Breakfast links: Metro police to start wearing body cameras
Metro Transit Police will don body-worn cameras starting next year
Metro officials say the cameras, which are funded by a $905,000 grant from the Department of Justice, will help increase transparency between transit police and riders throughout the bus and rail system. They plan to get public feedback on the program before it launches. (Jordan Pascale / DCist)
Locals question whether an Alexandria power plant redevelopment will create an equitable community
While the GenOn Power Plant redeveloped plan includes some affordable housing, a group of workers’ rights organizations is raising concerns about its ability to meet provide high-paying jobs, a variety of housing options, and environmental sustainability. (Vernon Miles / ALXNow)
City leaders scramble to provide foreclosure relief funds under looming deadline
In January, DC’s Department of Housing and Community Development received $50 million in federal funds for residents’ foreclosure relief but did not start giving out the money until mid-June. As DC’s moratorium on foreclosures expires on June 30, council members are proposing a bill that would give residents more time to apply. (Alex Koma / City Paper)
Republican gubernatorial candidates lackluster on transit advances in Baltimore
The Baltimore Sun Editorial Board points out that no Republican candidates responded to a key survey on transportation and neither of the two Republican candidates who responded to The Sun’s voter guide questionnaire referenced the revival of the Red Line as a top transportation priority. (Baltimore Sun. Tip: Aaron)
Alexandria will get speed cameras in school zones for the first time
City police will install five speed cameras near schools around the city by early next year. They were first approved in May following a collision that left a child seriously injured at an intersection near Jefferson Houston Elementary School. The cameras’ locations have yet to be chosen. (James Cullum / ALXNow)
New bill will allow DC residents 21+ to self-certify for medical marijuana
The DC Council’s emergency bill passed unanimously in hopes that it will ease barriers for residents who can’t easily get a doctor’s referral and boost sales for DC’s seven regulated medical marijuana dispensaries that have been losing customers to marijuana gifting shops. (Michael Brice-Sadler / Post)
Renaming a Fairfax District that previously honored the Confederacy
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the name change for what was formerly called the Lee magisterial district. It will now be known as the Franconia District. (Antonio Olivo / Post)
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