State Superintendent Antoinette Mitchell said the council could help them avoid these measures if it sends over excess revenue from last year, as Bowser urged them to do (and they’ve debated for the last few weeks).
But that’d only affect this fiscal year, she says, not ‘27
New: DC is implementing a waitlist for its childcare subsidy program to cut costs, a step Bowser warned could be coming last month.
New policy starts May 12. Childcare providers fear it’ll function as a freeze, as it’s unclear if new students can join as others drop out.
I've given to @51st.news before, but never become a member: what better reason to change that than for their big campaign to expand local coverage?
If you care about local DC news, join me!
The @freedcproject.bsky.social folks and other orgs are holding another “Recess at the Capitol,” a year to the day after the 1st, bringing in kids on a day off from school to meet senators and urge them not to vote against DC. @janeese4dc.bsky.social joined too (surprising the organizers apparently)
The delegate race is getting messy. Pinto says White is running the "Trump dirty campaign playbook." He fires back that she "spends more time taking credit than doing the work.”
@mitchryals.bsky.social has a great story on this:
washingtoncitypaper.com/article/7811...
Jackie Reyes-Yanes' report is up: She's got $114k in the bank.
She also raised the most over the last month by a decent margin with $6400 from DC donors: Raj/Trindade Deramo both managed $3900, Brown had $3400 and Lynch $640.
The council's officially taking Bowser to court over her refusal to turn over budget documents.
The suit claims she is "unduly burdening and impermissibly interfering" with lawmakers' ability to set the budget. A court previously held her in contempt for this:
www.documentcloud.org/documents/27...
Lewis George also said she’d support more car-free areas to support local businesses. She named Upshur Street and 17th St as some examples:
“Why are there cars in Adams Morgan?”
Interesting: In answering a q on Trump/Congress, Lewis George says she recently arranged a meeting alongside labor unions with Va. Rep. Eugene Vindman, who’s voted against DC on several recent bills.
She says he felt like he hasn’t heard from DC leaders ahead of these votes.
Somewhere up there is @janeese4dc.bsky.social.
She’s hosting a “listening session” at the new LGBTQ Center in Shaw tonight.
Wondering where the council's leaning in the mayoral race?
Nadeau, Parker, Allen, Trayon White and Robert White have all given only to @janeese4dc.bsky.social
Felder and Crawford have given only to @kenyanmcduffie.bsky.social
Bonds/Henderson have given to both. Nothing from Pinto/Frumin/Mendo
In the Dem at-large race, @repoyedc.bsky.social still leads the way with $175k in the bank. He also raised the most last month.
@lisaraymondfordc.bsky.social has $151k, @candacefor202.bsky.social has $68k, and Dyana Forester has $10k. Still waiting on reports from Kevin Chavous and Greg Jackson.
Over in Ward 1, @aparnafordc.bsky.social still leads in cash on hand with $219k.
@rashidabrown.bsky.social has about $95k, Miguel Trindade Deramo is at $56k and Terry Lynch has $4k. No report yet from Jackie Reyes (though she previously had $87k so we'll see how she's kept pace with the others).
Elissa Silverman raised about $7200 over the same time period, and they're now about even with ~$24k cash on hand each.
Jacque Patterson, meanwhile, managed only $1200 and no other special election candidate post meaningful fundraising. Shaping up to be a two-way race...
New: DC is illegally sitting on $1.6 million meant to help laid off Circulator bus drivers, according to a new lawsuit.
@atulocal689.bsky.social is trying to force the city to comply with a law ordering DC to use the proceeds of Circulator bus sales to help ex-employees:
wamu.org/story/26/03/...
It's hard to lend much credence to Bowser's stated reason she withheld the report because it's outdated considering a. it was commissioned before Covid and b. the council offered *two years ago* to update it and Bowser declined.
washingtoncitypaper.com/article/6623...
This comes from the ongoing ACLU/CASA lawsuit against DHS seeking to stop warrantless immigration arrests in DC.
A judge issued an injunction banning those arrests. But they want it enforced, claiming ICE has been ignoring it. Hearing is tomorrow:
www.documentcloud.org/documents/27...
Here's one of the more ridiculous ICE incidents I've run across:
A Mexican man was arrested by agents while waiting at a NE bus stop. He told them he'd serve them carne asada if he was deported there and they visited...but they claim he threatened to *turn them* into carne asada
DC for Democracy got pretty much every at-large candidate for tonight's forum: some interesting differences between them, but notable that every one said they'd support the business activity tax (favored by JLG to fund childcare and backed by most of the Tax Revision Commission...)
Interesting lawsuit from two members of Bowser's MPD detail here.
They claim their supervisor, Lt. Reginald Powell, launched an "ongoing retaliatory scheme" against them after they tried to use leave/reported his behavior to other city officials:
www.documentcloud.org/documents/27...
In addition to this poll, I hear someone is testing out attacks on Brooke Pinto in the delegate race: one q asked whether her youth spoke to a lack of experience or something like that.
A lot of the other questions were about Kinney Zalesne, strongly pointing to her campaign.
New: With complaints about rising utility bills growing louder, DC regulators just approved a pipe infrastructure project that will likely drive gas bills even higher.
Many environmentalists fear it'll lock DC into using fossil fuels it's supposed to transition away from:
wamu.org/story/26/03/...
Some news toward the bottom of this story: Several prominent labor unions (like @ufcw400.org @32bjseiu.bsky.social Unite Here 25) are launching an outside spending group backing Lewis George dubbed "Safe and Affordable DC".
McDuffie will surely benefit from biz-aligned groups in the near future.
New: Kenyan McDuffie is ramping up his campaign amid speculation from supporters/opponents alike that his mayoral bid got off to a slow start.
Bowser was among those fretting about his lack of visibility. McDuffie says it's early yet, but the primary is in just 3 months:
wamu.org/story/26/03/...
No delays to tax filing...BUT he still won't count the roughly $600 million in revenue for the city's budget.
Essentially he's saying the mere risk of litigation is enough reason to keep this money out of the revenue estimate. Can't imagine the council/mayor will be pleased.
Seems like we're not going to hear more on this from the CFO today (despite Bowser's letter asking for clarity).
After this closed-door meeting, I asked @cmzparker5.bsky.social the q on so many DC taxpayers' minds: Should I file my taxes? In short, his answer is yes. His comments:
Both of these bills are now set to pass, so the fight starts over who gets credit: especially with the delegate race involved.
@freedcproject.bsky.social charges Pinto only took action once White moved his bill. She said today she's worked for weeks...but White said he never heard about it
Bowser's folks feel this means the CFO essentially hasn't decided how to interpret the AG's opinion so they're throwing up their hands, essentially making a decision better left to the mayor/council.
The full letter:
www.documentcloud.org/documents/27...
Now Bowser responds: She feels it's "inexplicable" that the CFO wouldn't include $ from the decoupling. She wants clarity on his stance by Tues (when the tax bill expires).
A senior admin official says "in this scenario, everybody loses." The AG's opinion irks Congress, and no $
The latest twist in the DC tax saga: Despite the AG’s opinion, CFO Glen Lee says he WON’T count revenue from the decoupling bill due to “uncertainty” around Congress’ vote. This will have major impacts on DC’s budget…but at least the city’s revenue picture has slightly improved.
