D.C. Fire and EMS spokesperson Vito Maggiolo said units were called just before 9 a.m. to an apartment in the 1600 block of Park Rd NW after a fire broke out in the stairwell between the third and fourth floors.

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D.C. Fire said one woman who made her way to the front of the building was badly burned and had to be transported to the hospital. She suffered life threatening injuries.

A man was also taken to the hospital but he’s expected to be OK. No other injuries were reported.

When they arrived, Maggiolo said firefighters could see smoke pouring from the five-story building, and saw several residents in the windows clearly in distress.

Crews rescued some of those occupants using ladders as they worked to put out the fire, which engulfed an entire apartment unit on the fourth floor.

The flames in the stairwell between the third and fourth floors prevented some residents from exiting.

The fire was put out by 10:35 a.m. and crews worked for several hours after that to ventilate smoke from the building.

There’s no word on how many residents could be displaced by the fire or the extent of the damage.

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Pastor Sara Keeling shared that the fire started in the church attic above the music and education wing .

“There is likely extensive smoke and water damage to that part of the building,” Keeling said. “The sanctuary and preschool wings were not harmed.”

The church has asked all congregants to avoid entering the building until further notice.

Worship service will be Congregants are asked to bring blankets and chairs to sit on.

There will also be no Sunday School held that morning, but there will be a youth event for kids and families that will be held at 4:30 p.m.

The fire was reported around 3 a.m. on North Glebe Road near 15th Street.

An Arlington County Fire & EMS spokesman told ������Ƶapp the flames could be seen through the roof, but firefighters quickly got them under control.

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After hearing reports that no injuries occurred, the parish thanked first responders from the surrounding areas for their work.

“We are beyond grateful that no one was injured and this was no worse than it is, but we still ask that you be in prayer for our community, clergy, and staff as we navigate the following days and weeks,” Keeling said.

: Units are on scene of a 2 alarm fire in the 1500 BLK of N. Glebe Rd. The fire has been knocked down and units are in the process of overhauling.

— Arlington Fire & EMS (@ArlingtonVaFD)

Fire crews are now in the process of removing debris from the structure, and investigators remain on the scene.

Fire officials say the church is still being assessed for damage, but will likely still be usable.

The church, established in 1854, is Arlington’s oldest church that is in continuous use, according to the .

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in the 8500 block of Greenbelt Road in Greenbelt. A tweet from the Prince George’s County Fire Department said the flames were put out by 7:15 a.m.

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Twenty-one people from the three-story apartment complex were displaced from the fire. One adult was removed from the fire and taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, a spokesperson told ������Ƶapp.

Fire officials said crews arrived to find smoke pouring out of the apartment’s second floor.

Firefighters are still working to figure out what caused the blaze.

See a map of the location of the fire below:

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In Prince George’s County, Maryland, a spike in homelessness — among the highest in the nation — is straining both families and the county’s service providers and programs that are aimed at helping residents hang onto their homes.

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The number of homeless people being serviced in Prince George’s County increased from 2020 to 2021, from 1,893 to 1,975 people, according to data from the state’s .

Shannon Mouton, the executive director of Laurel Advocacy & Referral Services, Inc. (LARS), an organization that provides anti-poverty services to many Prince George’s County residents, said her organization has seen unparalleled demand for services across the board in the past year.

“Before, we were able to help people with one or maybe two months of rent,” Mouton said. “People [are] coming to us now with three, four or five months behind in their rent. We’ve written checks in the five figures.”

From July 2021 to the end of June 2022, LARS provided more than $400,000 in rental and mortgage assistance. That’s a more than 60% increase from the previous year, where they distributed around $250,000 in assistance.

The county’s , published in 2012, estimated that 70% of those seeking homelessness services were members of families. Nearly half of those being serviced were children.

Single adults have historically made up a smaller percentage of service recipients. A decade later, Mouton said the bulk of services is still going to families — most with multiple children.

And while service providers like Mouton and LARS aim to meet the demands of the homelessness crisis, they’re also contending with rising food insecurity.

Earlier this year, the county’s task force presented recommendations to the county council to mitigate the food insecurity crisis.

Despite any interventions the county council has implemented since the presentation, it’s clear the problem persists. Earlier this year, 48% of Prince George’s County residents reported being food insecure, according to data from the .

The prevalence of food insecurity in Prince George’s County was the worst in all D.C.-area regions measured in the survey, and surpassed the regional average food insecurity by 15%.

Mouton said in the last year, 83% of people in the Laurel area were eligible for LARS’ service interventions. To meet the need, the organization expanded its food pantry operating hours, offering free food to residents regardless of need, every weekday.

“With us being open five days a week now for food, we’re seeing people come five days a week to get food,” Mouton said. “It’s not getting any better.”

In the last year, Mouton said LARS received more than 39,000 pounds of food and about $150,000 worth of toiletries and household items from donors.

“It goes out the door as quickly as it comes in.”

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A new suggests the majority of registered Maryland voters support the legalization of marijuana.

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Nearly 3 in 4 of those surveyed, 73%, indicated their support for the measure to legalize “the use of cannabis” by July 2023 for residents aged 21 or older.

Data from the poll, which surveyed 810 registered voters by phone between Sept. 22 and Sept. 27, showed that support for the measure is as diverse as it is widespread. The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus four points.

“Across almost every category that we usually look at — party, ideology, age, sex, education level, race, ethnicity — there are pretty sizable majorities of people who support legalizing marijuana in the state of Maryland,” said Michael Hanmer, director of the University of Maryland’s Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement.

While a majority of voters are in favor of legalization, certain groups expressed a higher degree of support than others.

Results showed that while a majority of Republicans support the measure, they are less supportive overall than Democrats. Slightly more than half, 53%, of registered Republicans said they support the measure compared to 78% of registered Democrats.

Older adults also expressed less overall support for legalization than their younger counterparts, though a majority was still in favor. Of those aged 65 and older, 52% indicated their support in the poll, compared to 87% of those aged 18 to 39 and 72% of those aged 40 to 64.

While it’s not certain the measure will pass, Hanmer said “with that level of support, even if it goes down somewhat, it’s likely based on what we’re seeing in these results.”

It’ll appear as Question 4 on November’s ballot. If approved, Maryland would become the 20th U.S. state to legalize adult recreational use of the drug. Residents of neighboring D.C. voted to legalize recreational use of marijuana in 2014; Virginia did so last year.

Maryland already has a legal medicinal marijuana program, in step with 36 other states and the District. Hanmer said Maryland’s current stance on marijuana, among other factors, could explain the overwhelming support for enabling recreational use.

“People are getting more comfortable with it,” he said. “We’ve had the experience of seeing it implemented in a number of other places. And I think people have learned from that experience. We haven’t seen, to the best of my knowledge, a lot of the potentially negative outcomes that people might have been concerned about in these places that it’s largely worked pretty well.”

Hanmer added: “I think that helped get people to gain a better understanding of the pros and the cons, and to certainly look at the pros differently than they might have otherwise — something different from a purely recreational issue, for example.”

Surveys have consistently shown that most Marylanders favor legalizing the drug, but the most recent poll suggests broader support than in prior surveys.

Polls from February and October 2021 estimated statewide support for legalization to be around two-thirds of registered voters.

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But a new report by Virginia’s Department on Human Resource Management says the state’s remote workforce has tripled since 2019.

As of September, 15,338 state employees work remotely at least once a week. They account for more than 60% of all employees who were allowed to work out of office — a figure nearly three times that of 2019, according to the .

Nearly a third of these remote workers only do so partially, with 32% of state employees working remotely once a week.

Just 7%, or 1,712 employees, are fully remote.

Since 2019, the state has also expanded the number of employees able to telework — growing from 15,399 to more than 23,000 as of September.

Between March 2020 to July 2022, “telework increased significantly … due to the COVID pandemic, and the required implementation of mitigation strategies to reduce workplace exposure to the virus,” the report said.

Today’s remote work landscape in Virginia is starkly different than that of three years ago. In 2019, only 1 in 4 state employees were allowed to work from home. Now, it’s about 4 in 10.

The report’s data isn’t the only way to back up state employees’ affinity for remote working.

In July, after Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin vastly rolled back the state’s telework policy, more than 300 employees from five state agencies resigned.

Most of the exodus came from the Virginia Department of Transportation, which lost 183 employees after the change to the telework policy. Critics of the revised policy said it ignored the needs of agencies that had previously allowed telework.

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Branding itself as D.C.’s “biggest and beastliest beer festival,” the one-day festival will with more than 350 brews on draft from more than 175 American and international breweries.

The festival will also host local food trucks and two stages of live music.

In preparation for the festival — starting 8 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 7, through 1 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 9 — the following streets will prohibit parking:

• Pennsylvania Avenue from 3rd Street to 7th Street, NW
• 4th Street from Pennsylvania Avenue to Madison Drive, NW
• 6th Street from Constitution Avenue to C Street, NW
• Constitution Avenue from 3rd Street to 7th Street, NW

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The following streets will also be closed to vehicle traffic:

• Pennsylvania Avenue from 3rd Street to 7th Street, NW
• Constitution Avenue from 3rd Street to 7th Street, NW
• 4th Street from Pennsylvania Avenue to Madison Drive, NW
• 6th Street from Constitution Avenue to C Street, NW

The city said it will ticket and tow any cars parked in violation of the emergency signage.

Those driving in the city this weekend should also expect delays related to the road closures. The city is encouraging drivers to take alternate routes.

Snallygaster serves as the largest annual fundraiser for the, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a more equitable and sustainable local food system in the D.C. area. Tickets are on sale at their for $65 and $130.

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The legislation would allow undocumented immigrants, green card holders and people with visas to vote for positions in the city, such as mayor, council member and attorney general. They would not be allowed to vote in federal elections.

If the council approves the bill in its final vote next month, noncitizens would be allowed to vote as long as they are 18 years of age or older at the time of the election, and have lived in the District for at least 30 days.

The lone “no” vote came from Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh, who argued that the bill should required people to live in the District for longer than 30 days before being eligible to vote.

“I would like to know whether we’d consider something in terms of a longer period of time,” Cheh said during Tuesday’s meeting.

But Ward 6 Councilmember, and the bill’s principal sponsor, Charles Allen disagreed, saying 30 days was enough time.

“Our immigrant neighbors of all statuses participate, contribute and care about our community and our city. They, like all D.C. residents, deserve to have a say in our government,” Allen said.

“This bill is in line with our D.C. values, and this council’s history of expanding the right to vote and welcoming new voices into our political process and government.”

Once the council gives the bill final approval, the mayor will then need to sign it. Congress would get a 30-day review period before allowing it to become local law or striking it down.

If approved, D.C. would join Maryland’s Hyattsville and Takoma Park in extending the right to vote in local elections to noncitizens.

The says D.C. had more than 51,000 noncitizens in 2020.

In other election-related news, the council also approved the first reading of a bill that would make voting by mail a permanent feature of city elections. If approved, the bill would prompt a shift to citywide vote centers for in-person voting, instead of traditional neighborhood-based precincts.

������Ƶapp’s Dick Uliano contributed to this report.

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Aryeh Wolf, 25, of Baltimore, was shot the afternoon of Aug. 10 in Southeast while installing solar panels, D.C. police said.

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Surveillance video caught 27-year-old Avery Miler nearby, with a gun.

Last week, Miler was spotted by officers in Northeast as they responded to a 911 call about his location. Police confronted Miler in the 5300 block of Ames Street Northeast, where he fired shots at them before barricading himself in a nearby building.

No officers were hurt in the shooting, but Miler managed to escape police without being arrested.

Now, the search approaches its second month.

The new reward, up from the $25,000 originally offered in August, is a combined effort on behalf of multiple law enforcement agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Washington Field Division, the U.S. Marshals and the FBI Washington Field Office.

Police are asking anyone with information on the case or the suspect to call them at 202-727-9099 or texting 50411. Tipsters can be anonymous.

������Ƶapp’s Jessica Kronzer, Shayna Estulin and Mike Murillo contributed to this report.

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Part of 17th Street in D.C. has reopened after planned closures earlier Thursday while the National Park Service prepares to install a levee.

The yearly test installation closes 17th Street between Constitution Avenue Northwest and Independence Avenue Southwest.

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Mike Litterst, spokesman for the National Park Service, said the test is necessary to ensure the levee closure correctly in the event of high water.

The test is also required by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which constructed and regulates the levee system and closure.

The levee is made of aluminum panels between steel posts, and comprises part of the Potomac Park Levee System in downtown Washington, D.C.

If needed, the removable structure can be raised across 17th Street Northwest, south of Constitution Avenue, to reduce flood risks, preserve the downtown infrastructure and keep the Southwest parts of the district from flooding of the Potomac River.

������Ƶapp’s John Aaron reported from the National Mall near 17th Street Northwest.

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Boston-based startup Regent has completed a test flight of its all-electric seaglider — a mix of boat and plane that will “float, foil and fly” above the water.

, the company said the seaglider is the “first craft to take off from a controlled hydrofoil to wing-borne flight.”

The flight demonstrations used a quarter-scale prototype with an 18-foot wingspan. Now Regent will develop a full-scale, prototype, with a 65-foot wingspan. Human-carrying sea trials are expected to begin in 2024.

The company then plans to move toward commercializing the seagliders for sustainable high-speed mobility. Regent said it has orders totaling over $7 billion for the new vehicles. It aims to have its first passengers onboard in 2025.

The successful flights were launched in Narragansett Bay, in Rhode Island.

“This is the next great moment in the history of human transportation,” said Billy Thalheimer, CEO and co-founder of Regent.

“There has not been a new mode of transportation since the helicopter,” Thalheimer added. “Seagliders will bring welcome relief for travelers seeking an alternative to traditional air travel, servicing coastal communities such as New York City, the Hawaiian Islands, Barcelona, Tokyo and many more worldwide.”

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Police in Maryland’s Montgomery County say 54-year-old Daisy Castillo Badillo, of Los Angeles, California, worked with two others to steal nearly $14,000 from a local woman.

In April, police said the scam victim was sitting inside of her car, parked near a strip mall in the 1900 block of Veirs Mill Road in Rockville, when one of the suspects came up to her and said he had a winning lottery ticket, but did not want to claim it because of his alleged illegal immigration status.

Police said Badillo then approached the woman and the first suspect, offering to help them claim the ticket.

Badillo and the man then contacted the third suspect, who posed as an employee for a lottery company and told them that they had to pay money to claim the lottery prize, police said.

Police said the woman agreed to claim the lottery ticket for the suspects, with the intention of getting her money reimbursed and receiving additional money from the winning lottery ticket.

She then drove with the suspects to two separate Bank of America locations, where she withdrew $13,500 total, which she handed over to the suspects.

Police said the two suspects then contacted the person posing as a lottery employee to inform him that they collected the money required to claim the lottery prize.

That’s when police said the suspect on the phone informed the woman that, in order to claim the prize, she needed to provide three bills to confirm her finances and identity.

She then drove home with the other two suspects, and got out of her car to retrieve the bills from inside the home. But, police said, when she came out, the suspects had already left with the woman’s money.

The suspects were driving a black Mitsubishi SUV.

The woman called police who came to her home to investigate the robbery.

Detectives were able to lift multiple fingerprints from the woman’s car, where Badillo was sitting.

In July, police got a hit on the fingerprints from the police database, which led them to identify Badillo. The victim later positively identified Badillo as one of the suspects who scammed her via a photo.

Badillo has been charged with theft by deception, and other related charges.

She was arrested by Los Angeles Police at her home. Police said they have identified or identified the two other suspects.

On Tuesday, Badillo was extradited to jail in Montgomery County. She’s since been released on bond.

Police believe there may be other victims of the lottery scam, and are encouraging anyone who may have been robbed to contact them anonymously at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477).

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While the new voting process wouldn’t debut until 2023 if implemented, the county board is giving residents the opportunity to with their thoughts on the proposed change.

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Based on the feedback, the board will consider holding a hearing at its November 2022 meeting for a resolution to make ranked choice voting the official method of election for the county board’s primary election candidates.

Ranked choice voting allows voters the option to rank candidates in order of preference, but doesn’t require them to do so.

If ranked choice voting were implemented, candidates that receive more than half of the first choices would win, just like in any other election. But, if there is no majority winner after counting the first choices, the race is decided by an instant runoff.

The candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and voters who ranked that candidate as their first choice will have their votes count for their next choice. This process continues until a candidate emerges with more than half of the vote and is declared the winner.

Two years ago, the Virginia General Assembly opened the door to the change, by allowing localities across the commonwealth to use ranked choice voting in local elections for city councils and boards of supervisors during the 2020 Session.

Then, last fall, the Arlington Electoral Board held a mock election and joint work session with the county board to discuss ranked choice voting.

Arlington currently uses plurality voting, which only allows voters to select one candidate.

County residents have until Nov. 4 to .

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As the war in Ukraine continues, mourners gathered at a memorial service in D.C. to pray for those who’ve died in the invasion.

Several Catholic archbishops were present Wednesday night to host the prayer of the Panakhyda, a special service for the deceased, in the Crypt Church of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Northeast.

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Metropolitan Archbishop of Philadelphia of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Borys Gudziak said he’s visited war-torn Ukraine four times in the last five months.

He spoke about the devastation he’s seen while visiting the country.

“What a sadness it is to see the daily stream of funerals to cemeteries throughout the country,” he said. “Seeing so many funerals and so many grieving families is painful.”

Congregants sang and prayed their way through the evening remembrance service. Cardinal Wilton Gregory, archbishop of Washington, said the event honored those who’ve died and their families, many of whom never got the chance to pray for them.

“So we do that, we become that family,” Gregory said. “The prayer that we offer this evening links us to those families and reminds us that there is only one family: God’s family.”

“We may speak different languages, come from different cultural backgrounds, live in different regions, but we are one family. And this evening in our prayer, we grieved as a family. But we also took great hope, that no life is ever lost, or ever unimportant.”

At the end of the service, the archbishops were asked whether international efforts to assist Ukraine are helping and what else people could do locally to help.

“We won’t do enough until there’s peace in Ukraine. Until the integrity of the country is respected, until their freedom is acknowledged,” Gregory said. “But what we’re doing, and have done, should inspire people to do even more.”

“The people of Ukraine need all the help that we can provide them,” he said. “Not just financially, but … morally, our prayers, and our instance in the political arena that this war be brought to a close and peace be restored to the people from whom peace has been taken.”

������Ƶapp’s Dick Uliano reported from the Basilica of the National Shrine.

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Police say the two were reunited on Sunday morning, but that they are still searching for the suspect who took the puppy — a grey and white French Bulldog named Hugo.

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Hugo was taken from a hotel in the 1200 block of 22nd Street, Northwest, .

A man came into a hotel room, grabbed the dog, and left around 6 p.m. on Friday, according to police.

Police shared photos of the dog and the man suspected of taking him. They didn’t offer any details about how they found Hugo.

Police are asking anyone with information about the theft to call them at (202) 727-9099 or text a tip to 50411.

Tipsters are eligible for a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest.

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