Good morning, D.C. In today’s newsletter: A motorcycle bill, federal workers’ forced relocations and a setback for the Commanders.
THE LATEST
Could helmet hair eventually be a thing of the past in D.C.?
In what one could call niche and targeted legislation, two Republican members of Congress have introduced a bill that would repeal D.C.’s law requiring that anyone riding a motorcycle wear a helmet.
Trending
One of the bill’s sponsors is Rep. Derrick Van Orden, a Wisconsin Republican known for riding his souped-up Harley Davidson around D.C. But Grace Kim, his spokesperson, tells NOTUS that the bill wasn’t written just so Van Orden could feel the wind on his head.
“The federal government has had a hand in helmet requirements going back to the Highway Safety Act, which used highway funding as leverage to get states to adopt helmet laws,” she wrote in an email. “That’s part of why D.C. is an important place to start. If Congress can change the policy here, it opens the door to having a larger conversation about the federal government’s role in helmet mandates across the country.”
D.C. being a testing ground for that policy change could irk plenty of residents. Recall that D.C. doesn’t have voting representation in Congress, and members of the House and Senate regularly weigh in on local matters without speaking directly to the people who would be most affected.
The bill’s passage could also create an inconsistent patchwork of helmet laws across the Washington region. Both Maryland and Virginia currently require that motorcyclists wear helmets.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, for its part, is clear: “If you’re ever in a serious motorcycle crash, the best hope you have for protecting your brain is a motorcycle helmet.” The federal agency says that per vehicle miles traveled in 2024, motorcyclists were almost 27 times more likely than car occupants to die in crashes and five times more likely to be injured.
The American Motorcyclist Association says that helmet use shouldn’t be mandated and that “helmet use alone is insufficient to ensure a motorcyclist’s safety.”
On the Senate side, the bill is being sponsored by Sen. Tim Sheehy, a Republican from Montana — which has a population density of 7.8 people per square mile, compared to D.C.’s 11,489.
DEEP DIVE
A plan to relocate 17 Interior Department employees from Reston to D.C. later this month has irked a pair of Virginia’s representatives, who call the move a disguised forced resignation.
“We have serious concerns about this. I think this is going to amount to all the employees being fired or leaving government because there’s not enough room in the D.C. offices for all the staff to be relocated,” Democratic Rep. Suhas Subramanyam told NOTUS. “It’s going to increase costs and time for people when it comes to their commute.”
It’s the latest example of the Trump administration asking federal workers to relocate. In June, Interior asked 600 employees to make the same move from Reston. Virginia Reps. Subramanyam and James Walkinshaw, also a Democrat, wrote a letter last week to Secretary Doug Burgum asking for the agency’s rationale.
“This administration, from the very beginning, wanted to traumatize federal workers. They said it themselves. So here we are. They’re going to continue to try these agency moves, and we’re going to continue to fight them,” Subramanyam said. “We plan to use our authority in Congress, if we’re the majority next year, to fight all of these relocations.”
FROM THE DISTRICT
D.C. 1, DOJ 0. A federal judge has shot down the Department of Justice’s attempt to force D.C. to turn over an unredacted copy of its voter registration list, NOTUS’ Martin Austermuhle reports. The Trump administration has been trying for a year to gain access to the voter rolls of almost every state, but has now lost 21 of the 30 legal battles it has started. Trump officials say they want to ensure states are properly maintaining their voter lists, but critics say they are trying to unduly interfere in elections.
The District’s luxury housing market is booming. Tech and finance executives are snapping up “trophy homes” in the city, The Wall Street Journal reports, causing D.C.’s luxury home inventory to fall 22% by the end of this year’s first quarter.
Cheers to (Ira and) the Governor. Ira Johnson and his French bulldog, Rocco — better known as “The Governor” — cruise down 14th Street Northwest for community, but their online content has won them hundreds of thousands of followers, The Washington Post reports.
FROM MARYLAND
Dam! In the past two weeks, two people have been attacked by rabid beavers in Frederick County’s Cunningham Falls State Park, Axios DC reports.Officials say it’s not a larger trend.
FROM YOUR FEED
D.C. residents use Anthropic’s Claude AI more than anywhere else in the U.S. “by a wide margin,” the company posted on Instagram last week.
But it’s not that local tech bros and policy wonks are out-prompting those in a city like San Francisco. Rather, the map represents a per capita count, propelling D.C. above many states.
Even if the comparison were apples to apples, we wouldn’t trust this map. The state placements are questionable and, worst of all, it’s missing Maine!
D.C. TRIVIA
How many U.S. presidents are buried within D.C.’s city limits?
- None
- One
- Three
Email us the answer — the first reader who gets it right gets a shout-out. The answer will be at the end of the newsletter tomorrow.
SPORTS
Commanders training camp is nothing more than a glorified practice, but that doesn’t stop some fans from making a serious commitment to attend. NOTUS’ Martenzie Johnson joined some of the very first people in line at Saturday’s session, hearing about their early wake-up times and lengthy commutes. One fan from Baltimore County said she got up at 2 a.m. to make the trek.
“It was crazy,” she said, holding a sign she made for new receiver Stefon Diggs. “But then I got my coffee and I was lit the whole way.”
In less endearing news, the team faced its first real setback of the season Saturday afternoon when linchpin left tackle Laremy Tunsil went down with what has been reported as a torn triceps. While the team hasn’t confirmed the injury, the All-Pro lineman is expected to miss several months. Martenzie writes that Washington could turn to a young player like Brandon Coleman to fill the void, or look outside of the organization for a suitable replacement.
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The newsletter was produced by Jaden Amos, Michael Errigo and Nikie Johnson.
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