Department, you know something has gone an Alabama sort of way. When Matt Gaetz could be our next attorney general or Tulsi Gabbard the director of national intelligence, the universe isn’t winking anymore. It’s pulling the fire alarm.
My wife and I made the decision to move to D.C. before we knew the outcome of the election, and since then, friends have asked if we were certain this was the right thing for us. I’ve never been more certain of anything.
If someone is going to cover the Alabamafication of America, who else but an Alabamian?
There, I will follow around Alabama’s elected officials, sit through their meetings, get my nose up in their business, and let folks back home know what they’re up to. What I once did at Birmingham City Hall, and then did for Alabama state lawmakers, I’ll do on Capitol Hill.
Alabama has prepared me for this as only she could. For that and so much more, I am grateful.
I’m excited to explore, examine and report back what I see there — not writing about Washington for Washington, but for Alabamians.
And just maybe, I’ll find that damn bird.
Washington, D.C
DC reaches settlement with man detained while protesting troops with Darth Vader song
The District of Columbia has reached a settlement agreement for an undisclosed amount of money with a resident who claims police illegally detained him for following an Ohio National Guard patrol while playing Darth Vader’s theme song from “Star Wars” on his phone — an act of protest against the Trump administration’s federal law-enforcement surge in the nation’s capital.
A court filing late Thursday says the plaintiff, Sam O’Hara, will drop his lawsuit’s claims against the District and four Metropolitan Police Department officers within three business days of receiving the settlement payment. The filing doesn’t specify a dollar amount for the deal between the district and O’Hara, who is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia.
In an email on Friday, an ACLU spokesperson referred to the settlement’s financial terms as “a significant amount” that O’Hara “is pleased with” but said they aren’t disclosing the dollar figure to protect his privacy. A spokesperson for D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb’s office declined to comment on the settlement.
O’Hara’s agreement with the district doesn’t resolve his related claims against an Ohio National Guard member. Attorneys for the Guard member, Sgt. Devon Beck, have asked a judge to dismiss O’Hara’s claims against him.
“He was there because that was his assigned duty,” Beck’s lawyers wrote. “This was not an accidental encounter or a one-time disagreement on a public sidewalk.”
An earlier court filing, in February, said O’Hara had reached a settlement agreement “in principle” with the district. In response, a judge agreed to suspend the case while they negotiated terms.
O’Hara sued the district last October, claiming police officers violated his First Amendment rights to free speech and his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable seizures and excessive force.
The ominous orchestral music of “The Imperial March” from Star Wars movies was the soundtrack for O’Hara’s peaceful protests against President Donald Trump’s ongoing deployment of Guard members in Washington. Millions of TikTok users have viewed O’Hara’s videos of his interactions with troops, according to his lawsuit.
A series of major events tied to the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations promise to bring big crowds and heightened security. On the News4 Rundown: That security is likely to include more National Guard troops as a new report says there’s a limit to their impact on safety in D.C.
O’Hara, an artist who works in the hospitality industry, says he didn’t interfere with the Guard troops during their Sept. 11, 2025, encounter on a public street. One of the troops summoned Metropolitan Police Department officers, who stopped O’Hara and kept him handcuffed for 15 to 20 minutes before releasing him without charges, according to the lawsuit.
“The law might have tolerated government conduct of this sort a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. But in the here and now, the First Amendment bars government officials from shutting down peaceful protests,” the suit says.
Trump, a Republican, issued an executive order declaring a crime emergency in Washington last August. Within weeks, hundreds of Guard troops and federal agents were helping police patrol the city. The surge inflamed tensions with residents of the heavily Democratic district. Hundreds of Guard members remain deployed in the district nearly a year later, with no clear end in sight.
The overhaul is the first in more than a decade and comes in response to feedback that it’s hard to find information on the current site without being efficient at using Google or other search tools.
The D.C. government’s website is getting a complete revamp, a step city leaders hope will make it easier for residents, visitors and business owners to access the help they need.
The District unveiled a beta version of the new DC.gov — beta.dc.gov — and plans to have the redesigned site ready to launch before the end of the year.
The website’s overhaul is the first in more than a decade. It comes in response to feedback that it’s hard to find information on the current site without being efficient at using Google or other search tools.
“This website, it’s really going to eliminate the alphabet soup that you have to remember every day,” said Stephen Miller, the District’s chief technology officer. “So, do you need to know that it’s DPW that’s picking up your trash, or you just need to know that it’s dc.gov?”
The site is built on Drupal 11, which the city said has stronger built-in security features. It includes an integrated calendar and sections for seasonal government services.
Popular searches, based on site traffic data, will also be featured prominently on the main page.
“It’s going to show you, here’s popular services today, based on being a resident, based on being a new resident, based on being a job seeker, based on being a business owner, or based on just being a general resident of the city,” Miller said.
The project cost about $500,000 in dedicated funds.
“We’re setting this up so that you can just go in, say, ‘My trash was missed,’ and it’s going to tell you exactly how to fix that problem,” Miller said.
D.C.’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer is collecting feedback. Residents can leave comments on the beta site and at events at Haynes Senior Wellness Center and Eastern Market, among others, in the coming weeks.
An artificial intelligence-powered search tool, built using Google’s AI technology, will be included on the new DC.gov site after its official launch.
The District, Miller said, is “trying to clean up our content, because what we want to make sure is when we put AI into this site, it’s giving you the right information.”
“We see a lot of future use with AI,” Miller said. “I’d love to get to a point where it’s, ‘Hey Siri, renew my driver’s license,’ and we’ve laid out the foundation for something like that to happen in the future.”
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A 16-day state fair is among the biggest attractions of the country’s 250th celebration in Washington DC. The Great American State Fair, which features attractions from each of the 50 states, runs from 25 June to 10 July across the National Mall from the US Capitol to the Washington Monument.
The BBC asked visitors why it was important for them to attend the fair.
Video by Meiying Wu
Produced by Madeline Gerber
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