Reading archive 2025-07-24

D.C. Council chair sets vote on RFK site after reaching deal with Commanders: RFK Stadium redevelopment deal nears vote after D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson reaches updated agreement with Washington Commanders.

D.C. police chief halted firings of officers in fatal chase, report says: Terence Sutton and Andrew Zabavksy, convicted in the death of Karon Hylton-Brown but pardoned by the president, collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in back pay.

Amy Sherald cancels major Smithsonian show over ‘censorship’: Painter Amy Sherald withdrew her exhibition “American Sublime” at the National Portrait Gallery. The Smithsonian denied trying to replace the painting in question. - "According to the Times, Sherald said she had been told that the museum — whose director, Kim Sajet, resigned after President Trump called for her ouster for being 'a highly partisan person' — might remove a painting that depicts a transgender Statue of Liberty from the exhibition 'American Sublime,' which was slated to open in September after touring at museums in San Francisco and New York. Sherald reportedly said Smithsonian head Lonnie G. Bunch III proposed replacing the painting with a video. 

"But the Smithsonian spokesperson said that Bunch wanted the video to accompany the painting — not replace it. The spokesperson added that the museum offered to spend more time contextualizing her piece, but Sherald chose to remove herself from the show."

Is a Mamdani repeat coming to the Midwest? A democratic socialist is getting a boost in Minnesota.: The Minneapolis Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party has endorsed state Sen. Omar Fateh over the city’s incumbent mayor.

USDA will relocate most of its DC-based workforce: The agency will relocate about 2,600 employees to five other locations and shutter several key facilities in the capital region, including its main research center - "In the months following the 2019 relocation announcement, department data showed that two-thirds of USDA employees decided to leave their jobs rather than move, The Post reported at the time. A 2022 Government Accountability Office report found that USDA’s decision at the time 'omitted critical costs and economic effects from its analysis of taxpayer savings, such as costs related to potential attrition or disruption of activities for a period of time, which may have contributed to an unreliable estimate of savings from relocation.'"