The Road to RFK

Good morning. This is the NOTUS Metro newsletter for Sept. 1, 2026. You can get it in your inbox every day by signing up here — it’s free!

THE LATEST

A new Commanders stadium is coming, that much we know. But no one can agree on how anybody will get there.

At an open house hosted by Metro last week, some Ward 7 residents clashed with officials who’ve said building a second rail station is an impossibility at the old RFK site where a new stadium is being built, NOTUS’ Zara Norman reports.

“It’s just not feasible, and it’s not just about numbers,” Randy Clarke, the general manager of WMATA, told NOTUS. “It’d be this big station in the sky, on a curb no one could get to, and it doesn’t actually help with capacity. … There’s just no there there.”

Metro estimates it would cost $1 billion to build a second station, and it wouldn’t even be ready in time for the team’s projected move in 2030. A new rapid-transit bus line — dubbed “the Gold Line” — as well as improvements at the Stadium-Armory Metro station will do the trick, Clarke said. Not everyone is convinced.

“I don’t really trust the numbers and the evaluation they did,” Ward 6 council member Charles Allen told NOTUS. “The option to build that new station has got to remain on the table, because it really is about if we want to see this as a growth opportunity in this part of the city or not.”

For residents, part of the skepticism stems from the failure of D.C.’s streetcar, which ran into trouble along the exact H Street corridor Metro is proposing for the Gold Line.

“The RFK campus needs a durable transit solution if the city is going to see a return on its billion-dollar investment,” Hill East resident David Wyman told NOTUS. “The streetcar hasn’t worked. Metro stations are forever.”

When the political winds change in January, it’s possible that new leadership might revisit adding a second station. Though a spokesperson for Janeese Lewis George declined to give her thoughts on transit options supplying the area, Allen told NOTUS he has a “hunch” that “she’ll at least be much more open-minded.”

FROM THE DISTRICT

Construction on the controversial White House ballroom can continue, per a 5-4 ruling that came down Monday afternoon from the Supreme Court, NOTUS’ Ben T.N. Mause reports. A majority of the justices ruled that historic preservationists lacked standing to sue.

A D.C. police officer died Monday morning after sustaining a gunshot wound inside the Second District police station in Northwest, NOTUS’ Martin Austermuhle reports. City officials say there was no indication that anyone else was involved, but did not share further details on what occurred. This is the second line-of-duty death for the Metropolitan Police Department this year, and one of only seven that have taken place since 2000.

Chronic understaffing at D.C.’s Department of Behavioral Health means the city’s suicide and crisis lifeline, 988, has one of the nation’s lowest pickup rates, City Cast D.C. reports.

A historic D.C. building near the White House, Hamilton Square, sold for $126 million at a steep loss: The seller acquired it for $198 million in 2012, the Washington Business Journal reports.

Rush, the U Street gay club seized by U.S. marshals last month, was plagued by problems from conception to launch and finally to eviction, City Cast D.C. reports.

FROM VIRGINIA

Ready for takeoff. Washington Manassas Airport is now certified for commercial passenger flights, WJLA reports. The airport, which will launch its commercial service next year, might benefit from rising enplanement costs at Dulles, the Washington Business Journal reports.

FROM YOUR FEED

Soon after President Donald Trump announced he would change the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America, many locals, including NOTUS’ Martin Austermuhle, began noodling on the implications for the District. PoPville reports that someone took matters into their own hands Monday, plastering “America” over a street sign for Ontario Place Northwest.

SPORTS

High school football season has arrived and we are on the lookout for the DMV’s top talents. NOTUS’ Noah Ferguson will be covering all the action across the District and its suburbs this fall, highlighting what makes this area one of the country’s most respected high school sports hotbeds.

Each week, Noah will highlight five local football players who stood out over the weekend. Our very first group includes a freshman from Bullis who rushed for more than 150 yards and an Oakton senior who turned heads with a 99-yard touchdown run.

Mystics Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen were called up to Team USA on Monday ahead of the FIBA World Cup. NOTUS’ Alex Schiffer reports that Washington’s young duo will replace Kelsey Plum and A’Ja Wilson, who stepped back because of injury concerns. The international tournament runs Friday to Sept. 13 in Berlin.

What to Watch Today

MLB: Nationals vs. Braves, 6:45 p.m. (MLB.TV)

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The newsletter was produced by Jaden Amos, Michael Errigo and Nikie Johnson. Finally, yesterday’s trivia answer was B) Ulysses S. Grant. He was arrested for speeding in a horse-drawn carriage in 1872. A special shout-out to Willie Wynn, who answered first.