D.C. Republicans oppose Council tax proposals

The D.C. Republican Party held a press conference Monday at noon in Farragut Square to oppose tax proposals the D.C. Council took up at an Oct. 16 hearing; the party had invited its candidates to join. "This isn't a revenue problem. It's a spending problem," the party's Ward 2 chair, John Fredericks, said in its press release, which calls instead for cutting waste, freezing new spending, growing the tax base, making rent on a primary residence tax deductible and suspending the gas tax for six months.

Context  At the nine-hour Council hearing, members weighed proposals including a 2% tax on law, lobbying and consulting firms owned by nonresidents, a 3% surcharge on investment income for individuals earning over $400,000 and couples over $500,000, higher property taxes on homes worth over $2.5 million that are not the owner's residence, and raising the sales tax from 6% to 7%. The city faces a gap of roughly $600 million to $800 million next year in a local budget of about $11 billion. Supporters such as Ward 1 Council member Brianne Nadeau and Ward 4 Council member Janeese Lewis George say wealthy households and nonresident-owned firms should pay more, while opponents such as former Mayor Anthony Williams say these taxes could drive firms and residents away. Council Chair Phil Mendelson called any future tax increase a political choice, not a necessity, and aides to the chief financial officer said the larger proposals could take 12 to 24 months to put in place.

Video of the press conference (John Fredericks Media)  ·  The Washington Sun (the Oct. 16 hearing)

Antonio Terry, 18, was arrested Sunday and Markell Woodings, 20, was arrested Monday, and both are charged with first-degree murder while armed in the April 14 shooting outside a store on Kenilworth Avenue NE that killed Mhilo Young, 12, and Tyale Coates, 14. Interim Metropolitan Police Chief Jeffery Carroll said the boys appear to have been targeted because of the neighborhood they were from, not who they were, and that social media chats and DNA from shell casings were key to the arrests.

Context  The Metropolitan Police Department is D.C.'s city police force, and Carroll is serving as its interim chief. Terry's charge was announced by Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for D.C.; he was ordered held without bond and is due back in court Nov. 9. Coates was an eighth grader at KIPP DC Valor Academy and Young was a former student there. Police say three masked men fired from a stolen car and that they are still working to identify others involved.

NBC4 Washington  ·  WJLA 7News

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes issued a preliminary injunction Monday that bars the Interior Department and National Park Service from removing or damaging more trees at the public course and requires 10 business days' written notice before other irreversible changes to the park, for as long as the case lasts. Reyes found the plaintiffs, the D.C. Preservation League and two golfers, are likely to win their claim that the government skipped a required environmental review; late Monday, President Trump wrote that the ruling is "unconstitutional," that Interior will appeal and that the course will close Nov. 15 for renovation.

Context  What is new: Reyes had paused tree cutting under a temporary order since Oct. 13, after more than 400 trees were cut on Oct. 10, and Monday's order extends that protection until the lawsuit is decided. The course is on federal parkland in East Potomac Park, managed by the Park Service, which is part of the Interior Department. In court, the Justice Department called the lawsuit premature because no final decision on the plan had been made, and Interior officials said they had no official plans to close the park.

The Washington Sun  ·  Washington Examiner  ·  Forbes

In a Sunday filing, lawyers for Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat who sits on the Kennedy Center board as an ex officio member, asked U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper to order the Trump administration to turn over documents and text messages it is withholding as privileged presidential communications. The records include 19 texts between Kennedy Center CEO Matt Floca and Trump executive assistant Natalie Harp and about 180 between Floca and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick; Beatty's lawyers say the records are central to the case, and the White House did not immediately comment.

Context  President Trump became chairman of the Kennedy Center's board last year. In May, Cooper ruled that the center unlawfully added Trump's name to the building; the board later voted to close it for renovations, Floca ordered the main building temporarily closed Sept. 16, and Cooper then required 30 days' notice before any major physical changes. Trump has said the building is in dangerous condition. Cooper has not ruled on the new request.

In a letter Monday to Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, the Justice Department asked the state to set aside the midterm ballots of more than 400 people it says registered without U.S. citizenship until their eligibility is confirmed, and asked for their addresses, birth dates, driver's license numbers and partial Social Security numbers. Neil Floyd, the acting U.S. attorney in Seattle, said the 405 people identified so far are likely "the tip of the iceberg," while Hobbs, who is reviewing the request, said its timing one week before the election is meant to cast unfounded suspicion on the results.

Context  The department made a similar demand of California, where it has sued over mail ballots from up to 20,000 people; a federal appeals panel questioned that request's timing, constitutionality and authority and sent it back to a lower court. The department says some people on the Washington list may have since become citizens and that it expects to send another list before Election Day. Hobbs' office noted the data include each person's last vote, one from 1994, and AP reports that past reviews have found far fewer noncitizen voters than alleged; Nevada's found none of 1,500.

U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan ruled Monday that the Trump administration unlawfully fired Maurene Comey, a former federal prosecutor and the eldest daughter of former FBI Director James Comey. Her lawsuit said she was fired because of her father, in violation of federal laws barring political firings of civil servants and guaranteeing due process, while the Justice Department argued that the president or attorney general can remove prosecutors like her without cause.

Context  Comey spent nearly a decade in the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office, where she brought cases against Ghislaine Maxwell and Sean Combs, and the department fired her in July 2025. She asked the court to reinstate her retroactively through December 2025 so she could receive back pay and qualify for retirement benefits; Reuters does not say whether the judge granted that. She has since become a partner at the law firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler.

Tuesday, 8:30 a.m.  ·  Early vote centers across D.C. (locations at earlyvoting.dcboe.org)

Early vote centers are open from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day through Sunday, Nov. 1, according to the D.C. Board of Elections.

Tuesday, 3 p.m.  ·  Online (Microsoft Teams)

The commission, which recommends ways to reduce poverty to the mayor and Council, will discuss its new fiscal year plan and the coming change in city government.

Tuesday, 5:30 p.m.  ·  Online (National Gallery of Art; registration required)

A 30-minute guided drawing session for families, sketching a black cat from a painting by Cecilia Beaux.

Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.  ·  Capital One Arena

A regular-season NHL home game for the Washington Capitals.