The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-15)

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SUNDAY, MAY 15 , 2022. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/LOCAL EZ RE C

THE DISTRICT

A fox that may or may not

have killed 25 flamingos

at the National Zoo has

been euthanized. C8

LOCAL OPINIONS

Vines and neglect are

killing hardwood trees

along the George

Washington Parkway. C4

OBITUARIES

Régine, 92, went from a

manager of a Parisian

nightclub to the creator of

66 ° 76 ° 81 ° 76 ° a discothèque empire. C8

8 a.m. Noon 4 p.m. 8 p.m.

High today at

approx. 3 p.m.

83

°

Precip: 55%

Wind: SSW

4-8 mph

Theresa

Vargas

She is away. Her column will resume

when she returns.

BY ELLIE SILVERMAN,

KYLE SWENSON,

NICOLE ASBURY

AND KARINA ELWOOD

Lisa Branscomb marched on Saturday

outside the Supreme Court among scores

of abortion rights protesters and tried to

hold back her tears.

All day she heard stories of women

choosing abortion and saw others holding

signs proudly declaring they had, too. She

had listened to the crowd chant, “My

body! My choice!”

“I’m not the only one,” said Branscomb,

52, of Capitol Hill, who had an abortion

when she was 22. “I never talk about it, but

it’s important right now.”

Branscomb was among thousands who

gathered in Washington and at hundreds

of events across the country on Saturday

to rally for abortion rights.

The demonstrations come as a direct

response to the leaked draft of an opinion

by the Supreme Court signaling that it is

positioned to overturn Roe. v. Wade , the

49-year-old decision that guaranteed a

person’s constitutional right to have an

abortion.

National tensions around abortion

have ratcheted up since the leak this

month. Abortion rights supporters and

antiabortion advocates — sensing the

arrival of a historic moment that could

reshape American social and political life

— have accelerated their efforts, with

demonstrations by those on both sides of

the issue planned for the weekend.

SEE PROTEST ON C2

A groundswell for Roe

Thousands of demonstrators

turn out in the District and

nationwide for abortion rights

CRAIG HUDSON FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Abortion rights activists mix with counterprotesters during a march to the S upreme Court, one of many abortion rights events nationwide Saturday.

The demonstrations come in response to the leaked draft of a Supreme Court opinion signaling that the court may soon overturn Roe v. Wade.

BY EMILY DAVIES

An independent D.C. agency

has released a report outlining a

gun violence reduction strategy

for the city, with some backers of

the plan saying it could provide a

comprehensive road map to ad-

dressing the surge of violent

crime in a way the mayor and

political leaders have not.

But there are outstanding

questions about whether the

plan will amount to more than

words on paper, and how much

of it overlaps with programs the

city is already running.

“I think we have an excellent

document to build on,” said May-

or Muriel E. Bowser (D) at a

community meeting Thursday

evening to discuss the plan. “We

are here and working urgently

on a comprehensive approach

like what is represented here to

help people choose a different

path.”

The Gun Violence Reduction

Strategic Plan, published this

month by the Criminal Justice

Coordinating Council (CJCC), in-

cludes 16 recommendations that

experts say would decrease vio-

lent crime in the near-term and

begin alleviating the socioeco-

nomic factors that give rise to

SEE REPORT ON C5

Questions,

hope greet

report for

a safer D.C.

Independent agency’s

plan seen as road map to

broadly address violence

BY TEO ARMUS

When Amazon announced it

would be bringing its second

headquarters to Arlington, local

officials wasted no time pitching

it as a chance to build something

much bigger: This corner of

Northern Virginia, they said,

could transform into a dense,

urban technology hub — a kind

of eastern outpost for Silicon

Valley.

More than three years later,

that vision seems like it’s no

longer just an idea.

For boosters of the area now

dubbed “National Landing,” the

leaked announcement in early

May that Boeing would be mov-

ing its own headquarters to Ar-

lington shows that a neighbor-

hood once known solely as the

home of the Pentagon is well on

its way to becoming a regional

“innovation district.”

And for economic develop-

ment experts, the aerospace gi-

ant’s move from Chicago also

underscores the success of Vir-

ginia’s economic development

strategy, which has focused on

luring companies by growing

and diversifying the state’s tech

workforce.

But if Boeing’s decision signals

that more companies could soon

be coming to the area, they say,

it’s also a warning sign: All the

pain points associated with ex-

plosive growth in Seattle or the

Bay Area — sky-high housing

prices, chronically congested

roads, a widening rift between

the rich and the poor — may

become even more acute in a

wealthy county that already suf-

fers from similar woes.

Boeing’s move to Arlington

“puts an even greater premium

on the work the region has been

trying to do to build its digital

talent pipeline,” said Amy Liu, a

vice president at the Brookings

Institution and director of its

Metropolitan Policy Program.

“But we have to be very inten-

tional about the people who will

benefit from this growth,” Liu

added. “Otherwise, we are going

to further widen inequities in

this region.”

Besides Amazon’s new offices,

the National Landing corridor is

anchored around a graduate en-

gineering campus that Virginia

Tech is building in Alexandria’s

Potomac Yard neighborhood.

The 3.5-acre facility is being

funded in part by $545 million

from Virginia state coffers, in

addition to $50 million from

Boeing.

The weapons and jet manufac-

turer already has a 400-person

office in Arlington’s Crystal City

neighborhood, and it said it has

no immediate plans to expand its

footprint or shift over employees

from Chicago aside from a few

top executives.

Terry Clower, a public policy

professor at George Mason Uni-

versity’s Schar School of Policy

and Government and the direc-

tor of its Center for Regional

Analysis, said that Boeing’s deci-

SEE BOEING ON C5

With Boeing, tech hub nears fruition

NEW HQ HINTS AT MORE ARLINGTON GROWTH

And with it, some warn, a yawning wealth gap

BY KARINA ELWOOD

baltimore — Mitzi Wall had

waited two years for this mo-

ment, and now, as the jury delib-

erated upstairs, all she could do

was roam the courthouse lobby.

To Wall, her son’s conspiracy

charge of marijuana trafficking

was an outrage, even if the evi-

dence against him was substan-

tial. Blonde and bespectacled at

age 61, she had been spurred by

his indictment to become an ad-

vocate for marijuana-related

criminal justice reform.

“I just started folding the layers

back and diving deeper and deep-

er into it,” Wall said. “I thought we

were a just and moral country

who prosecuted people for vio-

lent crimes.”

Jonathan Wall’s first lawyer

wanted him to take a plea bar-

gain, Mitzi Wall said, just as the 10

other co-conspirators charged in

the case did. But no one, he and

his family had come to believe,

should go to prison for marijua-

na.

To Mitzi Wall, her son’s case

underscored the complexities of

this moment in the country’s

marijuana debate. A strong ma-

jority of Americans, 68 percent,

now supported legalization.

Eighteen states plus D.C. already

had legalized recreational posses-

sion, and Maryland voters, the

jurors among them, will decide

this November whether to follow

suit. Yet the drug remains federal-

ly illegal, yielding a patchwork

SEE CONVICT ON C3

Marijuana

views shift,

but what of

son’s jury?

BY JULIE ZAUZMER WEIL

AND MICHAEL

BRICE-SADDLER

D.C. residents will soon see a

ballot appear in the mailbox,

giving them a chance to vote on

the city’s mayor, six seats in the

city’s legislature and, for the first

time in four years, a new attor-

ney general to replace Karl A.

Racine (D), who is not running

for a third term.

The Democratic primary in

June generally determines the

winners of the District’s elec-

tions, given how deeply blue the

city is. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser

(D) is seeking a third term, with

two members of the council and

one former local neighborhood

official challenging her. Two of

the council seats are wide open,

with no incumbent running, and

Democrats are challenging in-

cumbents in three more seats as

well as the council chairman-

ship. And the race for attorney

general has been the most tumul-

tuous of them all, with council

member Kenyan R. McDuffie

(D-Ward 5) disqualified from

that race after the D.C. Board of

Elections determined he did not

meet the eligibility requirements

for the job.

If you’re just catching up in

time to cast your ballot on Elec-

tion Day, June 21 (or this month

— you can vote early by mail, by

drop box or in person), here are

some questions you might want

answered. We also sent a survey

to candidates, and have included

some of the information that

they shared about their biogra-

phies and priorities.

What races are on the

ballot?

Mayor, attorney general,

council chair and council mem-

bers for wards 1, 3, 5, 6, and

at-large will be on the June 21

Democratic primary ballot.

Ward 6 council member Charles

Allen (D) is running uncontest-

ed.

In addition, the primary in-

cludes races for D.C.’s shadow

representative to the U.S. House

(a largely ceremonial position

meant to advocate for statehood)

and congressional delegate

(D.C.’s member of Congress, who

can serve on committees but

cannot vote since D.C. is not a

state).

When does voting begin?

Ballot drop boxes will accept

ballots beginning May 27. Early

voting begins June 10 and runs

through June 19. On Election

Day, June 21, polls will be open

from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

How do I register to vote?

D.C. residents who are U.S.

citizens ages 16 and older can

register to vote online at dc-

boe.org, in person at the D.C.

Board of Elections office (1015

Half St. SE, Suite 750, Washing-

ton, D.C. 20003) or any voter

registration agency, by mail,

email or fax, or on the same day

as the election. (Those younger

than 18 can vote only if they will

turn 18 by the Nov. 8 general

election.)

If you register online or by

mail, email or fax, you must

register by the 21st day before

the election.

If you register in person at the

Board of Elections or another

voter registration agency, you

must register before the start of

early voting, which for the pri-

mary begins June 10.

Where do I vote?

Voters can cast their ballots by

mail, drop box, during early

voting (June 10-19), in person on

Election Day, June 21, or by

absentee ballot if they are going

to be away from D.C. during the

election. Voters can go to any

early vote center or Election Day

vote center to cast their ballots.

What to know about D.C.’s primary — and who’s running

More inside

Meet the candidates. C6-7