Washington
After DC apartment explosion, I-Team finds missed warning signs and no insurance
An explosion shook an entire apartment building in Northwest D.C. the morning of Sept. 20 and residents ran. It felt like an earthquake, one resident told the News4 I-Team.
D.C. Fire blames the explosion in Columbia Heights on a gas leak from a stove inside an apartment. The woman using that stove was sent to the hospital. No one else was hurt, but D.C.’s Department of Buildings said no one could live in the building at 1433 Columbia Road NW until repairs were made and 41 building code violations found after the explosion were fixed.
Following the explosion, D.C.’s Office of the Tenant Advocate, a city-funded office, snapped into action and spent more than $250,000 on emergency housing for the tenants. It’s money it would get back with liens on the building, but that’s a court process and the building already has been tied up in court for years. Additionally, the OTA supplied rental vans to help tenants move to new housing.
More than a month later, District-funded emergency housing for the residents has run out but needed repairs haven’t even begun, according to the city. The I-Team found it’s not the only obligation the building’s owners, Helenia and John Steininger, a mother and son, have ignored.
A lawsuit filed last year claims the Steiningers owe D.C. Water $81,019.33 in delinquent water bills. D.C. Water asked the court to appoint a receiver but kept the water on. Property tax records show the family owes $206,655.68 in property taxes. The records show they haven’t paid taxes in the past three years, possibly longer. A tax sale is pending.
Maybe most concerning, the property has no insurance to pay for repairs. Court records in the property tax case show Ms. Steininger and her son told the court they had no insurance on the building and according to court records, “repairs will be expensive.” There is no law in D.C. requiring landlords to have insurance.
The News4 I-Team called and emailed the owners and attorneys who represented them in the past. We didn’t get any response to our questions. A visit to Ms. Steininger’s Northwest D.C. home didn’t yield answers either. A caregiver for the elderly owner wouldn’t let our team speak with her and didn’t say when she could.
Minutes after our visit, the owner’s son emailed, not to answer our questions but referring us to an attorney who indicated she doesn’t represent them on these issues. Her son didn’t reply to our questions either.
Residents had described substandard conditions for years
The conditions are no surprise to Abel Núñez, executive director of the aid group Carecen. Núñez said the group has tried for years to help the tenants deal with the conditions and a landlord who they said didn’t insist on safe repairs.
“The conditions are horrible,” Núñez told the I-Team. “This is a place that you would consider being run by a slumlord. But it wasn’t that black and white because the owner wasn’t necessarily exploiting them, more than just allowing them to do what they would do.”
He explained tenants told him they were allowed to do illegal sublets and make their own repairs to the building. One tenant told us, “We were very worried because they don’t say nothing about the lights, about their repairs, because they don’t do nothing.”
The building was last inspected in 2018, when 30 violations were found. Online records don’t show if repairs were made. City law makes it the landlord’s responsibility to maintain a safe building.
Speaking last week, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters, “I am not sure what the viability of that building is at this point. It’s in really bad shape.”
As he was helping his aunt move out of the building, part-time resident Stanley Valencia told the I-Team he felt D.C. officials could have forced the owners to do more.
“They definitely should have done more,” he said.
Carecen’s Núñez said, “The city should create mechanisms to identify the owners, to either help them get right with the law and do what they need to do for their property or transition them out.”
Núñez told the I-Team, “They were willing to sacrifice good standard of living because they could afford to live in a neighborhood that they wanted to live.” In doing so, Núñez said, they sacrificed their own safety.
After the explosion, the D.C. Department of Buildings ordered the owners to submit a plan to fix the building and start repairs by mid-November. They still haven’t submitted a plan, let alone fixed anything.
DC’s Department of Buildings turned down an interview offer from the I-Team but explained “since day one … the District government has been working with residents. The Department of Buildings is ready to issue the permits to the landlord to do the necessary repairs and, until that happens, the building unfortunately must stay closed. In the interim, the District government is working with the tenants on removing their belongings if they desire and is also connecting them with community resources.”
The Department’s written statement didn’t say anything about the years before and it’s unclear if the residents, who were paying below-market rent, complained – seemingly trapped by low rent in a high-cost city.
“That is the tragedy,” Núñez told the I-Team, “because if they’re saying, ‘If I fight, but in the end, I win, but lose my apartment… I really lost.’”
Washington
North Dakota National Guard heading to Washington duty
BISMARCK — About 60 North Dakota Army National Guard Soldiers will be sent to help the District of Columbia National Guard under a joint task force starting in April.
Most soldiers are from the 131st Military Police Battalion, which is headquartered in Bismarck, according to a release.
The support will be given as part of the effort that began on Aug. 11, when several states activated members of their National Guard to support local and federal law enforcement in Washington under the President Donald Trump’s
executive order 14333,
which declared a crime emergency in the nation’s capital.
The support is a federal mission under the command of the D.C. National Guard, which supports civilian agencies and local law enforcement to reduce crime and minimize property damage.
“Safeguarding the citizens, federal workers and elected leaders in our nation’s capital is a matter of national security, and we appreciate these Soldiers volunteering for this important mission,” said North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong in a release. “We know they will represent our state with the skill and professionalism that military leaders everywhere have come to expect from the North Dakota National Guard.”
The battalion is expected to be in Washington for about three months.
Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.
Washington
Brothers shot Park Police officer who arrested one of them the day before, documents say
Charging documents reveal the U.S. Park Police officer who was shot Monday in Southeast D.C. had arrested one of the suspects the day before and was following that suspect at the time.
The suspects are brothers, 22-year-old Asheile Foster and 21-year-old Darren Foster, of Southeast. They appeared in federal court Wednesday afternoon.
Court documents state the Park Police officer who was shot had arrested Asheile Foster on Sunday on suspicion of dealing drugs. The officer said he followed Foster after he was released from jail on Monday and came to Park Police headquarters to get his personal belongings.
According to prosecutors, Foster told police he knew he was being followed by a white Tesla, and he confronted the officer on Queens Stroll Place SE, jumping out in front of the Tesla before the officer swerved around him.
Then, dozens of gunshots went off, the officer told police. He said in charging documents he was shot in the shoulder as he kept driving several blocks to the intersection of Benning Road and Southern Avenue SE, where police found him. A helicopter then took him to a hospital. According to charging documents, the officer was treated and released the same night as the shooting.
A U.S. Park Police officer who was shot in Southeast D.C. on Monday is recovering from what authorities say was likely a targeted attack. Multiple law enforcement sources tell News4’s Mark Segraves that when the officer was shot, he was investigating a shooting that occurred in Anacostia Park on Friday.
Photos in the charging documents show the brothers firing at the officer’s Tesla, according to prosecutors.
The shooting drew a massive police presence to the Southeast neighborhood near the D.C-Maryland border Monday night.
Shell casings littered the middle of the street. Police said they recovered two weapons: a Glock 9 with an extended magazine and an AR-15.
Prosecutors said that when the officer was shot, he was investigating a shooting that occurred in Anacostia Park on Friday. No one was injured in that shooting.
Darren Foster was located and stopped shortly after the shooting, D.C. police said. Asheile Foster was found on Tuesday.
The brothers were charged with assault on a federal officer, assault with intent to kill and weapons charges. They could face up to 60 years in prison if they’re convicted.
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Washington
Washington passes new AI laws to crack down on misinformation, protect minors
Washington just became the latest state to regulate artificial intelligence.
Under a pair of bills signed by Gov. Bob Ferguson Tuesday, companies like OpenAI and Anthropic will have to include new disclosures in their popular chatbots for Washington users.
Ferguson asked legislators to craft House Bill 1170 to crack down on AI-generated misinformation. When content is substantially modified using generative AI, that information will now have to be traceable using watermarks or metadata. The new law applies to large AI companies more than 1 million monthly subscribers.
“ I’m confident I’m not the only Washingtonian who often sees something on my phone and wondering to myself, ‘Is that AI or is it real?’ And I feel like I’m a reasonably discerning person,” Ferguson said during the bill signing. “It is virtually impossible these days.”
RELATED: WA Gov. Bob Ferguson calls for regulations on AI chatbot companions
House Bill 2225 establishes new guard rails for AI chatbots that act like friends or companions. It applies to services like ChatGPT and Claude, but excludes more narrowly tailored chatbots, like the customer service windows that pop up when visiting a corporate website.
Chatbots that fit the bill will have to disclose to users that they are not human at the start of every conversation, and every three hours in an ongoing chat. The tools will also be barred from pretending to be human in conversation with users.
The rules go further if the user is a minor. Companies that operate chatbots will have to disclose that the tools are not human every hour, rather than every three hours, if the user is under 18. The bill forbids AI companions from having sexually explicit conversations with underage users. It also bans “manipulative engagement techniques.” For example, a chatbot is not allowed to guilt or pressure a minor into staying in a conversation or keeping information from parents.
“AI has incredible potential to transform society,” Ferguson said. “At the same time, of course, there are risks that we must mitigate as a state, especially to young people. So I speak partly as a governor, but also as the father of teenage twins who grapple with this as a lot of parents do every single day.”
Under the law, AI chatbots will not be allowed to encourage or provide information on suicide or self-harm, including eating disorders. The companies behind these tools will be required to come up with a protocol for flagging conversations that reference self-harm and connecting users with mental health services.
The regulations come in the wake of several high-profile instances of teenage suicide following prolonged interactions with AI companions that showed warning signs. Many more AI users of all ages have reported mental health issues and psychosis after heavy use of the technology.
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