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Medicaid cuts could spell disaster for local health clinics

Plus, the comics creator putting the District in DC, the D.C. Council's general audacity, and more news.

The 51st

Apr 3, 2025 — 4 min read

Hi everyone, and welcome to Thursday (the best day of the week for reading local news). We're covering a breadth of different topics today, including how Medicaid cuts could gut local health clinics and why the D.C. Council apparently thinks it deserves a little privacy.

We've also got a charming profile of a local comic writer and, per usual, your weekend events guide and a roundup of ways to get civically involved.

Also, make sure to take your headphones out once in a while and do some eavesdropping – we're still looking for submissions to Overheard in D.C.

Happy reading!

–Natalie Delgadillo

Support worker-led local news

Federal Medicaid cuts threaten health care for thousands in D.C.

A clinic worker sits at a computer in a room filled with bottles of medication at Bread for the City. — (Courtesy of Bread for the City)

The proposed cuts could present an existential threat to community health centers that serve the city’s low-income residents. Black residents, who make up the vast majority of D.C.’s Medicaid enrollees, are likely to be hit the hardest.

How clinics are preparing

Wilson Building Bulletin: The D.C. Council gets more secretive

The D.C. Council and Mayor Muriel Bowser hold periodic breakfast meetings that were open to the press and public. But that may no longer be the case.

This week the council passed emergency legislation that significantly expands lawmakers’ ability to meet behind closed doors and away from the prying ears and eyes of the press and public.

Democracy dies in darkness, or something

This famous D.C. creator is revitalizing DC Comics

Two drawings of the Washington Monument and the Reflecting Pond, one at night and one during the way. — Scenes from Wonder Woman #18, written by Tom King and published last month. (Courtesy of DC Comics)

To find a comic writer or artist living in D.C. is like coming upon a shard of Kryptonite. Yet somehow, Tom King – whose 25 years here have included multiple lives as a CIA counterterrorism agent, stay-at-home dad, and comic book megastar — snuck his way in.

Turn the page

WashRag

Where we highlight and discuss local gossip. This week, Colleen opines on cherry blossom scarcity mindset.

Maybe you scrolled past one of these tweets last weekend. (They were, by the way, disturbingly well-received!)

Greedy, greedy, greedy. To demand more of a cherry blossom is to not demand a cherry blossom at all; the magic of the bloom (and its power to draw thousands of tourists to the Tidal Basin) lies in its scarcity! If you cannot appreciate the sublimity of a delicate petal that exists for only a day or two before withering … I don’t know. Read a Mary Oliver poem or have a think on your relationship with death. And if the hoards of tourists and the congested roadways are your problem…well, visitors could be flocking to much cringier and more artless attractions. New York has a chaotic square full of LED lights and Coke ads; in D.C. we have nature! Plus, there are plenty of other places to see them around the city that are not the Tidal Basin. (DCist highlighted them in 2023.)

Plenty of protests: Your weekly Civics Roundup

There's a lot to potentially do this week, including a press conference to protect D.C.'s Sanctuary City status, a rally for federal workers, and a march for Palestine.

Get involved

12 things to do around D.C. this weekend

A person rides a bike along a paved path, with a bridge extending out to the left. — Drink your way (responsibly) along the Metropolitan Branch Trail. (Geoff Alexander/Flickr)

Peak bloom has come and gone, the tourists have dispersed from the Tidal Basin, and the comforts of D.C. spring are settling in. This weekend, channel the generative spirit of the season with poetry readings and gallery openings, or buy a new bike and take it on a beer trail. There's something for everyone!

Create your itinerary

Overheard in D.C.

I'm sure that's true

👂At the Bluestone Lane on 14th Street.
“I had ChatGPT write my cover letter. And it was fire.”

Here's more news you may have missed this week:

The director of Smithsonian's African American History Museum is on personal leave from his post. [Afro]
We're all really thrilled to welcome Mark Zuckerberg to the neighborhood. [Politico]
Here are the local nominees for the 2025 James Beard Awards. [Washingtonian]
“Ridiculous adrenaline. You’re so charged. Your fingers tingle. You feel lightheaded,” says a person talking about, of all things, a crossword puzzle contest coming to D.C. this weekend. “I don’t do drugs. I don’t need to.” [The Post]
Federal workers are experiencing trauma amid mass layoffs. [WAMU/KFF Health News]
D.C. needed a panda pop-up bar in these times, imo. [Washingtonian]
Howard students have officially relaunched the Howard University News Service, which was launched in 2001 to train students in the practice of journalism. [Informer]
Senate Dems (not to mention local residents) aren't too happy about Trump's choice for D.C.'s top prosecutor. [CBS]
Turns out Stumpy, the tidal basin tree, named an heir to his title. [The Post]
A whistleblower lawsuit reveals how a private lending company enabled a so-called "deadbeat landlord" to borrow millions while neglecting his properties and subjecting tenants to dangerous living conditions. [WCP]