Washington, D.C
Washington, DC’s Renowned Astronaut, Col. Frederick D. Gregory
Frederick Drew Gregory, is the first astronaut born, reared, and educated in the nation’s capital, Washington, DC, which is also home to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. He is a veteran of three space shuttle missions and the first African American to pilot and command a mission in space. He is also the first African American to rise to the second-highest NASA leadership position, Deputy Administrator.
Gregory’s story is generationally entwined with the history of the District of Columbia (DC). In an era of profound racism and segregation, Gregory’s family were respected members of Washington’s influential Black community. When he was born in 1941, members of his family already were making history, and Gregory followed suit in his own time.
NASA portrait of Frederick Gregory.
Gregory’s uncle, Dr. Charles R. Drew, became famous for his medical research and innovation during World War II. His father, Francis Anderson Gregory, was locally prominent as assistant superintendent of DC Public Schools for many years and served as the first Black president of the Public Library’s Board of Trustees; the branch library in the Fort Davis neighborhood where the Gregory family lived is named in his honor. His mother, Nora Drew Gregory, a graduate of Dunbar High School, had a thirty-year career as a teacher in Washington’s elementary schools and led the library board after her husband. Her niece—Gregory’s cousin—Charlene Drew Jarvis served on the DC Council for more than two decades.
Gregory remembers his father taking him to Andrews Air Force Base for air shows and car races when he was a child; that was his earliest exposure to aviation. He also knew several Tuskegee Airmen who were friends of his father and often visited the Gregory’s home, when he was too young to understand their historical significance but enjoyed their tales of flying. As a teenager, he made the connection between flying and the military and decided he wanted to be an aeronautical engineer and military aviator.
Gregory’s life became illustrious after he graduated from Anacostia High School—Washington’s schools were not yet integrated, but Gregory was active in an integrated Boy Scout troop. Nominated by civil rights activist and member of Congress Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Gregory attended the United States Air Force Academy, where he was the only Black cadet in his class and one of very few African Americans at the academy. He graduated with distinction and a degree in military engineering in 1964 and was commissioned as an officer into the Air Force.
When Gregory joined the Air Force, he first flew helicopters and then fighter aircraft, including the F-4 Phantom. He served in Vietnam, where he flew 550 combat rescue missions, and returned to enter the Naval Test Pilot School in Patuxent, Maryland. While serving as an engineering and research test pilot for both the Air Force and NASA, he earned a master’s degree in information systems from George Washington University, in his hometown. During his career, he logged 7,000 hours in more than 50 aircraft.
In 1978, NASA introduced Gregory as a pilot among the first new astronauts—the “TFNG” or “thirty-five new guys”—selected for the space shuttle era. His astronaut class included two more African Americans, scientists Guion Bluford and Ronald McNair; the three soon became NASA’s first African American astronauts to go to space. Among his other classmates were the first six women selected to join the astronaut corps and the first Asian American in space. The group received extraordinary media attention as NASA’s first examples of a more diverse astronaut corps. Jet and Ebony magazines featured the African Americans with pride.
Ronald McNair, Guy Bluford, and Fred Gregory, three of NASA’s first Black astronauts from the 1978 astronaut class. March 1978 cover of Jet Magazine featuring McNair, Bluford, and Gregory.
Gregory flew on three space shuttle missions. The first, in 1985, was STS 51-B, a Spacelab science mission on Challenger, for which he was the pilot, the first African American in that role. He flew again in 1989, this time as commander of STS-33 on Discovery, for a classified Department of Defense mission. On this mission, Gregory became the first African American to command a spaceflight. His next mission as commander, STS-44 in 1991 on Atlantis, was also for the Department of Defense. Gregory claims he was so focused on his missions that he never really thought about being the first Black pilot or commander, but other people made it a mark of distinction.
After his last flight, Gregory transferred to NASA Headquarters in Washington to serve as Associate Administrator for the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance and then as Associate Administrator for the Office of Space Flight. In 2002, he became NASA’s Deputy Administrator, second in command to the Administrator during the difficult time of the 2003 Columbia tragedy and its aftermath. Once again, he was the first African American in the agency’s senior leadership, a position he held until 2005. He also served briefly as acting NASA Administrator in early 2005, after Sean O’Keefe left and before Mike Griffin was sworn in. His NASA career was equally balanced between years in Texas and back home in Washington, DC.
Gregory has received many military and NASA medals and awards, as well as education and civic honors. Like his father’s legacy was honored with a named library, Gregory has been honored with a building bearing his name, Gregory Hall at the U.S. Air Force Academy.
After he logged 455 hours in space, spent his military career in Vietnam and around the country and his active astronaut years in Texas, Gregory came home to Washington for his final stint at NASA and his retirement. This renowned Washingtonian remains active as a speaker, advisor, and consultant.
Washington, D.C
‘My nightmare’; Kentucky woman sues DC to access OUC’s 911 calls in son’s sudden death
WASHINGTON (7News) — A grieving mother from Kentucky is suing Washington, D.C., to uncover the truth about her son’s sudden death.
Was it preventable? Did 911 operators make a mistake?
Those are the questions she’s desperate to answer, but her attempt to access the city’s emergency calls has been denied.
“It’s a struggle to keep moving forward and be a part of the world,” Stephanie Clemans, holding back tears, said during a Tuesday press conference.
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William Ostertag, known by friends and family as Will, was 28 when he was working in his apartment’s gym on November 3, 2024. He lived at the Allegro Apartments in Columbia Heights in Northwest, D.C.
Suddenly, he went into cardiac arrest and collapsed.
“I’m his mom, and I wasn’t there, and I want to know what happened,” Clemans said.
What she does know is that Will lived right next door to a D.C. Fire and EMS firehouse where paramedics could’ve come to his aid almost immediately.
Yet, according to the lawsuit below, it took them nine minutes.
By then, it was too late. Will had already lost oxygen to his brain and died 11 days later.
“My son was living, making plans, and successfully navigating adulthood. I am so completely proud of him,” Clemans said.
So what happened in those critical moments before his death?
Well, Clemans obtained a written timeline from the 911 dispatch system that shows dispatchers misclassified the original response as a “seizure”, sending an ambulance not equipped with the drugs on board that Will needed for a cardiac arrest.
But the Office of Unified Communications (OUC) has denied her requests for the 911 calls, falling back on their policy of only releasing 911 audio to the original caller.
“My nightmare is that my vibrant, very much alive son died, and people with power are saying to me that I do not have the right to hear what was happening as he lay on the ground,” Clemans said.
Kevin Bell, her lawyer and a partner at the Freedom Information Group, says her Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request appeal was also denied by Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Office of Legal Counsel. A decision, he urges them to reconsider.
“I believe, looking at this case, that this is a pretext to attempt to avoid producing records, which are potentially embarrassing to the department and which would provide information that might reflect negatively on the performance of their statutory duties… I believe that this is an instance where government can do the right thing. They can release the information that’s been requested.”
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Will grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, and had a little brother.
He lived in D.C. for three years, working for the federal government. He’d just applied for several MBA programs. He lived a full life, suddenly cut short, with a mom determined to get answers about his death.
“This audio recording will help me understand the end of my son‘s life, and it is necessary for me to have it,” Clemans said.
Clemans is scheduled to testify as a public witness in Wednesday’s D.C. Council Performance Oversight Hearing on OUC virtually at 9:30 a.m.
7News reached out to OUC and the Mayor’s Office for a comment on the lawsuit ahead of Cleman’s testimony.
As of this report, we have not heard back.
RELATED | ‘It’s nothing new’; DC firefighters rerouted twice after OUC dispatch errors
WASHINGTON (7News) — D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton announced Tuesday she will retire at the end of her current term, ending more than three decades representing the District.
Norton, a Democrat, has served as D.C.’s delegate since 1991.
In a statement, she said she is stepping aside to make room for the next generation of leaders while continuing to serve through the remainder of her term.
“I’ve had the privilege of representing the District of Columbia in Congress since 1991. Time and again, D.C. residents entrusted me to fight for them at the federal level, and I have not yielded,” Norton said. “With fire in my soul and the facts on my side, I have raised hell about the injustice of denying 700,000 taxpaying Americans the same rights given to residents of the states for 33 years.
RELATED | DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton ends re-election campaign
Norton is known for her long-standing fight for D.C. statehood and equal rights for District residents.
Although she will not seek reelection, Norton said she plans to remain active in advocating for D.C. after leaving office.
“The privilege of public service is inseparable from the responsibility to recognize when it’s time to lift up the next generation of leaders. For D.C., that time has come. With pride in all we have accomplished together, with the deepest gratitude to the people of D.C., and with great confidence in the next generation, I announced today that I will retire at the end of this term.”
Before Congress, Norton said she helped plan the 1963 March on Washington, served as chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, argued cases before the Supreme Court and taught law at Georgetown University.
“Thank you to my constituents for choosing and trusting me to fight for you in Congress 18 times,” Norton said. “I will leave this institution knowing that I have given you everything I have. And while my service in Congress is ending, my advocacy for your rights, your dignity, and your capacity to govern yourselves is not.”
Washington, D.C
DC Water continues efforts to contain sewage, environmental group calls pipeline break ‘a catastrophe’ – WTOP News
Crews with D.C. Water are continuing to try to divert millions of gallons of sewage and wastewater from the Potomac River after the failure of a 6-foot sewer line Jan. 19.
Crews with D.C. Water are continuing to try to divert millions of gallons of sewage and wastewater from the Potomac River after the failure of a 6-foot sewer line last week.
The collapse of the pipe, called the Potomac Interceptor, which carries up to 40 million gallons of sewage and wastewater each day, led to crews establishing a workaround involving the installation of pumps and diversion of the waste into the C&O Canal, according to Sherry Lewis, spokesperson for D.C. Water.
The break occurred in a portion of the interceptor near the Interstate 495 interchange and the Clara Barton Parkway near the C&O Canal National Historical Park.
“This is a dry section of the canal that is contained,” Lewis explained.
She said the wastewater is being channeled downstream from the break, and back into the Potomac Interceptor.
By Monday, the crews were able to make significant progress in redirecting the flow of the wastewater, Lewis said.
“There is some residual wastewater in that area that needs to drain,” she added.
Lewis clarified that D.C.’s drinking water is not affected by the millions of gallons of untreated wastewater that were released by the collapse of the Interceptor.
“The drinking water is safe. There is no impact to it from this overflow,” she said. “The primary intake for the Washington Aqueduct’s drinking water supply is in Great Falls, so it is not anywhere close to where this overflow occurred.”
Lewis said the timeline for how long it might be before the 72-inch pipe could be repaired hasn’t been determined.
“It’s not an overnight fix when you’re talking about a 72-inch, 6- foot-diameter sewer pipe,” she said.
While D.C. Water cited progress on stemming the sewage flow in frigid temperatures, Potomac Riverkeeper Dean Naujoks told WTOP, “We’re grateful that the flow has been reduced, but there’s still raw sewage that’s coming into the Potomac River.”
“If this happened in the summer, I can assure you the entire river would be closed for public access and there would be public health notifications,” he said.
The National Park Service and D.C. Water have posted signs in the area notifying passersby that raw sewage poses a contamination hazard.
A news release from the Potomac Riverkeeper Network showed what the group called a “catastrophic impact” on the health of the Potomac River. Testing by Naujoks’ group Friday showed the presence of E. coli at nearly 12,000 times the amount allowed for safe human contact.
“Infrastructure failure is at the root of this disaster,” Naujoks said in the news release. “The interceptor pipe … should have been better maintained in order to avoid this catastrophe.”
D.C. Water issued a statement saying it’s allocated $625 million in its Capital Improvement Program to rehabilitate the Potomac Interceptor over the next 10 years.
In the same statement, D.C. Water said it’s been working closely with federal, state and local partners, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Park Service, Washington Aqueduct, D.C.’s Department of Energy and the Environment and Maryland’s Department of the Environment, among others.
“Together, we are coordinating efforts to contain the overflow, monitor and assess environmental impacts, and keep the public informed,” the release said.
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