Good morning. This is the NOTUS Metro newsletter for Sept. 4, 2026. You can get it in your inbox every day by signing up here — it’s free!
THE LATEST
A happy birthday to D.C.’s Department of For-Hire Vehicles, which celebrated turning 10 yesterday with a celebration at MLK Memorial Library. It was a joyful occasion, celebrating D.C.’s taxicab drivers with a live band, canapés and an awards ceremony.
But the party masked a sober reality. The industry faces a watershed moment, as autonomous vehicles could be permitted to operate in the city this fall.
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“Hell no, Waymo!” chanted one attendee, disability advocate Heidi Case, as DFHV Director Jonathan Rogers took the stage for a speech.
“We’ll talk about Waymo, Heidi,” Rogers replied. “Because that’s one of the themes: We’ve had a lot of change over the past 10 years, and there’s a lot more coming. We’ll handle it together.”
DFHV was created to meet a specific moment, Rogers said. Ten years ago, the agency was charged with modernizing the city’s taxicabs and regulating rideshare services Uber and Lyft, which had recently made their entry into D.C. with few guardrails. The decade since has seen the number of active cabs on the street drop from 8,000-10,000 to around 1,400, Rogers previously told NOTUS.
“We’re in another one of those moments, where a lot is changing again because technology is not slowing down,” Rogers said.
Drivers are anxious about their livelihoods. Abeba Berhe, who’s been driving a wheelchair-accessible cab in D.C. and Virginia for 20 years, told NOTUS she thinks the entry of autonomous vehicles would be a “disaster” for her industry.
“Driver jobs are getting disappeared. … Our job income [has] shrunk,” Berhe said, adding that she already has trouble making credit card payments every month.
There will always be a role for the “human element” of for-hire vehicles, Rogers told NOTUS. The D.C. Council, including Janeese Lewis George, has expressed concern about workforce impacts and accessibility, he said.
“There’s always been disruption and new competition,” Rogers said. “There are things that humans are able to do as a driver, as an assistant in a vehicle, that AVs are not likely to do any time in the near future.”
DEEP DIVE
An update on East Potomac Park: At a hearing Thursday, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes emphasized that she is “not the Lorax”: She does not, in fact, speak for the trees.
About 150 of them have come down at East Potomac in recent days, a removal campaign that the government called “routine maintenance” but that raised alarm with the public. NOTUS’ Shamira Muhammad reports that Reyes said Thursday she has received several angry calls, including one advocating for her disbarment if she did not stop the tree removal.
Although she previously asked the government to notify her before cutting down more than 10 trees, Reyes said that did not apply to maintenance and she had no issues with last week’s work.
An amended complaint is expected to be filed by the plaintiffs — preservationists seeking to block the park’s renovation — by Sept. 12. Reyes declined to rule on the DOJ’s recent motion to dismiss the case until she receives that complaint.
FROM THE DISTRICT
President Donald Trump’s plan to construct a 250-foot arch in D.C. will move forward, with excavation work starting in the next two weeks, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced Thursday. NOTUS’ Jenna Monnin reports that the project, which was displayed in miniature at the Great American State Fair this summer, will be located near Arlington National Cemetery. A lawsuit challenging its construction is still pending in the U.S. District Court for D.C.
Federal prosecutors are accusing Ward 8 council member Trayon White of jury tampering in the wake of a video posted on Instagram this week where he spoke about his upcoming trial on federal bribery charges and addressed the jury selection process, NOTUS’ Martin Austermuhle reports. Prosecutors have asked a judge to admonish White, while White’s defense team says he “expressed nothing unlawful.”
A pied-à-terre tax for D.C.? Council Chair Phil Mendelson has scheduled an Oct. 16 public hearing where lawmakers will hear testimony and debate possible revenue-raising options, ranging from a hike in capital gains taxes to new levies on second homes. With D.C.’s economy souring in the wake of sweeping federal layoffs, city revenue has dried up and lawmakers are facing a large budget deficit in the year to come.
Not a state, but still quite fair. The D.C. State Fair returns Sunday with “art, agriculture, and the culinary arts.” It’ll take place at Anthem Row (800 K St. NW) from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
FROM VIRGINIA
Democratic Rep. Suhas Subramanyam has learned his phone calls with state Sen. Louise Lucas were monitored by the FBI and DOJ as part of a broader investigation into Lucas, Subramanyam said in a statement Thursday. Lucas’s calls with two journalists were also monitored, Virginia Scope reports.
FROM MARYLAND
Maryland has lost more than $800 million by failing to collect tolls and penalties that drivers owed, The Washington Post reports.
A budding dispute: The University of Maryland is threatening legal action against a cannabis company in Colorado over its name: “Terps USA,” WTOP reports.
METRO MOMENTS
Raising her son in D.C., Kainaz Amaria — NOTUS’ senior editor of visual storytelling — didn’t get a sense that kids are growing up with a shared story. Many schools have specialized curriculums these days, so there is little that is universal about how and what our kids learn. But since 2016, her son and nearly 100,000 other children across the District have had something in common: a gift in the mail every month from “The Book Lady,” Dolly Parton, Kainaz writes in NOTUS Perspectives.
We want to hear from you: Have an image from around D.C. you want to share? A question for our reporters? An “only in D.C.” moment? Tell us about it.
SPORTS
In recent years, Thomas Boswell has found the Nationals to be almost unwatchable. So, Boswell writes, it is a testament to Washington’s new regime that the team is still entertaining at this point in the season. As long as there are some ups with the downs, the Nats retain their power to please.
Meanwhile, outfielder Daylen Lile is in the middle of a loud, elongated “up” of an up-and-down season for the Nationals. NOTUS’ Jesse Dougherty writes that his recent stretch is a reason to believe Lile could be a key part of the next winning core in Washington. But, as with many baseball players, that will come down to whether Lile, an unforgiving perfectionist, can quiet the negative thoughts in his head.
What to Watch This Weekend
Friday
MLB: Nationals at Dodgers, 10:10 p.m. (MLB.TV)
Saturday
MLS: D.C. United at FC Cincinnati, 7:30 p.m. (Apple TV)
NCAAF: Maryland vs. Hampton, 8 p.m. (Big Ten Network)
MLB: Nationals at Dodgers, 9:10 p.m. (MLB.TV)
Sunday
NWSL: Spirit at Portland Thorns, 4 p.m. (WUSA9)
MLB: Nationals at Dodgers, 10:10 p.m. (MLB.TV)
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The newsletter was produced by Jaden Amos, Michael Errigo and Nikie Johnson. Arch photo by Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP. Books photo by Kainaz Amaria/NOTUS.
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