Before we all head out for the holiday weekend, we'd like to invite you to the hottest event of the season: The 51st's Summer Happy Hour! The team will be hanging out in the Heurich House Biergarten from 6 - 8 p.m. on Friday, July 11. If you're a paying subscriber – check your email. We sent you a special invite earlier this week with a discount code.
Come by to chat about the news, celebrate what we've built together, and peruse the merch we'll be debuting! Nothing swaggier than wearing your support of worker-led nonprofit journalism on your person.
Okay, now on to the reason we're even here: the news! This week, Martin dives into the hotly contested special election for a vacant Ward 8 D.C. council seat. Trayon White, booted from the council earlier this year over federal bribery charges, is asking for a second chance. Meanwhile, his challengers say it's time to move on. Will they be able to put the past in the past?
We've also got:
Updates from the Wilson Building, where lawmakers expanded a youth curfew
A curiosity on spotted lanternflies and another, lesser-known invader
An opinion piece on proposed cuts to violence interrupter programs
From left to right: Candidates Sheila Bunn, Salim Adofo, Trayon White, and Mike Austin (standing). (Ward 8 Democrats)
For the last two months, the four candidates have been knocking on doors, attending debates, and making their pitch to voters ahead of an unexpected election whose outcome is unpredictable.
You know the drill: you see one, you stomp on it. But did you know there's another invasive, non-native species aiding the spotted lanternflies' rise to power in D.C.? Enter: Tree of heaven.
In the next installment in our partnership with More Than Our Crimes, contributor Robert Barton has a message to city leaders: violence interrupters do crucial work in this city. They deserve to be supported.
Go out early. Get out of town. Eat an ice cream cone and remember this too shall pass. We share some of our tips for weathering this season, with some helpful additions from our readers.
There'll be fireworks, sure, but we've also got a pool party for pups, an unplugged basement dance party, and comedians roasting politicians like it’s their patriotic duty.
Community forums, trainings, and more stuff to do this weekend if you're not exactly dripping in patriotism, but want to feel rooted in your community.
A former guard at D.C.'s youth detention center was convicted of sexually abusing a teenage girl committed to the facility. (ICYMI: Last week, we published an op-ed arguing that the detention center is harming, not helping, kids.) [Post/The 51st]
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