Good morning. This is The Washington Sun Metro newsletter for Sept. 29, 2026. You can get it in your inbox every day by signing up here — it’s free!
In today’s newsletter: A mistrial for Trayon White, Lime-assisted crime and what to make of the Nationals’ season.
Capital Weather’s Daily Digit — 8/10. More peeks of sunshine and pleasantly warmer temperatures give the digit a nice boost. Full forecast from Capital Weather.
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By Monday morning, federal judge Rudolph Contreras had seen enough: He declared a mistrial in the Trayon White bribery case, The Washington Sun’s Jenny Gathright reports.
The jury remained deadlocked, and continued discussions had only cemented their divergent positions on whether to convict White, jurors wrote in a note to the court.
White was accused of pocketing tens of thousands of dollars of illegal bribes from a D.C. contractor, who acted as an FBI informant and allowed authorities to secretly film his meetings with the council member. Videos of the meetings showed White accepting envelopes of cash and discussing plans to use his position to steer grants toward his associate’s companies.
But to convict White, the jury had to find that he not only accepted the money, but also intended to carry out a bribery scheme. White’s defense argued that the lawmaker never planned to follow through on his promises to the contractor.
U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro said her office would retry the case.
White, speaking to reporters on Monday, said he felt “redeemed again” and thanked God, his supporters — and even his enemies — for keeping him motivated through one of the hardest periods of his life. When asked by a reporter what he accepted the money for, White deflected and said he wanted to focus on his job as a D.C. Council member.
“Let’s stick to the topic,” he said. “We want to accept the jury’s decision today, regroup and get back to work.”
FROM THE DISTRICT
The Getaway Car Scooter. Lime is cracking down on misuse of its e-bikes and scooters, which police say are being used to flee crime scenes, The Sun’s Zara Norman reports. The company collaborates with D.C. police to track down suspects if issued a subpoena or warrant, and plans to restrict underage or unsafe use of its vehicles as part of a $17 million investment in D.C.-based initiatives. It already slowed maximum speeds and introduced facial-scan age verification … but it clearly hasn’t deterred every malfeasant scooter-rider.
D.C. Has a New Tool to Track Student Outcomes. Yesterday, the Office of Education Through Employment Pathways (ETEP) released a first-of-its-kind look into the economic mobility of the District’s students, The Sun’s Shamira Muhammad reports. Users can get insight into wage, career, higher education and equity information for former students of D.C. schools. The data has some limitations. It doesn’t include students who may have moved to other states and federal workers are not included on the dashboard.
Some DMV parents are seeking “vaccine-optional” pediatricians who will treat their children regardless of vaccination status, Axios D.C. reports.
D.C.’s presumptive next mayor, Janeese Lewis George, is striking a careful diplomatic balance in the months before she’s likely to take office. In a Q&A with Washingtonian magazine, she reiterated her willingness to work with a broad coalition — including, when appropriate, the Trump administration — on the city’s economic challenges, while simultaneously vowing to “stand up to anyone” who threatens the District’s local autonomy.
FROM VIRGINIA
Dulles International Airport’s center runway has been closed for planned maintenance and infrastructure improvements through November, The Sun’s Justice Covert reports. Communities north, south and west of the airport will experience more flight traffic until the project is completed.
Trips to Virginia’s motor vehicle offices may not take all day anymore. Wait times have plummeted to a record-low average of 8.3 minutes — down from 37 minutes in 2019 — after sweeping operational reforms that also saved the agency $15 million, the Virginia Mercury reports.
FROM MARYLAND
More than 40 rabbis are calling on Montgomery County’s Public School district to take action against what they say is an alarming rise in antisemitism among students, The Sun’s Shamira Muhammad reports. According to Bethesda magazine, a teacher reported a swastika carved into a desk to administrators at Walter Johnson High School. MCPS saw a nearly 137% increase in hate-bias incidents in its system last school year, which it attributes to better training. The rabbis’ letter asks MCPS to adopt more “substantive teacher training and experiential teaching programs, along with more consistently [enforced] social media guidelines.”
WHAT YOU GET FOR $750,000
This week’s real estate column looks at what buyers can get for around $750,000 across the region.
Where is this house listed? Click on your guess to see the answer:
We’ll let you know tomorrow how many of you got it right.
SPORTS
Was the Nationals’ 2026 season, which came to a close Sunday, a success or a failure? That’s a nearly impossible question to answer, writes The Sun’s Jesse Dougherty, who takes note of both the big steps the franchise has taken under Paul Toboni, the Nats’ first-year president of baseball operations, and the fact that fans are rightfully running out of patience.
“The farm system, I think for the most part there have been a bunch of great strides there,” Toboni said. “But I think like most things in this game, that’s pretty fragile and doesn’t necessarily mean that those strides are going to continue into the future if we don’t really stay on it.”
The Sun’s Alex Schiffer and Dave Sheinin were in attendance for the Wizards’ Media Day on Monday, including an entertaining interview session with star guard Trae Young, who didn’t seem particularly concerned over having played in just five games for Washington a season ago. “I’m actually very grateful for what happened last year because if we didn’t, we don’t necessarily have AJ Dybantsa,” he said of the team landing the No. 1 pick in the draft.
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The newsletter was produced by Jaden Amos, Nikie Johnson and Andrew Burton.
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