“Overtime has been and continues to be a costly and chronic phenomenon among the District’s public safety agencies,” the report said.

The auditor found some agencies are operating well below authorized staffing levels, while others continue to post significant overtime costs despite having most positions filled.

In the D.C. police department, some sworn officers took between eight and 10 weeks of leave in 2025, . At the Office of Unified Communications, dispatchers were absent without leave for an average of one full week.

The Department of Corrections spent roughly $30 million on overtime last year, largely because of staffing shortages. The agency has 704 employees, far below its authorized staffing level of 1,762.

D.C. Fire and EMS faces a different challenge. The department is about 95% staffed but still spent roughly $50 million on overtime in 2025. According to the auditor, firefighters took an average of eight to 11 weeks of leave, increasing the need for overtime coverage.

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Free D.C. is urging D.C. residents to delete the DoorDash app and take other actions.

“D.C. community members have already made it clear we’re very willing to start deleting our accounts, deleting the apps and talking to the restaurants that we like to stop using their services,” Free D.C. co-founder Alex Dodds told ������Ƶapp.

DoorDash said in a statement that it supports home rule, but “will continue to do everything we can to defend D.C.’s small businesses, local economy, and underserved residents.”

The D.C. Council recently approved a 20-cent fee on food delivery services.

DoorDash, which fought the fee, said it will hit underserved communities the hardest. The company also said the D.C. Council passed the fee without holding a single public hearing.

, D.C. Council member Christina Henderson objected to both DoorDash assertions.

“This company never talks about what the fee was used to fund: Produce Plus expansion, Joyful Food markets, Grocery Access Pilot program, FQHCs, etc. The money is going right back to the very communities DoorDash claims will be harmed & in need of ‘protection,'” Henderson wrote.

The at-large council member also said “it’s funny” that DoorDash opposed the fee over a lack of hearings.

“Guess what also had no hearing? Comer’s bill,” Henderson said.

Rep. James Comer, the bill’s sponsor, revealed DoorDash’s support for the on Wednesday, when he asked to have a letter from the company entered into the record.

“Every District resident should know that @DoorDash doesn’t support DC Home Rule and is actively working to undermine it by lobbying for the GOP’s efforts to control DC tax policies,” Ward 5 Council member Zachary Parker said on X.

Dodds said the legislation would undermine home rule and is unacceptable.

“It’s pretty shocking and disappointing to see a company that serves D.C. communities, that depends on D.C. communities, take what we really consider an absolutely indefensible position on attacking D.C.’s right to govern,” she said.

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The coalition of consumer groups is targeting PJM, the regional electric grid operator serving 13 states, including Virginia, Maryland and D.C. Its service area includes the world’s biggest concentration of data centers.

Advocates and lawmakers have argued PJM’s current governance structure gives disproportionate voting power to market participants with financial interests in the outcomes of its decisions.

“We’re seeing mismanagement at PJM because states and ratepayer advocates do not have an adequate voice at the table,” said Rebecca Rehr, director of climate policy and justice at the Maryland League of Conservation Voters. “Instead, “The majority of the seats at the decision-making table are energy generators, transmission owners, utilities and other suppliers.”

Quentin Scott, federal policy director at Chesapeake Climate Action Network, said PJM is increasingly off mission.

“PJM was created to ensure affordable, reliable electricity for all consumers. Today, however, many people feel that PJM has become slow, secretive and disconnected from public interests,” he said.

According to the advocacy groups, PJM customers would if it allowed more clean energy to connect to the grid.

They held a news conference as a meeting of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was getting underway Thursday.

Laura Swett, who chairs the commission, called PJM an innovator in energy market designs, but suggested it faces tough issues today.

“PJM is facing a grave legitimacy crisis. Frustrations are mounting,” she said.

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The hottest T-shirts in D.C. have nothing to do with U.S. soccer or even America’s 250th birthday. People are waiting in long lines for Metro gear.

Those lines have spilled out the door of the transit agency’s pop-up shop in the 300 block of 7th Street in Southwest D.C. and onto the hot sidewalk.

Metro is marking its 50th anniversary with designs that apparently people, such as Matthew Peterson, just have to have.

“I use Metro like every day and I’ve used all the lines,” Peterson, who has lived in D.C. for eight years, said. “I don’t even have a car. and it’s been essential to getting around so I just wanted to be able to commemorate it, and they’ve got cool marketing and cool merch.”

The shop features original Metro concept art on shirts, hats, postcards and other items. Katrina Gross picked up a shirt for her friend.

“They are pretty hot. I was surprised by how many people are here,” Gross said.

Tanner Holcomb also grabbed a shirt.

“I think these are really cool. There are some really nice vintage designs and I’m excited to wear it around,” Holcomb said.

The pop-up shop is open through July 10.

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“If the U.S. beats Australia by one goal it’s 25% off, if they beat Australia by 2 goals its 50% off, and if they win by three goals again it’s free tabs on the house for everyone there,” said Peter Bayne,

It’s same promotion the bar offered on patron’s tabs in the match against Paraguay last week. The U.S. won that match 4-1.

Bayne said he got the idea from a bar in New York that did a similar promotion for New York Knicks fans during the NBA playoffs.

Baynes said he’s not completely crazy, he hedged his bet by placing a personal wager on the upcoming soccer match through the predictive marketing website Kalshi.

Baynes bet the U.S. would win by 2 goals or 3 goals.

“That way I felt comfortable doing it and it ended up being a win all around,” he said.

Asked if he was afraid his luck might run out this time, Bayne said, “I’m totally nervous, I’m a nervous wreck about this, you know. I don’t know if this is a good idea or not.”

At the end of the day, he said it’s a lot of fun to do a promotion like this, and he’s again placing that side bet the U.S. will win.

“The actual worse outcome could be if the U.S. loses because I don’t want them to lose, I want them to continue on and get into the knockout round,” Bayne said.

Bayne is not just a casual soccer fan either, he coached a local high school varsity team and has a deep love for the game.

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There’s a new twist in the ongoing saga to clean up the Reflecting Pool. Some of the new “American Flag Blue” paint used to coat the bottom appears to be peeling away.

The bottom of the pool was painted at the direction of President Donald Trump and refilled with water about two weeks ago. Since then, algae that blooms in the Reflecting Pool every summer returned, making the pool green.

Crews have been scrubbing the algae out and using nanobubble ozone technology to try and clean the pool. Workers were recently seen dumping hydrogen peroxide in the water.

Thursday, some of the blue paint started lifting from the bottom. About half-way down the south side of the Reflecting Pool, a 2- to 3-foot section appeared to be peeling away near the pool’s edge. As the wind blew, the chunk rose above the water, ripping away from the bottom just a little bit more.

Derek Amspaugh visiting D.C. from Columbus, Ohio, stopped to take a look.

“It’s definitely concerning, yeah; you’re spending $11 million, you’d like to see quality work being done.”

The Trump administration has said the cost of the renovation is around $14 million.

John Ritter, who lives in Northern Virginia, suggested the issue could be emblematic of the Trump administration.

“It’s a bit of a metaphor, I think, for some of the other projects they are trying to do.”

It’s unclear whether the hydrogen peroxide, the scrubbing of the algae or the nanobubble technology being used has anything to do with the peeling.

As of Thursday afternoon, about a third of the pool looked clean and blue — the rest was the algae green color usually seen in the summer.

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A new slice of Chicago has arrived in the D.C. area.

, an iconic pizzeria that’s been serving the Windy City’s famous deep-dish pizzas for a half century, opens Tuesday at 14th and F streets NW.

General manager Chieyen Meachem said the location near the White House was selected with purpose.

“Why not bring a part of Chicago to the nation’s capital? It’s only the next logical step, and then steps away from the White House, being able to have that taste of Chicago right here,” Meachem said.

�Ҿ��ǰ��岹�Դ�’s pies are a mouthful. The deep-dish pizzas can take 35 to 40 minutes to bake.

“It’s a layer of dough then we have all the cheese, ingredients then another layer of dough on top finish it off with our famous tomato sauce on top,” said Nihav Cehic, the senior director of new restaurant openings for �Ҿ��ǰ��岹�Դ�’s.

According to the company, the two-story, 7,400-square-foot restaurant can seat more than 180 guests in its dining room, bar, seasonal patio and private dining area named The Lincoln Room.

It’s also expected to create 100 jobs.

As part of the opening celebration and in honor of 250 years of America, �Ҿ��ǰ��岹�Դ�’s is offering a limited-time “250 Pizza” only in D.C., with proceeds benefiting HonorFlight.org, a nonprofit organization dedicated to U.S. war veterans.

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This year, something is different.

Bill Crisp, a co-owner of the nonprofit , said his organization typically captures and relocates 40 to 50 copperheads each summer. Most of that activity occurs in July and August.

But this year’s unusual weather — going from super hot to chilly and rainy to dry — has brought the copperheads out a little early.

“We stepped it up just in the last couple days, so we’re about 20 right now that our organization has removed in the Prince William County area, and I think we may have had one or two in Fairfax,” Crisp said.

K2C Snake Consultants goes to Virginia homes and farms to capture and relocate snakes who get a little too close for property owners’ comfort.

“Most of these calls that we get are copperheads up against the house, near the front stairs or back steps, in landscaping, in their gardens, around pools, things like that,” he said.

Crisp said copperheads like to hide in plants, rock piles and woodpiles, and which is also where they find food. And they want nothing to do with you or your pets.

“They’re not out to get us. They’re not here to chase us; they don’t want to bite if they don’t have to,” Crisp said.

But more snake encounters can mean more snake bites, and if you are bitten, Crisp has this advice.

“No cold compresses. You don’t need a tourniquet. The whole cutting the bite and trying to suck out the venom out doesn’t work, only in the movies,” he said.

Don’t take any medications, he said, but do stay hydrated and get to a hospital as soon as possible.

And don’t try to capture the snake and bring it with you to the hospital.

“Even if you were to put it in a bucket and bring it to the emergency room, they are not going to let you in obviously with the snake,” Crisp said.

However, he said, it is a good idea to take a picture of the snake and bring that with you.

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Sheriff Mike Chapman said these e-bikes are not motorcycles, but they are also not regular bikes.

“You just push a button and zoom, you’re gone,” Chapman said. “Kids just stop paying attention and they just don’t understand exactly how dangerous these things can be.”

His warning comes on the heels of a crash Wednesday that left a teenager on an e-bike with serious injuries. Deputies are investigating what led up to the collision between the e-bike and a car in Sterling.

Chapman wants parents to “pay attention” to the e-bikes they have purchased for their kids and whether they are riding them properly.

He suggested that parents watch their kids as they learn how to ride an e-bike. Before buying, Chapman said to take on e-bikes.

“It kind of explains all the rules and regulations concerning the size of the bike, when a helmet must be worn, what ages people can ride at certain levels,” Chapman said.

Last year, Loudoun County warned parents about alarming trends with scooters and other smaller wheeled electric devices. The county found that in the first five months of 2025, compared to 2024, there was about a 70% increase in pedestrian and bicycle, e-bike, electric device-type crashes in the county.

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In a forum aired Thursday on NBC Washington with Mark Seagraves as host, two mayoral candidates — Ward 4 Council member Janeese Lewis George and former D.C. Council member Kenyan McDuffie — went back and forth on multiple topics. Some of the biggest flashpoints were when the candidates spoke about the disastrous Potomac spill, their relationship with President Donald Trump, the rise of immigration enforcement and overall public safety.

In January, a sewage pipe break sent more than 200 million gallons of wastewater into the Potomac River, prompting Seagraves to ask: “Do you think David Gadis should remain as CEO of DC Water?

Lewis George paused a few seconds and simply said, “No.”

McDuffie said he didn’t have enough information to say Gadis should be fired but added, “I think that the person responsible, Mark, should be gone.”

On the Trump issue, Seagraves asked them both to name a Congressional Republican they have a relationship with that might help them navigate issues with the president.

Neither could, with Lewis George saying, however, that she’s been walking the halls of Congress trying to connect with lawmakers.

McDuffie said, “Republicans are not going to save Washington, D.C., they are too busy doing the things Trump has asked them to do.”

When asked about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operating in D.C. and immigration enforcement, Lewis George said on day one of her administration, she will rescind an order from former Police Chief Pamela Smith, which instructs D.C. police officers to cooperate with immigration enforcement for people who are not in custody.

Lewis George added she’ll take other steps when it comes to schoolteachers and administrators. “I’m also going to make sure that we are not sharing data and public information with federal immigration and law enforcement, that we are following our sanctuary values laws.”

McDuffie said he would also end cooperation on day one of his administration.

McDuffie also spoke about trust and public safety.

“I’m also going to make sure that we appoint a chief of police who can restore a culture of accountability and transparency at the Metropolitan Police Department,” he added.

There were some uncomfortable and tense moments in the forum as well, with McDuffie complaining a few times about getting time to speak, “I’m going to finish my point, Mark, because she keeps interrupting me,” he said.

Lewis George also later suggested McDuffie was discounting her record because she’s a woman. “It’s very rich for men to want to take the credit for the work of women.”

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A new memorial has been dedicated in Alexandria in honor of the 67 people who died in the January 2025 crash between an American Airlines flight and an Army helicopter.

It sits on the banks of the Potomac at Rivergate City Park, not far from the Reagan National Airport, and includes a large green plaque, trees, benches, stones and a pathway.

At the dedication ceremony Monday evening Alexandria Fire Department Chaplain Nathan Krause read part of the inscription on the plaque that is part of the memorial: “Their lives filed with promise purpose and love were taken too soon.”

Several dozen pilots, first responders on that day, as well as dozens of family members of the crash victims also attended.

Alexandria City Manager Jim Parajon addressed family members who lost loved ones.

“No passage of time can erase your profound loss,” Parajon said. “We hope however that this place may offer reflection and comfort to you and our families.”

Alexandria Mayor Alyia Gaskins spoke about profound loss in her own life and offered comfort to the families. “As you come and as you visit, I hope that in each moment you are reminded and comforted not only by their memories but also the recognition that we celebrate their light and their spirits and hold them in our hearts.”

Chair of the NTSB Jennifer Homendy called on Congress to implement the 50 safety recommendations developed after the crash to insure something like this never happens again.

“Every day that passes without implementation of all 50 of our safety recommendations represents a continued and unacceptable risk to public safety,” Homendy said.

Alexandria is also planting 67 trees around the city in honor of the crash victims.

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However, U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss wrote in his order, “The government seeks to squelch core political speech without any articulable — much less evidentiary — basis for concluding that the speech actually threatens the life or safety of the President.”

also goes into a lengthy discussion about the phrase 86, saying it is a slang term with no single meaning.

“According to Merriam-Webster, eighty-six is slang meaning ‘to throw out,’ ‘to get rid of,’ or ‘to refuse service to,'” the order reads.

The flag says 86 47, the same phrase former FBI Director James Comey posted on Instagram-made out of sea shells. Comey faces a criminal case that claims the post was meant to provoke violence against President Trump.  

The group Accountability Now put the flag up around May 12 and has another two weeks, under a National Park Service permit, to leave it up. The organization asked the federal courts to get involved after its members were confronted by Secret Service Officers and were asked to take the flag down.

According to the court documents, a Secret Service officer had an exchange about the flag with an unnamed person who was part of Accountability Now. In that exchange, the officer tells the volunteer they had gotten a call because of the flag and what it could stand for.

The volunteer then tells the officer they had never heard of the phrase “86 47” standing for anything other than, “Trump shouldn’t be in office,” and that they were not threatening violence against the president, court documents state.

“I want Trump to live forever and rot in jail where he belongs,” the volunteer told the officer, according to court documents.

But about 25 minutes later, two different officers approached and things became more confrontational, court documents state, when they read the same volunteer the Miranda warning. She was not arrested, but the Secret Service opened an investigation into the volunteer as a “potential threat,” according to court documents.

Secret Service returned last week and ordered the flag be taken down, saying it was a threat to the president, and the court battle ensued.

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Hours after a federal judge ordered the removal of President Donald Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center and blocked the arts center’s closure for major renovations, dozens of people gathered there Friday to celebrate.

The gathering was planned before the ruling, both to mark President John F. Kennedy’s 109th birthday and to protest Trump’s efforts to put his own stamp on the Kennedy memorial.

The gathering included an impromptu dramatic reading of the judge’s order.

“The Kennedy Center must be named for and is meant to honor President Kennedy alone,” the judge wrote.

Trump said in response that he’s backing away from his proposed renovation and returning control of the arts institution to Congress.

“Unless I am free to do what I do better than anyone else, bring this Institution back, physically, financially, and artistically, I have no interest in continuing what could only be a hopeless journey into ‘NEVER NEVER LAND,’” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

“I was so tickled,” protester Barb Archebald told ������Ƶapp. “My phone was beeping like crazy on the way in here.”

Beth Conord held a sign that read “Restore dignity to the Kennedy Center — fire Trump.”

“I’m absolutely encouraged,” Conord said. “Small steps, but hopefully we’ll get to the bigger steps.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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According to the American Civil Liberties Union, immigration officials at the Northern Virginia airport detained the woman from Ghana and her son in a windowless room, after she brought her son to the U.S. on a tourist visa.

Anabella Gyasi, 38, planned to take him to a hospital in Ohio for treatment of an abnormality in his hands.

Customs and Border Protection officers asked Gyasi at the airport if she feared persecution in her own country, The Washington Post reported. She answered that she did, fearing her son could face harm in Ghana because of his disability.

According to court documents, Customs and Border Protection officers said Gyasi also told them she intended to seek asylum in the U.S. and remain here.

Customs and Border Protection then nullified her tourist visa, classified her as an asylum applicant and started considering her case.

Eden Heilman, legal director for the ACLU of Virginia, said Gyasi was denied asylum.

“They are now seeking to remove her, but again at this point, we don’t know when, and in the interim she is literally sitting in this room without access to care,” Heilman told ������Ƶapp on Thursday.

According to the organization, the court intervened Friday.

“The court ordered in no uncertain terms that Ms. Gyasi and her son are not to spend another night in Dulles Airport. Ms. Gyasi’s health and the viability of her pregnancy have both been endangered for more than a week as a result of the Trump administration’s dangerous and unlawful detention practices,” ACLU of Virginia’s Executive Director Mary Bauer said in a statement.

Heilman said Gyasi is almost 20 weeks pregnant and experienced symptoms in detention “indicating that things are getting more and more complicated with her pregnancy.”

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The agency scheduled a two-hour town hall Thursday night, but the meeting ended after less than an hour, with few people showing up in person or online.

Those who did show up asked very few questions, and no one asked about the plan to raise monthly rates by almost $10 per month in 2027, and an $8 monthly rate hike in 2028.

Most of the rate increase — $7.36 — “is going to be used to invest in our aging infrastructure, as well as pay for the Clean Rivers project and Lead Free D.C., and about $2.28 is for the pass-through fees,” Lola Oyeyemi, D.C. Water’s interim chief financial officer, said.

Clean Rivers is a federally mandated project designed to reduce combined stormwater and wastewater overflows, resulting in cleaner water in the Potomac River and Rock Creek watershed.

Lead Free D.C. is an ongoing effort to replace all lead service lines in the District.

If the rate increase is approved during a vote set for June, the average D.C. Water customer would pay about $157 a month in 2027 and about $166 a month in 2028.

David Gadis, the CEO of D.C. Water, said he understands that many things are more expensive these days.

“As we developed this proposed budget our focused remained clear and that was balancing affordability with the continuing investments needed to maintain safe, reliable and resilient water,” he said.

D.C. Water offers manage water and sewer bills. Depending on your income. you could get between $19 and $137 dollars a month off your bill.

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