| 
      
    US: District of Columbia (News/Activism)
    
   
  
  
    
    
       WASHINGTON (7News) — For weeks, investigators have been searching high and low for the third and final suspect in a case that has rocked the DC region; the shooting death of 21-year-old congressional intern Eric Tarpinian-Jachym on June 30. According to court records, authorities tracked down 18-year-old Naqwan Lucas, of the District of Columbia, on Wednesday night in Germantown, Maryland. Thursday afternoon, Lucas appeared in DC Superior Court on more than a dozen charges, including first-degree murder. He pleaded not guilty before Judge Dana Dayson. Judge Dayson held Lucas until a status hearing with his co-defendants was scheduled for...
    
  
  
    
    
      The downsizing comes as the David Ellison-Bari Weiss era of CBS News kicks into high gear CBS News eliminated multiple streaming programs on Wednesday as part of newsroom-wide layoffs, just one part of Paramount’s sweeping job cuts and a blow to the news organization’s headcount as Bari Weiss’ already turbulent tenure as editor in chief gets into full swing. It was not immediately clear how many people were affected, though some reports pegged the figure at nearly 100 jobs. The cuts affected CBS News’ streaming companion shows to “CBS Mornings” and “CBS Evening News,” both of which were canceled, according...
    
  
  
    
    
      The Federal Reserve on Wednesday approved its second straight interest rate cut, a widely expected move that came despite little recent visibility on the economy due to the government shutdown. In addition to the rate move, the Fed announced that it would be ending the reduction of its asset purchases – a process known as quantitative tightening – on Dec 1. By a 10-2 vote, the central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee lowered its benchmark overnight borrowing rate to a range of 3.75%-4%. Governor Stephen Miran again cast a dissenting vote, preferring the Fed move more quickly with a half-point...
    
  
  
    
    
      Brutal layoffs are hitting CBS News after its parent company announced a plan to axe more than 2,000 staff across the organization. New editor-in-chief Bari Weiss acknowledged the cuts on the network's morning editorial call Wednesday, Semafor's Max Tani reported. Weiss called it a 'enormously difficult day' for the network, according to Tani. David Ellison, the chairman of CBS News parent Paramount, broke the news about the companywide layoffs in a note to staff Wednesday morning. 'In some areas, we are addressing redundancies that have emerged across the organization,' he wrote. 'In others, we are phasing out roles that are...
    
  
  
    
    
      A federal judge has indefinitely blocked President Trump’s efforts to lay off thousands of federal employees amid the government shutdown. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, an appointee of former President Clinton, sided with government employee unions that asked her to bar the administration from carrying out the reductions in force (RIFs) as the lawsuit moves forward. More than 4,000 workers were set to be impacted by the job actions.The preliminary injunction extends Illston’s previous order temporarily stopping the administration’s attempted layoffs, which she has said she believes will ultimately be deemed illegal and an overstep of executive authority.The judge said...
    
  
  
    
    
      Democrats appear to be unmoved by fresh demands from the largest federal employees’ union to reopen the government, a sign that the shutdown stalemate between lawmakers will continue as government workers increasingly feel the pain during the process. It’s the latest example of how pressure points have not had the power to bring an end to the current shutdown, which is already the second longest in US history with no end in sight. Over one million federal workers are going unpaid as the impasse drags on and some are turning to food pantries. Democrats were quick to say they care...
    
  
  
    
    
      The White House announced plans to construct a 90,000-square-foot ballroom that will cost approximately $200 million. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said construction will begin in September. “President Trump, and other patriot donors, have generously committed to donating the funds necessary to build this approximately $200 million dollar structure. The United States Secret Service will provide the necessary security enhancements and modifications,” the White House said in a release. 🚨Just in: The White House has announced plans to construct a new 90,000 sq. ft. ballroom, with construction set to begin in September. The $200 million project will be fully...
    
  
  
    
    
      White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has praised a piece published in a liberal news outlet about Trump's ballroom project. 'First dose of common sense I’ve seen from the legacy media on this story,' Leavitt wrote on X, sharing a Saturday piece from the Washington Post Editorial Board, which has been revamped in 2025 to share more libertarian views. The Board used the editorial piece to push back on the 'Not In My Back Yard' crowd, often called NIMBY's. 'In classic Trump fashion, the president is pursuing a reasonable idea in the most jarring manner possible,' the Board writes, while...
    
  
  
    
    
      Ethics experts and Democrats say they are eager to know whether private donors behind the planned $300 million ballroom are poised to receive any benefits in return.President Donald Trump’s swift demolition of the White House’s East Wing this week stunned conservationists and many Americans. But ethics experts and Democrats say they are turning to a question related to the next phase of the project: whether the donors behind the planned $300 million ballroom that will replace the demolished annex will receive any benefits in return.Tech companies and defense contractors such as Google, Lockheed Martin and Microsoft, as well as wealthy...
    
  
  
    
    
      It’s too good. It’s beyond comical. For the past week or so, liberal America has been apoplectic over President Trump’s new addition to the White House. He’s renovating the East Room so that a proper ballroom can be on the grounds, a venue that can accommodate at least 650 people. The president of the United States will forever have a place for official state dinners and other events—no more tents on the lawn. And yet, you’d think Trump ordered a slash-and-burn of the entire residence. Other presidents have done this—it’s not a big deal. The project is being funded by...
    
  
  
    
    
      The Washington Post editorial board defended President Donald Trump's ballroom construction on Sunday and argued that the next Democratic president would be happy to have the ballroom."In classic Trump fashion, the president is pursuing a reasonable idea in the most jarring manner possible. Privately, many alumni of the Biden and Obama White Houses acknowledge the long-overdue need for an event space like what Trump is creating. It is absurd that tents need to be erected on the South Lawn for state dinners, and VIPs are forced to use porta-potties," the editorial board wrote.Construction crews began demolition of the East Wing...
    
  
  
    
    
      Ex-White House residents Bill and Hillary Clinton were mocked on social media Tuesday after the former first lady criticized President Trump’s latest construction project at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Hillary took issue with the demolition that began Monday on the East Wing of the White House to accommodate Trump’s massive $250 million ballroom, making it clear that she’s no fan of the renovation. “It’s not his house. It’s your house. And he’s destroying it,” she wrote on X Tuesday morning. Hillary included an image taken from the Washington Post’s coverage of the partial teardown in her tweet, showing rubble piling up...
    
  
  
    
    
      President Donald Trump is likely to name the new $300 million White House ballroom after himself, senior administration officials told ABC News. White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said in an email to Newsweek, “Any announcement made on the name of the ballroom will come directly from President Trump himself, and not through anonymous and unnamed sources." Officials have reportedly already begun referring to the project as “The President Donald J. Trump Ballroom,” according to ABC News. Trump has not publicly confirmed what he plans to call the ballroom.
    
  
  
    
    
      The president says the sound of bulldozers at the East Wing is “music to my ears.”“You probably hear the beautiful sound of construction to the back,” Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday from a podium overlooking his newly paved “Rose Garden Club” terrace, alongside the new “Presidential Walk of Fame” featuring gold-framed portraits of his predecessors (and an “autopen” for Joe Biden).“You hear that sound?” he said, raising his hand to his ear as if to savor the clamor from construction of the new $300 million White House ballroom that began Monday.“Ahhh, that’s music to my ears. I love that sound....
    
  
  
    
    
      I thought, no way. This can't be real.It's real!Scroll down to the Major Events Timeline and flip through the various photos.I'm freakin' dying here!
    
  
  
    
    
      While future guests of the White House will be having a ball in its forthcoming ballroom, for which demolition began on Monday, the massive renovation isn’t the first of its scale at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Since its debut in 1800, and reconstruction in 1817, the presidential residence has seen a number of major facelifts.
    
  
  
    
    
      President Trump on Wednesday showed off a model of what may be his next Washington, D.C., development project, an arch that resembles the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and is being referred to informally as the "Arc de Trump." The president showed off a model of the arch at a White House dinner Wednesday night for a group of wealthy donors who are funding his White House ballroom project. Mockups he displayed bore the caption "Independence Arch." "It's going to be really beautiful. I think it's going to be fantastic," Trump said, as he held a model of the arch....
    
  
  
    
    
      DC ATTACKERS GO FREE, SHOWING LIMITS OF TRUMP CRIME CRACKDOWN. District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Kendra Briggs was quite understanding with the 15-year-old who had pepper-sprayed a man while a friend pummeled him, and while others in her group tried to steal his car.
    
  
  
    
    
      NEW YORK (AP) — Dozens of reporters turned in access badges and exited the Pentagon on Wednesday rather than agree to government-imposed restrictions on their work, pushing journalists who cover the American military further from the seat of its power. The nation’s leadership called the new rules “common sense” to help regulate a “very disruptive” press. News outlets were nearly unanimous in rejecting new rules imposed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that would leave journalists vulnerable to expulsion if they sought to report on information — classified or otherwise — that had not been approved by Hegseth for release. Many...
    
  
  
    
    
      President Trump and FBI Director Kash Patel will deliver a press conference together in the Oval Office this afternoon. The topic of the presser remains unclear at this time, but this comes as the Trump Administration has said it is investigating and planning to take action against the violent leftwing terror network, Antifa. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed to The Gateway Pundit last week that the Trump Administration is “aggressively” investigating the Soros and far-left terror-sponsoring organizations that are funding Antifa and violent riots in liberal cities like Portland and Chicago. The FBI, Homeland Security, and even the...
     |  |  |