Good morning. This is The Washington Sun Metro newsletter for Sept. 24, 2026. You can get it in your inbox every day by signing up here — it’s free!
In today’s newsletter: Shored-up security for D.C. judges, jury deliberations in the Trayon White trial and your burning Nationals questions, answered.
Capital Weather’s Daily Digit: — 6/10: Partial sunshine feels like a big win after several days dominated by rain and clouds.
THE LATEST
Trending
Having 64 unsolicited pizza deliveries to your home may sound like a quirky prank, but for some judges, it can feel like an unsettling threat.
That’s what some federal judges in D.C. have faced in recent years, as increasing political polarization and fights over judicial rulings have led to a spike in threats and intimidation — including at their homes.
“Such actions are not just attacks on the individual judges, they are attacks on our system of justice and the rule of law itself,” Judge Robert Wilkins of the U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C. wrote in testimony delivered to the D.C. Council on Wednesday.
The council is considering a bill that would offer local and federal judges in D.C. increased security by way of privacy, The Washington Sun’s Martin Austermuhle reports. It would allow them to request that personal information be removed from public and private databases, including their home address, phone number and relatives’ names.
Maryland approved a similar bill after the 2023 slaying of Maryland Circuit Court Judge Andrew Wilkinson by a man whose divorce proceedings he was overseeing. Congress passed its own version in late 2022, but Wilkins and other advocates say more state-level action is needed to close gaps and increase enforcement.
Speaking to Congress this summer, Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett — herself the victim of a “swatting” incident when someone called 911 with a false report of a shooting at her Virginia home — advocated for more security for judges.
While similar measures are being considered elsewhere, Wilkins explained that D.C.-based judges can face even more threats because of the politically charged cases they often have to deal with. “We handle numerous cases of national interest and which spur heated controversy, including all of the criminal cases from the January 6, 2021 insurrection,” he explained in a late-2024 letter asking for the council to act.
FROM THE COURTHOUSE
The jury began deliberating in the bribery trial of Ward 8 council member Trayon White. Proceedings were largely quiet, but prosecutors did file a notice alleging that a member of the public spoke improperly to an alternate juror who had been dismissed ahead of deliberations.
FROM THE DISTRICT
Mark Zuckerberg, a higher property tax bill may be coming your way. Ward 3 council member Matt Frumin has unveiled a bill that would impose a new pied-à-terre tax for homes in D.C. owned by wealthy individuals who don’t live in the city full-time. (Zuckerberg bought a $23 million mansion in Woodland Normanstone in 2025.) The new tax rate would only hit an estimated 600 properties but would bring in an estimated $130 million over four years. Members of Congress and federal appointees would be exempted. Frumin’s bill comes ahead of a mid-October council hearing on possible tax increases to cover a large estimated budget gap next year.
About 80 landlords are expected to testify today in a housing committee hearing weighing a blockbuster bill that would (among many other things) speed up the eviction process by setting a 60-day initial hearing deadline. Landlords hope it’s the first step in rolling back some of the pandemic-era protections they say “devastated” their industry and enabled a vicious cycle of tenant nonpayment and buildings falling into disrepair.
In a similar vein, at a judiciary and public safety committee hearing yesterday, 10 landlords testified on a bill that would help evict squatters in short-term housing; they asked that council members extend that idea to long-term housing, too.
Meanwhile, homeless encampments in D.C. have largely disappeared a year after President Donald Trump pushed a crackdown, The Sun’s Raymond Fernández reports. Homelessness is still, however, a major problem in the District, with no permanent solutions in sight.
Trump is not considering adding his name to Ford’s Theatre as part of his push to put his mark on the city, contrary to an MS NOW report, the Interior Department told The Sun’s Kendall Staton.
FROM VIRGINIA
The Loudoun County School Board adopted a religiously diverse calendar for the 2028-29 school year, as opposed to one based on the federal holiday calendar that only includes major Christian holidays, by a 5-4 vote and after a contentious debate, The Sun’s Shamira Muhammad reports.
FROM MARYLAND
Gov. Wes Moore signed an executive order Wednesday imposing stricter regulations on data center development in the state, The Sun’s Raymond Fernández reports. Maryland joins a broader bipartisan effort that is taking place across the country, in which states — citing federal inaction — are trying to regulate data centers through executive action.
TALK TO TOM
Tom Sietsema is back answering your questions about the D.C. dining scene. Submit your questions here.
I want to try Ethiopian for the first time. Where should I go?
Silver Spring. That’s where you’ll find Beteseb Restaurant and a physical menu shaped like a round of injera with colorful photos of some of the dishes you can order. (Injera, you’re about to discover, is both a sour, sponge-like flatbread and a utensil for wrapping around Ethiopian stews and salads.)
The 50-seat storefront is nicely dressed with walls in a shade of yellow lentils and a silver-toned silhouette of Addis Ababa. The signatures include a dynamite vegetarian sampler and kitfo, Ethiopia’s fiery answer to steak tartare, as well as a favorite dish of mine: boiled, ground beef tripe spiked with jalapeño, the spice blend mitmita and cardamom.
Beteseb translates from Amharic to “family,” which is pretty much how the staff makes you feel while dining there.
For more from Tom, check out this week’s Talk to Tom Q&A.
SPORTS
How many people born during the Nixon administration do you normally see doing the viral Scuba Dance? That’s the question posed by The Sun’s Martenzie Johnson in his fun profile of 52-year-old Mystics head coach Sydney Johnson, who has helped turn Washington from a basement dweller to a playoff team — one that, despite their youth, could make some serious noise this postseason.
The Sun’s Jesse Dougherty will be taking Nationals questions in a Reddit AMA at noon today. Come for a discussion of what the Nats extending Cade Cavalli might mean for future spending. Stay for a lot more, including whether Jesse ever considered an alternate title for his Nationals book.
What to Watch Today:
WNBA: Mystics vs. Chicago, 7:30 p.m.
Thank you for reading! If you liked this newsletter, please forward it to a friend. If someone shared it with you, please sign up — it’s free! Got a tip or comments to share? Email us at metro@washsun.com.
The newsletter was produced by Jaden Amos, Andrew Burton, Jeff Dooley and Nikie Johnson.
Authors
