WASHINGTON – Daniel Gafford was glad to be back in his old stomping grounds on Thursday night. But he’s also glad to be in his new stomping grounds.
Gafford played for the Washington Wizards from 2021 until they traded him to the Dallas Mavericks last Feb. 8 for Richaun Holmes and draft compensation. And since his arrival with the Mavs, Gafford has been one of his team’s prime-time players who have contributed mightily to their success.
“It feels good just to be back,” Gafford said. “I felt like it was still the same for me.
“The guys said they missed me. I missed the guys as well. Like I said, this is all love being back in this building.”
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Gafford showed his old team what they missed as he collected 16 points, seven rebounds and two blocks Thursday night during the Mavs’ 137-101 win over the Wizards at Capital One Arena. He also was 6-of-9 from the field in just 19 minutes.
After the game, Garrod huddled up with some of the Wizards – a tradition he did after games when he played with the Wizards.
“It was just the usual prayer we used to always do when I was here,” Gafford said. “I, of course, love the guys that are here. Some of those guys were big factors of how I hold myself to that.
“They put a lot of motivation in me, they kept me going — and just the player that I am today — they were there for me 100 percent. They pushed me to just be the player that I am today.”
No offense to the Wizards, but Gafford was overly pleased they traded him to a Mavs’ squad that advanced to last season’s NBA Finals.
“It always feels great to be in a better situation, but I always remember the good days from the storm that I was in, and having those guys with me just helped me get through that storm,” he said. “It’s something that I’ll always cherish.”
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The Mavs have won 10 of their last 11 games and have a 15-8 record, while the Wizards are 2-18 and have lost 16 straight games. But Gafford believes the Wizards will eventually get things turned around in their favor – and he offered some sage advice.
“(They need) just a higher level of consistency, I would say, for the staff and to the players,” he said. “It takes that, it takes a lot of repetition, a lot of accountability throughout the organization just to kind of push each other just to be at the level that you want to be at.
“I know every single one of those guys over there who literally do that on a day-to-day basis. So, I know for a fact the ball is going to get rolling for them.”
MAVS HAVE ROUGH SCHEDULE: Mavs coach Jason Kidd was not complaining about his team’s schedule, but the Mavs have almost circled the NBA globe in recent weeks.
“The schedule is messed up,” Kidd said after Thursday’s game against the Washington Wizards. “It’s something that needs to be looked at if they want the competition to be fair. The schedule has been messed up since we’ve gone West to go East. Going to Denver to Miami to Atlanta, home for one, out to Utah and Portland on a back-to-back. And then back home for a Cup game, and then come here and then up to Toronto.
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“So, we’ve gone as far as you can go West (to Portland) and now we’re going to go as far as we can go East (to Toronto). We’re not going to complain about it. It is what it is, but it’s not fair if you want players to play. So, when guys sit out, they can’t complain when guys sit out when you have a schedule like this. But we’re going to play them, and guys are going to play, but they have to look at this because the schedule is not right right now for us to have to do this.”
WASHINGTON — A man accused of shooting two National Guard troops near the White House has been charged in a complaint with federal firearms charges in connection with the ambush on November 26 that fatally wounded one of the West Virginia National Guard members and seriously injured the second.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, has been charged with transporting a firearm in interstate commerce with the intent to commit an offense punishable for more than one year. He has also been charged federally with transporting a stolen firearm in interstate commerce.
“The transfer of this case from Superior Court to District Court ensures that we can undertake the serious, deliberate, and weighty analysis required to determine if the death penalty is appropriate here,” said U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro. “Sarah Beckstrom was just 20 years old when she was killed and her parents are now forced to endure the holiday season without their daughter. Andrew Wolfe, by the grace of God, survived but has a long road ahead in his recovery.”
Lakanwal remains charged with first-degree murder, assault with intent to kill and illegal possession of a firearm in the shooting that killed Beckstrom, 20, and wounded Wolfe, 24, in violation of D.C. code. Lakanwal, who was shot during the encounter, has pleaded not guilty to the D.C. charges.
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There is no death penalty in D.C. Superior Court.
Beckstrom and Wolfe were deployed with the West Virginia National Guard for President Donald Trump’s law-enforcement surge in the nation’s capital, which has flooded the city with federal agents and troops since August. Lakanwal is accused of driving from Bellingham, Washington to Washington, D.C. while in possession of a stolen firearm and ambushing the two Guard members outside a subway station three blocks from the White House.
An Afghan national, Laknawal worked with the American government, including the CIA, “as a member of a partner force” in Kandahar, Afghanistan, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said.
Lakanwal, 29, entered the United States in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, officials said. That Biden administration program evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the U.S. withdrawal from the country.
Lakanwal’s lawyer was not immediately available for comment.
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The video in the player above is from an earlier report.
Here’s an easy way to find yourself on the naughty list … a man in Seattle is in police custody after stealing a patrol car from a Washington State Patrol lieutenant … and only TMZ has video of the suspect shoving the cop to the ground and taking off in her car.
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We obtained footage showing a man casually crossing a busy Interstate-5 in Seattle when a WSP patrol car shows up … the guy stops in his tracks, paces around, then goes up to the driver side door and yanks the cop out of the car. He pushes her to the freeway pavement, then gets behind the wheel and speeds off.
That’s where our wild video ends, but the story doesn’t end there … because an intense police pursuit ensued … and it ended with WSP officers pinning the car and taking the guy into custody.
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Washington State Patrol Trooper Rick Johnson tells TMZ … the female lieutenant from the video was not injured and she will not be reprimanded for the incident.
This all started just before noon on Christmas Day … and we’re told the guy is now getting grilled by detectives. Sounds like he’s having a not-so-merry Christmas.
By Jake Goldstein-Street (Washington State Standard)
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Dec. 25, 2025 4:55 p.m.
A road is covered by floodwaters after heavy rains led to historic flooding in the region Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Burlington, Wash.
Lindsey Wasson / AP
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. declared a public health emergency Wednesday over this month’s flooding in Washington state.
The action from Kennedy, the head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is focused on helping meet the needs of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. As part of that, his agency is providing access to HHS emPOWER, which gives data on the number of Medicare enrollees reliant on medical equipment dependent on electricity and other health care services that could make them especially vulnerable to a disaster.
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The announcement could be a good sign for the state’s chances of getting a major disaster declaration from President Donald Trump to potentially open up tens of millions of dollars to deal with the flooding’s aftermath.
Gov. Bob Ferguson plans to ask for such a declaration in the coming weeks.
The flooding from heavy rain and overflowing rivers forced thousands of evacuations, breached multiple levees and damaged numerous highways. It still didn’t quite reach the levels some forecasts predicted. One person has been reported dead.
Kennedy’s order follows an emergency declaration from Trump that unlocked federal resources to respond to the storm.
John Knox, of the department’s Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, said in a statement that, “HHS stands ready to assist state and local response efforts in the state of Washington due to the potential health care impacts from severe storms.”
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Health and Human Services has also waived penalties for violating federal health privacy rules under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, for hospitals.
“With today’s declaration and waiver, HHS is helping ensure that residents in the storm’s path have continuous access to the care they need during and after this storm,” Knox said. “ASPR’s highly trained personnel are prepared to support state and local actions to save lives and protect the delivery of health care services.”
The federal Disaster Distress Helpline is also available for crisis counseling. The multilingual hotline, open 24 hours a day, can be reached via call or text at 1-800-985-5990.
The declaration is retroactive to Dec. 9.
A windstorm forecast to arrive in western Washington on Wednesday could exacerbate problems, as saturated soil from the recent rain could make trees and powerline poles especially susceptible to falling over. But the wind is now not expected to be as intense as predicted earlier this week.
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Meanwhile, Washington Attorney General Nick Brown filed a lawsuit with other states against Kennedy on Tuesday for his threats against gender-affirming care providers.
Brown called Kennedy’s move “as cruel and unnecessary as it is illegal, but consistent with an administration that puts politics above health.” It’s Washington’s 49th lawsuit against the federal government since Trump retook office in January.
Washington State Standard is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501(c)(3) public charity.
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player that I am today.”
