Washington
Washington panel set to consider Trump’s ballroom project in March
Washington – President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project may get a blessing from Washington planning authorities as soon as next month.
Trump razed the White House’s East Wing in October to make way for a $400 million, 90,000-square-foot (8,400-square-meter) addition that he says will be privately financed. The administration planned the neoclassical building’s ribbon-cutting for summer 2028 as part of the most extensive remaking of the U.S. capital’s landscape in decades.
The National Capital Planning Commission said it would consider “approval of preliminary and final site and building plans” on March 5, according to a tentative meeting agenda posted online.
The commission is one of two federal bodies, along with the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, assigned a role in overseeing key D.C.-area building projects.
Neither group is expected to block or delay Trump’s plans. Trump picked several members of both groups, and his former personal lawyer Will Scharf chairs the National Capital Planning Commission.
But federal courts are scrutinizing the project. A judge last month expressed skepticism about whether the administration had authority to proceed with construction after a demolition that Congress didn’t approve.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued in December, arguing that the project lacked the required approvals and environmental review.
In documents supporting its proposal and posted online by the commission, the Trump administration said it concluded that demolition of the East Wing was “the most effective solution to many longstanding issues affecting the White House” in light of the 120-year-old structure’s limitations, poor energy efficiency and limited accessibility for people with disabilities.
The White House’s disclosures were the most extensive description of the project to date, including illustrations by architect Shalom Baranes.
In those disclosures, the White House said the administration planned to incorporate some preserved items from the East Wing, such as its cornerstone and a pergola designed by the Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei.
Washington
Selesnick, Azorius Momo, Wins Washington DC Regional Championship
Jordan Selesnick won the Regional Championship at SCG CON Washington DC with Azorius Momo on Sunday.
Creatures (25)
Lands (21)
In a field packed with Izzet Prowess and Mono-Green Landfall, Selesnick put the power of Azorius Momo on display — proving the power of strong metagaming and mulligan decisions. Selesnick regularly dug for better opening hands in tight matchups, allowing his deck to have starts similar to those in Modern as opposed to Standard. After an 8-1 start on Day 1, Selesnick cruised to the No. 1 seed in the Top 8 with a record of 12-1-2.
Once in the Top 8, Selesnick only dropped a single game in route to a dominant performance. He defeated Stephen Snelson, on Izzet Spellementals, 2-1 in the quarters before clean 2-0 wins against Alexander Kans, on Selesnya Aggro, and Matt Xu, on Mono-Green Landfall.

Selesnick showed off both types of powerful draws the Momo deck can have in the finals, blinking a Quantum Riddler into play on Turn 2 in Game 1, and landing a copied Sage of the Skies on Turn 2 in Game 2. With the fast starts and utility offered from Starfield Shepherd, Selesnick had no problem navigating the mid-games for fast wins facing down strong starts from Xu.
Creatures (20)
Lands (26)
Selesnick took home $20,000 and the title of champion, while Xu earned $10,000. The Top 32 finishers earned invites to the upcoming Pro Tour in Amsterdam, though Selesnick and Xu also punched their tickets to the Magic World Championship.
Izzet Prowess made up almost 25 percent of the 1,198 players on Day 1, followed by Four-Color Control at 10 percent, thanks to its strong showing in the most recent Regional Championships. Mono-Green Landfall was next at just under nine percent, while Mardu Discard and Dimir Excruciator rounded out the Top 5 decks.

Day 2 consisted of 285 players that reached 18 match points on Day 1. See how the archetypes converted below.

View the Top 8 decklists from the Regional Championship. For all the decklists from the event and final standings check out the Melee page for the tournament.

SCG CON will be back in action next in Las Vegas on June 26-28.
Washington
Workers killed in chemical vat implosion at Washington paper mill identified; 11 dead
LONGVIEW, Wash. (KPTV/Gray News) – Officials say they have found the remains and identified all of the missing workers following a chemical vat implosion at the Nippon Dynawave paper mill on Tuesday.
The Cowlitz County Coroner’s Office released the names of those killed, bringing the death toll to 11:
- 52-year-old Gilbert Bernal of Kelso, Oregon.
- 29-year-old Tyler Covington of Castle Rock, Oregon.
- 27-year-old Brad Covington of Castle Rock, Oregon.
- 48-year-old Robert Wilson of Clatskanie, Oregon.
- 54-year-old Dale Miller of Portland, Oregon.
- 35-year-old Jared Ammons of Longview, Washington.
- 38-year-old Braydon Finkas of Cathlamet, Washington.
- 26-year-old Clinton Doran of Kelso, Oregon.
- 51-year-old John Forsberg of Longview, Washington.
- 58-year-old Norman Barlow of Vancouver, Washington.
- Dillon Miller, taken to a Portland hospital; coroner has no other information.
Officials say a 900,000-gallon tank containing a highly destructive chemical called white liquor imploded at the facility just after 7:15 a.m.
Roughly 600,000 gallons of the substance rushed through work areas at the plant on Tuesday when the tank ruptured.
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson called it “the deadliest industrial tragedy in modern Washington state history.”
Multiple people, including a firefighter, were injured and taken to area hospitals for treatment following the implosion. Some of those injured were also brought to the Oregon Burn Center.
Investigators were looking into what caused the tank to implode in the first place and whether there’s a risk of it happening again.
The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board said it would begin an investigation into the implosion after the recovery efforts are concluded.
Officials said some of the chemical had made its way into the Columbia River and they have received reports of dead fish near the site’s spillways.
The Washington State Department of Ecology and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency were monitoring air and water quality and working to assess any other environmental impacts.
Copyright 2026 KPTV via Gray Local Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
Washington
Eleven Confirmed Dead in Washington State Chemical Accident, All Bodies Recovered
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