🛍️ Giant’s bag ban just got worse

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Ward 8 Councilmember Arrested For Taking Bribes

Federal prosecutors say D.C. Councilmember Trayon White accepted $156,000 in bribes and vacations from a contractor in exchange for pressuring government employees to extend its contracts related to violence intervention for high-risk youths and adults. The informant was not named, but has already pleaded guilty to fraud charges.

• FBI agents arrested the councilmember for Ward 8 on Sunday afternoon in Navy Yard. He spent the night in jail before his court appearance yesterday and is being represented by Mayor Marion Barry’s former counsel, Frederick Cooke Jr.
• Local leaders have expressed shock and disappointment at White’s alleged actions. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson plans to remove White from his committee chair position and will even explore expelling him from council.
• White is up for reelection this fall, and it's too late for another Democrat to replace him on the ballot. [City Cast DC 🎧]

Explaining DC’s 911 Call Center Outages

D.C.'s Office of Unified Communications has finally addressed the outages that have been plaguing its 911 call center. In a press conference on Monday, the office’s director said the Aug. 2 outage – that resulted in the death of a 5-year-old – was due to an IT update that went awry. MPD is investigating that case. The call center has had at least seven outages so far this year, all from different causes. [NBC4, City Cast DC 🎧]

Anti-Gay Shake Shake Assault

A man says he was assaulted by Shake Shake employees after kissing his boyfriend at the Dupont Circle location. Someone recorded the incident on video and police are investigating the case as a hate crime. Shake Shack has since suspended the involved employees. [Yahoo]

Giant Bag Ban 2.0

After months of D.C. residents complaining about Giant’s new bag ban, the grocery chain is finally doing something about it, but some complain they’ve made things worse. Now, not only will bags larger than 14" x 14" x 6" be banned, but also anyone bringing bags exactly that size must have their bags tagged upon entry and inspected before leaving the store. [WUSA9]

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