City Cast DC with Michael Schaffer
🏆 Introducing the City Cast 6 Award Winners!
December 4, 2023
Good morning! D.C. has the country’s brightest holiday lights as seen from space. Well, technically, we’re the #1 city for December light pollution, but it’s Monday, so we’re trying to keep it positive.
What's CITY Talking About?
FBI HQ Decision Under Evaluation
The federal inspector general will review accusations of bias around how the General Services Administration agency chose the site of the FBI’s new headquarters. Virginia officials say the process was engineered in the 11th hour, resulting in Greenbelt, Maryland being selected. [Washington Post 🔒]
- Related: The fight over the FBI headquarters has intensified a fierce rivalry between Virginia and Maryland. [City Cast DC 🎧]
Teachers Complain About High Turnover
Teacher turnover is spiking again, after dipping during the pandemic. In D.C., more than one in four teachers left their posts in the last two school years. In a council hearing last week, teachers testified for hours about challenges they face, including low wages, burnout, and frustrations with the district’s central office. [Washington Post 🔒]
18-Year-Old Trail Robber Arrested
An 18-year-old man has been arrested and charged with 18 robberies near the Metropolitan Branch Trail in Northeast D.C. The robberies all occurred over the last month or so. Many were at gunpoint. Police are still looking for another suspect involved. [WTOP]
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Where Is It?
First, where was last week’s photo?
Nice detective work! This is Metrobar in Edgewood. The bar is mainly outdoors but also has a retrofitted Metro car, so you can get a Gin Rickey (D.C.’s official drink) and enjoy the ambiance of WMATA as you ascend to peak Washingtonian status. They also have live music and community events almost every day. Check out Wednesday’s Jazz Jam Session.
🍻 A Special Surprise! Metrobar happened to see last week’s challenge and wants to offer our winner – Courtney L – a free Railcar Lounge VIP Booth reservation with a $50 gift card! Which just proves: you never know what will happen when you play CCDC trivia. Congrats, Courtney!
And congrats to our other winners: Lauren C. and Antionette M.!
Now, onto this week’s challenge:
Can you tell me where this photo was taken? Extra points if you can tell me any history about the place!
What To Do
💡 AdMo Holiday Display Unveiling | Tuesday | 6 - 7:30 p.m.
Sip hot cocoa and listen to live music as the neighborhood’s newest interactive illuminated holiday display gets unveiled. [Free, Adams Morgan]
🌎 Life At the Earth's Poles | Tuesday | 6 - 8:30 p.m.
Hear a wildlife researcher tell tales of his encounters with whales, penguins, polar bears, and other denizens of the north. [$14, Penn Quarter]
🎨 Watercolor Workshop | Wednesday | 6 - 8 p.m.
Join local artist Marcella Kriebel for this watercolor workshop at Shilling Canning Company. [$75, Navy Yard]
🎉 Chanukah Happy Hour | Thursday | 6 - 9 p.m.
Twelve After Twelve bar is completely rented out for this Chanukah party that promises salsa lessons, fire dancer performances, a live painting, sufganiyot, and dreidel. [$10, Dupont]
Today on City Cast
City Cast 6 Winner Deliberations
It’s our first annual list of the City Cast 6: a half-dozen people who have changed D.C. in 2023, for better or worse. We’ve assembled a panel of experts, and today we’ll hear them vet folks our listeners and producers picked as finalists in the categories of Politics, Literature, and Music. (Part two airs tomorrow!)
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Thanks for reading! And don’t forget: for the price of exactly one half smoke, you could be a City Cast founding member forever.
Kaela
Today’s newsletter was edited by Priyanka Tilve. News was written by Susannah Broun.
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