🔄 Bowser reverses stance on food aid program

What's CITY Talking About?

SNAP Benefits Boost

After the threat of a lawsuit from D.C. Council, Mayor Muriel Bowser will implement the legally-mandated increase of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits that she’d previously blocked. This means recipients could get as high as a 10% bump, up to $47 more per month, for food spending. [DCist]

TikTok Tunnel Girl Ordered to Stop

If you, like me, have been in rapture of the one-woman tunnel-digging operation happening under a suburban house in Reston, then I have bad news. Viral TikToker “Tunnel Girl” has been shut down by officials for “potential violations.” She says she is working on getting the right permits and has no plans to stop. Wonder what her neighbors think. [NoVa Mag]

Recall Charles Allen?

Disillusioned Washingtonians in Ward 6 are collecting signatures to trigger a vote to recall Councilmember Charles Allen. The resident behind the effort says she previously voted for Allen, but is frustrated with his push to reform D.C.’s criminal code. If it goes through, this would be the first-ever recall election for a sitting Councilmember. Axios’ Cuneyt Dil, who broke the news, told us what’s next. [City Cast DC 🎧]

What To Do

DC Insider Trivia

Thanks for your patience over the break! Let’s start with last time’s question:

Washington, D.C. sits on the ancestral land of which Native American tribe?

1. Piscataway
2. Cheyenne
3. Nacotchtank
4. Monacan

D.C. sits on the lands of the Nacotchtank (also known as the Anacostans), and neighbors the ancestral lands of the Piscataway and Pamunkey peoples.

In the early 1600s, the Nacotchtank tribe had ~300 members located on Capitol Hill, with farms where the National Mall is now. Their name came from the Native word “anaquashatanik,” which means “a town of traders.”

The Nacotchtank were forcibly removed as settlers looked for land for tobacco plantations. The small population that was left fled to what’s now Theodore Roosevelt Island and merged with other northern tribes.

🎧 Learn more about D.C.’s indigenous history with podcast guests Dana Hedgpeth and Mary Phillips.

🏅 Congratulations to Hey DC readers Dee D., Jess K., and Joan L. for being the first three to get the question right!

Now, for this week's trivia:

D.C. residents drink more _______ per capita than any other U.S. state?

1. Wine
2. Orange Juice
3. Coffee
4. Kool-Aid

Today on City Cast

Charles Allen Recall, DC Mall Bans Minors, and Snow

There’s a recall effort against a liberal D.C. Councilmember, more agita about shoplifting teens, and snow coming this weekend (fingers crossed)! Axios’ Cuneyt Dil and Greater Greater Washington’s Dan Reed are joining us to help catch you up.