Media critic Erik Wemple bashed The Washington Post, his employer, for giving The New York Times an opportunity to break the story about an upside-down American flag flown in Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s front yard. 

Alito said his wife was responsible for flying the flag in that position amid a dispute with a neighbor who put up a “f— Trump” sign about 50 feet away from a children’s bus stop. Though the Times broke the story and tied upside-down flags to connect the Jan. 6 riots, the Post passed on the scoop over three years ago. 

“The Post … sat back and watched the New York Times nail down a precious exclusive whose epicenter is a leisurely drive from its K Street newsroom,” Wemple wrote in an op-ed Wednesday. He called it a “black eye” for his paper and criticized the Post for “inaction.”

ALITO SAYS WIFE DISPLAYED UPSIDE-DOWN FLAG AFTER ARGUMENT WITH INSULTING NEIGHBOR

Wemple pointed out that no one from the paper appeared to have reached out to Emily Baden, the neighbor who got into an argument with the Alitos, “until after the Times’s May 16 story was published.”

“All signs point to a failure of The Post to publish something about this fracas, whatever its focus or takeaway,” Wemple wrote. 

Cameron Barr, the Post’s managing editor when it first had the scoop, said he regretted not publishing the story. Barr also said the neighborhood dispute would have involved the Post’s Metro section, but Wemple wrote that he found no evidence that Metro was consulted.

“When I asked Martin Baron, who served as executive editor at the time, about how things proceeded, he responded, ‘I don’t know how things proceeded. I never knew about any of those discussions. I only learned about them when The Post inquired about the story.’”

“Against that backdrop, the Times’s flag scoop — and The Post’s breakdown — became a big story,” Wemple continued. “The episode has left The Post in the position of having to play second fiddle on a story that it should have owned from the start.” 

DEMS IN HOT SEAT FOR ALLEGED ETHICS VIOLATIONS OVER ALITO RECUSAL DEMANDS

Wemple argued that the “Alitos received deference to which they were not entitled,” explaining that the Alitos’ neighbor, Emily Baden, said the Alito family’s explanation of the neighborhood argument was “absolutely ridiculous and everybody knows it.”  (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Wemple also argued that the “Alitos received deference to which they were not entitled.” He wrote that Baden called the Alito family’s explanation of the neighborhood argument “absolutely ridiculous and everybody knows it.” 

The Washington Post did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

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Fox News’ Shannon Bream and Greg Norman contributed to this report. 

WASHINGTON (25News Now) – Construction of the Washington Police Department’s new evidence building could begin soon, depending on a vote from the city council.

The police department has been asking for a new building for five years. The current facility is deemed “unusable” and has been closed due to a fire there earlier this year.

Police Chief Mike McCoy said the department needs this new building sooner than later, as the government spends $2,000 a month renting a building in East Peoria to store evidence.

“We have to transport every piece of evidence we get every day down to this new location, then come back,” McCoy said. “That takes one of our officers out of Washington to East Peoria to deliver the evidence.”

Washington Mayor Gary Manier said the contract will likely go to the lowest bidder, contractor PJ Hoerr.

The new building in a lot behind the fire department would cost $2.3 million. Some $900,000 in grant money would help fund the project.

The rest of the money would come from city budget reserves and leftover pandemic relief money. Overall, the city will spend $600,000 on the project.

“$372,000 of that would come out of general funds, so the council still has a week and this next week to discuss it, and then a week after, it’ll probably go to a vote,” Manier said.

Chief McCoy said the new building will be a bare bones design compared to the original plan that totaled at around $5 million. He said the revised estimate was $1.9 million, but costs continue to rise.

“The costs are going up per year for building equipment 15%, 18%, and now they’ve been going up 20%, 25% a year,” McCoy said. “So, our costs that we originally proposed were about $1.9 million, is now about $2.3 million.”

Manier said the next step is to vote on a city budget amendment. The mayor said although it’s concerning to change the budget one month into it, he doesn’t believe it will have a negative impact on the city.

“We haven’t really spent our budget every year,” Manier said. “I think if you look at that, I think we’re not really going to do away with services or have to postpone till the next fiscal year.”

McCoy said once the new building is finished, the police department will be able to run more efficiently.

“This is all going to be barcoded now, so when a piece of evidence comes in, [it gets] assigned a barcode, and you just zap it, and in and out,” McCoy said. “It’ll reduce the time the police have to deal with it, [and it will] also reduce the time our evidence technicians will have to get it recorded, in and out, and in a safe place.”

The council will meet as a committee-of-the-whole to discuss the project Monday, June 10. Mayor Manier said the council will likely vote on the budget amendment a week later on Monday, June 17, in addition to hiring the contractor.

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