Washington

Over decade of Washington, D.C., protests, police scanned social media for 'disrupters' | StateScoop

Published

2 years ago

May 1, 2024

Over decade of Washington, D.C., protests, police scanned social media for 'disrupters' | StateScoop

Over the last ten years, the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., has used automated, online surveillance tools to monitor individuals’ social media activity during protected activities, such as protests, and even employed fake social media accounts, according to a report released Tuesday.

The report, which was a collaboration between the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law and the Data for Black Lives collective, shared the results of a 2020 Freedom of Information Act request that yielded more than 700,000 pages of internal documents from the Washington police department. The documents showed how MPD police used the online surveillance tools between 2014 and 2021, monitored social media activity, amassed user data and surveilled protest activity though online posts.

City documents acquired through the records request revealed that MPD employed a company called Dataminr, which is an official partner of the social media website X. Dataminr claims to use artificial intelligence to provide its clients real-time alerts about “high-impact events” by monitoring social media posts. According to the Brennan Center report, Dataminr provided MPD with 40 user licenses through a no-cost pilot project in January and February 2017. During that time, the documents showed, MPD used Dataminr software to search for terms such as “riots” and collected social media data surrounding events including Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration and the Women’s March.

Following the pilot, the documents show, MPD purchased seven annual Dataminr licenses at a cost of almost $48,000 using Homeland Security Grant Program funding. And in 2020, the police department renewed its partnership with Dataminr, this time purchasing 50 licenses. The District’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer, which handled procurement of the licenses, paid about $200,000 for the 50 licenses and provided 45 of them to the District’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency.

In an email dated May 29, 2020, OCTO’s then-chief data officer, Barney Krucoff, wrote that access to Dataminr “would be very handy” in the event that large-scale protests — like those in Minneapolis after George Floyd’s murder — were to occur in Washington, D.C.

Another vendor used by District police, called Voyager, claims it can run keyword searches on social media platforms and identify activists or “disrupters,” and then tap into their networks to glean information about their personal relationships and interests. The tool uses fake accounts to gain access to information that it uses to construct reports of users’ social media activity. That activity includes information about user posts and locations.

Ivey Dyson, counsel with the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program, told StateScoop that the project was inspired by work from the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, which in 2016 discovered through FOIA requests that state law enforcement agencies were monitoring social media activity. Dyson said the Brennan Center and Data for Black Lives submitted their own FOIA requests to several police departments for similar information, including in Baltimore, Boston, Los Angeles and New York City.

“Something that’s concerning about that is the fact that online relationships might not translate to in person relationships,” Dyson told StateScoop about Voyager’s technology. “And so while these might be accurate about online activity, it’s not really — if Voyager can do what it says it can do — online activity does not necessarily reflect real-life relationships. And so how useful that information is to law enforcement is questionable.”

Initially, MPD produced only a handful of documents, and in response, the Brennan Center and Data for Black Lives, represented pro bono by Ballard Spahr LLP, in March 2022 sued the city for the remainder of the documents, which included procurement records and emails exchanged among the department, the city’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer and several private software vendors that collect and analyze social media activity.

Dyson said the social media vendors used by the District police department, which purport to collect massive amounts of data, often do so against the social media platforms’ terms and conditions agreements. Last year, Meta — the parent company of Facebook and Instagram — sued Voyager for scraping user data with dummy accounts.

“These tools specifically are unable to understand context, and so what might be an innocent post could then get taken by law enforcement and interpreted into something that is seen as threatening. And this can result in real-life, human-police interactions,” Dyson said. “As we know, those interactions — specifically for communities of color — can be quite harmful, even deadly.”

Dyson said that to avoid chilling free speech and First Amendment-protected activities such as protesting, it’s important for law enforcement agencies to be transparent about their technology policies. That advisement is a key part of the Brennan Center’s social media use policies for law enforcement, a rubric of best practices that also takes into account the risks of automated social media monitoring software.

“I think what’s unique about Washington, D.C., is that it’s a place that hosts hundreds of protests every year,” Dyson said. “It’s a place where important decisions are being made that affect people nationwide. And so there should be strong protections in Washington, D.C., to prevent unwanted scrutiny of protected speech online.”

Neither the Metropolitan Police Department nor the Office of the Chief Technology Officer responded to requests for comment.

Editor’s note: Scoop News Group has previously consulted with Ballard Spahr’s Media and Entertainment Law practice.

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Washington

How the Sea Mar Museum Is Preserving Latino History in Washington

Published

8 hours ago

May 11, 2026

Press Room

How the Sea Mar Museum Is Preserving Latino History in Washington

On a quiet stretch of Des Moines Memorial Drive in South Seattle, the Sea Mar Museum of Chicano/a/Latino/a Culture rises like a long‑overdue acknowledgment. Its brick exterior doesn’t shout; it invites. Inside, the rooms hum with the stories of families who crossed borders, harvested fields, organized classrooms, and built communities across Washington state—often without seeing their histories reflected anywhere on a museum wall.

For Rogelio Riojas, founder and CEO of Sea Mar Community Health Centers, the museum is a promise kept. “We wanted to make sure the contributions of Latinos in Washington state are recognized and preserved for future generations,” he told The Seattle Times when the museum opened in 2019. It was a simple statement, but one that captured decades of work—both visible and invisible—by the region’s Latino communities.

Walking through the galleries feels like stepping into a living archive. One of the most arresting sights is a pair of original farmworker cabins, transported from Eastern Washington. Their narrow wooden frames and sparse interiors speak volumes about the migrant families who once slept inside after long days in the fields. The cabins are not replicas or artistic interpretations; they are the real thing, weathered by sun, dust, and time. They anchor the museum’s narrative in the physical realities of labor that shaped the state’s agricultural economy.

Sea Mar describes the museum as “dedicated to sharing the history, struggles, and successes of the Latino community in Washington state,” a mission that plays out in photographs, letters, student newspapers, and oral histories contributed by community members themselves. These aren’t artifacts chosen from afar—they’re family treasures, personal archives, and memories entrusted to the museum so they can live beyond the kitchen tables and shoeboxes where they were once kept.

The story extends beyond the museum walls. Just steps away is the Sea Mar Community Center, a sweeping, light‑filled gathering space designed for celebrations, performances, workshops, and community events. With room for nearly 500 people, a full stage, a movie‑theater‑sized screen, and a catering kitchen, the center was built with one purpose: to give the community a place to see itself, gather, and grow. Sea Mar describes it as “a welcoming space for families, organizations, and community groups to gather, celebrate, and learn,” and on any given weekend, it lives up to that promise.

Together, the museum and community center form a cultural campus—part historical archive, part living room for the region’s Latino communities. Students come to learn about the Chicano activists who reshaped the University of Washington in the late 1960s. Families come to see their own histories reflected in the exhibits. Visitors come to understand a story that has long been present in Washington, even if it wasn’t always visible.

The Sea Mar Museum is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., offering free admission to anyone who walks through its doors. For many, it’s more than a museum—it’s a recognition, a gathering place, and a testament to the people who helped shape the Pacific Northwest.

Preserving Latino History and Community Life in Washington was first published on Washington Latino News (WALN) and republished with permission.

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Washington

Mother’s Day Bunch at Lady Madison | Washington DC

Published

20 hours ago

May 10, 2026

Press Room

Mother’s Day Bunch at Lady Madison | Washington DC

Celebrate Mothers Day with à la carte brunch at Lady Madison featuring seafood, entrées, desserts, and premium beverage options.

Celebrate Mothers Day in sophisticated style at Lady Madison, located inside Le Méridien Washington, DC, The Madison. Join us on Sunday, May 10, 2026, from 12:003:00 PM for an elevated à la carte brunch experience in downtown Washington, DC.

Enjoy a refined selection of chef-driven brunch classics, fresh seafood, seasonal salads, and elegant entrées. Highlights include a Build Your Own Omelette, Crab Benedict with lime hollandaise, Chilled Seafood Trio, and signature mains such as Roasted Rack of Lamb, Cedar Plank Sea Bass, and Marinated New York Strip Loin.

End on a sweet note with classic desserts including Crème Brûlée Cheesecake, Fruit Tart, Strawberry Shortcake, and Passion Fruit Cake.

Enhance your experience with beverage offerings, including bottomless Mimosas and Bloody Marys for $30 with house selections. Piper-Heidsieck Champagne is also available by the glass for $16 or by the bottle for $49.

Reserve on OpenTable:
https://www.opentable.com/booking/experiences-availability?rid=1426987&restref=1426987&experienceId=695240&utm_source=external&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=shared

À La Carte Menu

Les ufs & Brunch
Egg White Frittata $24
spinach, tomato, mushrooms, green onion
Served with pommes de terre rissolées or seasonal fruit

Build Your Own Omelette $24
ham, smoked salmon, vegetables, cheeses (choose up to 3)
Served with pommes de terre rissolées or seasonal fruit

Crab Benedict $24
lime hollandaise, salsa cruda
Served with pommes de terre rissolées or seasonal fruit

Brioche French Toast $17
berry compote, whipped butter, maple syrup

Les Froids & Salades
Chilled Seafood Trio $28
Jonah crab claws, shrimp, cocktail sauce

Spring Berry Salad $17
brie, berries, champagne vinaigrette

Golden & Crimson Beet Salad $18
red wine vinaigrette
Add protein: shrimp, salmon, skirt steak +18 | chicken +16

Les Plats Principaux
Roasted Rack of Lamb $42
mint sauce, huckleberry reduction, sweet potato purée, asparagus

Cedar Plank Sea Bass $49
saffron rice, spring vegetables

New York Strip Loin $42
mushroom sauce, truffle croquette potatoes, haricots verts

Les Desserts $14
Crème Brûlée Cheesecake
Fruit Tart
Strawberry Shortcake
Passion Fruit Cake

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Washington

Storm Team4 Forecast: Beautiful Mother’s Day morning with chance of late showers

Published

1 day ago

May 10, 2026

Press Room

Storm Team4 Forecast: Beautiful Mother’s Day morning with chance of late showers

4 things to know about the weather:

Nice Mother’s Day morning
Shower chance late Sunday
Morning showers on Monday
Temperature drop to start the new workweek

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms! Mother Nature will give us nice conditions for most of the day on Sunday. Expect sunshine and mild conditions for the first half of the day, then a chance of showers near dinner time.

Monday includes a chance of rain, mainly in the morning, then cooler air settles into the area. Highs go from near 80°on Sund ay to the mid 60s Monday.

Download the NBC Washington app on iOS and Android to check the weather radar on the go.