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Happy Monday, D.C. Get ready for another week of sunny spring weather. Here’s the news you may have missed while rolling Easter eggs and reacting to twists on prestige cable dramas over the weekend.
Families Calls for Justice
Family and friends of Alaunte Scott, the 22-year-old whom deputy U.S. Marshals fatally shot in late February while they attempted to execute an arrest, gathered on Saturday to demand explanations and the release of body camera footage of the shooting. They joined other activists with Black Lives Matter in a 36-car caravan that wended its way through Congress Heights and Anacostia, displaying signs featuring Scott’s picture and written demands for justice.
The Metropolitan Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division announced Saturday that it had concluded its investigation into the incident and forwarded its findings to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. It remains unclear whether any criminal charges will be filed. Scott’s mother, Alanta, told an assembled group of reporters that officials still haven’t explained why her son was shot in the back. Her grief, she told them, is all-consuming.
At an Easter egg hunt in Anacostia Park this weekend, loved ones gathered to remember Dalaneo Martin, a 17-year-old who a U.S. Park Police officer shot and killed on March 18. Martin, the father of a young child, started planning the event three months ago and planned to participate. Now, his family says, they’ll put on the event every year to honor his memory. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI say they will launch a civil rights investigation of the shooting.
Aw, Rats!
As temperatures rise, rats are coming out of their winter hidey holes and making their presence known throughout the District. DC Health is encouraging residents to help control the rat population by cleaning their trash cans and the areas where they’re stored and making sure the lids are tightly secured so rodents can’t reach the goodies buried inside. A $3.4 million initiative in Mayor Muriel Bowser’s proposed 2024 budget will provide all residents with new trash cans over the next eight years, a move the city believes will also limit rodent activity.
Don’t count out the rats so quickly, though. As one local reporter saw during a rodent abatement for members of the media, the intrepid rodents move quickly and managed to outmaneuver the DC Health workers who were attempting to seal a burrow.
Roads to Nowhere
If you were thinking about driving through downtown D.C. this week, here’s a tip: Don’t do it.
The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are hosting spring meetings, which means several roads west of the White House will be closed throughout the week. The 1900 block of H Street NW is already closed to parking and won’t reopen until next Sunday; that closure extends from Pennsylvania Avenue to 20th Street NW beginning Tuesday evening. Surrounding streets are deemed “Emergency No Parking” routes.
Today’s White House Easter Egg Roll is also prompting street closures closer to the Mall. 15th and 17th streets NW are closed to vehicle traffic between Constitution Avenue and H Street NW until 7 p.m. this evening.
—Caroline Jones (tips? cjones@washingtoncitypaper.com)
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