The first IndyCar race in D.C. will take over streets around the National Mall on Aug. 22 and 23, bringing an expected 140,000 spectators a day. But the setup and breakdown for the race will cause road closures and parking restrictions well before and after the event.

“It’s an exciting opportunity to showcase our city to a global audience,” Mayor Muriel Bowser said during a briefing Wednesday.

Road closures are already starting

The biggest impact for many people will come before race weekend.

Parking lanes, curb lanes and partial travel lanes are already being affected by race build-out activities. Additional restrictions begin Aug. 1 and continue expanding through Aug. 14 as construction ramps up around the National Mall.

Restrictions include portions of Pennsylvania Avenue, Constitution Avenue, Independence Avenue, Maryland Avenue and several streets near the Capitol and Smithsonian museums. Some overnight closures are also planned as crews continue building the course.

Getting the streets race ready

Since D.C. hasn’t seen a race like this, city streets need to be prepped and that involves a lot more than just putting up fencing and grandstands.

Roads are already being marked along the race route, grandstands are beginning to rise and crews are inspecting hundreds of features built into the roadway.

“Every manhole cover has to be welded down,” Race Chairman and Penske President Bud Denker said.

Denker said crews have identified roughly 220 maintenance hole covers along the course and are making adjustments to dozens of utility access points before race weekend.

“There are about 49 that we’ll put some silicone on and smooth them out,” he said.

The reason is simple.

“Our race cars will suck the manhole covers off their places if they’re not,” Denker said.

Denker said simulations show some cars could approach 185 miles an hour on Pennsylvania Avenue during the race.

As for concerns about damage to city streets, Denker said IndyCars weigh about 1,700 pounds and that organizers would be responsible for any repairs.

“We’re responsible for fixing your roads, and after the race as well,” he said.

Take Metro if you’re going

One message came up repeatedly during the briefing: Don’t expect to find parking downtown or near the National Mall.

Denker urged race fans to leave their cars at home and .

WMATA is planning additional service and staffing for race weekend, and riders can use stations including Smithsonian, Federal Triangle, Archives, Federal Center SW and L’Enfant Plaza to access the race area. Bus riders should also expect detours around the course.

Security will be hard to miss

Spectators can expect airport-style screening before entering the event.

“You’re going to see a very high level of uniformed presence throughout the city and around this event,” Secret Service Deputy Director Matt Quinn said.

Ahead of the event, which will get global attention, federal partners, including the FBI and Secret Service, said there are currently no credible threats connected to the race.

Quinn also had a warning for anyone thinking about flying a drone near the course.

“If you think that flying a drone to get a great view at this event, I would think twice,” he said.

Doing so to get a better view would result in hefty fines and jail time he said.

What if bad weather moves in?

Rain won’t necessarily stop the race.

“If it’s raining, we race in the rain,” Denker said.

Lightning is a different story. Organizers said 10 safe havens have been identified around the course, including several Smithsonian museums and other federal buildings where people could shelter if severe weather moves into the area.

Quinn said planners reviewed what happened during previous weather evacuations and made changes ahead of the Grand Prix.

“We’ve added a committee to think about crowd movements and how we can do it probably more efficiently than we did last time,” Quinn said.

For traffic maps, road closure updates and transportation information, the city encourages residents to visit the city’s Freedom 250 website or sign up for alerts by texting DC250 to 888-777.

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Fort Dupont Ice Arena is back open after a nearly $39 million renovation, but some longtime users say getting on the ice has become more difficult under the facility’s new operating model.

The rink, the District’s only indoor ice arena, reopened in December following years of construction and is now operated by D.C. Parks and Recreation, which took over management of the facility after Friends of Fort Dupont Ice Arena had operated it for decades.

While the nonprofit no longer operates the rink, Executive Director Margo Przyby said it still runs youth skating and hockey programs and has been unable to secure enough ice time at Fort Dupont to bring those programs back to the facility.

“We haven’t been able to secure any ice this summer, which is what led us back to Capital Clubhouse and the fall is still up in the air,” Przyby said.

That rink is in Waldorf, Maryland, which is an hour away from their old home and she said busing students from the city to Waldorf costs about $3,000 a month.

D.C. Titans Hockey Club President Michele Vaughn said the organization has been unable to secure the regular ice time needed to plan an upcoming season.

“Without Fort Dupont reopening its doors to us, we have not been able to secure regular weekly ice for both practices and games for the upcoming season,” Vaughn said.

Vaughn said limits on advance scheduling make it difficult for youth hockey organizations to lock in the weekly ice time needed to organize practices, games and league play months in advance.

Parents say the situation is creating additional burdens for families.

Ward 7 resident Lora Nunn said many children who want to continue skating or playing hockey now have to travel outside the District.

WTOP/Mike Murillo

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“My son has friends who still participate in hockey because they can afford the $2,000 to enroll in a program that’s an hour away. They have an au pair who can drive them when their parents have to work. Like the kids in this in this community don’t have any other option,” Nunn said.

Nunn also argued that reduced access to recurring ice time and shorter operating hours have made it harder for families to take part in the skating and hockey opportunities that once existed at Fort Dupont. She said the rink’s previous schedule, which included earlier hours and Sunday operations, created more opportunities for kids and teams to get on the ice.

“The kids in this community don’t have any other option but this,” she said. “In the nation’s capital, we’ve created a situation where we’ve tossed out this great opportunity that’s been built over decades for people in this community.”

Sixteen-year-old skater Aryana Haileab said she expected programs would return to normal once renovations were complete.

Instead, she said, skaters have been forced to find ice time elsewhere.

“It was heartbreaking to find out,” Haileab said. “It was like a surprise, honestly. So it’s just been a lot harder to find ice time and to get to practice my skills.”

Haileab said trips to other rinks can take 30 minutes to an hour, compared with the roughly 15-minute drive her family made to Fort Dupont.

That concerns Raymond Norman, who grew up across the street from the rink and later worked there for 16 years as a facility manager. Norman said he worries the current operating model is limiting opportunities that once connected neighborhood children to skating, hockey and even jobs.

“It gave us an opportunity to do other things other than hang out on the corners and sell drugs or play football, basketball. It gave us an opportunity to explore something different,” Norman said.

In a statement to WTOP, D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation聽Director Thennie Freeman said the facility is “operating exactly as intended” and provides “equitable access, strong community programming, and a model that puts District residents first.”

DPR said the arena has welcomed more than 10,000 guests since reopening in December, served an additional 3,500 DCPS fifth graders through learn-to-skate programming and is operating at full capacity.

The agency also said ice time is allocated through a priority system that gives preference to DPR-sponsored activities, schools and nonprofit organizations serving District residents.

The agency also said it does not currently plan to offer season-long ice allocations and that current operating hours are part of a pilot program that will be reevaluated at the end of the fiscal year. DPR said the current model is intended to maximize access and community programming.

However, for families and organizations that grew up around Fort Dupont, the issue remains access to the ice.

Some say children are now traveling to rinks in Maryland and Virginia, simply to continue skating and playing hockey, despite living a short distance from the District’s only indoor ice arena.

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In a letter to Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, Bowser said council members restored funding for programs such as childcare subsidies and legal services that she’d cut to help close a budget gap of more than $1 billion.

The mayor argued the council is using one-time money to pay for ongoing programs, creating a predicament for the next mayor and council.

“I have warned that choosing to fund recurring programs with one-time money is setting up the next Mayor and Council with an $837 million fiscal cliff,” she wrote.

Bowser defended her own proposal, writing that it closed the gap through “real, difficult decisions,” including spending reductions, budget savings and the use of prior-year surplus funds.

“It is Council’s prerogative, of course, to either solve tough budget problems or simply kick the can down the road,” she stated.

The disagreement comes after the council restored hundreds of millions of dollars for programs that had been reduced in the mayor’s budget proposal, including childcare, legal services and other programs.

But Bowser, who’s term will end in January as she opted against running for reelection, stopped short of a veto. By returning the budget unsigned, she’s putting her objections on the record while allowing the spending plan to continue moving forward.

The budget now heads into congressional review, where the split between the mayor and council could attract extra attention, but Bowser’s decision does not prevent it from becoming law.

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That moratorium ends Tuesday, July 28, but Pepco said customers with past-due balances shouldn’t expect to lose service right away.

“You’re not going to see where customers’ service is interrupted if they have a past due balance. We would still go through our normal 45-day process of notifying customers,” Valencia McClure, Pepco’s senior vice president of governmental, regulatory and external affairs, said.

McClure said the utility typically makes about five attempts to contact customers through phone calls, emails and notices before disconnecting service. She said customers struggling to pay their bills should reach out to the utility before it gets to that point.

“We always encourage our customers to call us prior to being disconnected,” McClure told WTOP.

The moratorium was put in place by the D.C. Council days after the D.C. Court of Appeals in early March threw out Pepco’s approved multiyear rate plan and sent it back for further review.

McClure stressed that the moratorium was not bill forgiveness. Customers continued to receive bills during the 90-day period and still owe that money.

She also said soaring supply costs are a big reason customers have seen their bills spike.

“When you think about just three years ago, where Pepco paid for customers’ power at $29 per day; now that is $333 per day. Same power, but almost 1,000% increase that we are seeing in supply,” she said.

According to McClure, about 60 cents of every dollar on a customer’s bill goes toward supply costs. Pepco pays those costs to obtain electricity and passes them on to customers.

Pepco said customers behind on their bills may qualify for payment plans and assistance programs, including budget billing, bill discounts and debt-relief programs. Some customers may also qualify for an arrearage management program that can provide up to $300 a month in bill forgiveness.

“It’s just very critical that if a customer or family is challenged to make their payment, to call us so we are able to support them any way that we’re able to do so,” McClure said.

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The National Guard said the move is meant to provide more stable housing for troops 鈥� who are slated to be stationed in the nation’s capital until 2029 鈥� while also saving money.

“This contract delivers stable, secure housing for our soldiers and Airmen while achieving significant cost savings for the government,” Monica Williams, executive director of acquisitions and the head of contracting activity for the National Guard Bureau, said

The contract’s scale raises questions about whether it could affect housing availability.

George Mason University regional economist Terry Clower said that is not likely.

“Two-thousand units in the grand scheme of our housing market is really pretty much a drop in the bucket,” Clower said.

He said the impact could vary by location, but if the units are spread across multiple buildings and neighborhoods, there may not be a significant impact on the broader housing market.

“It’s not going to move the markets much one way or the other. Though for an individual landlord, it might be a good thing,” Clower said.

D.C. Policy Center Executive Director Yesim Sayin agreed, noting the District has more than 250,000 rental units.

“If you had asked me this question five years ago, I would have been worried about the pressure on the housing market. But today, I welcome it,” she said.

Sayin said rising vacancies and a softer demand for housing mean the market is better positioned to absorb the additional renters than it would have been several years ago. She noted that of D.C.’s more than 250,000 rental units, the 2,000 units covered by the contract amount to a small percentage.

“Just to put this number in scale, it’s less than 1%. So it’s a relatively small number of units,” Sayin said.

She also said vacancy rates have increased across a range of properties, including some which are typically always filled.

“We have seen vacancy rates increase across all types of buildings, not just very new buildings with high rents, but also rent-controlled buildings that are typically filled to the rim because the rents are more favorable,” Sayin said.

National Guard troops had been staying in hotels across the region before the Placemakr contract. The company operates properties in D.C.’s Navy Yard, Buzzard Point, Dupont Circle and West End neighborhoods, as well as in Arlington’s Ballston neighborhood. According to its , it offers fully furnished apartments for extended and short-term stays.

WTOP has reached out to Placemakr for comment.聽

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More than two dozen farms in Montgomery County, Maryland, are opening their doors and gates to the public this weekend.

The annual gives visitors a chance to explore 26 farms across a section of the county zoned primarily for agriculture.

Comus Farm in Dickerson is primarily a wedding venue. But during the July 25-26 farm tour, they will offer wagon rides, alpaca feedings, pony rides and visits with the farm’s cows.

Visitors can also buy baked goods and other treats while spending a relaxing day on the farm.

“I think it’s one of the only times that we are open to the public during the year,” owner Lauren Huyser said.

鈥淭his is a great way to get the family to a farm,鈥� said Mike Scheffel, director of Montgomery County’s Office of Agriculture.

He said the participating farms range from pick-your-own operations to distilleries to equestrian training, and many offer a chance to learn more about where food comes from.

鈥淪eeing how farming is done, really helps folks see why farmers do what they do, charge the prices that they do grow the crops that they do and offer the opportunities that they do,鈥� Scheffel said.

The farms are located throughout the county’s 93,000-acre Agricultural Reserve, which was created to preserve Montgomery County’s agricultural heritage by limiting development and keeping land in farming.

The reserve’s farms are also capitalizing on an agritourism boom as more people look for ways to get out of the city and experience life on the farm.

Another stop on the weekend tour is Butler’s Orchard, the decades-old pick-your-own farm in Germantown. It will offer flowers, blueberries, blackberries and herbs as well as activities such as tractor rides and veggie races.

“People can bounce around between all the different farms and really experience agriculture in Montgomery County,” said Tyler Butler, the orchard’s general manager. “It’s highlighting agriculture, and people don’t realize there’s so many great farms in Montgomery County, right under your nose.”

The farm tours take place Saturday, July 25 and Sunday, July 25. Hours vary. Montgomery County has . Visitors can also download a Farm Tour digital passport through the county’s .

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U.S. Park Police said officers were conducting commercial vehicle enforcement when three people got out of a vehicle and ran away. ICE arrested two of them, who are from Mexico and lack permanent legal status, DHS said, and the third individual swam across the Potomac River and got away.

DHS told WTOP in a statement the two individuals will remain in ICE custody “pending their removal from the United States.”

It’s not clear why the individuals were initially stopped.

While the search was underway, people could be seen on a Beltway overpass holding signs warning drivers about ICE activity on Clara Barton Parkway.

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich criticized the operation and said the county has limited ability to intervene in ICE enforcement actions.

Elrich said the county can observe ICE operations and support families affected by them, but local police would not step in to stop an ICE operation.

鈥淲e鈥檝e tried to be careful to not mislead people into thinking that we鈥檝e got the ability to protect them from ICE, because we don鈥檛,鈥� Elrich said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want people thinking that, you know, the police are going to run in and break up an ICE operation, because they鈥檙e not.鈥�

WTOP’s Thomas Robertson contributed to this report.

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The tribute, according to Bennett’s widow Nadia, comes through a community event designed to reflect the way he lived his life, which included giving back, bringing people together and making those around him smile.

The D.C. Council proclaimed July 21, what would have been his 33rd birthday, as Terry Bennett Day. This weekend, family, friends and community members will mark that recognition with an event at the First District Police Station in the聽community room on Saturday from 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.

For Nadia, the event is both a celebration and part of a continuing effort to keep his memory alive for their young son.

鈥淭o know that Terry left such a big legacy not for me, for our son, I can’t even put into words how grateful and emotional it makes me feel,鈥� Nadia said.

She said Terry was a 鈥渃ommunity man鈥� who worked as a D.C. police officer while also coaching football, a sport he loved. The event will include flag football, moon bounces, snow cones and activities for children.

鈥淗e was a joyous person to be around,” Nadia said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 how we decided on the idea of what Terry Bennett Day would look like, and it’s literally just giving back to the community a day full of celebration, almost like a family reunion in a sense.鈥�

She said the free event is open to the public and is meant to reflect the fun and playful side of her husband, who she said 鈥渢ruly loved to act like a kid at all times.鈥�

Nadia said the community support has helped her through the grieving process.

She said the memories of the night her husband was killed still come back in painful ways.

鈥淭raumatically, like we didn’t realize that would be the last night that we would all see him again,鈥� she said.

Nadia said the loss can still replay like a nightmare, but that pain has also pushed her to keep Terry鈥檚 legacy alive for their son and the community he loved.

鈥淭o know that in this healing process, I have people in my corner that are behind me and supporting me, and love Terry the way that I love him. It feels like I have one big hug around me,鈥� she said.

She has also been advocating for roadway safety changes since her husband was killed, including improvements to highway infrastructure and more training around disabled vehicle stops.

鈥淚 just don’t want my husband to be a statistic, and then you know this happens again, and then we’re back at square one. I want action this time,鈥� she said.

Nadia said her late husband鈥檚 career as an officer grew out of his desire to connect with the community where he was raised.

鈥淗e wanted to bridge that gap,鈥� she said. 鈥淗im being a coach by day and an officer by night was able to help him feel more welcome in the community and feel more open to talking to the kids.鈥�

When asked what Terry would think of a day dedicated to him, Nadia said she believes he would be surprised by the impact he made.

鈥淚 think he would say, 鈥楢ll this for me?鈥� I know he’s smiling. I know he’s smiling, and he’s just in shock that we went this big for him,鈥� she said.

For Nadia, the message of Terry Bennett Day is simply to remember the impact he made and to give back while thinking of him.

鈥淛ust because you came from Southeast, you came from a certain walk in life, doesn’t mean that you still can’t make an impact in the community that you were raised in or any community,鈥� she said.

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But Chevy Chase resident Sherry Kaiman said she used one of Metro’s shuttle buses after a recent medical appointment and was surprised to find that passengers had to climb steps to board.

“Did anyone think about people with some challenges?” Kaiman said.

Kaiman counts herself among them, as she recently underwent a spinal procedure and has had knee surgery in the past.

“I was able to get on there, but it was a challenge,” she said.

What stood out to her, though, was watching another rider struggle.

“The person ahead of me had a cane and asked if there was any way that the bus could be lowered just a little bit, so that individual could navigate the step,” she told WTOP.

According to Kaiman, the driver explained there was no way to lower a motor coach. A Metro employee at the stop offered to see whether a step stool was available, but the rider elected to call rideshare instead.

Metro’s Red Line construction project has shut down train service between North Bethesda and Friendship Heights through early September.

Shuttle buses are replacing trains while crews work on a new Bethesda station entrance connected to the Purple Line, rehabilitate the platform at Grosvenor-Strathmore and complete other infrastructure work.

Unlike Metro’s “kneeling” buses, which can bring the boarding platform closer to the curb, the contracted motor coaches sit much higher off the ground.

“I sent a note to Metro asking them why, for shuttle bus service, they’re not using the regular Metro buses that are easily accessible for people with a wheelchair, with a cane, with a walker, even for parents with little children,” Kaiman said.

In response to questions from WTOP, Metro said the local and express shuttle bus routes need as many as 140 buses to provide weekday service that closely matches the rail line.

“We simply don’t have additional buses available in our fleet to support the planned work and deliver on existing (Metrobus) routes,” Metro said in a statement to WTOP.

Metro also said shuttle operators received training on boarding and exiting procedures, and that planners considered accessibility when designing the service.

The agency said shuttle stop locations were selected “with the intention of making it as easy as possible for customers with varying accessibility needs to be able to board and disembark.”

Kaiman said she also asked Metro whether it tested the service before launch.

“I’m sure they had rehearsals of what these shuttle buses were going to do. Did anyone think about people with some challenges?” she said.

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Two St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office deputies are being credited with finding a missing 9-year-old boy with autism.

The child, who is nonverbal, was reported missing on Friday. Later that day, Deputies Madison DeVries and Matthew Camp spotted him in the water as they searched alongside a river in the Hollywood, Maryland, area.

Body camera footage released by the sheriff’s office shows Camp quickly entering the water and swimming to the child.

Sheriff’s office spokesperson ALisa Casas said Camp’s actions went beyond training.

“He made a split-second decision to take off his equipment, to take his wallet out of his pocket. He jumped in the water with his hat on, and I don’t think that that’s training. I think that that is intrinsically who he is as a human being,” Casas said.

After Camp brought the boy to shore, both deputies comforted the child. The boy’s parents said he could become frightened easily.

The child was evaluated by medical personnel and reunited with his family.

Casas spoke with the boy’s mother Monday.

“She is really still processing all that happened, but was incredibly grateful for the way that the situation turned out,” Casas said.

Sheriff Steve Hall said St. Mary’s County deputies receive training about autism and other intellectual disabilities that include ways to communicate calmly, avoid escalating situations and better connect with people who might be overwhelmed or scared.

Hall said he later called both deputies to thank them for their work. He also emphasized that the rescue was the result of a coordinated effort involving everyone from the initial 911 caller to dispatchers and first responders on the ground.

“From the phone call and the gathering of the information, deciding what assets need to go when and how fast, to us getting there and getting into a general area, and just you know being in the right place at the right time is not an accident,鈥� he said.

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A soldier wounded during a May 23 shootout near the White House is taking the first legal step toward suing the Secret Service as he seeks answers and accountability.

Benjamin Del Real, a 25-year-old who holds a rank of private first class, was visiting D.C. from Kansas with his sister, Sara Del Real, and their father over Memorial Day weekend when a man opened fire near a Secret Service checkpoint by the White House.

The gunman, identified as 21-year-old Nasire Best, of Maryland, was killed during the exchange聽of gunfire.

Del Real, according to his attorneys, was about 20 yards away from the gunman when he was struck in the abdomen during the exchange of gunfire.

Chicago-based Attorney Joseph Murphy said his firm believes Secret Service gunfire struck Del Real, based on information from a source who has seen surveillance video. Murphy said Del Real lost parts of his colon and small intestine and faces more surgeries.

“The degree of uncertainty that accompanies being seriously wounded presents its own unique challenges because the road to recovery will be long and strenuous,” Del Real said.

His sister said the shooting left their family shaken and looking for answers.

“The moment that I saw Ben bleeding was undoubtedly the scariest moment of my life,” Sara Del Real said. “I’m grateful beyond words that Ben survived what could have been the last moments of his life, but our family deserves answers.”

Murphy said Secret Service agents should have better accounted for innocent bystanders nearby and been “more precise” and “more surgical” before returning fire.

“With elite training comes an equally high level of responsibility to protect the public,” Murphy said.

Murphy said the first legal step toward suing the agency comes after nearly two months of unanswered questions.

The firm has filed a notice of a personal injury claim, a required step before bringing a lawsuit against a federal agency.

“We don’t even have a single answer from them yet as to, ‘Hey, it was our fault,'” Murphy said. “All we have is ‘We don’t know. We’ll let you know at some point.'”

Asked what they are seeking, Murphy said compensation for Del Real is part of it, but the firm also wants to prevent something similar from happening again.

“Number one is we want to recover on behalf of our client,” said Murphy, who added that secondarily, “we want to ensure this never happens again.”

Del Real said he is also concerned about what the injuries could mean for his Army career.

“I’m without a doubt concerned,” Del Real said. “I enlisted a year and a half ago, and it’s been one of the greatest journeys that I’ve taken thus far in my life, and I am concerned with the ability to be able to perform the job that I signed up to do at this time.”

The Secret Service told WTOP, “The U.S. Secret Service does not comment on pending litigation.”

The agency also said it is not leading the investigation and referred additional questions to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. WTOP reached out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. for comment.

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More people are leaving the city behind to spend time on local farms, and owners said the trend is helping preserve agriculture while creating new revenue streams.

At Comus Farm in Dickerson, Maryland, visitors can feed alpacas, interact with farm animals, take wagon rides and experience rural life just a short drive from D.C. Owners Lauren and Iago Huyser have expanded beyond traditional farming, operating a wedding and event venue while also selling farm-made products, including fresh baked goods, jams and eggs through local markets and farm visits.

Lauren said many visitors are looking to escape a technology-driven world and they聽often tell her they’re searching for something increasingly difficult to find in urban areas.

“Most often, what I hear from people is, ‘Ah, it’s so peaceful here. It’s so quiet here,'” Lauren said.

Her husband Lago said many visitors are getting a farm experience they simply can’t find in the city.

“Some people have never seen alpaca before,” he said. “So it’s a great experience, either for me, also for me, and for them as well, because I get to tell them what we’ve been learning here, and they got to have new experiences around the farm.”

The trend extends beyond traditional farm visits.

In Germantown, Butler’s Orchard has seen growing demand for farm experiences, according to General Manager Tyler Butler.

“People have always wanted to really embrace agriculture and farming, and get back to, you know, their roots. But especially since COVID, agritourism, agriculture entertainment, agritainment has really taken off,” Butler said.

Butler’s Orchard now welcomes more than 100,000 visitors a year, with people traveling from across the D.C. region and beyond for farm experiences ranging from berry picking to seasonal festivals.

Montgomery County’s efforts to preserve agriculture have helped make that possible. Roughly one-third of the county’s land area, about 93,000 acres, is protected within the Agricultural Reserve, a program established in 1980 to limit development and preserve working farmland. Without those protections, much of the land could have been developed into housing decades ago.

Mike Scheffel, director of Montgomery County’s Office of Agriculture, said the reserve was created to protect the county’s farming heritage.

“The elected officials at the time in 1980 made a decision to keep the agricultural heritage in place in the county that its roots are so deeply tied to,” Scheffel said.

The reserve also gives residents easy access to agriculture. Some Montgomery County farms are only a couple of miles from D.C., allowing city residents to experience working farms without traveling far from home.

Scheffel said visitors are also helping farms diversify their income and remain viable.

“Bringing the public to your farm or to your property to teach them about agriculture, to give them experiences on the farm, is a fantastic way to diversify a farm’s revenue stream,” Scheffel said.

One way the county promotes those farms is through its annual Farm Tour. The 2026 Montgomery County Farm Tour is scheduled for July 25 and 26 and allows visitors to explore participating farms across the county through a variety of activities and experiences showcasing local agriculture.

County data show the economic impact is growing. Montgomery County’s farm alcohol production sector has more than doubled, growing from six licensed wineries, breweries and cideries in 2018 to 13 licensed wineries, breweries, cideries and distilleries in 2024. During that same period, gross sales increased from about $2.9 million to nearly $16.8 million.

One example is Butler’s Doc Waters Cidery, where visitors can pick apples and enjoy beverages made from fruit grown on the farm.

“Whether it’s cider or beer or wine, people are connecting not only with their food, but also with what they’re drinking,” Butler said.

Farm owners said as more residents seek a break from city life, local farms are increasingly becoming destinations that connect visitors with agriculture while helping preserve farmland for future generations.

Butler said visitors often thank the family for keeping the farm going.

“Thank you for being here, thank you for not selling,” he said as visitors told him.

At Comus Farm, Lauren Huyser said preserving the land while adapting to changing times remains a priority.

“Maintaining it as an active farm and transforming it into something that is shifting with the times as well,” she said.

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GOES-19, also known as GOES East, entered what’s known as safe hold mode, a protective setting that temporarily shut down its Earth-observing mission. University of Maryland atmospheric scientist Lars Peter Riishojgaard said safe hold is essentially a survival mode that satellites use when something unexpected occurs.

“It enters a survival mode where everything that is not needed for its immediate survival is turned off,” Riishojgaard said.

The satellite continuously monitors the eastern U.S. and Atlantic Ocean, helping forecasters track hurricanes, thunderstorms, wildfire smoke and moisture moving through the atmosphere. Riishojgaard said it provides updated imagery about every 10 minutes, giving meteorologists a constant picture of what’s happening across a large section of the globe.

When the satellite stopped providing data, forecasters temporarily lost an important tool used to monitor quickly changing weather conditions.

“And once the images are off, they’re off. You can’t see anything in it,” Riishojgaard said.

WTOP Meteorologist Mike Stinneford said the loss of GOES-19 data had immediate local impacts.

“We have been flying blind here, and even locally, these impacts have been felt with the loss of the satellite, which, fortunately, is getting ready to come back online,” Stinneford said.

One of the biggest challenges was losing the ability to closely monitor moisture moving into the region, Stinneford said, information that helps forecasters gauge humidity, heat and thunderstorm potential.

“What we didn’t know overnight is that suddenly winds brought more moisture into the region,” Stinneford said.

The increase in moisture helped push heat index values above 105 degrees, prompting the National Weather Service to first issue a heat advisory and then expand it to cover the entire region, he said.

Both Stinneford and Riishojgaard noted the D.C. area was somewhat fortunate that the outage occurred during a relatively quiet stretch of weather. Riishojgaard said areas dealing with more active weather, such as heavy rainfall or severe storms, could have felt a greater impact.

While the outage did not lead to major forecasting problems in the D.C. area, Riishojgaard said it demonstrated both the importance of the nation’s weather satellites and the redundancy built into the system. NOAA maintains backup satellites that can be activated if necessary.

“If they had not been able to resolve this situation relatively quickly, they would have turned on the backup,” Riishojgaard said.

Riishojgaard said the outage actually highlighted a strength of the weather satellite network. The satellite entered safe hold, recovered and returned to service in less than 24 hours.

Still, he said the outage underscored how reliant modern forecasting has become on satellite imagery.

“We are completely relying on these images,” Riishojgaard said.

It remains unclear what led to the satellite going into the protective mode.

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People in the Balmoral neighborhood near Upper Marlboro, Maryland, said they have been worried for years about the intersection of Route 301 and Governors Park Lane. After a crash that killed three people over the weekend, they are hoping state leaders finally make changes.

A makeshift memorial sits along Route 301 near the entrance to the neighborhood. Three wooden crosses, flowers and teddy bears mark the spot where three people died Sunday morning.

Maryland State Police said the crash happened around 12:45 a.m. when a Tesla making a left turn from Route 301 onto Governors Park Lane failed to yield to a southbound Harley-Davidson motorcycle. The motorcycle struck the passenger side of the Tesla.

Investigators said they believe a third vehicle later struck one of the motorcycle passengers and left the scene. Three people died and another was taken to a hospital.

Neighbors say intersection has been dangerous for years

James White, who lives in the Balmoral neighborhood, said concerns about the intersection are nothing new.

“Yeah, it’s tough. I mean, it’s one of those ‘fix it’ scenarios. Just fix it,” White said.

White said his own family has been affected by a crash at the intersection.

“Our daughter was also in an accident right there, so for us it’s like full circle because we’ve already had an accident in the exact same place,” White said.

Another neighbor, Willie Smalls, described the intersection as dangerous.

“It’s just scary,” Smalls said.

Smalls said drivers entering and leaving the neighborhood are often forced to take risks.

“I’d rather stop than have to take a chance,” Smalls said.

He said people in the neighborhood have been calling for a traffic signal for years.

State says traffic signal is already in the works

The Maryland State Highway Administration told WTOP that design work for a traffic signal at the intersection is nearly 90% complete and construction is expected to begin by the end of the year, weather permitting.

The agency said that once the official police report from Sunday’s crash becomes available, traffic engineers will review the intersection to identify any additional safety improvements that may be needed.

The response comes as residents continue pressing for changes at the intersection.

Prince George’s County Executive Aisha Braveboy said local leaders have been advocating for improvements on state roads and value residents’ feedback.

“We appreciate the input of the residents because that helps bolster our arguments when we go to the state and ask for additional resources,” Braveboy said.

Officials urge safer driving after recent deadly crashes

The Route 301 crash was one of two deadly crashes involving motorcycles in Prince George’s County within days. Three people were also killed Tuesday night in a three-vehicle crash involving a motorcycle on New Hampshire Avenue in Adelphi.

“One crash is too many. One loss of life is too many,” Braveboy said.

Prince George’s County has recorded 21 fatal crashes this year, officials said.

The county is developing a Road to Zero Action Plan, expected to be released this fall, that will focus on engineering, education, enforcement, emergency response and technology aimed at reducing traffic deaths.

Prince George’s County Police Chief George Nader said preventing deadly crashes will require more than government action.

“It’s all of us working together with our communities to change people’s driving habits,” Nader said.

Nader also highlighted the personal toll fatal crashes take on families.

“One of the worst things that officers have to do, whether it be a homicide or a fatal crash, is go to someone’s home in the middle of the night and tell them that they will never see their young one again,” Nader said.

Maryland State Police Superintendent Col. Michael Jackson said many of the crashes investigators see can be prevented.

“The reason is simple: They are avoidable,” Jackson said.

He also warned against distracted driving.

“You take your eye off that road for a couple of seconds to look at your texts on your phone, you are almost 100 yards down the road, 100 yards,” Jackson said.

Officials are urging drivers to slow down, stay focused behind the wheel and always wear a seat belt.

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On Friday, 7太子探花 confirmed a March report from ABC 太子探花 about . A Pentagon official said the mission will continue until “law and order” is restored in the nation’s capital and that it remains committed to supporting D.C. police and federal law enforcement partners.

Also last week, the council members sent letters to governors urging them to recall National Guard troops deployed to support July Fourth and America 250 events. They argued that when the celebrations end, the participating states should bring their Guard members home.

Speaking Tuesday, Council Chair Phil Mendelson said the District remains in court challenging the deployment.

“We’ve made it clear 鈥� We, meaning the citizens as well as the government 鈥� We’ve made it clear over and over again that we don’t want these National Guard troops from other states,鈥� Mendelson said.

“Our National Guard needs to be used, utilized for national emergencies, and not in this way,鈥� Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George told WTOP.

Public Safety Committee chair and Ward 2 Council member Brooke Pinto said National Guard troops are not the right tool for public safety in the District.

“To have National Guard troops sent here from states across the nation who are armed, who are not trained in our laws, does not help us advance public safety and is not the right path forward,” Pinto told reporters.

Ward 5 Council member Zachary Parker called the extension “dangerous” and said Americans should be concerned about armed military personnel remaining in the nation’s capital through an election season.

鈥淚t should give us all great pause,鈥� Parker told WTOP.

At-Large Council member Christina Henderson questioned the value of the deployment and called on governors to withdraw their troops.

“Their governors need to call their guard home, and we need to end this charade,鈥� Henderson said.

Ward 8 Council member Trayon White focused on the broader federal law enforcement presence in the District.

“I think it’s bigger than the National Guards. For us it’s the over-policing of the federal agents and officers all across the district,鈥� White said.

He said residents have raised concerns about accountability for federal officers operating in D.C.

The criticism comes as show overall crime in D.C. is down 20% so far this year compared with the same period in 2025. The numbers show homicides are down 39% and property crime is down 23% year to date.

When WTOP reached out to the , a spokesperson referred questions about the extension to the White House. WTOP has not received a response.

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