https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2023/08/17/ron-desantis-awkward/



After watching awkward videos of Ron DeSantis, Derek Guy had a horrifying realization.

Guy, a fashion writer known as the “Menswear Guy” to his large following on social media, had noticed people on X, formerly known as Twitter, making fun of the Florida governor and Republican presidential hopeful for throwing off weird vibes on the campaign trail. Some of these moments have been captured on video, as things tend to be during a presidential campaign: DeSantis struggling to make small talk with voters; bursting into strange paroxysms of wide-mouthed laughter; appearing to sugar-shame a child drinking an Icee at an Iowa fair.

“What’s your name?” DeSantis asked a voter in a recent clip from a New Hampshire diner.

“Tim,” the man responds.

“Okay,” says DeSantis.

In another video, from a party after the Iowa GOP’s Lincoln Dinner, DeSantis stands ramrod straight, taking gulps of beer and checking the time on his phone and telling potential voters that normally he would already be asleep.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/15/business/janet-yellen-magic-mushrooms-china/index.html

New York
CNN
—
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen ate a “magic mushroom” on a recent trip to Beijing, but the aftereffects don’t sound that special.

CNN’s Erin Burnett spoke to her Monday, asking about the “mushroom experience” that set off a social media frenzy and dramatically boosted business for a Yunnan restaurant chain, where Yellen ate the local jian shou qing.

“There was a delicious mushroom dish. I was not aware that these mushrooms had hallucinogenic properties. I learned that later,” Yellen said about the group dinner that clarified that she didn’t organize nor did she do the ordering.

She didn’t have any strange visions, the “Erin Burnett OutFront” anchor joked. Yellen then said that she had “read that if the mushrooms are cooked properly, which I’m sure they were at this very good restaurant, that they have no impact.”

“But all of us enjoyed the mushrooms, the restaurant, and none of us felt any ill effects from having eaten them,” Yellen said.

https://www.arlnow.com/2023/08/12/breaking-numerous-crashes-block-i-395-after-tractor-trailer-hit-and-run-suspect-steals-arlington-ambulance/



(Updated at 11 p.m.) A suspect in a truck crashed into multiple vehicles on I-66 and I-395, then led police on a wild chase in a stolen Arlington ambulance.

The incidents started shortly after 3:30 p.m., with reports of a stolen Freightliner truck striking vehicles on I-66 in the Rosslyn area and again on northbound I-395 just before the 14th Street Bridge. I-395 was blocked by the crashes and at least two people were hurt, including one with reported significant injuries.

The same hit-and-run suspect then allegedly stole another truck before hopping in and stealing an Arlington ambulance around 4:15 p.m. Medics tried to pull the suspect out of the ambulance but he drove off, leading Virginia State Police — followed by Arlington police — on a chase through parts of Crystal City and Pentagon City. The suspect struck numerous vehicles on the northbound HOV lanes of I-395 as he fled into D.C., according to Virginia State Police.

Eventually the ambulance was stopped on I-395 in southwest D.C. and the suspect taken into custody, according to Virginia State Police.

https://twitter.com/STATter911/status/1690477210635816960

https://twitter.com/STATter911/status/1690511384121913344

https://twitter.com/STATter911/status/1690550030439002112

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/08/10/trump-dc-trial-change-of-venue/

The former president cites D.C.’s “filth and decay” as evidence he needs a change of venue. Legal precedent isn’t on his side, and city leaders say his insults are untruths.



The dark imagery invoked by Donald Trump during his brief visit to the nation’s capital last week — “the filth and the decay … broken buildings” — renewed the stereotype of collapsing American cities as a means of calling for his federal indictment to be moved out of the District. It also reignited his hostile relationship with a city he said needed to be taken over by the federal government when he occupied the White House.

Trump rarely ventured out into the District during his four years as president, other than to travel to the downtown hotel that bore his name at the time, and he did not attempt to win the hearts and minds of D.C.’s overwhelmingly Democratic voters through political rallies or meetings with city leaders. He received less than 5.5 percent of D.C.’s popular vote in 2020, and 4 percent in 2016. He and his lawyers cite such numbers in floating the idea of a change of venue for his trial on charges of trying to subvert the 2020 election, as well as his idea for a federal takeover of the District, which he again raised on Truth Social in recent days.

“No way I can get a fair trial, or even close to a fair trial, in Washington, D.C.,” the 77-year-old Florida man who summers in New Jersey said last week. “There are many reasons for this, but just one is that I am calling for a federal takeover of this filthy and crime ridden embarrassment to our nation.”

The former president also falsely claimed that homicides in D.C. “just shattered the all-time record” and “other violent crimes have never been worse.”

https://dcist.com/story/23/08/08/dca-reagan-national-airport-runway-repaving-project/



Every night while we’re asleep a crew is racing against the clock to repave Reagan National Airport’s main runway. It’s a nightly show as hundreds of workers and construction vehicles race to finish before the day’s first flight takes off.

Work started in April and will take two years, with a pause in the winter months. National Airport’s runway was last repaved over a decade ago and it’s near the end of its life because of wear and tear.

At many other airports, this repaving process isn’t too big of a deal. At Dulles, for instance, they could close one runway and have three others to use.

But National doesn’t have that luxury. It’s landlocked and has one main runway and one secondary runway that are suitable for large aircraft. They need them both open every day

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/08/07/dc-weather-alert-severe-thunderstorms-wind/

The National Weather Service has a declared a rare Level 4 of 5 risk for the area, the first since 2013.

What to know
Widespread storms with the potential for damaging winds, tornadoes, hail, torrential rain and frequent lightning are expected between 4 and 8 p.m. — with the Beltway area most at risk between 5 and 7:30 p.m. The National Weather Service has issued a Level 4 out of 5 risk for severe storms for the first time in about a decade.

A tornado watch is in effect until 9 p.m. A watch means ingredients are in place for severe storms with destructive winds and possibly tornadoes, but that’s not a guarantee and you should stay alert. If a warning for a tornado or a destructive thunderstorm is issued for your location, you should shelter in an interior room, away from windows, at the lowest level of a strong building.

Power outages are likely; charge devices and secure or bring inside loose outdoor items ahead of the storms. Avoid travel during the storms.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/30/economy/child-labor-louisiana-texas/index.html

New York
CNN
—
A 14-year-old boy who cleaned meat cutting machines was “falling asleep in class and missing class as a result and suffering injuries from chemical burns” in Nebraska from 2021 to 2022, according to the Labor Department. Another 13-year-old suffered severe burns from cleaning agents.

Packers Sanitation Services Inc. (PSSI), one of the largest providers of food safety sanitation in the US, had employed 31 children between the ages of 13 and 17 to work for meat industry monoliths like Cargill and JBS USA across Minnesota and Nebraska, the Department of Labor said last November.

These weren’t isolated cases.

US child labor violations have jumped in recent years. Some well-known companies, consumer-facing name brands, have been caught employing children for grueling work in dangerous conditions. A tight labor market has prompted many employers to search for the cheapest available labor; state legislators are even pushing bills that would limit legal protections for underage workers.

Now, the Department of Labor has announced actions it’s taken so far this year through a new interagency task force on child labor.

“Child labor is an issue that gets to the heart of who we are as a country and who we want to be,” said Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su in a news release Thursday. “Like the President, we believe that any child working in a dangerous or hazardous environment is one child too many.”

https://wtop.com/weather-news/2023/07/high-temperatures-start-to-drop-in-dc-region-with-thunderstorms-rolling-in/

An afternoon of severe weather behind sweltering temperatures from a three-day has finished up, bringing down trees and shutting off power for roughly 200,000 customers across the D.C. region. Here’s what you need to know.

Severe thunderstorm watches and warnings have finished up, but not without major impacts for a significant portion of D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

Already there are reports of trees down and power outages in the region, including in Loudoun and Montgomery counties, plus the District.

WTOP reporter Dave Dildine says “this is one of the stronger summer storms we have experienced in D.C. in a couple of years at least.”

“I am seeing some significant damage in parts of Northwest D.C. Countless trees are down, manhole covers displaced and open pits disabling cars,” Dildine said. “Numerous major roads, like Fox Hall Road, are blocked. People are walking around with a stunned expression around Palisades.”

The latest wind gust reports from within the storm, as of 6:07 p.m., are traveling at 58 mph at Hoffman-Boston Elementary School in Arlington, VA, according to WTOP meteorologist Chad Merrill.