https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/02/17/dc-area-forecast-accumulating-snow-early-thursday-then-changing-wintry-mix-staying-cold-through-weekend/

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for much of the region, except Calvert and St. Mary’s counties, which are under a winter weather advisory. The warning is in effect from 3 a.m. Thursday to 6 a.m. Friday.

https://twitter.com/NWS_BaltWash/status/1362057234608316416

The Weather Service expects 3 to 6 inches of snow and up to a quarter inch of ice from Thursday’s storm. “Travel could be nearly impossible,” the Weather Service writes. “The hazardous conditions could impact the morning or evening commute.”

We’ll have a new, detailed briefing on the storm published between midday and early afternoon.

https://www.upworthy.com/biden-valentines-day-walk



This morning, Joe and Jill Biden went out for a walk with their dogs, Champ and Major, to check out the surprise the first lady had installed overnight for Valentine's Day weekend. The White House lawn has been decorated with oversized hearts that have positive words like LOVE, GRATITUDE, COMPASSION, and FAMILY on them. The one that says HEALING is signed "Love, Jill."

As they walked along with coffee cups in hand, the first couple was met by a few members of the press. The conversation that they had has gone viral—not so much because of how extraordinary it was, but rather the opposite. It was delightfully ordinary, filled with normalcy, decency, and even a random act of kindness for good measure. And the simple goodness of it all is moving people to tears.

https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1360215437427027969

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/02/06/usps-biden-democrats-dejoy/

The nation’s mail service is slower and more erratic than it’s been in generations, via the confluence of an abrupt reorganization and pandemic-era anomalies that has fueled demands for reform and fundamentally different ideas on how to achieve it.

On one side is Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who, with the backing of the U.S. Postal Service’s governing board, is expected as soon as next week to outline a new vision for the agency, one that includes more service cuts, higher and region-specific pricing, and lower delivery expectations.

But congressional Democrats are pressing President Biden to install new board members, creating a majority bloc that could oust DeJoy, a Trump loyalist whose aggressive cost-cutting over the summer has been singled out for much of the performance decline. The fight over the agency’s future is expected to be fraught and protracted, leaving Americans with unreliable mail delivery for the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, customers are fuming on social media and to postal workers about late holiday packages and days-long delivery gaps. Only 38 percent of nonlocal first-class mail arrived on time in late December, compared with 92 percent in the year-ago period, according to data reported in federal voting lawsuits. The agency has not disclosed performance data in 2021.

https://dcist.com/story/21/01/29/white-supremacist-group-patriot-front-seen-marching-through-d-c-friday-morning/



A group of a few dozen men wearing small shields and carrying flags associated with the white supremacist group Patriot Front were seen marching on the National Mall towards the Capitol Friday morning.

The Southern Poverty Law Center describes the Texas-based Patriot Front as an “image-obsessed organization” focused on a fascist agenda and “theatrical rhetoric.” The group has chapters across the U.S. and broke off from white-nationalist group Vanguard America following the deadly Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally in 2017.

ProPublica describes Patriot Front as “perhaps the most active white supremacist group in the nation.”

Footage taken by ProPublica reporter Lydia DePillis shows the group marching in formation, wearing face coverings, and carrying upside down American flags (which is historically used to convey distress or great danger). The group was heard shouting “reclaim America” and unleashed red and blue smoke.

https://dcist.com/story/21/01/27/march-for-life-street-closures-dc/

The annual March for Life is taking place virtually this year due to the pandemic and heightened security around the Capitol following the Jan. 6 insurrection. While organizers are telling participants to stay home for the event, they are still hosting a smaller rally and march in D.C. on Friday with a handful of anti-abortion speakers, performers, and elected officials.

The rally will begin at 12 p.m. ET and be streamed on the March for Life website, Facebook, and YouTube channel.

Though smaller than usual, the planned march from the National Mall to the Supreme Court building – marking the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe vs. Wade — is still going to create traffic delays and closures.

The Metropolitan Police Department said drivers should anticipate street closures in the following areas:

The National Mall
L’Enfant Plaza
John Marshall Park
Union Station
The U.S. Capitol grounds

https://wtop.com/local/2021/01/rainy-tuesday-could-make-for-slick-morning-commute-in-dc-area/

Freezing rain and sleet coated area roads with ice Tuesday morning, but will be followed by rain in the afternoon as temperatures pick up.

But the upward temperature trend won’t last.

Here’s what you need to know.

A winter weather advisory is in effect for parts of the region through Tuesday morning. These regions include:

Parts of Loudoun and Fauquier counties in Virginia until 7 a.m.
Parts of Montgomery, Howard, Harford and Frederick counties in Maryland until 10 a.m.
D.C.; parts of Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties in Maryland; and Fairfax and Arlington counties and the City of Alexandria in Virginia until 9 a.m.

Parts of the northern suburbs saw light freezing rain and sleet overnight, while those in the south mostly received some light rain and drizzle.

https://www.vox.com/recode/22243799/post-office-delays-postal-banking-usps-reform

In November, on the day that networks called the election for Joe Biden, cheering crowds stopped mail trucks in the streets of New York City to thank postal workers for delivering more than 135 million mail-in ballots on time during a pandemic. Now, in Washington, DC, a coalition of lawmakers and advocates are trying to pull off a different sort of feat: saving the United States Postal Service.

Without help from the federal government, the Postal Service could run out of cash later this year. Such a financial crisis would mean laying off workers, limiting service, and worsening delays — and delays are already so bad that holiday cards mailed in early December are still being delivered in late January. In the long term, Congress could decide to privatize the Postal Service, fulfilling one of the Trump administration’s ambitions but likely denying service to millions of Americans.

While it sounds a bit odd at first, an increasingly popular idea to fix the agency’s financial woes is to give it more jobs to do. In other words, to grapple with its ongoing existential crisis, the Postal Service needs to rethink its very existence.

“There needs to be creativity and other things the post office can do, when it’s done its mission of binding the country together,” Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union (APWU), told Recode. “So we’re very keen on all sorts of expanded services.”
...

Put differently, even if Congress pulls through with a bailout and ends the prefunding mandate mess, the Postal Service still needs to evolve to survive. The Save the Postal Office Coalition, which includes 300 groups, including the APWU, MoveOn, and Color for Change, came together not long after DeJoy joined the agency and is calling for $89 billion in emergency relief for the agency in President Biden’s first 100 days. It’s also pushing for Biden to appoint a “postal czar” who favors postal banking and reform-minded leaders to fill the four open seats on the USPS Board of Governors, which Trump had left empty in the final months of his presidency. If Biden fills all the seats, Democrat-appointed governors would make up a majority of the board, giving them the power to remove DeJoy from office and reshape the Postal Service’s role in American life.