Washington, D.C

‘We are bracing for impact’: Federal funding cuts slash supplies at DC-area food banks – WTOP News

Published

10 months ago

May 2, 2025

‘We are bracing for impact’: Federal funding cuts slash supplies at DC-area food banks – WTOP News

Some D.C.-area food banks are in a bind as President Donald Trump’s administration has made major cuts to programs providing them federal aid while demand for food banks has simultaneously soared.

Some D.C.-area food banks are in a bind as President Donald Trump’s administration has made major cuts to programs providing them federal aid, while demand for food banks has simultaneously soared.

At a food bank and pantry in McLean, Virginia, Food for Others Executive Director Deb Haynes told WTOP they’re feeling the effects of cuts made in March as inflation drives up the cost of replacing the canceled supply deliveries.

“We are expecting to probably have to feed more people with less food or with more expensive food,” Haynes said.

In March, the Trump administration cut $1 billion from federal programs aimed at getting American-grown food to people who are having trouble affording groceries.

Haynes said they’re still crunching the numbers on how supplies will be impacted by $500 million in cuts to the Department of Agriculture’s Emergency Food Assistance Program.

“It’s possibly going to cut how much of that food we receive by 50% to 100%. We don’t have hard numbers yet,” Haynes said. “We don’t know if the cuts are going to be spread out evenly over the country.”

Through that program, which is sometimes abbreviated as TEFAP, the USDA buys nutritious food and gets it into the hands of state’s distributing agencies.

“We are bracing for impact here,” Haynes said. “About 20% of the food that we distribute is through that program. We feed, at peak, about 4,500 families in a month with that food.”

Haynes said she estimates they’ll need about $1.5 million to replace the food from TEFAP.

In the case of the D.C. area, food from TEFAP is distributed by the Capital Area Food Bank. That organization was expecting to get food from 55 tractor-trailers from April through June.

Back in March, Capital Area Food Bank President and CEO Radha Muthiah said the organization found out it would only receive half those supplies.

Another $500 million was cut from the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement. Through that initiative, states were provided funding to buy crops grown by U.S. farmers and processed in the country. It was distributed to organizations such as the Capital Area Food Bank at no cost, and given out to people in need.

That program is not being renewed.

“We can no longer count on funding from USDA that we would use to purchase hundreds and thousands of pounds of good, nutritious food from local area farmers for our community members in need,” Muthiah said.

Food banks are also keeping an eye on the Farm Bill — legislation that’s being debated in Congress that would fund food benefits for low-income families. Haynes said there’s concern cuts could be made to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as SNAP.

“The more SNAP is cut, the less buying power families have to bring home groceries for their children and themselves,” Haynes said. “And if those school meals (get) cut, that’s a radical impact on children’s nutrition.”

Countering the loss in supplies

With hopes of countering the loss in funding, Haynes said Food for Others is boosting its food drives and looking to expand its program where it buys food that would otherwise go to waste at area grocery stores.

“We’re also looking at running different scenarios of where can we purchase food, how much it would cost, talking to our vendors, trying to get some estimates and be prepared, so that if we get hit with a big wave of need, that we’re prepared to bring in the food to meet it,” Haynes said.

The Capital Area Food Bank is working to make up for some of the lost meals for its local partners such as Food for Others.

“What we’re doing is pivoting to the other two sources of food that we rely on, and that’s donated food from area retailers, wholesalers, food drives, as well as purchased food,” Muthiah said.

Muthiah said it can be difficult to get more donated food quickly.

“We are having to purchase more food than we thought we might have to do at this stage of our year, and that we can only do with the generosity of our community to be able to help us,” she said.

The strain on supplies comes as several factors put pressure on food banks. Energy prices have made it costly to transport food, and should tariffs go into place, premiums on aluminum could make canned goods more expensive.

“Our dry goods vendors started raising prices even before the tariffs went into place,” Haynes said.

Inflation is making it more expensive to buy the food itself, which has driven more people to reach out for support. Haynes said Food for Others’ emergency referral program is up 25% compared to this time in 2024.

“We’re watching that very closely, and we’re shifting some of the incoming food to make sure that we’re meeting the need in that program, because those are families in crisis that do not have food,” Haynes said.

In the case of Food For Others, high grocery prices could be behind its dip in donations and spike in visitors.

Tens of thousands of federal workers have lost their employment, and as they run through their savings, local food banks expect to see a surge in visitors. Those layoffs have ripple effects — for example, people who work in the service industry may lose gigs as former federal workers cut back on paying for services like getting their homes cleaned.

“It’s an interesting perfect storm that’s developing with a reduction in supply, at the very same time, when we’re seeing more people in need of help from us,” Muthiah said.

“We met the challenge of COVID, and we will meet this challenge as well,” Haynes said. “That is in large part because everybody understands that everyone needs healthy food, and so we’re confident that we can meet the need and that our community will rally around us and help us do that.”

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Washington, D.C

Lime updates subscription service for frequent riders in DC – WTOP News

Published

11 hours ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

Lime updates subscription service for frequent riders in DC – WTOP News

Lime, the company behind those bright green scooters and bikes you may often see zooming around D.C. or lying on the sidewalk, is updating its monthly subscription service, aimed at making rides more affordable for its frequent users.

In a news release Tuesday, Lime said its monthly subscription that starts at $5.99/month for D.C. riders will also introduce flat-rate pricing of $2.50 for rides up to 20 minutes and $1.25 for rides under five minutes.

Every ride will be subject to a flat rate, instead of a per-minute cost. Subscribed members also get unlimited free unlocking and discounted flat-rate pricing for trips under five minutes.

Devin Rote, the global integrated marketing lead at Lime, told WTOP the goal with the update is “to make the choice to utilize micro-mobility and more sustainable travel options easier for users across the D.C. region.”

Rote said as we enter the spring season, Lime sees an increase in trips as the city also sees a rise in tourism.

“Especially through cherry blossom season, Nationals baseball season, and everything that a great, warm weather season brings here in the D.C. region. For us, really, this is the start of busy season,” he said.

There are over 7,000 of the dockless e-bikes and scooters around D.C. They go up to 18 mph — down from 20 mph in November — and users must be at least 18 to ride.

WTOP’s John Wordock contributed to this report.

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Washington, D.C

A Virginia boater is suing a DC utility for the Potomac River sewage spill

Published

23 hours ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

A Virginia boater is suing a DC utility for the Potomac River sewage spill

A Virginia boater is suing a Washington water utility for negligence in the collapse of a pipe that leaked millions of gallons of raw sewage into the Potomac River.

The class action lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland, comes weeks after a January sewage pipe collapse, shooting wastewater out of the ground and into the river in an area just north of Washington, D.C. The spill is seen as a serious environmental blight and became the focus of political bickering between President Donald Trump and Democratic-led Maryland, where the leak occurred.

Dr. Nicholas Lailas, M.D., the plaintiff, is a Virginia resident and recreational boat user on the Potomac who is seeking compensation for people “whose property interests in and use and enjoyment of the Potomac River … have been impaired by Defendant’s conduct.”

The lawsuit alleges that it was DC Water’s responsibility as the owner and operator of the ruptured pipe, known as the Potomac Interceptor, to maintain it in a “reasonably safe condition and to prevent foreseeable harm to persons and property.”

The lawsuit said that preliminary data indicate that there are thousands of people who own property or vessels in the affected parts of the Potomac.

Andrew Levetown, an attorney for the plaintiff, said in an interview Monday that it will take time to get the full breadth of the class, with business owners, property owners and recreational users all having interest in the potential damages caused by the Jan. 19 collapse and leak.

“You’re going to have businesses who lose business because instead of sitting next to the Potomac, their clients are sitting next to the open sewer,” he said.

The suit did not specify a damage amount. DC Water spokesperson John Lisle said in a statement that the collapse of the Potomac Interceptor was “a serious and unexpected event, and our teams remain focused on the response, environmental protection, and restoration efforts. Because this matter is currently subject to ongoing litigation, it would not be appropriate for us to comment further at this time.”

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser declared an emergency Feb. 18 and requested that President Donald Trump provide federal resources to help the city fight the leak that dumped 250 million gallons of raw sewage into the Potomac River in its early stages. The president approved the emergency assistance days later to help the city address the emergency.

DC Water gave its most detailed assessment yet of why the Potomac River sewage spill occurred and what it will take to fix it. News4’s Mark Segraves reports.

DC Water said it knew the pipe, first installed in the 1960s, was deteriorating, and rehabilitation work on a section about a quarter-mile (400 meters) from the break began in September and was recently completed. The pipe that ruptured was scheduled for repair this summer.

DC Water’s updates say the emergency repairs are beyond the halfway point and there are no flows into the river.

At a public briefing last week, officials with the utility said they were assessing the cause of the rupture, including whether the way the pipeline was initially constructed contributed to the emergency. David Gadis, the CEO of DC Water, said at that briefing that while it was too early to say definitively, “we are seeing indication that this incident may have been highly unusual.”

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Washington, D.C

Route for Freedom 250 Grand Prix in DC debuted at the National Mall

Published

1 day ago

March 9, 2026

Press Room

Route for Freedom 250 Grand Prix in DC debuted at the National Mall

WASHINGTON — Get ready to start your engines, DC.

Officials unveiled the 1.66-mile circuit route Monday, where race cars will be zooming around the National Mall in August for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix in celebration of America’s birthday.

The seven‑turn layout features views of the Washington Monument, US Capitol, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, and part of Pennsylvania Avenue, IndyCar announced.

“This was a team effort,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said. “It’s Penske, it’s FOX, it’s the mayor, it’s Interior, it’s everybody else joining together not to make a profit, not to get your name out there but to say, let’s celebrate America.”

“Let’s celebrate America’s birthday.”

The first-ever street race around the National Mall will take place from Aug. 22-23, with the course itself set to be built up during the summer.

Drivers will also blast past the National Archives, the National Gallery of Art, and the Hirshhorn Museum, with a pit lane on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Officials debuted a red, white, and blue “Freedom 250 Grand Prix IndyCar” design Monday to honor the upcoming 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

“We want people to plan their trips to D.C. now,” DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said. “Come for the Freedom 250, and then stay to enjoy our monuments and museums, our beautiful parks, world-class restaurants and hotels, and all the culture and entertainment that make us the best city in the world.”

President Trump took executive action back in January, tasking Duffy and Secretary of the Interior Sean Duffy to coordinate with Bowser on planning the feted event.

“The story of America is one of vision, courage, perseverance – and speed,” Monica Crowley, Trump’s representative for America’s 250th, said in a statement.

“Presidents Washington and Jefferson marked notable celebrations with spirited horse races; the Freedom 250 race will bring that historic tradition into the 21st century and renew a tremendous sense of patriotic pride.”

Trump’s team is eyeing other major sports events to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, including a UFC fight at the White House. The US is also co-hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup over the summer.

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