In a , Maryland State Police said troopers responded to the school’s Center for Business and Graduate Studies around 11:30 p.m. after shots rang out near Henry Circle.

On the scene, police located two 19-year-old males with gunshot wounds. They were taken to the hospital and are recovering from their injuries.

According to police, neither teen attends Bowie State University.

The responding troopers had originally been assigned to security for the university’s homecoming festivities this weekend.

Investigators said that a firearm was recovered from the scene, and they believe more than one gunman was involved.

Students told �鶹���� they heard the gunfire from their dorms Saturday night.

“I heard it from my room,” student Madison Stephens said. “People are definitely concerned. I think right now, people are kind of definitely pointing fingers at who or what happened.”

Sophomore Credence Jackson said the shooting has the student body worried.

“It is concerning that this is the second shooting to happen at an HBCU in the last two weeks,” Jackson said.

This incident comes less than a week after an unrelated shooting at Morgan State University in Baltimore, where five people were injured.

Bowie State University President Aminta Breaux said that she understands students’ concerns.

“I understand their fear because this is not normal for us. This is not Bowie State University,” Breaux said.

She added that “it is exceedingly disturbing that gun violence is increasingly finding its way into the safe havens of our university campuses.”

Breaux said all classes are canceled Monday. Students will have access to counseling services, including a Community Conversation event at 2 p.m. Monday in the Student Center Ballroom. A for those who cannot attend in person.

No arrests have been made, and MSP said the investigation is ongoing. They are asking anyone with information on, or video of the shooting to share it with police at 301-860-4688.

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A year and some change — that’s how long Doug Carr, CEO and president of the Union Station Redevelopment Corporation, has been at the helm of the D.C. region’s largest transit hub and the effort to redevelop it.

In recent years, Union Station has become a shell of its former self — a once bustling and booming place for transportation, shopping and dining. The pandemic didn’t help.

But Carr hopes to change that with a major redevelopment project that promises to make Union Station “cool and enjoyable again.”

A tall order, but Carr said he’s been here before.

He recently oversaw the redevelopment of the old General Post Office in New York City, which sits in the shadow of Penn Station. He turned the space into Moynihan Train Hall, expanding capacity at the nation’s largest transit hub — on budget and early, according to .

“I guess maybe I’ve become a train station guy, but I really started in real estate,” Carr said. “My background is in development, project management and really focused on public-private partnerships.”

While on the , Carr said the Moynihan Train Hall project has prepared him to take on the recreation of Union Station in the District.

“There [are] many similar ingredients to what the future of Washington Union Station has comparable to the Moynihan train project — just starting off with a beautiful, historic, one-of-a-kind building,” Carr said. “But they’re not statues, they’re not monuments. They’re living, breathing buildings that need to serve (a) current function and purpose.”

The recently proposed redevelopment project would increase train capacity, with ridership on Amtrak projected to increase by 95%, VRE by 250% and MARC by 150%, according to the USRC. A proposed bus facility is also projected to increase bus ridership by 50%.

Carr said adding more exits and entrances to the station will also reduce wait times for ride-share and taxi pickups.

“The vision is bold. It has a grand vision,” Carr said. “But I think it’s also a needed vision, in terms of adding capacity, reliability, to mass transportation and train travel.”

Courtesy Union Station Redevelopment Corporation

Courtesy Union Station Redevelopment Corporation

Courtesy Union Station Redevelopment Corporation

Courtesy of USRC

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Despite the glossy renderings, the region is far from seeing a new Union Station.

“It’s incumbent upon my team, Union Station Redevelopment Corporation, working with our partners to translate that vision, that concept, really into reality,” Carr said. “We’re at a 10% concept level. So we have a long road ahead of us.”

But that doesn’t mean riders and visitors won’t see improvements in the short term, Carr said, adding that the team is focused on solving problems at the station like long traffic lines right now.

“I want to emphasize that we’re not waiting for the station expansion project to make improvements,” Carr said. “No, we’re looking at improvements to deliver now. We want to enhance the passenger experience. That includes traffic improvements in the front of the building.”

Crime is also an immediate concern for Carr. Last year, reported that Amtrak police saw a nearly 50% increase in crime at Union Station in 2022. And just last week, interviewed a man who was the victim of a violent assault at the station.

When asked about crime and homelessness at the station, Carr acknowledged the issues but didn’t provide any specific solutions.

“There is no single solution. It requires compassion. It requires care,” Carr said. “But it also requires an emphasis on safety and security. Those are top priorities.”

Carr said solving these short-term issues is key to convincing people that a redevelopment of Union Station is worth it.

“Delivering incremental benefits along the way, I think, is a very important strategy for us to maintain public support, political support,” Carr said. “Candidly, I think it’s going to be challenging to get people excited for a decade plus of construction.”

Ultimately, Carr believes it’s worth it and that the public will get on board.

“Failure in many senses is not an option,” Carr said.

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The spate of fires started around 2:30 a.m. Sunday at the Holbrook Center across from Gaithersburg High School, according to the Montgomery County Fire Department. Around an hour later, more fires were reported at another shopping center at 3 Russell Avenue in Gaithersburg.

“It was difficult to actually come and to see it so badly damaged and understand — or even begin to understand — why somebody would do such damage for no particular reason,” Mary Covell, the owner of the building on Russell Avenue, said.

A person of interest is in custody, but Montgomery County Fire and Rescue have not identified the individual, nor their relation to the fires.

Covell said the the fires were rattling to the business owners affected.

“It’s frightening,” Covell said. “It’s frightening for them, because it’s so uncertain. Obviously, they don’t have a business at the moment.”

This video is no longer available.

Video courtesy of Tim Denzel

Among the businesses impacted are the La Frontera and El Salvadoreño restaurants — both serving Salvadorian cuisine. Montgomery County fire did not comment on whether ethnicity played a role in this arson.

When asked what she’d say to the arsonist, Covell struggled to find words.

“Why?” Covell said. “How can you think like that? You’re setting a fire just because you want to see the flames? Why would you cause such destruction? I have no words.”

Despite this, Covell said she’s confident that the building on Russell Avenue will be back up and running.

“The building will be rebuilt, and they will have a business again,” Covell said. “All will be well.”

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Whether you are renting or buying a home in the D.C. area, the process can be complicated and expensive.

According to data from the first quarter of this year, D.C. has the among major U.S. metropolitan regions. To make matters worse, for-sale signs aren’t popping up as often and mortgage rates are at a 20-year high.

“We are [at a] record low inventory of new listings,” local real estate agent John Coleman said on “Week over week has been down anywhere from 22 to 28% in the region over the last little bit. And then interest rates have pushed affordability to a spot where people simply just can’t afford.”

Coleman said these two phenomena — high interest rates and low inventory — are related. The former influences the latter and the numbers don’t lie. Coleman said 89% of homeowners have an interest rate lower than 5%.

“We have a lot of people that have super cheap money,” Coleman said. “And so the days of wanting to just move because it’s got a better backyard, or ‘I want to be closer to my friends’ is a little bit different.”

When he looks at the numbers, Coleman said interest rates make buying a home less attractive.

“Right now, those financials, actually, in a lot of spots, look better for renting,” Coleman said.

Despite these barriers, Coleman said his phone is still blowing up with calls about moving to the District.

“The traffic around the city has been to the point where people that have to be coming back into the city might not want to be that extra distance out because that commute in is going to be difficult,” Coleman said.

This raises the question: what happens if and when interest rates go back down?

“People are in more of a wait-and-see approach than we’ve seen in a long time,” Coleman said. “What happens when more people get in the mix, this area knows better than anybody, that pushes up prices. So I think that there’s a real likelihood that could happen.”

But Coleman cautioned potential buyers who lick their lips at whispers of a jump in home prices. In real estate, few things are certain in the short term, Coleman said.

“Homeownership is a long-term game,” Coleman said. “If you’re looking to sell it in three to four years, I wouldn’t buy right now. I just wouldn’t. There’s cost-of-sale in terms of buying and then selling … it’s kind of like driving a car off the lot.”

High interest rates and inventory aside, one of the largest barriers for many is saving up for a 20% down payment. With the median home price in the D.C. area sitting at $669,900 and the median household income at $90,088 — a couple would have to save nearly $27,000 a year for half a decade to save up for a 20% down payment.

It’s a seemingly impossible task for many. But Ronald Clarkson at the Housing Counseling Services Inc. said there are programs that can help.

“It really is based on where you live currently. A lot of the programs require that you live in the jurisdiction where the funds are available,” Clarkson, director at the housing nonprofit, said. “Here in D.C., you have programs like the , also known as HPAP.”

The D.C. program, for example, boasts a maximum housing assistance of $202,000 .

“It is a great program that has helped a lot of homebuyers here in the District of Columbia,” Clarkson said. “And we’re proud to say that we’ve been a good part of that.”

And while the promise of a $200,000 zero-interest loan sounds nice, Clarkson said it is still a loan that you have to pay back.

“Housing can be very attractive and we get very emotional about it,” Clarkson said. “That can sometimes be the pitfall.”

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“I’m feeling great,” longtime Washington football fan Steve Marsh said while deep-frying chicken. “I feel good. I haven’t felt this way in 15, 20 years.”

The fans gathered underneath each tailgate tent seemed to be having the same conversation.

“It’s a new beginning, right?” Christian Goodwin asked rhetorically. “New ownership, it’s been 26 years of you-know-what, but it’s a new day.”

For some, like Michael Pope, the Commander’s victorious home opener against the Arizona Cardinals at FedEx Field was a sort of reunion.

“I took a hiatus over the last two years because of Dan Snyder,” Pope said with tickets in hand. “It’s nice to be focused on the performance on the field and not have to worry about our ownership doing anything.”

For most, it was just nice to see FedEx Field filled with more Commanders jerseys than Cardinals apparel.

“You can see and feel the energy — its completely different,” lifelong fan Carly Edwards said. “You usually come here and it’s all the away teams, but we’ve got some burgundy and gold. And it feels good.”

‘I’d love to see a new stadium’

While a sold-out crowd filled FedEx Field, many fans said they are ready to get rid of the Landover arena.

“I’d love to see a new stadium,” Edwards said. “Let’s start fresh and get a whole new thing going.”

Come 2027, the FedEx Field contract ends. So far, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin have all said they want the new Commanders stadium — setting up a potential bidding war.

But what do the fans want?

“I’m in Loudoun County, so it would be awesome if they go to Loudoun County,” Austin Johnson said. “But I think, for the entire fan base, it’d be awesome if they go to RFK. I think everyone would love that.”

But Prince George’s County resident Patricia said she wants the Commanders to stay where they are.

“D.C. cannot support a stadium,” she said noting that the District should fund WMATA instead of a new NFL stadium.

Wherever the Commanders end up in 2027, the decision may prove vital to the teams survival and pose a difficult decision for the new owners led by Josh Harris.

Longtime fan Thomas Milberg said if the Commanders move the Commonwealth, he’s done.

“If they move to Virginia, I won’t buy another ticket,” Milberg said.

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“We are wildly excited about the possibilities here,” DC Central Kitchen CEO Mike Curtin said on the DMV Download podcast. “We’ve been around for 34 years now, but this in some ways is a new start.”

The shiny headquarters in the Buzzard Point neighborhood — with its nearly 7,000-square-foot production kitchen — is glassy, bright, open and marked by modern design. It almost looks like a tech startup’s headquarters.

“For many years, we were in the basement of the federal city shelter building, which served us well, but it was hidden, it was tucked away,” Curtin said. “We were in the margins. We were in the shadows.”

For Curtin, DC Central Kitchen is not just a nonprofit. It’s also a social enterprise — a business.

“We wanted to show that social enterprise nonprofits can play a significant role in economic development, we’re not here just to ‘help’ to support people,” Curtin said. “We are here as a business.”

Through this model, DC Central Kitchen secures food contracts with schools and centers throughout the District. It also trains the unemployed how to cook and then hires them to make the food for these contracts.

“This is part of not only getting good food into all areas of our community, but it’s a social enterprise business that not only generates revenue to support the other programming of DC Central Kitchen, but creates jobs for graduates of our culinary job training program,” Curtin said.

This sort of two-birds-with-one-stone approach is still relatively rare in the nonprofit world, but the idea is spreading to places like the  in New York,  in Indiana,  in Texas, in California and  in Virginia.

To Curtin, it’s the sort of nonprofit model that the District needs.

“D.C. has the highest rate of senior hunger in the country,” Curtin said. “The capital of the United States of America can’t take care of, feed, provide support for our senior citizens. And that is tragic.”

On the other side of the age spectrum, young people are also struggling with food insecurity.

“We also have the largest growing population of what’s referred to as ‘opportunity youth’ in the country,” the CEO said. “These are individuals that are aged 18 to 24. Most of them haven’t graduated from high school, are not involved in school, are not employed, are really disconnected from their families and are searching for what’s next.”

In a way, DC Central Kitchen is working to leverage the jobs needed by youth to feed the hunger of their elders. But does it actually work?

“Yes, it works,” Curtin said. “We actually earn over $10 million a year with our school contracts, the three cafes we run now, catering and other businesses. Again, staffed by graduates of our program, being paid living wages with living benefits, retirement benefits. So this cycle, this righteous cycle of liberation, empowerment and opportunity, actually, it does work. It does make a difference. And we want to spread that as far as we can.”

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“This one just came on our radar screen,” said Andrew Pekosz, a virologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Experts say the new strain has 30 mutations relative to the original COVID-19 virus.

“It is highly mutated in a lot of the areas that vaccines or previous infections would generate antibodies to recognize this,” Pekosz said. “So it represents something that’s very, very different from what’s circulating currently and, therefore has a high potential to escape from all of this immunity we’ve generated in the population over the past couple of years.”

When asked if this variant could act like the Delta or Omicron variant,  causing cases and hospitalizations to skyrocket, Pekosz urged caution.

“We shouldn’t overreact at this point in time,” Pekosz said. “It doesn’t have any of the critical mutations that would evade antiviral immunity.”

He said this factor, along with the cellular immunity born from natural immunity, should limit the severe-illness impact of BA.2.86.

“The estimate right now is that there will probably be more cases, but hopefully not a large increase in hospitalizations or severe cases,” Pekosz said. “But that’s something that we’re going to have to wait a few more weeks to see how the data really starts to come out.”

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Mixed emotions filled the air in front of the giant panda exhibit at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Sunday morning.

Tian Tian, one of the Zoo’s beloved black-and-white bears, turned 26, with hundreds of spectators cheering and some even tearing up.

“I’ve loved pandas my whole life — I can’t explain it,” said longtime District resident Stephanie Rogers. “I’m really excited to see the panda’s last birthday in Washington.”

In December, all the pandas at the National Zoo are set to go to China, and so far, there’s no word on whether they will ever return.

“It’s super sad,” Rogers said. “I hope that they can work out a new arrangement with China.”

Onlookers traveled from as far away as Toronto, Canada, and even Scotland to watch Tian Tian (pronounced t-YEN t-YEN) devour a birthday treat made up of various fruits and veggies.

D.C. native Helen Gonzales explained why pandas draw so much attention and elicit such strong emotions.

“Unlike other animals, who eat on all fours, the fact that they sit and you can see them and look at their face and study them a little bit more and all,” Gonzales said while wearing a panda shirt. “To me, it’s a little bit more of a connection, it gives you time to get to see their faces, their personalities more.”

Gonzales said she understands why the Chinese want to bring the pandas back home.

“I understand, culturally, why China wants the older pandas back because they were born in China,” Gonzales said. “They want them to go back and retire there and then to die in their homeland.”

Yet, their departure still stings, she said.

“Part of me is heartbroken and will cry a lot,” Gonzales said. “And it’s a big loss for the zoo, but certainly, personally, for a lot of us. The pandas have helped us through a lot of personal losses.”

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The 5.8-magnitude earthquake that famously shook D.C. in 2011 sent the head of a gargoyle atop the Washington National Cathedral flying.

“All that energy was going up the walls,” head mason at the cathedral Joe Alonso said. “Going, going, going — like the cracking of a whip … boom!”

Pinnacles and other stone fixtures were also launched off the sides of the nation’s second largest church during the quake.

“Gothic cathedrals and earthquakes don’t mix,” Alonso mused.

As it turned out, the gargoyle on the southwest pinnacle was the only gothic drainage spout to fully lose its head, earning it the name “Mr. Decapitation.”

“We’ve been calling him ‘D-cap’ for short,” Alonso said. “But today we are going to call him ‘Re-cap.’ You are going to witness a re-capitation.”

�鶹����/Luke Garrett

�鶹����/Luke Garrett

�鶹����/Luke Garrett

�鶹����/Luke Garrett

�鶹����/Luke Garrett

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Made of Indiana limestone, the bat-like stone face finally rejoined its clawed body on Wednesday — 12 years after the 2011 tremor. Stone masons used a special epoxy to put the gargoyle back together, rushing to marry the two pieces of stone before the epoxy dried.

Dean of the Cathedral Randy Hollerith called the “re-capitation” a milestone but added that the $40 million project isn’t only about giving the cathedral a facelift.

“They’re strengthening the cathedral,” Hollerith said. “They’re strengthening the buttresses and their connections to the nave walls. They’re strengthening every area that they’re working on so that some of the things we experienced in this earthquake, we won’t experience the next time.”

As for the timeline, Alonso said he hopes to complete the scaffolding work around the National Cathedral by 2027.

But Hollerith said that it’s a slow process.

“Everything is carved by our stone masons … so it’s not a quick process,” he said.

So far, church officials have raised $24 million for the project. They said $14 million are still needed.

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Approximately 10,000 customers lost electricity around Crystal City and Pentagon City on Tuesday afternoon. Dominion Energy spokeswoman Peggy Fox said the incident began around noon, and that the injured employee was treated at the scene and is expected to recover.

Fox attributed the power outage to a “splice” in an underground cable. Dominion said power should be restored by Tuesday night. As of 11:30 p.m. Tuesday night, only 5 outages were being reported.

Arlington Now that county fire personnel responded to a large number of stuck elevator calls in the area, owing to the sudden outage.

Reagan National Airport also around noon. A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said the issue there was resolved quickly, and it was unclear if the two outages were related.

Outage map

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“I don’t have to tell any parent that their kids are oftentimes a source of a lot of infections that spread through the household,” Andrew Pekosz, virologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said. “And that’s true with the flu. It’s also shown to be true with COVID.”

Pekosz said a new COVID variant called EG. 5 is emerging just as schools start back up. This one can better evade current vaccines and natural immunity. When asked if this should be cause for concern, he said it depends.

“EG. 5 doesn’t look like the kind of variant that would cause a huge surge, like we saw with Omicron when it first emerged,” Pekosz said. “So it’s something that scientists are concerned about. It’s something that the general public shouldn’t necessarily be concerned about.”

Despite this, he said it’s still a good idea to review the tools out there to keep your family safe from COVID.

First up are vaccines. Pekosz said that vaccine manufacturers are planning to release a new COVID vaccine this fall that will better protect against the EG. 5 strain.

“The American Pediatric Association does recommend COVID vaccines for all school-aged children,” Pekosz said. “It’s a safe vaccine. And I think it’s something that all parents should really consider.”

Second, COVID tests. Pekosz said at-home tests are still able to catch this new variant.

“At-home tests are still available,” Pekosz said. “They’re no longer being given out by the government for free, but they are available in virtually every pharmacy. And it’s a really good tool to have around at the house so you can get a quick answer about [whether] you’re COVID positive or not.”

Ultimately, Pekosz said everyone will have to assess their own risk and health situation.

“It’s important to note that the severe cases of COVID-19 are really happening in small sections of the population,” Pekosz said. “So individuals over the age of 60, individuals with secondary medical conditions that … predispose them to severe COVID. So I think those are the groups that it’s really important to remind them that tools are available.”

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“I’m being chased out of the parking lot,” 63-year-old Ronan told �鶹����’s . “I’m being chased through that parking lot on a dark evening. And he’s chasing me and he’s … screaming at me. And before he would catch me, I would wake up sweating and crying and shaking.”

In 1971, Ronan was sexually assaulted in Chicago, Illinois, by Father Thomas Gannon — a respected priest and professor who went on to teach sociology at Georgetown University between 1983 and 1986. Ronan was in the sixth grade at the time, and didn’t tell a soul about the assault for nearly 50 years.

“I kept it in and I said, ‘Who’s gonna believe an 11-year-old boy?’ If those circumstances happened nowadays? Yeah, with the [2017] #MeToo movement. They’ll start an investigation. But in 1971, no way. So I just didn’t tell anybody.”

His trauma never left him.

“It impacts you in all your relationships with people and how you function and how you interact with people,” Ronan said. “And it becomes a real problem.”

During an exclusive interview with �鶹����’s DMV Download podcast, Ronan told his story of being abused by the clergy member, falling into depression, fighting the lack of transparency within the church and ultimately working through his trauma and finding peace.

‘The church was the centerpiece’

Ronan grew up in an Irish Catholic family in a Chicago neighborhood a few miles north of Wrigley Field. He had four siblings and his grandparents lived half a block away.

“Gosh, we had 26 kids, school-aged, living on my block,” Ronan said. “And the church was the centerpiece. St. Jerome’s, which was a couple blocks from the house, was a big Catholic Cathedral.”

At age 10, Ronan started to work for the church as an altar boy.

“That was a big deal to be up there and be part of the mass,” he said. “The church was very important.”

Ronan often worked masses with his grandfather, the man he was named after. This stopped after a particular Sunday in the fall of 1971.

“My grandfather had been an usher at that particular mass,” Ronan said. “On that day, the other altar boy who was supposed to show up, didn’t show up. So it was just me. And I had just broken my arm when I was playing for the school’s youth football team.”

With his arm in a cast, Ronan said he had a difficult time being the altar boy. He struggled carrying the chalice and other ceremonial items. And he said he remembers that the priest presiding over the mass was not a regular at St. Jerome. He was a “fill-in,” visiting priest. At the time, Gannon was a sociology professor at Loyola University of Chicago. 

After the mass, Ronan was getting ready to go home when Gannon berated him.

“This priest came into the sacristy and immediately was enraged with me,” Ronan said. “He grabbed me and held me very, very tight. He forced my hand onto his privates and made me do whatever he wanted me to do … I don’t need to get into many more details. But I think everybody knows where this goes.”

Ronan said time froze for his 11-year-old self, but after a while he was able to shove off his assaulter.

“At one point, he lost his balance,” Ronan said. “And I don’t know if he tripped over his trousers or his belt, or whatever it was, or his undergarments, I don’t know. But he lost his balance. And when he did, I took my cast and I sort of gave him a little forearm shove.”

Ronan said he then sprinted home, not looking back, fearing the priest was chasing him.

“I became withdrawn,” Ronan said. “And I didn’t go to school for a couple of days. And then I dropped out of being an altar boy. I was so traumatized by it. I said, ‘I’m not going to deal with it and just try to move on.'”

‘We’ve got quite a file on this fella’

Nearly 50 years later, Ronan started to notice that something was off in his life.

“I was sick and tired of being moody, of being depressed, of feeling angry,” Ronan said. “And I just said, ‘I can’t keep living like this, letting a dead guy in an incident of 5 or 10 or 15 minutes, I can’t let that define who I am.'”

He then Googled the priest’s name and found a 2019 article in the Georgetown University student newspaper, that documented Gannon’s long history of abuse. Ronan then called the Archdiocese of Chicago and connected with their sex crimes investigator.

“There was this long pause — it seemed like an eternity,” Ronan said while recounting his phone call. “It was an awkward, long length, pause. And I said, ‘Are you there?’ And she said, ‘Yes.’ And I said, ‘What’s wrong?’ And she said, ‘Well, we’ve got quite a file on this fella.'”

Soon after, Ronan started going to therapy and addressing the trauma he had left untouched and buried for decades.

“It’s kind of like a beach ball — you fill a beach ball up with air, it doesn’t weigh anything, couple ounces, but go down to a body of water, and try to hold the beach ball underwater,” Ronan said. “You will become so exhausted.”

In May, the Illinois Attorney General released documenting nearly 2,000 victims of alleged clergy sex abuse. Gannon and his assault of Ronan are listed in the report (see page 202).

‘They didn’t clean their own house’

When asked about how he feels about the Catholic Church now, Ronan said he’s ambivalent.

“I realized that the church does some really great work for people,” he said. “I mean, for my grandfather, the church was fabulous in his life. But they let some really, really awful people in going back 100 years ago and they didn’t clean their own house. They didn’t take care of their own business. And now they’re having to pay the price for it.”

Ronan still believes in a benevolent God, but not so much in the church.

“It’s sad because the church should be a real beacon of God’s work,” he said. “And yet, it’s been so sullied by these really, really bad, awful people, and the church and the leadership of the church, let these guys run amok. They let them … run around, do their thing. That’s the horror. That’s an even bigger crime.”

Since he started telling his story, Ronan has had meetings with Archbishop Wilton Gregory in Washington and Cardinal Blase Cupich in Chicago.

“I think that they’re trying to get to the bottom of this, but it’s very difficult,” Ronan said. “I really do think that the church does do a lot of good things, but they’ve got to clean this up and they’ve got to come to grips with it.”

When asked if he still suffers from that nightmare of the priest chasing him, Ronan said he has come a long way.

“It hasn’t happened in a while,” Ronan said. “And I’ll find myself thinking about it. And I say, ‘he’s a dead guy, don’t go there. Don’t allow him to get into your head.’ And that’s the way I go about it.”

Renewed calls for transparency

This past weekend, survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests gathered in Arlington, Virginia, for the annual conference.

“It’s one of those weekends that we’re able to really come together and celebrate the accomplishments — reforming statute of limitations,” interim executive director for the network Mike McDonnell told �鶹����.

More than 26 states have reformed their statute of limitations allowing victims to file lawsuits against their abusers. Maryland passed such a law a few months ago after a report from the state’s attorney general documented more than 600 victims of sexual assault at the hands of priests, seminarians and deacons within the Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore. The new Maryland law got rid of time limits for cases of child sex abuse.

Despite these legal victories, McDonnell said his organization’s work is far from over.

“We need more names exposed,” he said.

McDonnell said church leaders within the Archdiocese of Washington are still protecting alleged abusers by not releasing their identities to the public, robbing victims of validation and putting unknowing individuals at risk.

“We are calling on Archbishop [Wilton] Gregory to do the right thing: get those names of perpetrators on the list so society can be aware,” McDonnell said.

Back in 2018, the archdiocese released names of known abusers. But SNAP has always contended this wasn’t the full list of known abusers.

This call from SNAP comes weeks after Pope Francis met with survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Portugal. The pope also criticized members of the country’s Catholic hierarchy for their response to the long-ignored scandal. For McDonnell, this show of support from the Pope means little without action.

“Public relations by the Vatican — we’ve heard it time and time again,” McDonnell said. “Just because Pope Francis lands in Portugal does not make any child safe.”

Yet Courtney Chase, executive director of Child Protection & Safe Environment for the Archdiocese of Washington, said the church is addressing the scourge of abuse from within.

“When I get a report of abuse, whether it’s historical or current, it is immediately reported to the appropriate jurisdiction,” Chase said. “And that way, it prevents any sort of cover up.”

Chase is a licensed clinical social worker and former Montgomery County law enforcement employee. She started working for the diocese in 2014.

“We’ve come a very long way since 2003 when Boston came down,” Chase said. “Every year is stronger and better, but I would say the process in place is working to get the report to civil authorities and to the community in a timely fashion.”

Chase said whenever she gets a report of abuse, the alleged abuser is immediately removed from ministry and the appropriate law enforcement department is notified.

“I’m there as a layperson to make sure that everything is being followed,” Chase said. “So that the offender is removed when there’s an allegation of abuse, removed from their position, while the civil authorities are working their case.”

Despite these assurances from Chase, McDonnell said the Archdiocese of Washington isn’t doing enough.

“We hear each and every church official say they are being truthful and transparent,” McDonnell said. “And yet time and time again, every secular report tells us differently.”

The recent report released by Maryland’s Attorney General Anthony Brown documented multiple cover-up schemes by the Archdiocese of Baltimore and civil authorities between the 1940s and 2000s. During an interview with �鶹����, Brown said his office is now looking into other dioceses in the region for potential misconduct.

“We’ve got an investigation in the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. and the Diocese of Wilmington, Delaware,” Brown said in April. “We’ll see what we uncover, and whether or not there will be indictments coming out of that investigation or not. It’s too premature for me to say, we still don’t know.”

For McDonnell, the continued resistance by the Archdiocese of Washington to release all the names of alleged abusers comes down to one thing.

“Each and every day the church tries to protect their reputation because on a weekly basis — they need that income,” McDonnell said.

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The Washington Commanders are the closest they’ve ever been to returning to the old RFK Stadium site in D.C. — the NFL team’s home base from the days when it won three Super Bowls and captured the city’s attention each Sunday.

“The energy is palpable, it doesn’t matter where you go,” At-Large D.C. Council member Kenyan McDuffie said on “The Commanders belong in the District of Columbia.”

Three weeks ago, the Harris Group — led by D.C. native and billionaire Josh Harris — bought the Commanders from the loathed and liability-laden Dan Snyder. Two weeks ago, Congress introduced bipartisan legislation that would give D.C. the power to redevelop the RFK site.

And last week, the city took the first step by launching a “” that will work to select a contractor “to identify and recommend deal structures for financing DC sports facilities” at sites across the city, including RFK.

While a new Commanders stadium at the RFK site is far from a reality, McDuffie — who chairs the city’s Committee on Business and Economic Development — argued D.C. can’t miss this opportunity to bring the Commanders back to the District.

“We’ve got to bring the team home,” McDuffie said. “And my case for bringing the team back to the District of Columbia is really a simple one — the residents would like to see it.”

Despite McDuffie’s position and similar sentiment from Mayor Muriel Bowser, the District’s leadership remains split over whether they should build an NFL stadium in D.C.

‘Not a good investment’

Ward 6 Council member Charles Allen thinks it’s a bad idea.

“It’s pretty clear that NFL stadiums around the country don’t generate the jobs,” Allen said on the DMV Download. “They don’t generate the tax revenue and return. They’re not a good investment to your public dollars or good use of your land.”

Moreover, Allen argued that the council needs to shift its focus away from a possible Commanders stadium and dedicate time to revamping Capital One Arena — which comes as arena owner Ted Leonsis is reportedly exploring moving it outside the District.

“In 2027, the lease is up,” Allen said. “We’ve got to make sure that we keep that year-round activity happening at Capital One Arena. They’re active 250-plus days out of the year. There’s over $340 million worth of spending that happens in our city because of that venue.”

Allen said that D.C. can’t fund both the redevelopment of Capital One Arena and Nationals Park — and build a new NFL stadium.

“I don’t have just Monopoly money to say let’s just put money in and let’s build a stadium,” Allen said. “Serious people need to make serious decisions.”

And while does support Allen’s claims that NFL stadiums aren’t a good investment for cities, the same study does show civic pride increases with the construction of a new stadium. When asked whether this civic pride was worth the investment, Allen chuckled.

“Do you want to spend hundreds of millions of your tax dollars for that great feeling on Tuesday morning or on Monday morning after Sunday? Is that worth it?” he quipped. “I can feel just as proud of the team and have that little extra pep in my step when they win out in Landover.”

Allen went as far to say that he doesn’t want a stadium at the RFK site even if Harris and his group of investors promised to pay for all of it.

“Even if the team said we’re going to just build the stadium, but just give us the land, we would have immense costs from an infrastructure cost,” Allen said. “We would basically be locking in a large amount of land for a not optimal use of our limited land.”

To the councilman, “optimal use” is building affordable housing all the way up to the Anacostia River’s edge.

“That’s the opportunity and that’s really what we’ve got to go after,” Allen said.

‘A district of champions’

McDuffie sees things differently — he looks at a new NFL stadium as an economic boom for a struggling neighborhood.

“Having a stadium here, you don’t just get a stadium like RFK, you get potentially a world-class economic development project that brings thousands of jobs to Washingtonians and people who need those jobs,” McDuffie said.

And on Allen’s point that the city needs to revamp Capital One Arena and Nationals Park, McDuffie said he doesn’t think the city needs to be “pitting one sports team against another.”

“I don’t see it as a binary choice,” he said. “I think the possibilities are only limited by our imaginations.”

When asked about his vision for a new Commanders stadium, McDuffie said the 190 acres at the RFK site offer a lot.

“Nobody should envision just simply a stadium at that site and acres of parking,” McDuffie. “That’s not what I see.”

McDuffie, like Allen, wants to build affordable housing at the site, in addition to a new stadium.

When pressed on how he plans to fund this, he said it’s too soon to say. He added, though, that whether the city builds a stadium or housing or both, all of it is going to take significant money.

“Anything you do at that site, beyond what exists today, is going to cost money,” McDuffie said.

Unlocking potential

Despite their disagreement on building a new Commanders stadium at the RFK site, both Allen and McDuffie support legislation moving through Congress that would give the city a 99-year lease at the location.

“We’d like to get it passed throughout Congress so that we can get that 190 acres transferred to local elected officials so we can engage in a process that really has a community involved with it,” McDuffie said.

His colleague agreed.

“I think people need to take a beat,” Allen said. “We are at the very beginning of this and I think that people are excited. At some point, we’ll have to have a conversation, though, about what do we do with this land.”

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7News reporter Christian Flores told �鶹���� that the incident created “a massive crime scene.”

“We’re seeing one pickup truck just absolutely peppered with bullet holes. The back window of another vehicle just shattered, shot out,” Flores said. “In fact, the glass door of the AT&T store is also shattered, shot out.”

It happened around 12:45 p.m. in the 3600 block of Richmond Highway in the area of Potomac Yard, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals Service. They told �鶹���� the man was armed at the time the U.S. Marshal opened fire.

Flores identified the wanted man as Stewart Orlando Ray, a man wanted for a shooting in Unionville, Maryland.

“This is actually stemming from an incident Sunday night, where he allegedly shot a victim inside a car,” Flores said.

On Sunday, Ray allegedly shot at a man in his car, before fleeing the scene in his own vehicle. Ray failed to stop at a stop sign at Bruffs Island Road, left the roadway and struck several parked vehicles, disabling his vehicle and then fleeing on foot.

The shooting along Richmond Highway happened while U.S. Marshals were trying to arrest Ray — who has been charged with attempted murder, firearms possession and assault charges by the Talbot County Sheriff’s Office in Maryland.

No officers were hurt, but Ray was transported to an area hospital with life-threatening injuries.

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After 26 years of extraterrestrial activism and a wall’s worth of UFO books, Steve Bassett — D.C.’s first registered UFO lobbyist — is just getting started.

“Only now am I about to do some real lobbying,” Bassett said on

Last week, a subcommittee of the House Oversight Committee held a hearing on extraterrestrial life and “unidentified aerial phenomena” or UAPs — a term the U.S. government uses for UFOs.

It was the first time Congress formally touched the issue since 1968. The hearing shocked the public when witness David Grusch, a former U.S. intelligence official, testified under oath that the government has been harboring extraterrestrial vehicles and “nonhuman” biologics.

“I was informed in the course of my official duties of a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse engineering program to which I was denied access,” Grusch said.

To Bassett, the hearing marked a significant win after a quarter century of activism that had gotten little to no attention.

“It took 55 years to get the hearing and I can tell you, there was effort after effort after effort, who knows how many times — refused, blocked every single time,” he said.

In some ways, last week’s hearing was too little too late.

“A lot of the people that wanted to testify in front of those people never made it, they died,” Bassett said. “I knew them, they didn’t make it.”

Yet on the whole, Bassett was “pleased and happy” with the hearing and the attention it brought to what he calls “extraterrestrial presence” on Earth.

‘It’s not a simple story’

Bassett decided to dedicate his life to the UAP issue in the middle of an existential crisis.

“At the age of 49, I hit the wall,” Bassett said. “I didn’t have the wife and kids, I didn’t have the bucks to buy the convertible, but a midlife crisis I was going to have.”

After growing up as a “military brat,” getting a degree in physics and dabbling in the anti-Vietnam War movement, Bassett described himself an “activist without a cause” in San Luis Obispo, California.

He then read the 1994 book, “Abduction: Human Encounters with Aliens” by John Mack, and decided to drop everything to volunteer at Mack’s organization in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“I had to make a decision — this is it,” Bassett said.

After a few months of working with those who claimed to have seen aliens, Bassett decided that he needed to go to D.C.

“This needs a political solution, not a science solution,” Basset said. “What political activism of any formality is going on? Answer — none. No formal political actions.”

In 1996, Bassett drove down to D.C. with only 18 cents in his pocket, moved into his aunt’s attic and registered as the first alien lobbyist.

“I didn’t have much life to put on the line. You got to be in a special place to go and become the first UAP lobbyists,” Bassett said.

Over the next two decades, Bassett tried to lobby Congress, but was often turned away or offered a brief meeting with an “18-year-old intern.”

‘I am not trying … to build a cult’

Bassett said he believes that aliens exist, that they’ve made contact with humans and that the government knows it. He calls the purported government scheme the “truth embargo.”

When asked for evidence and why this shouldn’t be brushed off as a conspiracy theory, Barrett protested.

“It’s not a conspiracy,” he said. “The ‘truth embargo’ is real and as far as the extraterrestrial presence, that’s also true. It’s not a theory. It’s not speculation, and it’s definitely not a belief. It’s been proven 18 times over.”

As for his evidence for the “truth embargo,” he pointed to the which limits the public’s access to information in the name of national security. As for alien contact, Bassett pointed to Grusch’s testimony in last week’s hearing.

“I’m not trying to convince everybody or to build a cult or anything else,” Bassett said “I’m just taking information, moving forward, doing the right thing.”

Since Grusch’s testimony, the Pentagon has denied the claim that the U.S. government is harboring UFOs and alien biologics.

Despite this, Bassett said he believes that after this House hearing, the cat is out of the bag and that the days of the alleged “truth embargo” are waning.

“They’re going to go through the process, even though they know what it is,” Bassett said. “It is basically a lie to get out from under a bigger lie looking good. So that when the president does make the announcement, people will be a little more generous and appreciative of the dilemma.”

When pushed for evidence, Bassett said, “it’s not a conspiracy … so throw that out the window.”

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