Among the stakes in the upcoming U.S. elections: Weather forecasts, who delivers them and what they say about links between extreme conditions and climate change.
Washington
Would Trump privatize weather forecasting? What to know.
Even as Donald Trump’s campaign has said it had no part in Project 2025, it’s widely seen as a blueprint for a possible second Trump administration. Private weather companies have not endorsed the calls for “commercializing” Weather Service data. Still, as the prospects of a second Trump presidency rise, meteorologists and climate scientists are voicing concern over what these proposals would mean for the millions of people they are working to inform and protect.
During Trump’s term, scientists said they were sidelined, muted or forced out by the hundreds and raised concerns that the administration misrepresented their research on the coronavirus and reproduction — as well as on hurricane forecasting, environmental advocates said.
“It does worry me what the future will hold” for staff at NOAA and the Weather Service, said JoAnn Becker, president of the National Weather Service Employees Organization. The union represents 4,000 workers at those agencies.
“There’s a lot of questions and no answers yet,” Becker said. “We just want to do our work protecting lives and property no matter who is president.”
Government agencies, including NOAA and the Environmental Protection Agency, have for months been preparing for the possibility that Trump will return to the White House by strengthening safeguards around scientific integrity and job security.
In a 2019 incident that became known as Sharpiegate, Trump used a marker to incorrectly suggest Hurricane Dorian could impact Alabama — a scandal that underscored the potential damaging impacts of political meddling. An investigation later found political influence led NOAA to release a statement improperly backing Trump, and ultimately undermining its own forecast. Some have looked to such clues from Trump’s four years in the White House to try to glean what may come in a second term.
Now, some scientists’ concerns stem from Project 2025, a 900-page document drafted by right-wing policy experts and former Trump officials. It calls for breaking up NOAA, whose climate research it calls “harmful to future U.S. prosperity.” It suggests the Weather Service should “fully commercialize its forecasting operations,” because its data is already used widely by private companies.
The report bases that proposal on an assertion that “forecasts and warnings provided by the private companies are more reliable than those provided by the NWS.” The report cites a consultant report that analyzed forecast accuracy and found the Weather Service ranked behind private-sector meteorologists, who use government-funded observations to inform predictions shared via TV and radio stations, weather websites and smartphone apps.
That includes outlets such as AccuWeather, the Weather Channel and Weather Underground — channels that help the Weather Service distribute its severe weather watches and warnings to a wider audience.
But it was not immediately clear what it might mean for the Weather Service to run more like a business. The agency tracks data on everything from land and sea temperatures, precipitation and atmospheric conditions.
A Project 2025 spokeswoman declined to make Thomas Gilman, who wrote the report’s recommendations for NOAA and the Weather Service, available for comment. Gilman served in the Trump administration as chief financial officer of the Commerce Department, which is the cabinet-level parent agency of NOAA and the Weather Service.
Weather Service spokeswoman Susan Buchanan said the agency does not comment on “speculation” over how a future administration could change its operations.
So far, some in the weather industry oppose the idea.
AccuWeather chief executive Steven R. Smith said NOAA’s “foundational data” helps inform AccuWeather’s own forecasting software, artificial intelligence and meteorologists, and that “it has never been our goal to take over the provision of all weather information.”
Smith said the company “does not agree with the view … that the National Weather Service should fully commercialize its operations.”
Whether Trump agrees is not clear.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said the former president “has nothing to do with Project 2025” and pointed to the Republican Party’s official platform. The platform makes no mention of weather or climate, and Cheung did not respond to further questions about the campaign’s position on NOAA or the Weather Service.
Some former Trump administration officials say they don’t share Project 2025’s visions for federal weather agencies, nor would they expect Trump to embrace them during a second term.
“There is 0% chance that anything in Project 2025 related to NOAA or weather will ever be considered or implemented,” Ryan Maue, a meteorologist who briefly served as NOAA’s chief scientist under Trump, wrote on X.
Stuart Levenbach, who served as NOAA chief of staff under Trump, said the administration made no efforts to privatize the Weather Service, though it did pursue increased funding for buying weather data generated by private-sector companies, including data on ocean surface winds, space weather and Earth’s atmosphere.
Under Trump, NOAA also worked to combat overfishing and other harms caused by Chinese fishing operations, speed up permitting processes that consider endangered species impacts and streamline the licensing processes for commercial satellites, Levenbach noted in a 2021 farewell letter to agency staff that he shared with The Washington Post.
Trump’s initial pick to lead NOAA was former AccuWeather CEO Barry Myers, though the Senate never confirmed his appointment and he withdrew it two years later.
While Myers never joined the agency, former NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service deputy director Andrew Rosenberg said the appointment suggests a more commercial approach to weather forecasting may have always been in the Trump playbook.
But Maue and Levenbach pointed to an alternate proposal floated by Republicans in Congress and supported by former NOAA officials who served during Republican administrations. They want to separate NOAA from the Commerce Department and develop it into an independent agency within the executive branch.
The idea was the subject of a House bill and hearing last year. Such independence could have prevented Sharpiegate, for example, Neil Jacobs, the acting NOAA administrator at the time, told a House committee last year.
The “disparate goals” of the Commerce Department and NOAA “have had a demonstrably adverse impact” on the scientific agency, Levenbach and retired Rear Adm. Tim Gallaudet, another top NOAA official under Trump, wrote in an opinion column in the Hill last year.
“An independent NOAA will ensure that America will better weather the storms in our future,” they wrote.
But others have expressed concern that — though NOAA could benefit from more resources and may not be a logical fit within Commerce — making the agency stand alone could remove layers of bureaucracy that ultimately insulate it from politics.
“You make NOAA separate, it’s a tiny little agency and [it becomes] subject to political whims both on the Hill and in any given administration,” Rosenberg said.
Former BYU star, AJ Dybantsa, was selected by the Washington Wizards with the no. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Before basketball became such a big part of AJ Dybantsa’s life, he was like any other kid — growing up as a fan of a fictional superhero.
When he was about five, his father bought him a Spider-Man basketball hoop that went on the back of his door.
“I loved Spider-Man growing up. So I just started shooting from my bed with this miniature ball. Then I started playing in the YMCA leagues … ended up falling in love with the game,” Dybantsa said. “So Spider-Man is the reason why I love basketball.”
The Washington Wizards are certainly glad Dybantsa took up the sport and committed himself to it. Two days after taking the 6-foot-9 star out of BYU with the top pick in the NBA draft, the team introduced him Thursday at a hotel overlooking the Potomac River, about 1 1/2 miles south from where the Wizards play their home games.
“Nothing comes easy, but I want to be a piece of the puzzle that is part of the rebuild,” he said. “Obviously, Wizards fans have been waiting for a long time.”
This was the first time the Wizards have picked first in the draft since 2010 when they took John Wall. Dybantsa joins a team that hasn’t won 50 games in a season since 1979 — and more recently managed only 50 victories over the past three seasons combined.
One issue of uncertainty was resolved at the news conference. Dybantsa wore No. 3 in college, but in Washington that belongs to Trae Young. Dybantsa will change to No. 4.
“Previously wore No. 3, but I was the No. 1 pick,” he said. “Wanted to add those up, and we got four.”
Dybantsa averaged 25.5 points per game in college, becoming the first freshman to lead the nation in scoring since his new teammate, Young, did it at Oklahoma in 2017-18.
Washington fans will have a chance soon enough to see what Dybantsa brings on the court, but Thursday’s event was an opportunity to see the type of person they’ll be investing so much hope in. Dybantsa was personable and confident, and he seemed eager to get down to business. That much was clear back at the combine before the draft.
“It was like a job. My dad was like, ‘This is your first job interview,’” he said. “So we decided to dress up. I went to a suit and tie in every single interview. Media availability, that was in a suit and tie. So I just wanted to treat it like a real job.”
That made quite an impression on Wizards general manager Will Dawkins.
“It was a pretty fun first introduction, just to learn the maturity that he brings,” Dawkins said. “We allow opportunities to ask questions. Sometimes you get the standard questions from guys. We didn’t get that from AJ. He’s just curious and mature and asked some really deep questions.”
Dybantsa said he intends to graduate college, finishing his studies online, and he has big plans for how he can make a difference away from basketball. The 19-year-old has already started a foundation aimed at empowering young people.
“My mom’s from Jamaica, my dad’s from Congo. We’re going to start off just sending 20 kids from there to different universities,” he said. “If that’s universities in the continent of Africa, if that’s different universities in Jamaica, if that’s universities in the States, we’re going to try that. But after those, we’re just going to expand all around the world. We just want to help kids all around the world.”
The 2027 NFL Draft in Washington, D.C., will be held April 29-May 1, the league announced Thursday, setting the nation’s capital as the backdrop for what could be one of the deepest classes in recent history.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced in May 2025 during an Oval Office news conference with President Donald Trump, Commanders owner Josh Harris and D.C. mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), that D.C. was selected as the host site for ’27 and is expected to draw more than a million visitors.
“It will be something that will show the world how far the nation’s capital has come and where it’s going,” Goodell said at the time.
How does the NFL draft work?
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Although plenty could change over the next 10 months, the 2027 draft has a chance to be the most anticipated in recent memory because of the star power of the class.
Like most drafts, the 2027 group will be largely judged by the quarterbacks. Texas’ Arch Manning is at the top of the list, and if he picks up where he left off last season, he has a great chance to follow in the footsteps of his uncles, Peyton and Eli, and be drafted No. 1. Dante Moore would punch his ticket for the first round with another productive year at Oregon, and scouts are optimistic for the developmental paths of South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers, LSU’s Sam Leavitt, Oklahoma State’s Drew Mestemaker, Miami’s Darian Mensah and several others.
The class will also likely include former Cincinnati and Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby, barring any successful legal action after the NFL declined his application and chose not to hold a supplemental draft in 2026.
But the depth of the 2027 class goes far beyond the quarterbacks. Notre Dame’s Leonard Moore could be one of the highest-graded cornerbacks of the last decade. South Carolina’s Dylan Stewart is a twitched-up pass rusher with top-10 traits. And Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith is on track to be one of the best overall prospects in recent years.
The three-day event will be spread across multiple sites in the District, with the main stage held on the National Mall in front of the Capitol and the NFL Draft Experience spanning Pennsylvania Avenue NW between 3rd and 7th Streets, in front of the National Gallery of Art.
For nearly four decades, the NFL Draft was held at multiple locations in New York. But in 2015 and ’16, because of a scheduling conflict at Radio City Music Hall, the league moved it to Chicago and has since held it in various NFL cities across the country. The change has turned the draft into one of the league’s most popular, and accessible, events of the year.
The 2024 draft, which D.C. bid to host, was ultimately held in Detroit and brought a then-record 600,000 attendees, a figure topped by this year’s draft in Pittsburgh, which drew 805,000 visitors.
Prior to the 2026 draft, the Steelers and Visit Pittsburgh estimated the event would bring in roughly 500,000 visitors that would generate anywhere from $120 million to $213 million in regional economic impact.
“We’re confident that the return, with the number of people who attended over the course of the three days and really the course of the week, that we’ll be in good shape there,” Steelers VP of business development and strategy Dan Rooney III told The Athletic after the event.
A delegation from D.C. attended the Pittsburgh draft and took the official handoff from the Steelers at the conclusion, setting in motion a busy year in D.C.
Planning for the 2027 draft began four years ago, when Harris and his group of investors purchased the team for $6.05 billion from former owner Daniel Snyder. The group essentially revived details of the team’s earlier bid, which some believe failed because Snyder still owned the team.
NFL Draft host cities are typically announced two years in advance because of the extensive planning required. But having it in D.C. adds even more layers of complexity, much like the Commanders’ new stadium, which will be built on the site of the former RFK Stadium along the Anacostia River.
For one, the National Mall is federally owned and managed by the National Park Service, which typically does not approve permitting for events more than a year in advance.
The last time D.C. hosted the NFL Draft was Dec. 10, 1940, at the Willard Hotel. The draft was 22 rounds back then.
“This is a historic moment for our organization, our fans, and the entire region,” Commanders president Mark Clouse said in a release Thursday. “The Draft has become one of the premier events in sports and entertainment, and with the momentum around football in this area, from the rapid growth of youth flag football to our return to the RFK site, there is no better time to bring it to the nation’s capital.”
The iron gate to Woodlawn Cemetery is almost always locked shut, but Toni White-Richardson was more than happy to let News4 inside.
As president of the Woodlawn Cemetery Perpetual Care Association, she was excited to talk about what makes this resting place so special.
“It is major D.C. history, first. Then it’s also major Black history, second,” White-Richardson said.
More than 30,000 people, mostly African Americans, are buried among the 22 acres of Woodlawn Cemetery, which opened in Southeast D.C. in 1895. And like so many cemeteries that date back to the 1800s, particularly African American cemeteries, this one has fallen into disrepair, is overgrown and has headstones tumbled over, like those of Wilhelmina and her husband James, and Eliza Spencer, a mother who died in 1887.
“Let me do a very upfront disclaimer,” White-Richardson said. “We have no idea where these stones go. And when we looked at the grid, it became even clear as mud, it became less clear as to where these stones should really go. Unfortunately, when we look back, we can tell there was a plan, but we could see we never got totally completed. Even back then, there are no markers saying this is Section H or this is Section G or this is 102 and this is, none of that.”
One of the most notable Washingtonians laid to rest here is John Mercer Langston, Virginia’s first Black congressman.
“Langston University came one year because they had a grand reunion in D.C., and we arranged for them to come to see […] John Mercer Langston, the university that was named after this man,” White-Richardson said.
And Blance Bruce, the first Black U.S. senator to serve a full term and register of the treasury, is also buried in the cemetery.
“He’s the signature on our dollar bill, you know, back in the late 1800s,” White-Richardson said. “So, oh, it’s history. It’s capital letters. No getting around it.”
Woodlawn is also the resting place of several of the original founders of two of the country’s most prominent Black sororities, Alpha Kappa Alpha and Delta Sigma Theta. Both organizations volunteer to help with clean ups.
The Perpetual Care Association recently received a grant from the D.C. Office of Planning to help with upkeep of the grounds and preserving the history here.
“These are important individuals who’ve made contributions to the District a century ago, but today still their history and their stories reverberate and really influence the trajectory of our city,” said Anita Cozart, director of the D.C. Office of Planning.
The cemetery tucked away off Benning Road is only open to the public five days a year, but groups can request tours anytime. The next chance to visit Woodlawn when it will be open to the public is Labor Day.
They’re always looking for volunteers and donors to help with the upkeep of this sacred ground.
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