The hope is that a packed calendar in 2026 brings more visitors into the city and more people through restaurant doors at a time when many operators are still working with thin margins.

Last summer, that kind of activity was not there.

“That 2025 summer, it wasn’t filled with events related to 250,” said Shawn Townsend, president and CEO of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington.

A slower summer meant fewer diners for restaurants that were already dealing with rising labor costs, higher rent and customers spending less per visit. Townsend said that combination made last year especially challenging for full‑service restaurants.

This year he believes things are looking up.

Major events are planned throughout the summer as part of America’s 250th celebration, including an IndyCar race on streets near the National Mall, a UFC event planned at the White House and a large state fair expected to run for weeks.

Those events are expected to draw visitors from across the country and keep people in the region longer, something restaurant leaders say makes a real difference.

“What we will see this summer is a high volume of foot traffic,” Townsend said.

That increase in visitors matters as restaurants continue adjusting to changing dining habits. Townsend said many customers are ordering fewer items and skipping extras when they do go out, putting even more importance on getting as many orders as possible.

“That foot traffic will directly impact our restaurants,” Townsend said.

He said large, multiday events are especially important because many visitors dine out, whether before events, after them or while visitors explore different parts of the region.

While new restaurants continue to open, Townsend said it has become harder for smaller, independent operators to survive without consistent business, making a strong summer season critical for those restaurants, too.

There are still challenges ahead, including uncertainty around costs and consumer behavior, but Townsend said the concentration of events tied to America’s 250th anniversary offers a chance for restaurants to recover some of what was lost last year.

“I’m cautiously optimistic,” Townsend said.

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The was created to raise wages for childcare workers, with the goal of keeping more educators in classrooms and more classrooms open.

Marica Cox Mitchell, chief program officer at the, said the fund has helped stabilize the childcare industry.

“The pay equity fund filled an important gap,” Mitchell said.

She said removing that support could push experienced workers out of early childhood education.

“They either leave to work in other sectors or work with children older than birth to five or birth to three in particular and so young children suffer the most,” Mitchell said.

She said the impact would extend beyond providers to families trying to find and afford care.

“Families then have to figure out how they can pay for and access quality early childhood experiences for their own children,” Mitchell said. “In some cases, they may stay out of the labor market.”

She added that some families could be forced to make tough decisions about work. Fewer workers could also mean fewer available spots, even for families receiving financial help.

“I think families are going to immediately feel the impact,” Mitchell said.

Bowser, during her budget presentation earlier this month, defended the move, saying the program does not directly address what families say they need most.

“I think what I hear most from families is they want more opportunities for childcare, more places, more spots — more quality spots — and they want it to be less expensive. We don’t think the pay equity fund does that. It’s not a childcare affordability fund. It’s more of an income support fund for childcare workers,” Bowser said.

In a statement, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education said, “Data shows that the creation of the PEF did not lead to a surge of new childcare centers opening,” adding that the District will continue supporting other programs to lower costs for families, including universal pre-K and direct subsidies.

D.C. City Administrator Kevin Donahue, also speaking during the budget presentation, said that despite the $60 million cut to the pay equity fund, $12 million will remain to cover healthcare premiums for childcare workers.

Mitchell said the potential cuts could also have broader implications as other states look to D.C. as a model.

“This has national implications as well, because many states were looking to D.C. to sort of lead the way and serve as the blueprint,” Mitchell said.

Some D.C. Council members have signaled they may try to restore the funding as budget discussions continue.

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NASA is building a first-of-its-kind mission to explore another world, and part of it is happening in Greenbelt, Maryland.

The mission called “Dragonfly” aims to explore how the building blocks of life might come together in environments beyond Earth.

Dragonfly is a flying spacecraft that will be sent to Saturn’s moon Titan and is designed to travel from place to place studying the surface.

Chief of NASA’s Planetary Environments Lab Charles Malespin, who’s working on the mass spectrometer for the mission, said it’s unlike anything before.

“It’s an octocopter. It’s about the size of an SUV, so it’s huge,” he said.

Inside a clean room at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, scientists covered head to toe in white hazmat suits are building and testing the hardware, including the mass spectrometer, also known as DraMS, that will analyze samples drilled from Titan’s frozen ground. The instrument being built there will help identify the chemical makeup of Titan’s surface.

Malespin explained how the instrument works: “It’s essentially a chemistry suite built into one small instrument.”

Scientists said Titan is packed with organic material, the ingredients for life, but it’s also extremely cold — nearly 290 degrees below zero. Scientists said they believe Titan may resemble conditions similar to early Earth before life began.

“We’re not a life detection mission,” Malespin said.

Melissa Trainer, Dragonfly deputy principal investigator and DraMS instrument lead, agreed the mission is focused on chemistry, not finding life itself.

Instead, scientists are trying to understand what happens next and how chemistry could lead to life.

Trainer said Titan offers a rare opportunity to study that process.

“Titan is like the best example that we have that we can get to, of a global environment where you’ve got an active chemistry cycle, you have all the surface processing and those things that may have been the magic sauce on Earth, like billions of years ago. We could be seeing the early stages of that on Titan, or parts of that going on in Titan,” she said.

Malespin said a comet impact could heat Titan and create a kind of chemical soup, letting scientists see how those ingredients might come together.

“All we’re saying is that you have all the ingredients to start building and going up the chain to determine, if you had another catalyst, if you had a more conducive environment, then perhaps you could have life in this. Unless we have a little organism crawling on the camera,” he said.

Dragonfly’s development is led by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland, with support from NASA centers, including Goddard.

Shannon MacKenzie, planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, said Titan’s environment actually helps make that possible. She said Titan’s dense atmosphere will help Dragonfly move around.

“Titan’s atmosphere is much denser than Earth’s, and the gravity is lower, which makes it easier for a vehicle like Dragonfly to fly,” MacKenzie said.

That mobility is key to the mission’s success, MacKenzie said, allowing Dragonfly to study a range of different environments instead of staying in one place.

Dragonfly is expected to launch no earlier than July 2028 and will take about six years to reach Titan. Once there, it will fly, land and repeat, taking samples across miles of terrain to give scientists new clues about how life might begin.

Even without searching for life directly, the mission could reshape what scientists know about how life begins.

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James Hawdon, a professor of sociology and the director of the Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention at Virginia Tech, said it is the frequency of these events, not their severity, that is reshaping how people react.

“I do think there has been somewhat of a normalization of violence,” Hawdon said. “Part of that is the rhetoric that is being used.”

Political violence in the U.S. is not new, but Hawdon said the country is in a period where these events are happening more often.

“This seems to ebb and flow, and we are entering a period where there is more political violence,” he said.

Hawdon said the risk is not limited to deadly attacks, pointing to recent near misses and thwarted attempts as well.

“It doesn’t necessarily even need to be a successful attack,” he said. “Those attempts that are successful, I think has a greater impact.”

Repeated instances like this can begin to blend into the background of everyday life, Hawdon said. When violence becomes familiar, he said, it can affect public trust in the political system.

“When politics are decided, in part through violence, rather than through the discussion of ideas, people start to, first of all, become more polarized, and secondly, withdraw their trust from the system,” Hawdon said.

The gunman tried to storm the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner at the Washington Hilton, the same hotel where President Ronald Reagan was shot more than 40 years ago.

In 1981, Reagan was walking to a limousine outside the hotel when he was shot by John Hinckley, an event that shocked the country.

While the circumstances were very different, Hawdon said political violence today feels closer and more frequent.

He cautioned that this is not the most violent period in U.S. history, but said the frequency of events still matters.

Beyond the long‑term trend, Hawdon said researchers also look at how individuals come to see violence as an option in the first place.

Looking at past acts of terrorism, Hawdon said people generally resort to political violence when they don’t see a legitimate way for their grievance to be heard.

“If you can take your case to the courts and have the courts resolve it, you do that. But if the courts aren’t going to hear your case, the next strategy could be, ‘Well, let’s disrupt the system,’” he said.

Hawdon said the internet can intensify that thinking by reinforcing grievances and biases inside groups of like‑minded people.

“You air your grievance, and the people share that grievance, and that amplifies it and makes it — in your head — even worse than it might be,” he said.

Hawdon said that kind of reinforcement does not have to directly promote violence to have an impact.

“Not necessarily directly encouraging you to become violent, but at least applauding your notion that there’s something seriously wrong that I have to fix,” he said.

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The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, named after NASA’s first chief astronomer, is now complete after more than a decade of development.

“It is a lot of work, millions of hours is no exaggeration. That’s actual, actual math,” Jamie Dunn, project manager for the telescope, said.

Standing just over 40 feet tall, the telescope is designed to take an unusually wide view of the universe. Scientists said that approach will help them better understand dark energy and dark matter while also discovering tens of thousands of planets beyond the solar system.

“One month of Roman observations would correspond to a century with Hubble,” said Julie McEnery, senior project scientist for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.

The Hubble Space Telescope was launched back in 1990 and remains fully operational.

McEnery said Roman’s sweeping surveys could also help scientists identify flaws in long-standing theories about how the universe works.

“Current observations hint that our standard model of the universe is incorrect,” she said. “Roman will be able to confirm these and set us on the path to understanding what’s right.”

Unlike earlier space telescopes that focus on individual targets, Roman is designed to scan vast areas of the sky at once.

“We, in the past, have concentrated on studying individual objects, Roman is going to do it differently. We’re going to be observing huge portions of the sky in order to fundamentally address something very human, which is trying to understand where do we come from and what about this universe we live in, how’s it evolving,” said Lucas Paganini, the mission’s program executive.

Roman also carries a coronagraph, a specialized instrument designed to block out light from stars so scientists can try to directly see planets orbiting them.

“It will be stable, more stable than all of these other observatories that we’ve built before, and that’s what allows us to do starlight suppression at these unprecedented levels,” said Vanessa Bailey, coronagraph instrument scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the telescope’s sweeping view could fundamentally reshape how scientists understand space.

“Roman will give the Earth the new atlas of the universe,” Isaacman said. “I think it’s worth pausing for a moment and just think about how really incredible that is.”

Nicola Fox, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said Roman also helps lay the groundwork for future exploration by advancing key technologies and scientific understanding.

“Everything we do at NASA builds off the successes of what we’ve done before,” Fox said. “It will definitely, definitely open doors to new cosmic pursuits.”

Before science operations begin, the telescope will undergo months of commissioning after launch.

“One of the things that we do over and over and over again is we practice our launch day, and we practice our first six days, and we practice beyond into day 40 of commissioning,” said Jeremy Perkins, the mission’s science commissioning lead.

Paganini said everything scientists can currently observe represents only about 5% of the universe, with the rest made up of dark energy and dark matter.

Quoting Carl Sagan, Paganini said, “Somewhere, something incredible is about to be discovered.”

With final testing complete, Roman is expected to ship soon to Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it could launch as early as September.

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The doctor’s office on wheels brings care directly to schools and communities, helping families overcome barriers to treatment.

Dr. Hope Rhodes leads the which delivers pediatric care at schools and other sites in D.C. and Prince George’s County, Maryland.

“The mission of the program is to really provide place-based care where children and families live, learn, work and play,” Rhodes told ĂÛÌÒÊÓÆ”app.

Until now, the program operated with just one unit.

“The mobile unit can really provide most of the primary care services, including comprehensive well visits, immunizations, addressing chronic medical needs like asthma, allergies, eczema, weight management,” she said.

Rhodes said the expanded fleet will also increase access to pediatric mental health services, an area where the demand continues to grow.

“There is definitely a great need, and (there) has been a great need for pediatric mental health services throughout the community,” she said. “With this additional unit, we’ll be able to provide more mental health services to the community.”

The mobile medical unit has helped thousands of children with everything from immunizations to asthma treatment, close to home. Rhodes said having a second unit will allow teams to reach even more families who face challenges accessing traditional health care facilities.

Despite the availability of medical care in D.C. and Prince George’s County, Rhodes said “sometimes families cannot find their way into the fixed facility, usually because of social determinants of health, like transportation challenges.”

She said the additional unit, made possible through an investment from the United Health Foundation, allows the program to expand both its geographic reach and its services.

The demand is growing, Rhodes added, noting that the mobile teams will be able to help with seasonal health needs.

“During this time of year, we usually see a lot of seasonal allergies and asthma,” she said.

The program has been in place for more than 25 years and Rhodes said the expanded fleet will help Children’s National continue serving families across the region.

Children’s National said the mobile unit accepts insurance, but provides care for free to families .

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“I want people to know it’s not intended to be punitive. I know us not picking up your recycling seems like a punishment, but it’s really just an opportunity for teaching more than anything,” Deborah Moran, the sustainability manager for the Virginia town, said.

Moran said the goal is education through a targeted (and temporary) effort focused on cleaner recycling.

With it, crews will open lids and look in bins, looking for incorrect items in them.

“They’re not going to be diving through or picking anything out of the bins,” Moran said.

She said crews often find food, batteries and plastic bags in recycling bins, which are items that don’t belong there.

“They (plastic bags) go through a sorting machine and they get all caught up and gunky in the sorting machine,” she said. “So they can’t be accepted. Anything that’s combined inside of each other is also kind of a no go.”

As part of the effort, during one , crews will check recycling bins for contamination. The effort applies to residents who receive trash and recycling service through the town. If nonrecyclable items are found, the bin will be left behind and tagged with a notice explaining what needs to be corrected.

“If they see something that shouldn’t be in there, they’re going to put this giant red ‘oops’ tag on it that has little boxes on it where they’ll write what the issue is, so you know how to correct it,” Moran said.

Crews will return two business days later to collect the bin once the problem is fixed. Town officials stress the tagging effort is a limited campaign, not a permanent change to weekly collections.

“The biggest issue with that, primarily, is we’re paying for it to be recycled. And the rate that we pay for recycling versus trash is a little higher because it goes through all the sorting mechanics,” Moran said.

She said cleaner recycling means lower costs for taxpayers, safer working conditions and materials that can actually be reused.

“If we send them something cleaner, they get a cleaner material on the back end,” she said.

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Fairfax County added 6,005 more unemployed residents in January compared with the same month last year, pushing the county’s unemployment rate from 2.7% to 3.8%. Loudoun County’s rate rose from 2.7% to 3.7%, while Prince William County’s increased from 2.9% to 3.8%. Each county added more than 2,000 unemployed residents over the year.

Those Northern Virginia rates remain slightly below the national average. The U.S. unemployment rate stood at 4.3% in January, up from 4% a year earlier, according to the

Keith Waters, the assistant director of the Center for Regional Analysis and Stephen S. Fuller Institute at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, said the local increases reflect continued changes tied to the federal workforce.

“The big takeaway is that this is a continuation of the contraction in the federal workforce following the federal workers who took the deferred retirement package in October,” Waters said.

He said the effects of those decisions don’t show up all at once, which can make unemployment increases look sudden.

“It certainly takes some time for these things to come through the system,” he said, adding that federal contractors are also feeling the effects when contracts aren’t renewed.

Looking ahead, Waters said some government jobs could be added back later this year as agencies adjust staffing levels.

“We do kind of anticipate, through the end of the year, that direct federal employment might actually come back up just a little bit as maybe they hire some folks back for positions that they realized were a little bit more crucial than they needed,” he said.

He also pointed to housing as a relative bright spot.

“Some of the numbers coming out of Northern Virginia, as far as demand for sale homes, have been surprisingly strong,” he said.

Still, Waters cautioned that continued weakness in commercial real estate could eventually show up in local budgets.

“It puts more downward pressure on the commercial real estate industry, which might start to bleed into county budgets further down the line,” Waters said.

Fairfax County Executive Bryan Hill acknowledged unemployment is rising, but said there’s still plenty of job activity in the region despite federal workforce shake-ups.

In an interview with ĂÛÌÒÊÓÆ”app, Hill pointed to what he described as a significant number of open positions across Northern Virginia, saying, “I still have 66,000 job openings as we speak in Northern Virginia.”

He said while some workers have been laid off or displaced, the challenge is less about a lack of jobs and more about matching skills to available positions.

Hill noted that the county is focused on helping workers “recalibrate and reskill” as federal contracting and employment shift.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Northern Virginia’s unemployment was rising faster than the national trend. Using comparable not seasonally adjusted data, unemployment rates in Northern Virginia remained below the national rate in January.

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The Virginia Cannabis Control Authority says impaired driving remains a concern, especially after a recent survey found that nearly three out of 10 drivers in the state believe they are safer drivers after using marijuana.

“That is such a scary statistic, because it’s simply not true,” said Jamie Patton, acting head of the Cannabis Control Authority.

“You just should never drive while under the influence of marijuana,” Patton said.

Patton said cannabis affects people differently, depending on factors like tolerance and how it’s consumed, making it difficult to know when it’s safe to drive. Unlike alcohol, there is no clear timeline for when you are no longer impaired.

“Marijuana impacts people differently, and you know, the method of consumption has an impact on that as well, and so it’s really hard, and there’s no tried-and-true rule about how long to wait or anything like that,” she said.

Driving while under the influence of cannabis is illegal in Virginia and Patton said impaired drivers put themselves and others at risk on the road.

That’s why officials are urging anyone who plans to use cannabis on 4/20 to make transportation plans in advance.

“You’ll make better decisions if you make those plans in advance than if you’re waiting till you’re under the influence and trying to throw together a plan,” Patton said. “The simplest plan is to plan in advance for an alternate ride.”

Virginia officials say the reminder is not meant to single out the day, but to reinforce a broader message about drugged driving and being safe on the roads.

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Emancipation Day commemorates the day in 1862 that marks the abolition of slavery and freed 3,100 enslaved people in the District.

The centerpiece of the celebration will be Sunday’s Emancipation Day parade, festival and concert at Franklin Park in Downtown D.C., headlined by rapper T.I.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the king of the south, Tip, T.I. Harris, three-time Grammy Award-winning rapper and actor, will be lighting up the Emancipation stage on Sunday,” said Latoya Foster, director of the D.C. Office of Cable Television, Film, Music and Entertainment.

The free concert will also feature D.C.-native, Grammy Award-winning singer MĂœa, gospel artist Tye Tribbett, Backyard Band featuring Sugar Bear, Black Alley, Souls of Kingsmen and a performance from “44: The Musical.” An is required.

Steve Walker, deputy chief of staff to Mayor Muriel Bowser, said Saturday marks 160 years to the day, “the first emancipated people celebrated their emancipation here at Franklin Park. So, we’re bringing it all home.”

Earlier on Sunday, Franklin Park will also host the Emancipation Day parade and festival.

Additional D.C. 250 events include on Thursday, where NASCAR driver Rajah Caruth is scheduled to appear, and a Full Democracy Luncheon will happen at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on Friday.

On Saturday the D.C. 250 Kids Ball will be held at Planet Word.

“This is an event where our young people can get all dolled up in their attire. Don’t overthink it. Just be cute and free and royal,” said Thennie Freeman, director of the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation, describing the Kids Ball.

City reassures public on safety following recent teen takeovers

As thousands of people are expected downtown for Emancipation Day events, some questions about safety follow so-called “teen takeovers” elsewhere in the city. Some of those recent incidents have resulted in arrests and temporary curfew zones, one of which involved Metro Transit Police making four arrests this past Saturday.

City officials said planning for Sunday’s events is routine and note that Emancipation Day celebrations have not seen public safety problems in the past.

“What could be more secure than a place where the mayor of the nation’s capital is going to be herself?” Latoya Foster said.

She also pointed to the concert’s track record.

“Not one Emancipation Day concert have we ever hosted where we’ve had anything that would make you anxious 
 give you anxiety,” Foster said. “With the level of entertainment we have, the security will be up a notch.”

Organizers also emphasized that security is coordinated across its agencies. City leaders said multiple departments are involved through the mayor’s special events task force, working alongside public safety agencies to prepare for large crowds.

At the same time, Freeman cautioned against broadly judging young people based on a handful of incidents.

“Extend grace. We were all once teenagers,” Freeman said.

Officials said the focus for Sunday remains on celebrating D.C.’s history in a safe and welcoming environment.

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For Jenny Nieto, a D.C. resident, her diagnosis followed a sudden and frightening change in how she felt after finishing a 5K run more than two years ago.

She said she initially felt unusually wobbly and dehydrated. Instead of easing, those symptoms lingered. In the days that followed, new and more serious symptoms appeared.

“I was having trouble with my vision. I started getting very severe vertigo symptoms, nausea, vomiting — kind of uncontrollable. And I realized something is very seriously wrong,” Nieto told ĂÛÌÒÊÓÆ”app.

Concerned she might be having a stroke, Nieto went to the emergency room.

“I went eventually to the ER for a suspected stroke, and they said, ‘No, it’s not a stroke, but you have MS,’” she said.

Multiple sclerosis is a neurological disease in which the immune system attacks the protective covering of nerves, disrupting how the brain communicates with the rest of the body. Symptoms can vary widely from person to person, according to Dr. Brian Barry, who leads the MS clinic at MedStar Washington Hospital Center.

“They can be something as subtle as fatigue or brain fog, but they could be something as striking as vision loss in one eye, causing you to go blind for a few weeks,” Barry told ĂÛÌÒÊÓÆ”app.

Barry said numbness, weakness and trouble walking are also common warning signs.

In Nieto’s case, imaging later revealed she may have been living with MS for years without realizing it. She said her doctor told her MRI scans suggested signs of the disease dating back decades, though she had never experienced a major medical episode until after the race.

“MS affects one in 300 people, and if you think about that number, you know people who have MS, who might not even know that they have MS,” Barry said.

He said that is why events like Walk MS D.C. are important for raising awareness about the illness.

Barry said early diagnosis and treatment are key, especially now that patients have far more options than in the past.

“We didn’t have any treatment for MS until 1993, and I would argue that we didn’t get our first very effective treatments until more than a decade after that,” he said.

Barry said there are now dozens of FDA‑approved therapies, including oral medications, injections and infusions, and outcomes improve when treatment starts sooner.

“If we can get somebody started on highly effective treatment in 2026 at a time when they have little to no disability from this condition, my expectation is that they’re going to meet all of their goals, personal goals, professional goals, family goals,” he said.

After her diagnosis, Nieto began treatment and said she is doing well. She has also found community and connection in unexpected ways.

On her very first date with the man who would later become her fiance, she learned they shared the same diagnosis.

“He said, what? And we realized we both had MS in common,” Nieto said.

Their connection did not end there. On their fourth date, they went to the doctor’s office together.

“I took Mike (her fiance) to meet Dr. Barry,” she said.

Now, the couple not only share their lives together, but also their neurologist, and that is something Nieto calls an important part of the couple’s “love story.”

As she walked at National Park surrounded by others living with MS, Nieto said she refuses to let the disease define her.

“I may have MS, but MS does not have me,” she said.

ĂÛÌÒÊÓÆ”app’s Mike Murillo, who lives with MS, served as the host for Walk MS DC on Sunday. More information about MS is available through the .

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In an area of Southwest D.C. near L’Enfant Plaza that stretches between the National Mall and the waterfront lies a zone dominated by federally owned buildings.

The landscape is defined by monolithic, often Brutalist‑style federal buildings, with wide streets and few ground‑level amenities. But the recent sale of one building to private developers, along with the listing of others, is sparking conversation about whether a new D.C. neighborhood could take shape.

Urban geographer Lisa Benton‑Short, a professor emerita at the George Washington University, believes moments like this have helped shape D.C. neighborhoods before.

She points to the transformation of the Navy Yard, where shrinking federal operations in the late 1990s and early 2000s freed up land that was later redeveloped.

“I used to live in Navy Yard, which was a huge release of federal property in the late 1990s and early 2000s as the Navy Yard significantly shrunk what it needed, and a lot of buildings and space became available and were purchased by private developers,” Benton‑Short said.

Now, the Navy Yard is home to businesses, retail, restaurants and entertainment venues, and anchored by Nationals Park, where the Washington Nationals play.

Recently, the General Services Administration announced the sale of the former Department of Homeland Security headquarters at 301 7th St. SW, its former regional office building that also once housed DHS operations. The building is now in the hands of a private developer and is expected to be converted into a mixed‑use development with housing.

Listed on a GSA website for “accelerated disposition” are both the nearby Robert C. Weaver and Wilbur J. Cohen buildings.

The Liberty Loan Building on the western edge of so-called “Fedlandia” is listed as “under contract.”

With those potential sales, Benton‑Short said redevelopment in the area could help a city struggling with a housing crisis.

“D.C. is in desperate need of more housing, that’s for sure, particularly redevelopment that would bring housing, especially if it’s affordable housing. That would be really what D.C. needs more of,” Benton‑Short said.

But what remains unknown is whether any housing would include affordable options, especially in an area with close Metro access and walking-distance proximity to iconic landmarks and the waterfront.

She said history shows that whether this moment adds up to a new neighborhood depends on how redevelopment unfolds.

“What we really need to see is some large, comprehensive plan for federal spaces, particularly in and around the core,” she said.

But she said it does not appear that a clear plan has been presented, pointing out that D.C. has not seen a comprehensive master plan update since the early 20th century.

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She believes that for a new neighborhood to emerge in an area currently without residential buildings, grocery stores and other everyday amenities, all stakeholders need to be part of a transparent planning process.

“Piecemeal planning is not going to get you the connectivity, nor the kind of thoughtful redesign that an area like this really needs,” Benton‑Short said.

She said redevelopment efforts can move forward with little public awareness, leaving communities reacting to plans instead of helping shape them.

“We could end up with Fedlandia being converted into upscale, very expensive, luxury residential areas, but do very little to help the housing crisis that’s in D.C.,” Benton‑Short said.

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If you’ve been down to the Tidal Basin lately, you may have noticed a lot has changed along the water.

The National Park Service said the Tidal Basin portion of the sea wall restoration project will be completed by the end of April, reopening the newly rebuilt area to visitors. The work addresses decades of problems with a failing sea wall that allowed tidal water to regularly spill onto walkways and soak the roots of cherry trees.

Mike Litterst, spokesman for the National Park Service, said the project was designed to protect the basin for the long term while also improving access for visitors. He said walkways around the basin have been widened, giving people more room to move around not just during cherry blossom season, but throughout the year.

While much of the sea wall is new, Litterst said visitors will still see pieces of history built into it.

“If you look closely, you’ll see that there are different colors of stone that are used in the sea wall,” Litterst said.

Some of those stones date back to the original early 20th century sea wall and were incorporated into the new structure, preserving elements of the basin’s historic design.

Along with the sea wall work, hundreds of new cherry trees are already in the ground as part of a rebuilt landscape around the basin. Many of those trees are Okame cherry trees, which are similar to the more familiar Yoshino trees but bloom about two weeks earlier, bringing color to the Tidal Basin sooner in the spring.

National Park Service urban forester Matthew Morrison, who helps oversee the trees, said many were carefully hand selected from nurseries outside the DC region.

“We were down in North Carolina hand selecting trees, and Tennessee,” Morrison said. “After walking thousands of acres and looking at thousands of trees, we selected about 400 that we brought home.”

Once planted, Morrison said care for the young trees begins almost immediately. Crews are “structurally pruning” them to help the trees better withstand storms and other harsh conditions as they mature.

“We’ve learned, the science of arbor culture has advanced itself far enough, that we know the structure of the trees that survive in adverse weather conditions,” Morrison said.

Over time, Morrison said the cherry trees planted close together around the basin will begin to function as a connected system underground.

“Their roots are going to graft together, their canopies are going to overlap,” he said.

When that happens, he said the trees will work together at times, helping to provide nutrients to the least healthy trees.

“That grove of individual trees is going to become one superorganism, and it’s going to work as one,” he said.

Even a cherry tree that was removed for the project remains part of the restoration. The tree known as “Stumpy,” which became a favorite among visitors, still plays a role in caring for the new plantings.

“When Stumpy met its demise, we ground it up and made wood chips,” Morrison said. “The wood chips are integral to conditioning the soil and adding nutrients, macro and micronutrients, into the soil.”

Those wood chips are now part of the mulch around the new cherry trees, helping nourish the next generation growing along the Tidal Basin.

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“I am cautiously optimistic,” said Francha Davis, executive director of .

The organization is a nonprofit that advocates for children in foster care and supports court‑appointed volunteers who serve as consistent voices for kids as their cases move through the system.

, Moore’s office said the reforms aim to improve oversight and capacity statewide, particularly for children with complex needs. They include statewide standards for one‑on‑one caregivers and 37 additional licensed group home beds, which officials said could reduce disruptions and keep children out of temporary or inappropriate placements.

Davis said placement shortages have long contributed to instability, especially for children already dealing with trauma.

“Because of the placement crisis, we have kids who are placed or mismatched with placements because there aren’t enough placements that match the kid,” Davis said.

When kids are placed in settings that are either too restrictive or not supportive enough, Davis said it often leads to worsening behavioral problems.

Rob Scheer, founder of , a group that supports foster kids, said placement shortages have had real consequences for families navigating the system. Scheer grew up in foster care and later adopted five children from the system.

“As a dad of five kids adopted out of foster care, I have two sons who have been in and out of facilities, and the hardest thing was we couldn’t find placement,” Scheer said.

Scheer said the state’s plan to expand licensed group home capacity will help, but he stressed that beds alone are not the answer.

“Yes, it’s going to help for us to have beds. But again, it’s not just the beds. These kids deserve to have homes,” he said. “We have to stop thinking about whole beds. It’s having homes, it’s having stability.”

Scheer said he credited Moore for drawing renewed attention to long‑standing problems in the system.

“I have to give Governor Moore kudos, because at least he’s doing something, at least he’s talking about it,” Scheer said.

Both advocates said the success of the changes will come down to what happens after the announcements.

“I will tell you, it’s huge. If there’s accountability,” Scheer said.

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The District’s cherry blossom trees reached peak bloom Thursday, drawing crowds to the Tidal Basin on a mild afternoon as puffy white blossoms wrapped the shoreline.

With more than 70% of the blooms open, people poured into the area, many stopping for selfies, lingering beneath the trees or wandering slowly along the water.

Some admitted they were playing hooky from work to take in the annual show. Others traveled specifically for the experience or made it part of an annual tradition.

“This is my first time seeing the cherry blossoms,” said Nikki Taylor, of Detroit. “They’re absolutely gorgeous.”

For some, what makes the experience special is that it offers something rare without leaving the country.

“I think how pretty they are, and it’s very unique to D.C., other than Japan,” said Sara Hummel, of Clarksburg, Maryland. “So if we don’t have to fly 
 17-20 hours to see them, then we’re lucky that we have them close by.”

The timing also made the day feel especially memorable.

“You couldn’t pick a better time,” said Stephen Sanday, who was visiting from North Carolina. “With decent weather, they’re going to pop out. And we got really lucky.”

Live music added to the atmosphere, with a string duet playing along the path as people moved through the crowd.

“It’s a therapeutic experience,” said Stacie Clemmons, of Baltimore. “It’s beautiful, the weather’s lovely.”

Memories of ‘Stumpy’

ĂÛÌÒÊÓÆ”app/Mike Murillo

ĂÛÌÒÊÓÆ”app/Mike Murillo

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Among the rows of cherry trees, one stood out in particular.

Its hollowed trunk and single long branch bursting with blooms drew a steady stream of onlookers, many slowing down to take a closer look. Some said it reminded them of “Stumpy,” the iconic cherry blossom tree that became a symbol of resilience before it was removed during construction work at the Tidal Basin.

“I love their courage,” said Roger Harte. “They don’t give up. They keep coming back.”

Others noticed something more unsettling: From a certain angle, the hollowed trunk appeared to form a face, prompting some visitors to say it looked like the tree was laughing.

“It does look like it could have a little scary character going on in there, kind of just laughing at all of these people coming by and saying, ‘Ha, ha, ha, I’m going to be here forever!’” said Russel Horner.

Perspective seemed to matter.

“Yeah, it is kind of ominous,” said Abby from D.C. “And I’m starting to see a face.”

Could it be a Sinister Stumpy? Not everyone agreed.

“I see a tree just trying and hanging on for dear life,” said John, who was visiting with friends.

Some focused less on appearances and more on what the tree represented.

“It’s struggling. It’s fighting. But it’s looking beautiful,” Robin Bell said. “Maybe it’s not the tree we want, but it’s the tree we need.”

Some of those who stopped to admire the tree also came up with possible names. Some suggested it was a successor to Stumpy, offering names like “Stumpy Jr.” or even “Angry Stumpy.”

“’Holy Moly,’” one visitor suggested, before adding that the tree “looks deserving of its crown.”

Whether viewed as eerie, inspiring, or simply unusual, the tree has become an unexpected focal point during peak bloom, drawing nearly as much attention as the blossoms surrounding it.

What should this "ominous" cherry blossom tree at the Tidal Basin be called?

— ĂÛÌÒÊÓÆ”app (@ĂÛÌÒÊÓÆ”app)

And while all eyes were on this latest tree with personality, Stumpy itself is already staging a quiet comeback. The U.S. National Arboretum says cuttings from the original tree are thriving, and this spring, the young clones

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