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☆ White House asks agencies to step up workers' return to offices
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, April 13 (Reuters) - The White House on Thursday asked federal agencies to revise workforce plans as it aims to "substantially increase" in-person work by government employees at headquarters offices and improve services, according to a memo seen by Reuters. The memo to executive branch agencies from White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director Shalanda Young directs agencies to refresh work environment plans and policies. Some Republican lawmakers have pressed federal agencies to require more government workers to return to offices. "It’s time for the federal workforce to get back to work in-person for the American people. Aiming to cut long wait times and delays in processing federal services, OMB's memo said: "Agencies should prioritize improving experiences and services that directly impact the public."

☆ Inside a women-only poker night at the New York Stock Exchange: 'If it's worth betting, it's worth raising'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Hayley Cuccinello | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

BNY Mellon threw a women-only poker night at the NYSE to celebrate International Women's Day. Hours after the markets had closed, I was at the New York Stock Exchange learning how to play poker. This women-only poker night was thrown by Bank of New York Mellon on March 9, the day after International Women's Day. "Aggression is actually a winning strategy," said AJ Rudolph, the director of education and technology at Power Poker, as she walked us through the basics of poker. The Poker Power chips featured Frida Kahlo, Malala Yousafzai, Maya Angelou, and Rosie the Riveter.

☆ These 14 Democratic senators broke with Biden and voted against striking down the DC criminal code
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Most Democratic senators voted for a GOP-led resolution overruling recent changes to DC's criminal code. The 14 who voted against the resolution framed it in part as a show of support for DC statehood. Just 14 Democratic senators voted against the resolution. Ahead of the vote, DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson even attempted to withdraw the criminal reform legislation in an attempt to prevent a Senate vote. Here are the 14 Democratic senators who voted against the resolution:

A spike in carjackings and an assault on Democratic Representative Angie Craig has stirred concerns about crime in the city in recent years. Police statistics show that homicides and gun crimes in Washington have nearly doubled since 2017, though crime has fallen overall. City council members say their law is the result of years of compromise and say the reduced penalties for crimes like carjacking and robbery reflect the actual sentences imposed by judges. But that argument has gotten little traction on Capitol Hill, where Republicans who represent rural areas have often clashed with leadership of the overwhelmingly Democratic city. Washington's city council, sensing defeat, withdrew its crime overhaul on Monday in an unsuccessful attempt to head of the Senate vote.

☆ Democrats are venting over Biden's 'very infuriating' position on DC crime law
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Democrats are "disappointed" and angry with Biden's position on a GOP move to block a DC crime law. "If the President supports DC statehood, he should govern like it," tweeted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez. "If the President supports DC statehood, he should govern like it," she tweeted. The resolution's passage would mark the first time the federal government has voted to overrule DC legislation in decades and undermines the campaign for DC statehood. Asked about Biden's decision, Bowman said police unions are powerful.

☆ D.C. Crime Code Overhaul, Noncitizen Voting Spark Clash With Congress
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Eric Bazail-Eimil | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser had vetoed the crime bill, but the D.C. Council overturned her veto. WASHINGTON—The House passed two bills Thursday that aim to overturn recent changes to the District of Columbia’s criminal code and voter eligibility laws, using a provision in federal law that allows Congress to reject measures passed by the city’s local government. The first resolution, introduced by Rep. James Comer (R., Ky.) and other Republican lawmakers, would block the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022, which expands voting rights in local elections to residents who aren’t citizens. The bill passed 260-162, with 42 Democrats joining Republicans.

☆ Washington D.C.'s free bus bill becomes law as zero-fare transit systems take off
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Rebecca Picciotto | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

A bus is seen in Washington, DC, on December 12, 2022. - The Washington government voted to institute free bus rides for all starting in the summer of 2023. Washington, D.C., has enacted a zero-fare bus bill into law, according to the D.C. Council. Kansas City, Missouri, previously the largest city with such a law, made its own transit system zero-fare in 2019, though that city doesn't have a train system. The council officially announced the mayor's decision on Monday.

☆ The zero-fare public transit movement is picking up momentum
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( Rebecca Picciotto | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

In late 2019, Kansas City, Missouri, became the first major U.S. city to approve a fare-free public transit system. The public transit crisisKansas City's bus system, called RideKC. Alexandria and Richmond in Virginia have successfully integrated fare-free transit into their annual budgets. Source: Kansas City Area Transportation AuthorityIn Kansas City, zero-fare transit has become a hallmark of life. The zero-fare bus started in December 2019 as a pilot program.

Protecting property does not typically justify the use of lethal force under Washington, D.C., law, legal and criminal justice experts said as police investigate the fatal shooting of a 13-year-old boy in Washington over the weekend. Legal experts agreed that deadly force is not a legally justifiable way to defend property, except, perhaps, in cases of self-defense or home intrusion. "I know of no law that allows for deadly force purely in the defense of property," NBC News legal analyst Danny Cevallos said. "It’s always been the case that you can’t use deadly force to protect your property." But he added that in Washington and in most of the country, the use lethal force is not allowed in defense of property.

The man who fatally shot 13-year-old Karon Blake early Saturday, in a case that has outraged some in the community, is a Washington, D.C., employee, the mayor said Wednesday. Mayor Muriel Bowser said Wednesday that the person who shot Karon is a district government employee who is not involved in public safety. Karon Blake. She said the person is on administrative leave, which is standard whenever a city employee is accused or criminally charged. The man who shot him is Black and has a concealed-carry license and a registered firearm, Contee said.

☆ Outrage mounts in D.C. after man fatally shoots boy, 13, he suspected was breaking into cars
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Marlene Lenthang | Marlene Lenthang Is A Breaking News Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Outrage is simmering over the fatal shooting of a 13-year-old Black middle school student in Washington, D.C., by a man who suspected the teen was breaking into cars in his neighborhood. Members of the District of Columbia Department of Forensic Sciences investigate the crime scene of a shooting in Washington, D.C. via WRCDetectives are working with the U.S. Attorney's Office to determine any potential criminal charges. "Although he loved his neighborhood, he loved Brookland MS (the faculty & his peers) and the structure it presented to him even more,” Richardson wrote. Community groups DC Safety Squad, Ward 5 Mutual Aid and Harriet’s Wildest Dreams are demanding the release of the shooter's name and any visual evidence. In a statement, DC Safety squad said: “Karon Blake was senselessly murdered.

☆ Washington, D.C. to Overhaul Criminal Code Despite Mayor’s Objections, Council Member Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Scott Calvert | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser objects to a proposed overhaul of the city’s criminal code, saying it wouldn’t make the city safer. A Washington, D.C. council member says officials plan to push through an overhaul of the district’s criminal code despite a veto issued Wednesday by Mayor Muriel Bowser, who said the proposed changes would weaken public safety at a time of heightened concern about crime. Council member Charles Allen, who led the public-safety committee when the district council passed the overhaul bill in November, indicated that the council would vote to override the veto. The body’s next legislative meeting is scheduled for Feb. 7, but a representative for Mr. Allen said it is possible a meeting could happen sooner.

☆ Jan. 6 transcripts detail numerous warning signs of potential for violence before Capitol attack
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Ryan J. Reilly Is A Justice Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

WASHINGTON — Transcripts of interviews with law enforcement officials released this week by the Jan. 6 committee reveal the panel learned that numerous security concerns had been raised in the days leading up to the attack on the Capitol. For the most part, Jan. 6 committee leaders decided against focusing the final report on how law enforcement came to be so underprepared for the attack. The Jan. 6 committee transcripts detailed the challenges facing the FBI in the lead-up to Jan. 6. An FBI intelligence analyst raised concerns about that on New Year's Eve, as threats about Jan. 6 continued to increase. “He said it was intelligence failure," Harvin said.

☆ House Jan. 6 committee found military officials were concerned Trump would use troops to overturn the election
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The House January 6 committee found evidence that top military officials had "genuine concerns" about Trump using the military to overturn the election. The revelation adds further context to why top officials were so outspoken about clarifying the military's role. "Again, at this time, there is no evidence the Department of Defense understood exactly what President Trump and his associates planned for January 6th." . . and the employment of forces, and you know, that was something that we were all, you know, conscious of," McCarthy told the committee. "They may try, but they're not going to f**king succeed," Milley told his deputies, according to the book.

☆ Former Trump deputy chief of staff Ornato, a key witness on Jan. 6, to appear before House committee
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Ryan Nobles | Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Rebecca-Shabad-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON — Tony Ornato, who served as deputy White House chief of staff under Donald Trump, is expected to appear Tuesday for an interview before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, a person familiar with the panel's plans said. Ornato is considered a key witness on the events surrounding the Capitol riot and will likely be questioned about testimony from star witness Cassidy Hutchinson, who was an aide to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. She said Ornato told her Trump lunged at the steering wheel of the SUV he was in, demanding to be taken down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol. Officials from the Secret Service have questioned Hutchinson’s testimony, prompting the committee to bring some of them back for questioning under oath. After serving in the Trump White House, Ornato was an assistant director at the Secret Service until he left the agency in August for a job in the private sector.

WASHINGTON — Former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway appeared Monday before investigators of the House select committee probing the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. Conway spoke to the committee on the record, two sources familiar with her appearance said. Conway was seen entering a conference room in the O’Neill House Office Building with attorney Emmet Flood, who was a lawyer in former President Donald Trump's White House. When she left the meeting room for a break, Conway told reporters “I’m here voluntarily.” Asked when she last spoke with Trump by a reporter, Conway said he called her last week. Conway worked as a senior counselor to Trump from the beginning of his term through Aug. 2020.

☆ Noncitizen Bill Makes Aliens and Diplomats D.C. Voters
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Hard as it is to believe, the mayor of Washington, D.C., might soon be elected with votes from illegal immigrants or the staff at the Chinese embassy. Last month the D.C. City Council passed a bill to expand the franchise in local elections to any adult with 30 days of residency. Mayor Muriel Bowser did not sign or veto it, so the bill was officially enacted Monday without her signature. New York City passed a noncitizen voting law that a court ruled this year was a violation of the state Constitution. No such limitation appears in the D.C. bill, meaning illegal aliens and foreign college students would be able to vote, and that’s not all.

☆ DC and Nebraska just voted to give minimum wage workers a raise. This map shows how much all 50 states pay.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Jason Lalljee | Madison Hoff | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

DC voted to eliminate tipped wages in the state, raising the minimum wage floor from $5.35 to $16.10 for tipped workers. The minimum wage will increase gradually, at a rate of $1.50 per year for the next four years. And in DC, tipped workers, defined under federal law as anyone who regularly receives at least $30 per month in tips, are seeing a victory. Other states have moved to increase their minimum wages in the past few months, including three states that raised their state minimum wages on July 1 — Connecticut, Nevada, and Oregon. Critics of a minimum wage increase argue that a raise would negatively impact employment, but that may not be the case.

☆ Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser faces off against Republican Stacia Hall in Washington, DC's mayoral election
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Hanna Kang | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Democratic incumbent Mayor Muriel Bowser is running against Republican Stacia Hall in Washington, DC's mayoral race. 2022 General EmbedsBowser, first elected in 2014, is vying for her third consecutive term as mayor. Currently, the mayor of Washington, DC, is popularly elected to a four-year term with no term limits. She is the second female mayor of Washington, DC, after Sharon Pratt, and the first woman to be reelected to that position. With the city experiencing increases in violent crime, crime and public safety have emerged as leading issues on voters' minds.

That the WNBA star, who lost her appeal Tuesday, is a gay Black woman could add unknown variables to a penal system that is known to be remote and harrowing. “Conditions in prisons and detention centers varied but were often harsh and life threatening,” a 2021 State Department report on Russian human rights abuses said. “Russian prisons are grim, even relative to prisons in other countries. Prisoners were used for farming, mining or logging in sparsely populated areas of the country or worked in sweatshop conditions. It can often take weeks for prisoners to arrive at the prisons on prison trucks and specially designed train carriages called Stolypins.

☆ Ahead of the midterms, Black women voters most concerned about costs of living, poll shows
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( Donna M. Owens | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

Change Research conducted the online survey of 715 adult Black women voters who were recruited via web and text message. The majority of Black women who responded felt they are “under-represented,” or that “more representation” is needed. Black women represent 53% of Black eligible voters, slightly higher than all eligible voters (51%) in the country. Many gave mixed answers, expressing both excitement and optimism about the advances Black women have made and their power, as well as frustration about the state of the country and how Black women are treated. There are currently no Black women in the Senate after former California Sen. Kamala Harris won the vice presidency.

☆ Deputy D.C. mayor resigns after being accused of assault by a personal trainer
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Marlene Lenthang | Marlene Lenthang Is A Breaking News Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

A Washington D.C. deputy mayor, who headed City Hall's public safety efforts, resigned on Wednesday after he was accused of assault in Northern Virginia — an allegation which also raised questions about his residency. Christopher Geldart, now the former deputy mayor for public safety and justice, was charged with allegedly assaulting a personal trainer after they argued in a Gold's Gym parking lot in Arlington. Geldart declined comment on the alleged assault or the state of his residency, but said the resignation was necessary. “I no longer wanted to be a distraction to the vitally important work of the public safety agencies of the district government,” he said to NBC Washington. City administrator Kevin Donahue will act as interim deputy mayor.

☆ Brrrr! Wetsuits required as French outdoor pool cuts heating
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-07 | by ( Lucien Libert | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Many bathers had already taken to using wetsuits, but from Oct. 1 the pool has made them compulsory, to prevent medical emergencies among people not used to swimming in cold water. On the contrary, it's nice and fresh, we feel much better after training in a wetsuit in cold water than when it's heated," she said. Nogent Nautique pool manager Adrien Nougot said the centre had decided to stop heating the 50-metre outdoor pool on May 15 for financial reasons. A poolside sign showed the outdoor pool temperature was 19 C, compared to 28 C in the indoor 25-metre pool. Better a cold pool than a closed pool, said Nicolas Lioret, 48.

The arrival of thousands of migrants in New York, Washington, Chicago and beyond has sent officials in those cities scrambling to establish a system of support services, with mixed success. The Office of Migrant Services in Washington, D.C., will offer urgent medical care and connection to resettlement services. Phillips said migrants have been calling volunteer groups in the city “constantly” with problems, leaving volunteers in rapid-response mode. Mental health services are lackingStill, Enriquez said, there is a major hole in that care: mental health services. Mental health screenings are also part of the initial medical checkups at city health centers, Jochum said.

☆ Washington, DC's police force is offering $20,000 bonuses to attract new officers amid labor shortage hiring struggles
▼ + stars: | 2022-06-21 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Washington, DC is giving new cops a $20,000 hiring bonus amid a "very challenging job market." New starters will be given $10,000 as an initial hiring bonus and a further $10,000 once they complete a 24-week training program at the police academy. The starting salary at the DC MPD is $60,199, which rises to $65,863 after an 18-month probationary period. The $20,000 hiring bonus effectively means an increase of 33% to the basic first-year salary. DC's bonus is part of Bowser's budget for the 2023 fiscal year, which includes an investment of around $30 million for MPD hiring, recruitment, and retention incentives.

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