Good morning. This is The Washington Sun Metro newsletter for Sept. 15, 2026. You can get it in your inbox every day by signing up here — it’s free!
Good morning, D.C. In today’s newsletter: The D.C. Council’s return, a rent-inflation settlement and the DMV’s worst drivers.
Capital Weather’s Daily Digit: 10/10. Wall-to-wall sunshine, refreshingly dry air and highs from the mid-70s to around 80 — about as perfect as a September day gets. Read the full forecast.
THE LATEST
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Summer break is over for the D.C. Council.
City lawmakers are back this week from their two-month summer recess, and they’ve got a busy fall ahead of them. It’s the tail end of their two-year legislative cycle, so council members will be rushing to pass their preferred bills into law. That’s even more the case this time as there will be a big turnover come January, with four current lawmakers headed for the exit — one of them, Janeese Lewis George, presumably to serve as mayor.
The city’s shaky finances will be top of mind. In mid-October, the council will host a roundtable on possible tax increases and other revenue raisers. A New York City-style pied-à-terre tax is on the agenda, as is a capital gains tax increase for wealthy households. It remains to be seen whether anything moves beyond the idea stage, though.
Waymo will be getting way more attention, too. The council is expected to debate a bill that would legalize passenger service in self-driving cars, and the fight is likely to be intense. Labor unions are against Waymo and its ilk coming to D.C., and even Uber — a later entrant in the autonomous vehicle market — is pushing to slow-roll the measure. Lewis George herself has been a self-driving skeptic, but Waymo is hoping to neutralize her with a hiring and charm offensive.
How many publicly funded stadiums is too many? That’s a question council members will have to answer as they consider a bill that would put $300 million in taxpayer money toward adding 8,000 seats and a roof to Audi Field. Mayor Muriel Bowser — who championed public money for a new Commanders stadium — is opposed, saying the larger soccer stadium would cannibalize Capital One Arena, which is also being renovated with city funds. Relatedly, the council will be asked to sign off on the master plan for the residential and retail development around the new Commanders stadium.
Speaking of Bowser, the outgoing mayor is pushing the council to take further steps to make D.C. more attractive for private investment in the housing market. To that end, she wants lawmakers to make it easier for landlords to evict tenants and give squatters the boot. A public hearing on improving housing conditions is also on the agenda.
A legacy is also on the mind of Ward 1 council member Brianne Nadeau, who will be pushing her colleagues to sign off on her bill that would introduce a refundable 10-cent deposit for bottles and cans. She says it would reduce litter, but critics say it would increase costs for cash-strapped local businesses.
FROM THE DISTRICT
Two D.C. landlords will pay $9.3 million to resolve claims that they “illegally conspired” to inflate rents across the thousands of apartments they own across the city, The Washington Sun’s Zara Norman reports. It’s the biggest settlement to date in an ongoing series of suits between the D.C. attorney general’s office and 14 local landlords accused of using RealPage software to inflate rental prices at tens of thousands of apartments across the District, which allegedly resulted in renters paying millions of dollars more than they should have.
The Supreme Court rejected President Donald Trump’s bid to restrict and change the process for mailing ballots ahead of November’s midterm elections, The Sun’s Adora Brown and Gavin J. Quinton report. The decision clears the way for states to stick with their processes and prevents a major headache for election officials in D.C., where every registered voter receives a ballot in the mail.
Arrests by U.S. Park Police have nearly doubled in the past year, while the number of park police officers working in and around D.C. has more than doubled, City Cast D.C. reports.
The Commanders and D.C. have unveiled the designs of two parking garages that will be built alongside the new stadium at the old RFK site. The two decks are expected to hold up to 6,000 cars, but earlier this year federal regulators expressed concern that large structures would interfere with views of the stadium.
Pressure is mounting on D.C. to explain how it has been using Flock license-plate readers, and now council member Brooke Pinto, who chairs the council committee that oversees the police, is asking interim Chief Jeffery Carroll for more details. “The public deserves transparency and must understand how this technology is being used in our communities,” she said in a public letter to the police department.
FROM MARYLAND
Takoma Park’s mayor told a resident to show “respect” and be quiet during a council meeting. Now he’s running against her in an unusually combative race, Jeff Barker reports for The Sun.
FROM THE ROAD
Are Maryland drivers really the worst? Nearly half of those who answered The Sun’s poll last week said yes. And elsewhere on the internet, Reddit declared that the driver who crashed through a U-Haul facility in Navy Yard this weekend must have hailed from Maryland.
The Sun’s Andrew Van Dam reports that, at first glance, the data seems to confirm that enduring DMV stereotype: From 2019 to 2021, Maryland drivers were at fault in more two-car crashes in D.C. than drivers from anywhere else, including D.C.
But, wait! There’s more! Maryland drivers are overrepresented. Of D.C. workers who commute by car, 48% drove in from Maryland between 2022 and 2024. Those drivers are only slightly more likely to be at fault in an accident as they are to be innocent victims, according The Sun’s analysis of about a decade of police data ending in 2021.
The real culprit? Virginians, who were 20% more likely to be at fault.
SPORTS
Look who’s back. Alex Ovechkin returned to the ice with the Capitals on Monday. A few days after flying back to D.C. for his 22nd season, Ovi participated in 45 minutes of scrimmaging during an informal skate at the Caps’ practice rink in Arlington, The Sun’s Emma Baccellieri reports. It was his first time sharing the ice with a number of new teammates, including offseason acquisitions Jordan Kyrou, Alex Tuch and Boone Jenner. Training camp starts Thursday, which is also Ovechkin’s 41st birthday.
What did the Commanders learn in Philadelphia? The Sun’s Martenzie Johnson looks at the good and the bad from Sunday’s season-opening loss to the Eagles. One glaring issue? Washington had trouble getting Terry McLaurin the ball. That will have to change if the Commanders are going to take advantage of Dallas’ seemingly spotty defense on Sunday.
The Spirit’s scoring woes continued Sunday, as Washington was shut out for the third time in its last five home games. The match against Boston Legacy FC presented a prime opportunity for the Spirit to maintain momentum against one of the NWSL’s weaker teams, Nicky Wolcott writes for The Sun. Instead, Washington generated few real chances and gave up a barrage of late goals in a stunning 3-0 defeat. The Spirit remains in second place in the league table, but will surely have to pick up its offense to remain in real contention.
What to Watch Today
MLB: Nationals vs. Phillies, 6:45 p.m. (MLB.TV)
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The newsletter was produced by Jaden Amos, Michael Errigo and Nikie Johnson. Finally, yesterday’s trivia answer was B) The Ramones. Their song “Bad Brain” served as inspiration for the name of legendary D.C. punk group Bad Brains. A special shout-out to Eric Kulberg, who answered first.
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