This @wamu.org story was for the annual D.C. Homeless Crisis Reporting Project by @streetsensedc.bsky.social. Check out the important work other local newsrooms are doing here: streetsensemedia.org/homeless-cri...

Want to note an inaccuracy in my earlier post - this is not a 'ruling,' but point stands that following today's hearing,Chief Smith will be in charge of the city's police force, not Terry Cole.

The mayor has returned to the District.

AIDS United mobilizing support, urging people to call their senators and representatives: aidsunited.org/action/polic...

"These abrupt and incomprehensible possible cuts threaten to reverse decades of progress, exposing our nation to a resurgence of a preventable disease with devastating and avoidable human and financial costs."

"...more people will fall ill, more lives will be lost, and we will be thrust back into an HIV epidemic reminiscent of the darkest chapters in public health history."

Removing the mural will take a couple months. D.C. Department of Transportation tells me restoring the plaza to its former state will cost about $610,000, and will be paid for locally. Says other DDOT projects aren't being paused/delayed for this.

This is a follow-up to a story I did late last year, shortly after the elections:
wamu.org/story/24/12/...