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Pro-Palestinian encampment grows on George Washington University campus

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Pro-Palestinian encampment grows on George Washington University campus


The pro-Palestinian protest at George Washington University is showing no signs of letting up but has for the most part remained peaceful, unlike what’s been seen at other college campuses around the country.  

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The block of H Street between 20th and 21st streets, NW, remained blocked off by D.C. police Tuesday. It’s part of the large tent city on the campus of GWU that seems to be entrenched, for now.

“The fact that this is allowed to keep occurring is absolutely ridiculous,” said GWU student Sabrina Soffer.

The encampment at GWU is now on its sixth day.  Pro-Palestinian students from universities around the D.C. region are leading the protest, causing more than concern for some students of the Jewish faith.

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“It’s anti-Semitism,” Soffer told FOX 5. “The ideas have been thrifted but it has a shiny new fashionable outerwear and the fact that this is given the moral high ground — it’s exactly how it happened in Germany. In the Nazi era, anti-Semitism was intellectualized, it was moralized, it was legalized and then it was normalized and that’s what we’re seeing right now. There’s blatant anti-Semitism on our campus and it’s being normalized.”

 One of the student leaders of the protest is Jewish. She has a different take on the movement. 

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“Personally, I feel more safe being Jewish in here in this encampment than I do outside this encampment and the reason for that is because everyone here believes in collective liberation of the safety of all people are intertwined with each other and I know that as a Jew I’m included in that,” GW student Miriam said. 

Over 80 arrested at Virginia Tech during Israel-Hamas war protests; Youngkin supports university

The dozens of tents occupy the entire university yard in the heart of GW’s campus in Foggy Bottom. Barricades that had surrounded the perimeter late last week are now piled in a heap.

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“It’s important that we are still being disruptive to the University and disrupting business as usual because there cannot be business as usual during the genocide and we’re now up to 200 hundred days into a genocide and students are fed up,” Miriam said. 

But some of the recent protests on college campuses around the country have turned violent — Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond and Columbia University in New York among them.  

Students attending a nearby high school use the yard as a cut-through and are still doing so right now.

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“I walk to Western Market for lunch every day and I just walk through. It is very peaceful. Everyone’s very quiet and I think it’s kind of cool for me to see the movements and stuff happening downtown in this space,” high schooler Kai Hardy-Kanegis said. 

There have been calls from some in Congress for D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Police Chief Pamela Smith to clear the block of H Street that’s been claimed by the protestors and to assist GW in dismantling the encampment in its quad. But those calls appear to be falling on deaf ears.

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“I’m upset. I’m outraged,” Soffer said. “I mean the fact that the mayor isn’t allowing the police to intervene is absolutely ridiculous and I feel like every step that needs to be taken to get police presence there right now to remove this needs to be done.”



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The American story projected on the Washington Monument came from North Texas

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The American story projected on the Washington Monument came from North Texas


Steve Deitz walks with the energy of a coach; however, he does not hide that he and his team are digital nerds and storytellers who specialize in large-scale visual content and software development. More specifically, the 48-year-old makes a living creating the wow factor at his agency, “900lbs.”

“We started the company working for the Dallas Mavericks, telling large-scale visual content on the Jumbotron, and next thing you know, Activision, Blizzard calls,” he said. “We get to work in the Perot Museum on the biggest  exhibit in the museum, and then fast-forward another 12 years, and here we are now.”

His current project is wrapping up in the nation’s capital — sorta. Since Dec.31, projections of America’s story have been given to his agency.

“We’re telling the story of the 250-year birthday of America in the biggest way possible on the facade of the Washington Monument on all four sides,” Deitz said.

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He said they started testing out the results a couple of nights before New Year’s Eve. Scenes from Thomas Edison’s light bulb, the Empire State Building, the Model T Ford, and the Industrial Revolution, to name a few, are projected onto the Washington Monument.

Deitz gives his team a ton of credit from the moment he received the call about the project. He also thinks back to the times when he was an athlete who loved to draw in Merkel, Texas. The kid who dared to dream beyond the city limits and outside of the box. The CEO is giving advice to that child who may need a little inspiration.

“Hard work, perseverance, dedication, surround yourself with a team of brilliant people that are way smarter than you, and do the best you possibly can,” he said.

Deitz said there is a likelihood his team’s creations will return to the nation’s capital this year.

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Tracking crime in the DMV: Some areas see drop in violent crime, homicide

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Tracking crime in the DMV: Some areas see drop in violent crime, homicide


It is not the way any homicide squad wants to start an already busy new year.

Prince George’s County police Sunday were trying to figure out who was found dead in a car behind a strip center overnight and why. Police, who responded after a call about gun shots, told News4 they’re still searching for the most basic details.

It comes just a day after three people were shot and killed at a Temple Hills banquet hall early Saturday morning. Police told News4 that investigation is active and showing signs of promise.

But the busy start somewhat hides the bigger picture about crime in the area.

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Despite the tough start to 2026, homicide in Prince George’s County was down 40% in 2025 percent compared to 2024, and violent crime on a whole was down 19%, both through mid-December according to Prince George’s County police.

In D.C. is a similar story.

“Now we have no crime in Washington, DC. We have no killing,” said President Donald Trump Saturday during a news conference about action in Venezuela.

While the crime rate is not nearly as good as Trump has repeatedly said, the District recorded five homicides in December and 126 in all of 2025. That’s down 32% over 2024. Violent crime is down 29%, according to D.C .police crime statistics.

In Fairfax, homicide is down 14% — but the county only had 12 total — and violent crime dropped 4%, according to the county’s online reporting.

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Commanders vs. Eagles | How to watch, listen and live stream

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Commanders vs. Eagles | How to watch, listen and live stream


Mariota, who is dealing with a cut on his throwing hand and a quad injury, was considered doubtful to play in Week 18, Quinn said earlier in the week, and has not practiced since sustaining his injuries. Josh Johnson is set to make his second start to close out the Commanders’ season.



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