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METRO

TUESDAY, MAY 24 , 2022. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/LOCAL EZ RE B

JOHN KELLY’S WASHINGTON

Censored Black speaker’s

descendants sat front row

at the Lincoln Memorial’s

centennial celebration. B3

MARYLAND

Man previously convicted

of police impersonation is

arrested in Rockville on

the same charge. B5

OBITUARIES

Larry Woiwode, 80 , wrote

the acclaimed 1975 novel

“Beyond the Bedroom

61 ° 62 ° 62 ° 61 ° Wall.” B6

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

High today at

approx. 12 a.m.

64

°

Precip: 90%

Wind: E

7-14 mph

BY LORI ARATANI

AND DANA HEDGPETH

Thais Austin wanted to get

home to the District after a week-

end visit with family in Jackson-

ville, Fla. Instead, she said, she

and other passengers were stuck

on the Reagan National Airport

taxiway for three hours Sunday

night, unable to exit their plane.

“A t first they said, ‘Oh, it will be

a minute,’ ” Austin said. “Then it

was an hour and another hour.

The time just kept ticking by.”

Hundreds of passengers on at

least a half-dozen other flights

reported similar delays after

thunderstorms downed trees,

flooded roads and left thousands

without power in the Washington

region. The meltdown raised

questions about whether the in-

dustry is prepared for the sum-

mer travel season as it struggles

with continued labor shortages

and weather-related disruptions

that have long been its biggest

source of delays.

The Federal Aviation Adminis-

tration temporarily halted flights

Sunday evening at National, as

well as at Washington Dulles In-

ternational and Baltimore-Wash-

ington International Marshall

airports, until conditions im-

proved. But at hardest-hit Na-

tional, the backlog apparently

left the airport without enough

gates to accommodate all of the

arrivals.

According to flight-tracking

site FlightAware, more than one-

quarter of flights scheduled to

arrive Sunday at National were

SEE DELAYS ON B5

Meltdown

at National

is blamed

on weather

BY PETER HERMANN

AND EMILY DAVIES

A man was fatally shot Monday morn-

ing at a homeless encampment along one

of the District’s main downtown thor-

oughfares, authorities said, an incident

that comes as tensions flare over rising

violent crime and how to address en-

campments across the city.

The victim, who has not been identi-

fied, was shot in the neck about 9:45 a.m.

and pronounced dead at the scene. Police

standing outside a nearby convenience

store heard a gunshot and saw a man

running, who they said was probably in

his 30s. By Monday evening, authorities

were still searching for the man and

investigating what might have precipi-

tated the shooting.

The shooting occurred at a small

encampment in Thomas Circle, consist-

ing of little more than three tents, a

portable toilet, a s cooter and a shopping

cart. Residents in the downtown neigh-

borhood said they had long been raising

concerns about safety around the en-

campment, and a nearby condominium

building sent an email to occupants on

Monday expressing frustration that the

city had not acted on the “blight and

growing public safety hazard in Thomas

Circle.”

Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) launched

a pilot program last year aimed at

permanently clearing a number of en-

campments by offering one-year leases to

select people living at those locations.

The encampment at Thomas Circle, how-

ever, was not included in the program.

Officials have scheduled a Wednesday

afternoon briefing on the incident at the

request of concerned residents.

Assistant D.C. Police Chief Andre

Wright said that city outreach workers

had been in contact with people living or

visiting the encampment, and that police

had responded to the area several times

in the past six months for “minor spats

involving weapons” and made arrests.

“We try to make sure they’re safe and

that we’re helping in any way we can,”

Wright said, standing at the scene, where

a firearm had been seen next to a wooden

pallet resting against a small blue tarp. It

SEE SHOOTING ON B2

MATT MCCLAIN/THE WASHINGTON POST

Man f atally shot in D.C. amid

rising c rime against homeless

Police search for killer as

residents raise safety concerns

over downtown encampment

D.C. police officers a t the scene of a fatal shooting along Thomas Circle and Massachusetts Avenue in Northwest Washington

on Monday. The victim, who has not been identified, was shot in the neck about 9:45 a.m. and pronounced dead at the scene.

Let’s call this a

shaming

renaming.

While cities

have long named

streets and plazas

for heroes — from

Via Appia in

ancient Rome to

Lafayette Square in D.C. — and

the United States is removing

Confederate names from its

maps and buildings, ceremonial

namings are becoming a way of

wielding real protest power.

“I’m honored,” said D.C.

Council member Mary M. Cheh

(D-Ward 3), when she learned

that a shaming naming that she

helped author got her banned

from Russia.

The council had named the

block outside the Russian

Embassy on Wisconsin Avenue,

located in Cheh’s ward, after a

dissident whom the Russians

are trying to forget. And it

appears that little piece of

legislation — D.C. Law 22-92,

the Boris Nemtsov Plaza

Designation Act of 2018 — made

Cheh No. 911 on the Russian

Foreign Ministry’s list of almost

1,000 U.S. citizens “under

personal sanctions.”

She is identified as a

“member of the District of

Columbia Assembly.”

“I’m the most obscure person

on that list,” said Cheh, who is

quarantined at home because

she tested positive for the

coronavirus last week. “But I’m

very pleased to be on the list,

too.”

Most members of Congress

SEE DVORAK ON B4

Banned from Russia? It’s an honor.

Petula

Dvorak

MARLENA SLOSS/THE WASHINGTON POST

D.C. Council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3) has been banned

from Russia after helping to name a D.C. street after a dissident.

BY SHAYNA JACOBS

new york — A federal judge on

Monday blocked Catholic Uni-

versity from auctioning off a

gingham dress worn by Judy

Garland in “The Wizard of Oz,”

one day before it was set to be put

up for bids that some expected to

generate up to $1.2 million for

the school’s drama department.

U.S. District Judge Paul Gar-

dephe ruled that a Wisconsin

woman’s l awsuit claiming owner-

ship of the dress had enough

merit to proceed and that the

garment could not change hands

while the case is pending in

federal court in Manhattan.

The ruling means any sale of

the dress could be postponed by

months or years. Gardephe said

that he was prohibiting “any sale

or transfer of the dress pending

the outcome of this litigation.”

The dress at issue is one of six

authenticated by experts as hav-

ing been worn by Garland as

Dorothy in the famous 1939 film.

It was worn in the scene when

Dorothy w as captured at the

Wicked Witch of the West’s castle.

In 1973, the dress was given as

a gift to the Rev. Gilbert V.

Hartke, the longtime head of

Catholic University’s drama de-

partment who died in 1986. On

behalf of the school, the auction

house Bonhams had been expect-

ed to auction the dress Tuesday

in Los Angeles, along with a

number of other items of Holly-

wood and television memorabil-

ia, including a Leslie Howard

jacket from “Gone With the

Wind” and a chair from Rick’s

Cafe in “Casablanca.”

SEE DRESS ON B5

Judge blocks auction

o f ‘Wizard of Oz’ dress

CU claims it was a gift

and s ale would help fund

its drama department

BY SAM FORTIER,

LAURA VOZZELLA

AND ANTONIO OLIVO

The Washington Commanders

recently acquired the right to

purchase land in Woodbridge,

Va., as a potential site for its new

stadium, state Sen. Scott A.

Surovell (D-Fairfax) said he was

told Monday by a lobbyist for the

team.

Earlier, a person familiar with

the team’s plans said the Com-

manders had actually purchased

the land. But Surovell, whose

district includes the potential

site in Prince William, said one of

the team’s Richmond-based lob-

byists called him Monday after

ESPN broke news of a deal and

told him the team had not yet

bought the land in Woodbridge,

near Potomac Mills. The team has

an option-to-purchase agree-

ment to buy it, Surovell said.

A person familiar with the

team’s venue plans said the deal

was an option to purchase about

200 acres of land for about

$100 million.

If the Commanders build a

stadium in Woodbridge, it would

be about 23 miles from the U.S.

Capitol building. This would be

nearly double the 11-mile dis-

tance from the U.S. Capitol to the

team’s current stadium, FedEx

Field in Landover, and the third-

farthest distance from a city cen-

ter to a stadium in the National

Football League behind San

Francisco (42 miles) and New

SEE COMMANDERS ON B2

Team has

right to buy

200 acres

in Virginia

ANOTHER POTENTIAL

COMMANDERS HOME

W oodbridge land would

sell for $100 million