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Years after his dad drowned, this Commanders starter is teaching kids to swim

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Years after his dad drowned, this Commanders starter is teaching kids to swim


Cornelius Lucas III remembers everything about the day his father drowned on a family camping trip outside their home in New Orleans.

“We had a little campfire going. … I was running around. I was in and out the water, but I didn’t really go deep. My dad had went in the water deep a couple times, and I feel like this was his second or third time, maybe third or fourth time going back in the water.

“He literally asked me, ‘You want to come with me?’ I was like, ‘Nah, I’m just gonna stick back here and throw the football around.’ And I just remember seeing him walk out — as a kid, everything seemed bigger — but maybe like 40, 50 yards deep into the water. And then he — I saw his hands waving at me, and he just dipped underwater.”

People rushed out to help, but when they got there, they couldn’t find his father. He had been dragged under by a rip tide.

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“Forty-five minutes later, he floated back,” Lucas said.

“At the age of seven, I was out of having a dad, out of having my best bud, my best friend, my greatest — my best teacher, you know what I’m saying? Like, the guy that was put in this world to give me all the game that I’ve been searching for since then.”

Twenty-six years later, Lucas is a man, 6-foot-8, 327 pounds, a professional hitter with a goofball grin and the self-confidence he lacked growing up without his dad. Lucas believes his unlikely journey has led him to this moment with the Washington Commanders, where, entering the 11th season of his improbable NFL career, the longtime backup is competing for the huge role of starting left tackle and blindside protector for new franchise quarterback Jayden Daniels.

Lucas, 33, feels he’s doing well early in the competition with rookie Brandon Coleman, and unlike his first shot at being a full-time starter (his second season, with Detroit), he feels ready.

Many players who go undrafted out of college, as Lucas did out of Kansas State in 2014, get chewed up by the NFL. Their moment is darkened by the ever-present possibility of getting fired, and they’re often forced out of the league against their will, broken or brokenhearted. In his fifth year, Lucas was overwhelmed by repeated rejection and tried to quit by ignoring calls from his agent.

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It was in those difficult moments Lucas felt his father’s absence most.

“Outside of my coaches and my teammates to push me and tell me I could do this, I haven’t had someone I could call on and just tell them how I’m feeling, what’s going on,” he said.

“It’s really been a me situation. Like, me figuring it out. Me going home and sitting in silence for two hours because I got beat in practice, and I’m thinking about why I got beat and how I can’t get beat no more because I’m on the edge of getting cut, and you know — I’m saying it’s been stressful. ”

As he honed his skills, Lucas has grown mentally tough, observing people around him, looking for “life tidbits” and refining who he wants to be.

In 2018, everything came together. Lucas caught a break, played well in one game for his hometown New Orleans Saints and parlayed it into a job with Chicago, where he shined. In 2020, he signed a two-year deal with the Commanders, and in 2022, he signed another. Last summer, he felt like he finally “filled myself up enough to pour into others.”

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And he had an idea how: Swim camp. Every summer, NFL players host youth football camps across the country, and while he saw the value in them, he wanted to do something more personal. He attended pool parties growing up, even after his father’s death, but he still had never gone in a pool deeper than his height.

So he partnered with Son of a Saint, a nonprofit organization for fatherless boys in New Orleans, and figured he could show boys like him how to be a man and teach them a potentially lifesaving skill.

“I live in New Orleans, Louisiana,” Lucas said. “We are currently seven feet under sea level. In New Orleans, we get flooding. Hurricane Katrina, it was flooding for 45 days.”

This year, at his second camp, the only boy scared of the water was too big for anyone but Lucas to hold while learning to doggy paddle. Lucas encouraged him to go into the pool, urging him to fight their fear together.

“Trust me,” Lucas said. “I won’t let you drown.”

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Weeks later, Lucas left New Orleans for training camp extra motivated. His girlfriend — with whom he bonded, in part, over missing a parent — is pregnant with their first child, a son, due in early November. Sometimes, when Lucas notices her belly growing, it makes him want to go outside in the sun and practice.

“When he gets here, I just want him to see his daddy doing the right thing.”

Lucas wants to teach his son all the lessons he had to gather from others, such as how to mow the lawn or drive on the highway. He’s picking up even more from Instagram and TikTok. He hopes to one day teach his son to play tackle.

And he wants to throw his son in the water. He wants him to flail on his own at first, to fight to float, because he believes struggling will help his son get comfortable. Even if he doesn’t like to swim, Lucas’s top priority is for his son to never feel how he sometimes felt around water.

“He’s not gonna have a fear of it,” he said.

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Pulitzer-winning Washington Post editor Dan Eggen found dead at 60 after being laid-off earlier this year

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Pulitzer-winning Washington Post editor Dan Eggen found dead at 60 after being laid-off earlier this year


Veteran Washington Post editor Dan Eggen — a key architect of the paper’s political coverage who was laid off in a brutal round of cuts earlier this year — was found dead at his home in the nation’s capital on Tuesday. He was 60.

No foul play or violence were suspected in the death, local authorities told Eggen’s family, according to WaPo. The cause of death was pending an autopsy as of Wednesday morning.

Eggen spent nearly three decades at the paper, helping steer its reporting on the White House, Congress and presidential campaigns. He was on a team that won a 2002 Pulitzer Prize for investigating the plotters behind 9/11, going on to work on projects that won the most prestigious award in journalism in 2016, for reporting on Russian election interference, and in 2022, for exploring the previous year’s attack on the US Capitol.

Dan Eggen, a longtime Washington Post editor who helped shape the paper’s political coverage, was found dead at his Washington home on Tuesday. Facebook/Dan Eggen

A fixture of the newsroom’s most sensitive coverage, Eggen was “a sharp editor with a keen story sense,” the Post’s executive editor Matt Murray told staff.

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“Dan was involved in hiring, editing and mentoring dozens of politics writers across the years,” he wrote, adding that Eggen’s “news muscle and instincts were integral to our coverage.”

At the time of his death, Eggen was set to start a new job at NOTUS, a recently launched, DC-based outlet that’s been scooping up laid-off WaPo staffers.

“We hired Dan to join us at NOTUS after some of the best reporters in DC told us he was the best editor they’d ever had,” the site’s editor in chief Tim Grieve wrote on X. “We were excited to have him here, and I think he was equally excited to be coming here. Deepest condolences to everyone who loved him.”

Josh Dawsey, a Wall Street Journal reporter who previously covered the White House for the Washington Post, recalled Eggen’s relentless work ethic. The late journalist “worked seven days a week, 14 hours a day” and was “incredibly dedicated, a wonderful line editor” who pushed reporters to improve, Dawsey told WaPo.

“I viewed him as one of the true beating hearts of the newsroom … Dan is one of those people who make the newspaper work,” he added.

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Ashley Parker, a former White House reporter for the Washington Post who has since decamped to The Atlantic, remembered Eggen as a deeply collaborative editor who empowered his staff, saying he “was the rare editor who believed in his reporters” and “changed only 10 percent of your copy but made it 90 percent better.”


Eggen had recently been laid off from The Washington Post and was preparing to start a new role at NOTUS before his death.
Eggen had recently been laid off from the Washington Post and was preparing to start a new role at NOTUS before his death. Getty Images

Eggen began his WaPo career as a metro reporter and covered the post-9/11 Justice Department before becoming an editor.

He is survived by two children from his ex-wife, journalist Stephanie Armour, and a sister, according to WaPo.

The Post has sought comment from local police.



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‘Not just workers’: Calls for safer roads during National Work Zone Awareness Week

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‘Not just workers’: Calls for safer roads during National Work Zone Awareness Week


Incidents like the one in 2023 along the Baltimore Beltway — a crash that killed six highway workers — are the reason why officials gathered to stress the need for better work zone safety during National Work Zone Awareness Week.

This week, officials, workers and residents are calling for safer roads as they say there is still more work to be done when it comes to safety.

“It’s about understanding that each of us has a role to play in the safety and protection of one another,” William Pines from the Maryland State Highway Administration said.

With an active construction site as the backdrop — at the interchange between Pennsylvania Avenue and Suitland Parkway — roadway workers spoke up.

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“We are not just workers, we are people — real people. We are parents, siblings, friends and neighbors. So when you see us out there, please pay attention to that.” Dawn Hopkins with Flagger Force Traffic Control Services said.

Hopkins says she’s had to sound an alarm to get her crew out of dangerous situations.

“Please slow down, stay alert…and watch out for us in the workzones,” Hopkins added.

While the number of crashes in Maryland work zones in 2025 remains concerning, it is lower than in 2024. In 2025, there were:

  • 1,148 work zone crashes
  • 9 work zone deaths
  • 449 injuries

In 2024, there were:

  • 1,302 work zone crashes,
  • 12 work zone deaths, and
  • 492 injuries

“While citations are down, we still had 19 citations that were issues where the automated system recorded drivers traveling in excess of 130 miles an hour in work zones,” Pines said.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore has proclaimed April 22 as “Go Orange Day” in Maryland, urging everyone to wear orange in support of highway worker safety.

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A moment of silence for road workers who have been killed will be observed at noon this Friday.



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Q1 market trends in Northern VA and Washington DC | ARLnow.com

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Q1 market trends in Northern VA and Washington DC | ARLnow.com


This regularly scheduled column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. If you would like to work with Eli and his team in Northern Virginia and the greater D.C. Metro area, you can reach him directly at [email protected].

Question: How has the local real estate market performed so far this year?

Answer: After a year where market conditions softened in favor of buyers, the Northern VA real estate market became more favorable for sellers in the first quarter of 2026, while the Washington DC condo market continued to reel.

What is in this article:

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  • Northern VA, Arlington, and Washington DC Absorption Trends (demand)
  • Northern VA, Arlington, and Washington DC Inventory Trends (supply)
  • Washington DC List Price Trends (market values)

Northern VA & Arlington Inventory is Being Absorbed Faster

After four straight quarters of double-digit decreases in year-over-year absorption, the Northern VA and Arlington markets saw a ~8% increase in absorption rate.

What this means: Demand increased in Q1

Northern VA & Arlington New Listing Volume is Declining

After a promising trend of six straight quarters of year-over-year increases in the number of homes listed for sale in Northern VA, new listing activity fell by ~1% each of the previous two quarters.

What this means: Sellers have less competition, buyers have fewer choices

Washington DC Condo Absorption is Plummeting

The absorption rate for DC condos has declined year-over-year for 16 quarters straight and 23 out of the past 26 quarters.

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What this means: It is difficult to find buyers for DC condos

Washington DC Condo Inventory Declined Slightly

Total inventory declined by 3.4% year-over-year, the first quarterly drop since Q4 2023. Still, there were great than 2x more condos for sale in DC in Q1 2026 than Q1 2020

What this means: Motivated sellers must compete aggressively with each other for buyers

Washington DC Condos Keep Getting Cheaper

The average price of a DC condo listed for sale is 9.4% less than it was in Q1 2025 and ~9% less than it was ten years ago.

What this means: Even lowering the price won’t guarantee a buyer

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If you’d like to discuss buying, selling, investing, or renting, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected].

We have access to the most pre and off-market listings across the DMV of any brokerage and are happy to share what’s available with anybody who asks.

Below are some of our team’s pre/off-market listings, details and additional listings available by request:

  • Westover – 4BR/2BA/2,000sqft – Detached Single Family (2000) – 23rd St N Arlington VA 22205
  • Green Valley – 5BR/4.5BA/3,000sqft – Detached Single Family (2020) – 24th St S Arlington VA 22206
  • Ballston – 4BR/3.5BA/2,400sqft – Townhouse (2008) – N George Mason Dr Arlington VA 22203
  • Ballston – 4BR/3.5BA+office/4,000 sqft – Four Townhouses (2026/2027) – 11th St N Arlington VA 22201
  • Rosslyn – 2BR/2BA/1,800sqft – Condo (2021) – 1781 N Pierce St Arlington VA 22209
  • Rosslyn – 3BR/2.5BA/2,400sqft – Condo (1986) – 1530 Key Blvd Arlington VA 22209
  • Williamsburg – 6BR/5.5BA/5,500 sqft – Detached Single Family (2026) – 27th St N Arlington VA 22207
  • Yorktown – 6BR/6.5BA/6,000+ sqft – Detached Single Family (2026) – N Greencastle St Arlington VA 22207

Eli and his team believe that your real estate needs should be managed by advisors, not salespeople. Their mission is to guide, educate, and advocate for their clients through real advice, hands-on support, and personalized service.



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