Washington, D.C

Trump’s federal layoffs could mean bleak outlook for Washington DC

Published

1 year ago

February 20, 2025

Trump’s federal layoffs could mean bleak outlook for Washington DC

The Trump administration’s sweeping layoffs of federal employees already appear to be pushing up joblessness in Washington, D.C., and an economist projects they’ll tip the city into a recession this year.

The developments are rocking an area of the country that traditionally has served as a bastion of steady employment and economic stability through slowdowns or downturns that have roiled other parts of the country.

Nationally, layoffs have remained historically low and forecasters expect solid economic growth this year with little chance of recession.

In the week ending Feb. 15, 1,695 Washington, D.C., workers applied for unemployment insurance for the first time, up slightly from 1,682 the previous week and 619 during the comparable week a year ago, according to the Labor Department’s non-seasonally adjusted figures.

During the four weeks since Trump took office, 5,455 District of Columbia employees filed initial jobless claims – a reliable gauge of layoffs – up sharply from 2,014 in the same period in early 2024. It’s not clear what portion of those are government workers.

But nationally, excluding D.C., the number of Americans seeking jobless benefits through the first four weeks of both this year and in 2024 has totaled about 920,000 on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, highlighting an unusual surge in the district.

Last week, a seasonally adjusted 219,000 Americans across the U.S. filed initial claims, up from 214,000 the previous week and underscoring that, overall, layoffs remain low.

Do federal government employees get laid off?

So far, the Trump administration has fired more than 10,000 workers at the departments of Energy, Agriculture, Interior, Health and Human Services and Veterans Affairs as well as at the Internal Revenue Service and the Environmental Protection Agency, among other agencies.

The layoffs come on top of about 75,000 workers who have taken buyouts offered by Trump and White House aide Elon Musk, who have said they’re looking to slash government costs and improve efficiency.

Are all federal employees on probation getting fired?

Administration officials have indicated the cuts would include employees still in their probationary periods as well as others. About 220,000 government employees had less than a year of experience as of March 2024, according to the Office of Personnel Management.

The layoffs mark the beginning of “large-scale reductions” in the federal workforce, according to an executive order signed by Trump.

Ultimately, about 400,000 federal workers likely will lose their jobs over the next two years, or about 15% of the 2.4 million members of the federal workforce, estimates Adam Kamins, regional economist at Moody’s Analytics. Many of the targeted positions, he said, will be scattered across the country, slightly slowing growth nationally, but an outsized share – nearly 100,000 – will be in Washington. The nation’s capital is home to slightly less than a fifth of the federal workforce, according to Pew Research.

What is a recession in simple terms?

The job cuts are expected to push D.C. into a mild recession, or declining economic output, that lasts from the second quarter of this year to the third quarter of 2026, Kamins said. He predicts the city’s unemployment rate will rise from its current 5.5% to a peak of 6.5% in mid-2026 and its gross domestic product will contract for six straight quarters.

Nationally, forecasters expect the economy to grow a solid 2.2% this year and put recession odds at just 25%, according to those surveyed this month by Wolters Kluwer Blue Chip Economic Indicators.

“This is a very unusual situation for D.C.,” Kamins said. “It typically is one of the least” vulnerable cities to the ups and downs of economic cycles as a result of stable government jobs that don’t depend on the vagaries of consumer demand.

In fact, under normal circumstances, if Trump’s widening trade war with other countries were to cause a U.S. recession in the next year or two, Washington government jobs could have been viewed as landing spots for laid-off private-sector workers, Kamins said.

The projected 100,000 federal job cuts will also likely mean thousands more additional job losses as restaurants, retailers and other D.C. businesses that rely on sales to federal workers scale back, Kamins said. That could mean new strains for lower-income residents who work in those occupations. The district’s poverty rate was 14% in 2023, compared to 11.1% for the nation, according to Statista and the U.S. Census Bureau.

“A lot of folks are close to the poverty line,” Kamins said. “It’s just going to exacerbate their situation.”

As employees who work in D.C. but live in Virginia and Maryland receive layoff notices, many will likely reduce their spending, slowing growth in those states but stopping short of nudging the areas into a downturn, Kamins said.

How is the US job market right now?

Meanwhile, government workers who lose their jobs are expected to enter a cooling labor market with fewer opportunities. Many specialize in administration, project management or information technology and there are now relatively few private-sector openings in those fields, said Julia Pollak, chief economist of ZipRecruiter, a leading job search site.

“This will be very difficult for many of them,” she said.

Professional business services, a sprawling sector populated with 22.7 million lawyers, consultants, office managers and other white-collar workers, has shed 69,000 jobs over the past year, Labor Department figures show.

What career is most in demand right now?

At the same time, employers are struggling to find finance specialists, cybersecurity workers and administrative health care professionals, Pollak said. Federal workers in those fields, she said, could find plenty of job vacancies at higher wages.

Many federal employees will likely have to leave the region to find work, Kamins said, with some pivoting to new occupations. If a new administration seeks to restore the scuttled jobs in four years, it may be difficult to find employees, he said.

Pollak is more sanguine.

“There are many people who want to serve in the federal government,” she said.

Source link

Click to comment

Washington, D.C

Weekend weather in the DC Area: A little bit of everything

Published

3 hours ago

May 9, 2026

Press Room

Weekend weather in the DC Area: A little bit of everything

WASHINGTON (7News) — If you’ve got plans around D.C., Maryland, or Northern Virginia this weekend, you’ll want to stay flexible.

The forecast brings a mix of warm temperatures, sunshine, and a few rounds of showers and storms—especially Saturday and late Sunday.

Here’s a simple, hour-by-hour style breakdown so you can plan ahead.

Saturday: Warm Front, Clouds, and Spotty Storms

Morning (6 AM – 12 PM)

Mostly cloudy to start

A few early showers possible, especially toward the MD/PA border

Temperatures climbing through the 60s into the low 70s

What’s happening: A warm front is lifting north, bringing in milder air.

Afternoon (12 PM – 5 PM)

Highs reach the mid-70s

Clouds may break at times

Scattered showers and thunderstorms develop

Storm window: 2 PM – 7 PM

About a 50% chance of rain

Severe risk is low, but not zero

Possible:

Brief heavy downpours

Gusty winds

Maybe even small hail in isolated spots

Good news: Not everyone sees rain—but keep an eye on the sky.

Evening & Night (After 7 PM)

Storm chances linger early, then fade

Skies turn partly cloudy overnight

Lows drop to the mid-50s

Winds become light

Most of the night should be quiet and comfortable.

Sunday: The Pick of the Weekend

Morning

Dry and pleasant

A mix of sun and clouds early

Afternoon

Sunny and warmer

Highs in the low 80s

Light southwest breeze

This is your best outdoor day—great for parks, brunch, or yard work.

Sunday Night (After Midnight)

Clouds increase

Showers likely after midnight (70% chance)

Lows in the mid-50s

Winds shift from the north

Rain becomes more steady and widespread overnight

Looking Ahead (Late Sunday into Monday)

A cold front approaches from the northwest

Best chance for rain: Sunday night → Monday morning

Rainfall totals:

Generally 0.10″ to 0.25″

Locally higher in spots

Storms are possible, but:

Limited instability

Severe weather risk remains low

Weekend Planning Tips

Saturday:

Keep plans flexible—have a backup indoor option in the afternoon

Sunday:

Get outside early—it’s the best weather window

Sunday night:

Expect rain if you’re out late or traveling

The Big Picture

This weekend is part of a warming trend, with temperatures climbing from the 70s into the 80s. But with that warmth comes multiple chances for showers and storms, especially as weather fronts move through the region.

This weekend compared too next

Source link

Washington, D.C

Mom finds out daughter with autism was sexually abused at DC school week after it happened

Published

16 hours ago

May 8, 2026

Press Room

Mom finds out daughter with autism was sexually abused at DC school week after it happened

CONTENT WARNING: This story contains content that may be uncomfortable to some readers. Discretion is advised.

WASHINGTON (7News) — A mother said she learned her 13-year-old daughter was sexually abused in a D.C. school when a detective contacted her a week after it happened. She said the school never notified her.

7News sat down with the mother on Friday, while her daughter was being evaluated and interviewed by detectives. We’re not sharing the mom’s identity to protect her daughter.

ALSO READ | Virginia health officials monitor cruise ship passengers for deadly hantavirus symptoms

The mom said she got a call Sunday night, “regarding my daughter and a sexual assault that happened at school involving my daughter last Monday.”

However, it didn’t come from the place or people she said she counted on.

“I never got a phone call from the school, an email, a text, nothing to say,” said the mom. Nothing happened until a week later.

That’s when a detective called and told her what happened.

“She was forced to give oral sex to a student in school,” said the mom.

Her 13-year-old daughter is disabled, autistic, and has challenges communicating.

The mom said she was sending her daughter to school without knowing what happened.

“I noticed a little behavior, emotional changes,” said the mom. “When I got that call now, it makes sense to, you know, what you because of what she had experienced at school and to come home and she didn’t say anything or no one had called me and just like it breaks my heart.”

7News obtained a copy of the police report, which confirms the youth investigative branch is investigating what happened to her daughter as sexual abuse. It shows that a Kelly Miller Middle School social worker reported it to the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) last week.

“I just hope that I can be able to get her back on the right track. From all the trauma, on top of trauma,” said the mom. “To be able to grow and not have to hold that in the back of her head that she experienced in school, which should have been her safe place.”

7News started reaching out to DCPS just after 12:30 p.m. to ask if the students suspected of the abuse have been removed from the school, and why parents wouldn’t have been notified about the incident. They did not get back to us until after our first report aired. They did not answer either question. They provided the following statement.

A district spokesperson provided this statement:

At DC Public Schools (DCPS), student safety and wellbeing are paramount, and the district treats any allegation of sexual misconduct with the utmost seriousness. DCPS will continue to cooperate with law enforcement as this matter is investigated.

In accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and our obligation to maintain student confidentiality, we are unable to provide comment on individual student cases.

If you or someone you know is a victim of sexual assault or abuse, the National Sexual Assault Hotline can be accessed by calling 1-800-656-4673.

Source link

Washington, D.C

Canvas cyberattack leaves many DC-area school systems without service

Published

1 day ago

May 8, 2026

Press Room

Canvas cyberattack leaves many DC-area school systems without service

WASHINGTON – A cyberattack on the Canvas learning management system left thousands of schools and universities offline Thursday, disrupting access to grades, assignments, course materials and lecture videos as students prepared for finals.

The hacking group ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for the breach, according to the Associated Press. Instructure, the company behind Canvas, did not immediately respond to questions about whether the system was taken down as a precaution or knocked offline, the AP reported.

READ MORE: Canvas outage impacts thousands of schools, universities: Hacker group reportedly takes credit

The hacking group posted online that nearly 9,000 schools worldwide were affected, with billions of private messages and other records accessed. Many school systems and universities in the Washington, D.C. region rely on Canvas as their primary learning management system.

In Montgomery County, school officials said access to the platform will remain unavailable “out of an abundance of caution” while they work to understand the impact of the incident and any potential vulnerabilities. Families were urged not to log in until MCPS and the myMCPS Classroom vendor resolve the issue.

The University of Maryland said it does not yet know when Canvas will return to service.

Canvas Cyberattack DC-Area School Systems Affected

Montgomery County Public Schools

Canvas (myMCPS Classroom) owned by Instructure Inc., is used by the school district as its learning management system. Due to a reported global cybersecurity concern involving Canvas, and impacting numerous school systems, universities, corporations in Maryland, other states, and worldwide, thus access to myMCPS Classroom has been disabled.

Out of an abundance of caution, access to the system will remain unavailable while we work to better understand the full impact of the incident and any potential vulnerabilities involving information connected to the platform. Please do not attempt to log in to the platform until MCPS and the myMCPS Classroom (Canvas) vendor have resolved this problem.

At this time, appropriate MCPS technology and security staff are continuing to assess the situation and coordinate with the vendor. We understand this disruption is frustrating and appreciate your patience as this work continues.

myMCPS Classroom provides access to student information such as grades, assignments, attendance, and course materials, and is an important tool for students and families to monitor academic progress. Additional information on how students can access resources and functions in myMCPS Classroom will be provided as soon as possible.

Updates will be shared as soon as additional information becomes available.

University of Maryland

Canvas may appear to be up right now, but please to not use it. DIT Security is not confident the system is safe to use right now. Please check back here before using Canvas.

For our faculty who use Canvas, we have created this guidance, and we will continue adding resources tomorrow. Please stay in touch with your students as we adapt to this evolving situation.

Prince George’s County Schools

There has been a cybersecurity incident involving Canvas, our Learning Management System.

Instructure, the parent company of Canvas, notified us of a global cybersecurity incident affecting 275 million users across numerous educational institutions. We have been informed that PGCPS was one of the many impacted organizations. While personal information including names, emails and Student IDs was impacted, NO sensitive information, such as dates of birth, passwords, financial information, was involved. PGCPS does not store that type of sensitive information or parent information in Canvas.

We are using this as an opportunity to reinforce the importance of exercising caution when communicating by email and remaining vigilant regarding suspicious messages, spam, phishing attempts, or other potentially fraudulent communications.

We will continue to monitor the situation and remain in close communication with Instructure.

Anne Arundel County Public Schools

Due to the ongoing issues with the Canvas Learning Management System (LMS), AACPS will operate schools on Friday, May 8, 2026, without the use of the LMS. The Virtual Academy will also remain open with altered instructional delivery that will also not use the LMS. Further instructions will be communicated from the school principal. The latest information regarding the breach and the status of school district operations can be found at www.aacps.org/canvasbreach.

Prince William County Public Schools

We are aware of the error appearing when accessing Canvas and are actively working with the vendor to resolve it. The issue is not just impacting PWCS, and is widespread and national in scope. We will provide updates when the vendor has resolved the issue.

The Source: Information in this article comes from the Associated Press and previous FOX 5 reporting.

NewsConsumerMarylandWashington, D.C.Virginia

Source link