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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But things have changed with so many area residents living and working very differently these days. ������Ƶapp Afternoon Traffic Anchor Dave Dildine said it used to be that everybody left at roughly the same time.

“It doesn’t work that way anymore, the getaway is more spread out temporally and spatially, some people leave early, some people leave late,” Dildine said.

So, what does that mean for getting across the Bay Bridge this weekend, for example?

“It makes it more manageable, it doesn’t make it easy,” Dildine said. “There’s still traffic it’s just not as intense as it used to be.”

Dildine said over the past few decades as people changed the hours they work, where they work and more, that has affected traffic.

“Traffic volumes are being more spread out,” Dildine said. “Yes, there are traffic jams but there are not cataclysmic backups stretching for miles and miles.”

Dildine said it’s still true that the best times to leave are generally still the most inconvenient times, like the middle of the night or early in the morning. He does think one factor may affect the getaway this year.

“This getaway might be moderated somewhat by higher gas prices, that’s certainly possible,” Dildine said.

Some people filling up in Fairfax County, Virginia, Thursday were not excited about what they were having to pay for gas. One driver named Tim said his family is flying in and they’re going to the beach anyway.

“We’re driving down to the Outer Banks,” Tim said. “We’ll be in three vehicles so it’s going to be an expensive jaunt.”

Another driver, Shey agreed gas is expensive but said it’s cheaper than flying.

“Normally the flight ticket is $1,200, but now it’s $1,500 for each person, a family of four and that’s a lot of money,” Shey said.

Colin, who drives a large four-wheel-drive Dodge Ram pickup, said he’s not cutting back on driving, even though filling up is expensive.

“It takes about $150 to fill up,” Colin said.

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About 75 people packed Glen Echo Town Hall in person, and more joined online. Many did not give their names but raised a range of concerns.

One man described the lingering smell of sewage: “I always open the window and it’s putrid!”

“Our hometown river deserves better and our communities do as well,” he added.

Another woman raised a similar concern: “It’s really bad. I’m smelling it from my car on Clara Barton and on the bridge.”

Officials said during the meeting that part of the ventilation system designed to neutralize odors is damaged. They outlined plans for a chemical dosing system upstream intended to reduce the smell.

Others complained about the cleanup process, with one attendee saying, “We’re extremely disappointed in the product and the process.”

David Gadis, CEO of D.C. Water, told the crowd he knows this was a “horrific incident.”

“We have done everything we can up to this date, and we will continue to hang in here,” he said.

Zachary Schafer, assistant secretary of Maryland Department of the Environment, told the crowd conditions in the river are improving.

“Overall bacteria levels, specifically e-coli, are very very low in the water column,” he said.

D.C. Water is seeking public input on its restoration plan, which can be viewed

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Around 8:40 p.m. Saturday night, police were called to the Navy Yard Chipotle in the 1200 block of First Street SE for reports of a large fight inside. Videos of the incident show teenagers fighting and throwing chairs at one another, while families with young children sat eating nearby.

U.S. Attorney for the District Jeanine Pirro displayed giant images of the people involved taken from video footage at a news conference Monday, where she once again called on parents to do more to control their kids.

“This terrorizing is going to end,” she said. “It was a takeover of a restaurant by individuals who felt like they could get away with it, well they’re not going to get away with it.”

That sentiment was reinforced by Assistant FBI Director for the D.C. Field Office Darren Cox.

“The FBI is devoting personnel and resources to investigate all possible federal violations during these violent takeovers,” Cox said.

Pirro used the news conference to renew her threat to charge the parents of teenagers who are involved in these takeovers or any other criminal activity.

“This is a different scenario than any other time in the history of the District because we are looking beyond those individuals who are committing the crimes,” she said. “We’re looking at the parents to make sure that they understand that they are responsible for the upheaval that is going on in this District that is impacting everyone who lives here.”

Pirro said D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb and Interim D.C. Police Chief Jeffery Carroll are on board with her plan to charge the parents of teens in these incidents.

The city’s  for everyone under age 17 runs from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sundays through Thursdays, and 12:01 a.m. to 6 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

As for the city council, Pirro criticized the city’s council for not passing a new curfew measure. She put up a huge poster with the names and phone numbers of the council members.

“I am now asking the people of the District of Columbia who agree with the mayor and the chief and me, that they need the ability to create this curfew based upon the discretionary and the recent information to call every one of these members of the D.C. Council and tell them that we need a discretionary curfew where the mayor and the chief have the ability to get the police and get the teens out of areas, so we can enjoy the quality of life that we are entitled to,” Pirro said.

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According to a research project by Harvard, Dartmouth and Stanford Universities, D.C. leads the national in academic growth since the pandemic, ranking first in growth in math and reading recovery.

D.C. Schools Chancellor Lewis Ferebee told ������Ƶapp the gains come from a three-part strategy that the school system has followed for the past few years.

The first part of the strategy, Ferebee said, has been to hire and keep quality teachers in the system.

“We’ve invested a lot in ensuring that we retain our best teachers, so we have a lot of supports to ensure that they’re getting what they need, whether its additional certifications, college courses or instructional coaching,” he said.

Ferebee said the second part of the strategy has been a large investment in high impact tutoring.

“We provide small group and one-to-one tutoring for the students who need it, based on out multitier system of support,” he said.

The last part of the strategy is high quality instructional materials which Ferebee said D.C. teachers have tweaked and improved, so they can produce the best possible results with their students.

“I believe we’ve got the right recipe with these approaches that are very much evidence based, and I think we’ve made the right investments,” Ferebee said.

The Education Scorecard pointed out that D.C. schools benefited greatly from federal pandemic dollars provided to the school system. That funding has since dried up, which the report says is an area of concern the school system needs to address.

“Now that the federal relief is gone, D.C. should focus school improvement dollars on strategies that will continue to accelerate student learning,” the report reads.

The scorecard also reports good news on chronic absenteeism in D.C. schools. Chronic absenteeism is defined as students missing more than 10% of a school year. New data shows that has fallen from over 46% in 2022 to under 40% in 2025. However, chronic absence rates remain about 10 percentage points above pre-pandemic levels.

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The 151st running of the Preakness, the second leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown is this weekend. But it’s going to be a little different because of ongoing renovations at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.

For the first time, the race will be run at Laurel Park.

Fritz Widaman, senior vice president of marketing for the Maryland Jockey Club, said one thing that will be very different is the size. He said there is not enough room for the 50,000 fans that usually show up to watch the Preakness in person.

“We had to cut back on the seating here, so we only have 4,800 seats. The place will be crowded. Every seat is accounted for,” Widaman said.

Widaman said despite the smaller crowd this year, this is a marquee race where fans will still get to see quality horses competing, and the winner will still be in the record books as the 2026 Preakness champion.

“We’re one of the oldest sporting organizations in the world, starting way back in 1843. The Maryland Jockey Club (started racing) in 1870, so this is a signature race for the state of Maryland,” Widaman said.

The Preakness will run at Pimlico in 2027, even though Widaman said not all the construction will be finished.

“We’re looking at bringing this back to Baltimore and bringing back the People’s Party,” he said.

All the changes at Pimlico are expected to be complete by the 2029 race, and the facility is expected to host 120 races a year.

In addition, Widaman said Pimlico intends to start hosting other events: “We’re going to bring in concerts, we’re going to bring in festivals.”

Laurel Park, meanwhile, will soon transition from a racetrack to a horse training facility.

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The final piece of track was hammered into place, with the honors going to local, state and federal leaders who were on hand for the event.

Among the leaders swinging a sledgehammer along the railway line in Silver Spring was Maryland Gov. Wes Moore.

“We’re completing over 16 miles of track from New Carrollton to Bethesda. We are putting more than 2,000 people to work,” Moore said.

The Purple Line will have 21 stops, connecting communities along the way.

Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen said connection is one the goals of the project.

“We’ve had, for a very long time, the Metro system that has those north-south spikes, but the whole idea of the Purple Line was we needed to connect communities east to west, in many cases, communities that had been left behind,” Van Hollen said.

The project, which is about five years behind the initial projected opening date, has been an economic burden to many small businesses along its path as they’ve dealt with restricted access for customers.

Many along the corridor that are being impacted have received small business grants to keep them afloat during construction. The project has been impacted by lawsuits and developer changes, such as when a private contractor withdrew in 2020, as well as utility issues.

Maryland Del. Marc Korman, who represents Montgomery County in Annapolis, acknowledged the past problems, but pointed out in the near future, the railway is going to help a lot of people who don’t commute into D.C. for work.

Korman said the majority of commuters in Montgomery County commute to other suburbs.

“That’s why a suburb-to-suburb transit connection, a fixed transit connection like the Purple Line, is so important,” he said.

Trains on the Purple Line are projected to start running in late 2027 or early 2028.

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