Cooking techniques and ingredients give Asian cuisines their distinct and regional flavors, and the same holds true for their alcoholic beverages.

At D.C.’s Moon Rabbit restaurant in Northwest D.C., the Asian-focused cocktail menu draws on ingredients and techniques specific to the regions of the continent.

With the botanical earth and spice in Asia, there’s a wide range of variety to make into different flavors,” said Thi Nguyen, the restaurant’s award-winning bar director. “The playing field is a little bit more open and more free for people to create their own gin.”

Moon Rabbit, which received a Michelin award for an exceptional cocktail program in 2024, carries Vietnamese, Indian and Korean gins, which feature fruits, such as longan, rambutan, jackfruit and dragon fruit.

One of the herbs Moon Rabbit uses in its cocktails is “culantro.”

“Almost like cilantro, but a little bit more spice into it 
 a very distinct spice note,” Nguyen said.

She said people often describe cilantro as soapy, but culantro is different.

It’s “minty and has a little kick into it,” Nguyen said, adding that culantro is long leaf with spiky edges, while cilantro has short leaves.

Moon Rabbit’s take on a gin gimlet was inspired by an Asian cucumber salad, featuring a mix of lime juice, ginger syrup and a cucumber-infused Indian gin. It’s shaken and garnished with a few drops of sesame oil that float on top.

“A very summer drink,” Nguyen said.

While at most bars, you tell the bartender what you’d like to drink, Nguyen said her customers tend to defer to the bartenders when it comes to what kind of libations to imbibe.

“They tend to do more like a bartender choice, where they just tell the bartender what they’re looking for and then the bartender would make it for them,” she said.

Experimenting with shƍchƫ 

A similar cultural norm exists in Japan. Honkaku Spirits founder Christopher Pellegrini is a Japan-based expert in shochu, Awamori and other koji spirits. Koji is a type of mold that is used in traditional Japanese fermentation that creates “umami-laden spirits with a character unique to Japan,” .

Pellegrini said in Japan, you’re likely to have canned beverages or a single bottle of a spirit at home, but not much more than that.

“There’s not really a reason to have a big spirits cabinet in your home,” he said. “You’re not going to have dinner parties that you need to entertain in most cases. Most people meet out at a restaurant or a bar when they’re socializing.”

In terms of what people in Japan are drinking when they’re out, Pellegrini said shochu is a category unlike anything most American drinkers have tried. Shochu — not to be confused with soju from South Korea — is softer than most spirits in terms of alcohol volume, and it’s made in a variety of different ways.

It’s usually bottled at 25% ABV, Pellegrini said. Most Awamori, another Japanese spirit, is at 30%. It’s usually served with meals rather than being consumed as a standalone drink.

“They just never really do them in isolation. If there’s food on the table, then there may be drinks,” Pellegrini said. “If there are drinks, then there will also be food on the table.”

In Japan, shochu outsells sake, he said, and if you weren’t aware of that, you shouldn’t be surprised. Pellegrini said less than one-tenth of 1% of shochu production ever leaves Japan, compared with about two-thirds of mezcal and tequila production leaving Mexico.

But shochu and Awamori are showing up increasingly in cocktail bars in the U.S. Pellegrini predicted they will be “one of the next big things internationally.”

“They use a variety of different food stuffs to make sweet potato shochu, barley shochu, rice shochu, Kokuto sugar shochu and many other styles,” Pellegrini said. “There are 53 approved styles in Japan today. It is the most diverse spirits category in the world.”

Part of the appeal for bars, he said, is practical: Shochu carries no additives and is what Pellegrini called “the lowest calorie spirit in the world.”

What connects whiskey with DC’s famous cherry trees?

Japanese whiskey, a centuries-old tradition, has a connection to the nation’s capital.

Jokichi Takamine, a Japanese chemist, patented a process for producing a maltless whiskey in Illinois in the 1890s, Pellegrini said.

Takamine licensed the process to the Illinois Whiskey Trust, which planned to switch from malted grains to a Japanese fermentation style using kƍji mold — the same mold used to make miso and soy sauce.

“He was nearly successful at changing American fermentation and American whiskey,” Pellegrini said.

Legal disputes and suspicious destruction of some of his equipment put an end to that, however. Takamine moved his family to Harlem, New York, where he — epinephrine — the precursor to the EpiPen, Pellegrini said.

Takamine used his earnings from those patents toward philanthropic measures. He helped facilitate the donation of thousands of cherry trees on behalf of Japan to D.C. — the same ones you see today on the Tidal Basin.

This year’s National Cherry Blossom Festival, which marked America’s 250th anniversary, included a donation of 250 more cherry blossom saplings to D.C. — continuing a tradition that traces back to Takamine’s original 1912 gift, Pellegrini said. The Takamine Koji Whiskey brand was a sponsor of the festival this year.

Pellegrini said he and a colleague approached Takamine’s family in Japan and asked if they could revive the koji whiskey in his name and the family agreed.

“So much of the Japanese tradition of making whiskey, which is only 100 years old, is based on the Scotch tradition,” Pellegrini said. “This is made in Japan, but there’s no malted grains in it. It’s kojified grains. It’s barley that has had koji propagated onto it. It somehow runs a little sweeter.”

He described it as “a bridge between Japan and America, much like Dr. Takamine was back in his day.”

An 8-year-old koji whiskey, he said, “feels older when tasted — like it’s 15 years old.”

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Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan said about 150,000 visitors are expected in his town alone, rain or shine.

“Everybody’s open. Everybody’s excited,” Meehan said. “The boardwalk looks great. The beach looks just as pretty as I’ve ever seen it. We’re ready for the big crowds, and there’s so many things to do.”

He’s also confident the weather forecast this weekend won’t keep many people away.

“We’re not expecting it to be a washout. We’re going to have intermittent rain, hopefully it’s going to break Saturday, be nice Sunday and Monday,” Meehan said. “So we’re still excited. I think there’ll be big crowds. People are looking — it’s been a long, cold winter — are just looking to get away.”

He said whatever weather that does make its way to the coast this weekend, it won’t dampen their excitement.

“Don’t miss an opportunity. If you’ve got three days, take advantage of spending that time with your kids and your families,” Meehan said.

Similar greetings come from a few miles up Coastal Highway in Rehoboth Beach, where around 50,000 or so visitors could show up this weekend regardless of the weather, according to Mayor Stan Mills.

“Our star attractions are waiting for your arrival,” Mills said. “Our star attractions: our boardwalk, our stores, eateries and beach.”

He said there’s just too much happening for the rain to wash any plans away.

“Rain or shine, we are ready,” Mills said. “You can still walk a mile and a half along boardwalk. You can go to Fun Land amusements and arcade. Stores that have roofs over them.”

He has no doubts anyone who’s been planning to do all of that for a while will follow through.

“We believe a lot of people have already made their vacation plans. They’ve already rented houses or hotel rooms,” Mills said. “They’re going to make the best of it. We have a saying here that a bad day at the beach is better than a good day back home.”

Both towns touted a calendar of events from concerts to fireworks, and all sorts of other free, family-friendly activities throughout the year, beginning this weekend.

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Jeanette Epps, who spent a record 235 days in space in 2024, is the commencement speaker at Thursday’s graduation ceremony. The mission put her in the record books, but getting there took far longer than she expected.

“I waited 15 years to fly to space despite knowing, looking at all the things that I had done — successfully is the keyword there — and trying to figure out, well, why am I not flying? Patience is a key ingredient in that, and knowing when to be very proactive in a situation and not pointing fingers or anything like that at people,” Epps said. “None of that would have helped my situation.”

She’ll pass on lessons learned from her journey to the Class of 2026, speaking to them about the importance of patience and how to deal with setbacks.

“If it is linear, great. The chances are it won’t be linear,” Epps said. “That’s OK. Sometimes when you go off schedule, off plan, you end up in a better place. And I happen to think that I ended up in a much better place, having gone through some of the things I did.”

Epps was replaced from space missions twice before finally getting chosen to go into orbit, and talking about her setbacks has not only helped those in her audience, it’s helped with her own confidence in her qualifications and abilities.

When she did finally fly to space, she thought the long wait wouldn’t be worth it. She turned out to be wrong.

“I had a wonderful time in space. So, I could say that, for me, despite everything that happened, I’m a better person for it,” Epps said.

“I’ve seen solar eclipse from space. I’ve seen 16 sunrises and sunsets every day, looking out the window and seeing new things on the surface of our planet,” she said. “Doing the work in space was sometimes difficult, sometimes it was super easy.”

Those challenges also taught her the importance of teamwork. She credited her team members with helping her get to space and succeeding on the mission.

“You don’t launch alone. You can’t go through life alone,” Epps said.

When Maryland students graduate, they’ll receive a special patch, similar to what astronauts get when they go to space. It has a graduation cap and rocket with a star for each college in the university. There’s also a terrapin shell that looks like a bright star.

Epps said she’s hopeful students will leave with the same optimism she has about the future, and that space exploration can help with that.

“Look at what happened when the Artemis II mission occurred,” Epps said. “For 10 days 
 instead of hearing about wars and rumors of wars and things like that, we were looking at something that was bringing the world together.”

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Up to 335,000 drivers are expected to cross the Bay Bridge this weekend, according to the Maryland Transportation Authority Police, and officers said the most common cause of crashes on the bridge is completely avoidable — distracted driving.

“You’re looking off to your side, looking at the ships out there. You’re talking to your passengers and you’re not paying attention to the traffic in front of you,” Lt. Col. Timothy Eikenberg, MDTA Police’s administrative bureau chief, said.

Rear-end collisions are the leading cause of crashes on the bridge, Eikenberg said, often at the one big curve on the bridge, though they do happen along the entire stretch. He’s urging drivers to maintain a safe following distance and keep their focus forward.

Rain in the forecast this weekend won’t help things either, and MDTA Police will deploy additional officers to respond to crashes and keep traffic moving as efficiently as possible.

Maryland State Police will also be out in force everywhere else in Maryland. Secretary of State Police Col. Michael Jackson said troopers will be targeting impaired and distracted drivers out on the roads.

“Safety is a partnership with every motorist on the road, year-round,” Jackson said. “We urge Marylanders and those who travel through our state to make safety their No. 1 priority.

Jackson said the Maryland State Police DUI team, known as “Spider,” will be working to remove impaired drivers from the road. Troopers will also be targeting those who speed.

“Choose to drive sober or choose a sober driver,” Jackson said. “And use a rideshare service, folks. It is like just this simple. Use a rideshare.”

All told, more than a million people are expected on the roads this weekend, with some of the heaviest traffic beginning Thursday as people work to get a head start. If you’re heading out to the Eastern Shore, Eikenberg offered more simple advice.

“We always recommend, leave early, stay late,” he said. “That way you can try to avoid some of the congestion, and you can spend more time down at the beach or wherever you’re traveling to.”

And if you must be on the road during peak travel days, know what to expect.

“It’s going to be a high volume of traffic going across that bridge.”

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It’s Commissioning Week in Annapolis, Maryland, as the next class of Midshipmen get ready to graduate from the Naval Academy on Friday. But before that happens, as is tradition, the Blue Angels put on their annual performance over the Severn River.

Once again, they did not disappoint.

Thousands of people traveled to Annapolis on Wednesday afternoon — with lots of people downtown, and lots more on the other side of the Severn River by the World War II Memorial. To those who haven’t seen the show, locals say you’re missing something words can barely capture.

Andrew Livingston of Millersville was among the thousands who showed up.

“It’s almost the start of summer,” he said. “It’s really amazing to see how fast and incredibly loud they are, and how talented to keep the planes so close together as they fly by.”

The jets are loud — ear-splitting, rattle-your-chest loud — especially when they fly upside down right over you.

Michelle Greenwalt drove in from Gambrills and said there’s simply no substitute for being there.

“The noise, the sound, the aerial — everything that they do is amazing,” Greenwalt said. “Until you experience it, you really don’t understand it.”

“The plane goes faster than the sound, so that tells you how loud it is,” she added. “People cover their ears, but you have goose bumps with the thrill of the sound.”

Greenwalt was there with her husband, Tim, who had never been before, as well as Andrew Domshick of Arnold.

“I love the sound, I love the speed, I love the talent and the skill that these pilots have,” he said. “The amount of training that goes into this is unbelievable, and it just says America — screams America — gives me goose bumps every time.”

Plenty of kids were in attendance too, and lots of them also wore massive, noise-canceling headphones over their ears. But Colton Grondalski of Glen Burnie did not.

“They’re very loud,” he said of the planes.

The 8-year-old gets to skip school every year to see the show.

“There’s tons of tricks. There’s just cool stuff,” he said.

Plenty of adults who had never been before also showed up. That included Chris Sewell and Sarah Brooks, both of Silver Spring.

“My friends used to actually skip school to come and see this,” Sewell said. “I never got a chance to do it, so I’ve wanted to come for years and years and years. And finally, I saw it was going to be nice weather 
 so we decided to come on out.”

He and Brooks arrived around 9 a.m. to snag a spot overlooking the Severn River Bridge into downtown Annapolis.

“My dad grew up designing plane engines,” she said. “I just think it’s really cool to be able to see it this close.”

Friday’s graduation ceremony at the Naval Academy is expected to draw thousands more to Annapolis.

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In the AI chatbot of your choice, you can upload your resume, other job experience and even cover letters. Put the job description in there too and it can help tailor your resume for the job you’re applying to.

“How do I make this more compelling? What should I be highlighting?” asked Andrea Willis, a Google technology expert.

“It’s really meant to be that creative brainstorming partner to save you a lot of time and to give you suggestions for things that you may not be thinking of,” she said.

“You can say ‘make it shorter, adjust it for a specific industry,’ and it will give you results in seconds.”

At the same time, don’t assume the chatbot can do all the work for you.

“You should still edit it into your authentic voice,” Willis said.

“But instead of starting from scratch, you are working from a really refined draft. We always encourage people to add their personality to it, because it’s not meant to just like spit something out that you just send off.”

If you’re looking at the job market closely right now, you’ve probably seen job descriptions that require someone to be “AI fluent” or something to that effect. If the term freaks you out, then you should find it reassuring that it doesn’t mean you need to be able to build your own AI model or know exactly how it works.

“We’re not asking everyone to become an AI engineer,” Willis said. “It’s just how do you use AI at work to be productive, to creatively brainstorm?”

That could mean using it for faster data analysis, research or to create graphics for a presentation.

“Becoming AI fluent doesn’t mean that you are building AI systems,” she added. “It means that you understand how to manipulate an AI tool to get the best results.”

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The big question swirling around the man charged with a shooting and carjacking rampage Friday isn’t why police think he did it — though charging documents don’t really reveal any potential motives — but why he was even out of prison to begin with.

Larry Simpson, 68, is facing over 60 charges ranging from first-degree murder to assault to motor vehicle theft stemming from an hour-long, chaotic string of violence up and down the Kenilworth Avenue corridor in Maryland.

It follows his conviction in the 1980s on a first-degree murder charge, for which he was sentenced to life in prison plus 40 years. That sentence was extended after he attempted to escape from a prison in Cumberland, Maryland, toward the beginning of his time behind bars.

So what happened? Fast forward to 2022 and 2023, when a pair of pivotal hearings were held regarding Simpson’s release. In 2022, he applied for a substance abuse treatment program. His lawyer at the time, Nancy Forster, said Simpson “accepts he has a drug problem and has for most of his life.”

But she argued he had strong family support, including a fiancée of 10 years, and that he had a job lined up. In that hearing, she said his likelihood of recidivism was low.

In going along with the request, assistant state’s attorney Jhana Bogan said the “expectation” was that Simpson wouldn’t be back in the community. Judge Beverly Woodard called the state’s support for the change in sentencing “interesting” and told him not to disappoint on multiple occasions.

“Everybody doesn’t get this opportunity,” she said. “The rest of your life, you just need to do positive things — that’s all.”

Thirteen months later, in October 2023, Simpson was back in court, this time asking for his sentence to be modified so that he could be released for good. He’d essentially been living free and unsupervised since April of that year after he completed the substance abuse program.

This hearing, which lasted just over 30 minutes, was described as a formality, and the only debate was how long Simpson would be on probation.

His attorney in that hearing, Amber Williams, described how Simpson had recently suffered a blood clot that traveled to his lung, nearly killing him. She said he couldn’t really drive anymore, because of issues with his legs, and her argument for unsupervised probation was that it would be a burden to have others drive him to check in with a probation agent.

“The threat to public safety is erased by what he’s suffering from,” she told Judge Woodard. She called his substance abuse treatment “very successful.”

So successful that over time, Simpson had gotten a college degree and five certificates as he worked to become a peer support specialist — helping others experiencing substance abuse and suicidal ideation.

“That’s my way of giving back,” Simpson said.

“I don’t even know who the other person was no more,” he said, referring to his time in the 1980s when he was convicted of murder.

In 2023, he only wanted to be with his fiancĂ©e and other family members, where he felt comfortable and safe. He also stressed how important it was for others who were still in prison to know “we actually can be better and we can do better.”

“I’m not going to end up on the news for something stupid,” he said. “Remember me as one of the ones that came through and did good.”

At the start of the hearing, Bogan had asked Simpson be given five years of supervised probation. By the time he was done speaking, she had modified her request to two years of unsupervised probation, with credit for the first year coming when he enrolled in that substance abuse program.

“Simpson continues to impress me,” she said.

Woodard also called him impressive, and agreed to modify Simpson’s sentence so he could live free and spend time with his son and grandson on a regular basis.

“You earned it,” Woodard said.

From then on, it’s not clear what happened in Simpson’s life, but he stayed away from the legal system until Friday, when a car registered in his name crashed and bullets went flying. One person was hit and later released from the hospital. Another was injured by broken glass. For the first time in years, Simpson was back behind bars again, where he remains.

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The Glen Burnie man facing 66 charges related to an hourlong chaotic shooting and carjacking spree that tore through northern Prince George’s County last Friday waived his right to a bond review Monday, and will remain behind bars.

But questions are being asked about whether he should have already been behind bars when the incident happened.

Larry James Simpson, 68, is charged with multiple counts of attempted first and second-degree murder, first and second-degree assault and motor vehicle theft, among other charges. At least 16 people are considered victims, including one who was shot and another hurt by broken glass.

Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Tara Jackson said part of the investigation will look into why Simpson was even out on the streets after he was convicted of murder in 1987. The murder happened years and he faced a life sentence plus 40 years, Jackson said.

“Life plus 40 is certainly a long sentence,” she added. “I wouldn’t expect that he would be released, but he did serve 35 years, but life plus 40 is a long sentence.”

Jackson said Simpson filed a motion for a post-conviction requesting drug and alcohol evaluation in 2022.

“That motion was granted, and he was transferred to the custody of the Department of Health. And then the next year, in October of 2023, he was released,” she said.

At this point, prosecutors haven’t figured out what the rationale for his release was, nor is there any clarity as to the motive behind what happened on Friday.

Jackson wasn’t ready to second guess the department’s process and say whether his release was appropriate.

“I cannot, at this point, opine on whether or not it was appropriate or not, but it is concerning, because, of course, he is on the streets and he’s committed such a horrendous act,” Jackson said.

There’s been no other known legal incidents involving Simpson since his release.

Simpson is due in court again on June 15 for a preliminary hearing, but that hearing could be bypassed since a grand jury will have the chance to indict him before that happens.

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The asteroid is called Apophis. It’s about the size of the Eiffel Tower — and on April 13, 2029, it’s expected to make an extraordinarily close pass by Earth. So close that people in Europe and Africa will be able to see it soaring through the sky. It won’t land here, but if it did crash into Earth, it would have the impact of hundreds of nuclear bombs going off at once.

Since that would be bad for humanity, a project called Terp Raptor (Terrapin Engineered Rideshare Probe for Rapid-response Asteroid Apophis Profiling, Tracking, Observing and Reconnaissance) has brought a group of undergrad and graduate students together to study Apophis, and how to prepare for an asteroid that might not miss.

“We live in a cosmic shooting gallery,” said Adrienne Rudolph, a doctoral student in aerospace engineering at the University of Maryland and the student principal investigator for Terp Raptor. “There are asteroids and comets whirring around us all the time, but space is really big, so for something to get this close is incredibly rare. We want to give people the chance to, for lack of better phrasing, look the beast in the eye.”

That’s what Terp Raptor will do. Rudolph and other students are building a satellite that’s about the size of a microwave. The plan is to launch it into space in 2028 so that it can fly by the asteroid ahead of time and beam information, including the sheer mass of the asteroid, back here before it gets too close.

“When you understand the mass of an asteroid, you can calculate, if it were to impact the Earth, for example, what kind of energy would it have, what kind of destruction capability does it have,” Rudolph said. “Asteroid mass helps us to be able to learn about impacts, how to mitigate potential threats, if we need to. So if we see that there’s an asteroid coming at us and we need to either deflect it or disrupt it or blow it up, we know how much spacecraft mass to hit it with, to knock it off its course.”

If it sounds like the prep work needed for when the 1990s movie Armageddon becomes more fact than fiction, you’re right. But the project needs financial help lifting off.

“We estimate that we need around $1.2 million total in cost, which is pretty low for a space mission of this size, but it’s still a lot,” said Elena Wu, a freshman project manager with Terp Raptor. “And so we’re looking for funding from different sources.”

A lot of that funding is in place, and the team has secured lab space at NASA Goddard. A meeting with the president of the University of Maryland could also bring more good news.

“Everything is done at this point in terms of the design,” said Tyler Autrey, the structure team lead who’s in charge of the design and manufacturing of the actual satellite. “We just need the components.”

But they still need to raise about $300,000 more. If you ever wanted to go into space, but would settle for having your name on board, .

“We’re looking to launch quarter two of 2028 and we ideally would get there in December of 2028,” Rudolph said. “A few months ahead of whenever it makes its closest approach. And the flyby is very quick. We’ll be traveling about four kilometers per second relative to the asteroid. So, pretty fast.”

Terp Raptor isn’t the only mission eyeing Apophis.

Rudolph said the European Space Agency and NASA have their own plans to study the asteroid. They just happen to have a bit more funding.

Rudolph and her group are relying on Launch UMD, which is essentially a crowdfunding page for student-led projects. If this project makes it into space, all the information and conclusions gleaned from the fly-by will be public knowledge by the time people can see Apophis skimming close to Earth.

“We want to get those images back and that data back so people can understand what they’re looking at whenever they do see it in the sky on April 13,” 2029, said Rudolph.

“One day there will be an asteroid that does have our name on it, and we want to be prepared for that,” Rudolph said. “So we are not out here to do anything to Apophis, except go out and explore and learn more about it.

“All of that data is good for planetary defense, planetary science and even asteroid mining prospecting,” she added. “There are asteroid mining companies in the industry that would like to know all of these features about asteroids, so they can say, ‘Hey, is this a metallic asteroid? Does this one have water? Are these worth mining?’ So it’s also good for resource prospecting.”

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Randy Sutton, a retired police lieutenant from Nevada, said he was abandoned by his department after suffering a stroke inside his police car. That experience motivated him to help found the seven years ago.

He said officers began reaching out to him with stories that mirrored his own.

Since starting the organization, Sutton said Wounded Blue has helped thousands of officers — whether it’s with physical care or peer support for officers who have been shot, stabbed, beaten or run over.

A big focus, Sutton said, is suicide prevention. According the group’s motto is “never forgotten, never alone.”

“Many of the officers that we deal with have been injured either because of gunfights, because of traffic accidents, fights with suspects,” Sutton told ĂÛÌÒÊÓÆ”app.

“Unfortunately, many police officers who are severely injured in the line of duty are given subpar medical treatment.”

One of Wounded Blue’s biggest donors is someone Sutton calls “the voice on the phone.”

It’s an anonymous benefactor from the West Coast who he has never met in person but speaks with regularly. Sutton said the donor has provided million of dollars to help fund treatment.

Dr. Ehsan Jazini, an orthopedic spine surgeon at the Virginia Spine Institute in Reston, has spoken to that anonymous donor about providing care to both officers and members of the military who find themselves in similar situations.

“He’s very involved with these families and understands what they’ve been through,” Jazini said.

One of those cases involved an officer from Texas named Tim who just wanted to be able to walk his daughter down the aisle.

Jazini said many of the officers who come to him have been misdiagnosed or bounced between providers “with no good answer.” He called it an “honor” to help people through the organization.

“It’s just incredible to be able to be a part of that, and for me to do my part as a surgeon and just try to do what I can do to help get these patients back to their life,” Jazini said.

“You’re taking care of people who are taking care of the people who are our most vulnerable members of society.”

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Officials at Monday’s tour of the new facility said a little over 3% of Maryland’s residents are  In Prince George’s County, that equates to tens of thousands of people.

Previously, they’d have to travel to either Baltimore, D.C. or Montgomery County for services geared toward them. Later this month, when the center holds its official grand opening and ribbon cutting, that will change.

“You don’t always see them, because they might be stuck in their homes because they’re not getting services,” said Prince George’s County Council member Jolene Ivey, who pushed for the space to open up this center.

She was quick to credit County Executive Aisha Braveboy for finding the space in a county-owned building.

“They don’t know how to go out safely into the community. How are they supposed to get to Silver Spring or D.C. for these services?” she asked.

For those in the blind community who gathered there for the first time, the joy and excitement knowing there’s a facility for them was obvious to everyone else in the room.

“It’s very important, extremely important,” Chiko Dinaka said, describing the new facility as a place where “gentlemen and ladies can get together and have meetings, and they can learn about different technology, like learn how to use a computer, how to use a Braille writer, how to navigate life.”

“As a blind person in a blind community, this is great,” said Eric Phifer, of Landover. “We haven’t had resources. I had to go all the way to Montgomery County.”

While everyone inside gathered to celebrate, it was apparent there was a strong bond within the community, something those who showed up were eager to confirm.

“We help each other. We look out for each other. As you can tell, the camaraderie is excellent, and I like being around them,” Phifer said.

Now, with this service center, “It’s going to grow. This is going to grow exponentially,” he said.

Marcus Robinson, chief operating officer of the a nonprofit that helps provide reading and audio services to the blind community around the D.C. region, will help oversee the new facility. He said the new Sight and Vision Center will play a role in helping blind and visually impaired people gain more independence.

“One of the things that most people have a misconception is that every blind person has somebody to read a letter for them, or to cook for them, or things of that nature,” Robinson said. “So what winds up happening is that a lot of times, people who are blind and low vision feel very isolated.”

He reiterated that the goal of the new center is to make sure people can learn to read Braille, use a white cane to get around and even use technology that can help them call rideshares or navigate the online world.

“It’s as important as it is to have a public school for your child to go to,” Robinson said. “Imagine trying to teach someone who’s blind how to cross the street again or navigate anything in their life.”

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For the first time in its 151-year history, the Preakness Stakes is coming to Anne Arundel County, Maryland, and local leaders want to make sure the region feels every bit of it.

The races will be held at Laurel Racetrack, as Baltimore’s Pimlico track undergoes renovations. Attendance will be capped at around 4,800 for an event that drew more than 10 times that last year, and used to draw over 100,000 people during its heyday.

But Anne Arundel Economic Development Corporation President and CEO Amy Gowan said the county is still going big this year, starting with a weeklong Preakness Festival.

“It truly is a Maryland tradition,” Gowan said.

Rather than a rowdy and raucous infield party, bars and restaurants around the region are planning watch parties this year.

“There’s a number of local restaurants and bars that have dining and beverage promotions. A lot of Black-Eyed Susan cocktails and mocktails, if that’s your jam,” Gowan said. “A lot of local businesses have stepped up and they have just come up with some really creative ways to celebrate the energy and the excitement around Preakness.”

You’ll find events at the Annapolis Mall and Arundel Mills, and in Prince George’s County too, with the National Harbor planning big things, starting with a special brunch Saturday morning.

“A lot of our restaurants will be hosting Preakness watch parties, especially down at National Harbor, as well as Arthur Wheeler distillery and Clyopatra Wine and Vineyards,” Prince George’s County Executive Aisha Braveboy told ĂÛÌÒÊÓÆ”app.

National Harbor will also have next Saturday’s race playing on the outdoor big screen. But even ahead of all that, several farms around Maryland will open up this weekend to provide free tours and give people a chance to get up close with a horse.

On race day, former NFL player Brian Westbrook, who owns a farm in Upper Marlboro, will host a youth skills camp as part of the Preakness activities, giving young people a chance to learn to ride horses or see one for the first time.

The county’s local campaign is called “Anne Arundel off to the Races.” A full list of events and activations — including those statewide — is available on the state’s .

“We have all been working together to create a sense of place and community celebrating Preakness throughout our region,” Gowan said.

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is free for anyone to attend and hosted by a think tank called the Special Competitive Studies Project. It’s filled with tech startups, defense contractors and a wider range of companies using AI in all sorts of ways.

And one topic of frequent discussion on the many stages and in conference rooms is the impact the technology is having on jobs.

“This is a problem that we need to be taking seriously as a leadership issue,” said Miriam Vogel, president and CEO of Bethesda, Maryland-based which focuses on policy and governance of the technology.

“It’s something I feel very strongly and something we talk about a lot.”

Vogel referred to AI as a general purpose tool and said it’s “not something happening to” people, but something people can engage with in their families and workplaces.

Arun Gupta, CEO of the a Tysons, Virginia-based nonprofit promoting public service to tech workers, spoke not just about jobs, but about how AI will influence careers.

He said he believes young people are likely to have four to six careers over their lifetime.

“That could be startling for some, but I think ultimately, once you get on the other side of it, I think it’s empowering for most,” he said. “Because they’re the ones that are able to design the career that fits the purpose that they have.”

Brendan Schulman, vice president of policy and government relations at the robotics company , hopes the expo helps demystify the fanatical perceptions some people have about this technology.

“They imagine that the robot is designed to come in and take their jobs. And that’s a concern that people have had about technology for decades, and not just robots,” Schulman said. “I think it’s particularly felt when it’s a machine that looks like a human.”

Across the ballroom, Atlanta-based company , talked about the potential far-reaching benefits of its combat robots.

“The space industry is actually really focused on combat robotics, because with combat robotics, you can design for as long as you want, you can build it as well as you can, but when it goes in the arena, you can’t touch it again,” Turnabot founder and CPO Scott Siegel said. “So similarly, if you send something to Mars, you can’t touch it once it gets there. It’s got to be able to crash land on its own. It’s got to be able to do whatever its function is. It’s going to encounter things that you probably didn’t plan for.”

Siegel also tried to calm fears of a robot revolution in which AI takes over.

“You can get them to do an enormous amount of work very efficiently, but they’re always going to have to have supervision,” Siegel said. “They’re always going to have to have a person at the helm.”

He said he thinks those who are skeptical should grow more familiar with the technology: “You should learn how to use (AI), because if you don’t learn how to use it, you’re going to get left behind.”

The free expo runs through Saturday and features family-friendly programming.

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The number of people who visited Downtown was up slightly in 2025 for those reasons, and with help from other major events such as WorldPride. But local business leaders said during Thursday’s State of Downtown Forum they’re worried about where things are going there and the rest of the region.

“Foot traffic in 2025 started with a sprint, but ended up crossing the finish line with a hobble,” said Mark Simpson, director of planning and economic development for the Downtown D.C. Business Improvement District.

Trips to museums and Capital One Arena were up, while theater traffic was slightly down. Then he got to the matter of jobs.

“I shouldn’t say the R-word — recession — but the warning lights are flashing red,” Simpson said.

“The District overall has the unique and unenviable position of being the only jurisdiction among our neighbors that not only saw negative job growth last year, but is still below prepandemic levels,” he said. “And the indications of the most recent data for ’26 show that all of our municipalities are losing jobs.”

Other BID leaders tried to argue that, while there’s no “silver bullet,” there are what they called “golden BBs” that can help with the turnaround. Multifamily housing growth has declined in recent years, far below the pace in Northern Virginia, but they tried to tout the opportunity that exists. They also highlighted the increased presence of large universities from around the country that are migrating to D.C.

“They recognize the long-term investment and opportunity and value that comes from bringing their faculty, staff and alumni Downtown in the nation’s capital,” Simpson said. “We need to continue to build on these gains.”

Ebony Walton, the head of marketing for the Downtown BID, said remote work isn’t going away completely, and Downtown businesses will need to find ways to adjust.

“We must become a magnet, finding other ways to draw people to our Downtown,” she said. “We want people to choose to come Downtown. We want them to come for the joy, for the inspiration, to come and meander.”

Mayor Muriel Bowser spoke last at the event, and though it was the Downtown business community in attendance, her message was pointed more toward whoever her successor might be. She warned specifically about neglecting Downtown businesses, crediting them for the city’s most recent surge of economic growth.

“The Downtown is literally the golden goose that, for many years, made it possible for us to invest in world class city services,” she said.

She warned against “backtracking” on public safety and policies that might attract more businesses.

“Keep fighting for how we grow as a city,” Bowser said. “We cannot tax ourselves into prosperity. We have to create more jobs, more revenue and more opportunities for D.C. residents and businesses to grow.”

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In Maryland, outgoing State Sen. Arthur Ellis said his chamber should be doing the same thing.

Ellis, the most outspoken Maryland Senate Democrat pushing for a new congressional map, made his frustration with Senate President Bill Ferguson plainly apparent during this year’s legislative session, and those feelings haven’t changed.

“He’s a traitor to the Democratic Party,” said Ellis, who is now in the crowded field of candidates seeking to replace Rep. Steny Hoyer in Congress. “We cannot just sit back and continue to do nothing in Maryland, specifically the Senate of Maryland.”

Ellis said momentum for redistricting is building in Republican-led states, pointing to recent moves by Republicans in Louisiana and South Carolina.

“I am so ashamed of the Senate of Maryland,” Ellis told ĂÛÌÒÊÓÆ”app, describing some colleagues as “quiet and cowering to the bullies.”

He vowed the votes were there in the state Senate to pass a new map already passed by the House of Delegates.

On Wednesday, one member of the Senate leadership said that was probably true, even if some of the yes votes would be reluctant. But another leadership source said a special session won’t be happening and new maps won’t be drawn this year.

A majority of Maryland’s Supreme Court justices were appointed by former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan. When Democrats tried to draw a map with eight Democrats and no Republicans in 2022, those justices shut it down and redrew a more Republican-friendly map than what exists right now.

There’s belief that it would happen again with no way for Democrats to reverse the seat they would lose this year.

But next year seems like it’ll be a different story.

One source said it might require a change to the state’s constitution to make what’s already considered a gerrymandered map hold up in the courts. At this point, that hasn’t been seriously discussed yet. But just because it’s not on the table right now doesn’t mean it’s not hovering near it.

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