The D.C. Council wants to make WMATA bus service fare-free in the District next year. If approved, D.C. would become one of the largest and most prominent cities in the country to make the bus free at the fare box.

Chair Phil Mendelson and “Metro for D.C.” bill creator and Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen will use $32 million to pay for the service, they said at a press conference on Thursday. Anyone boarding a bus at one of D.C.’s 10,000 bus stops could get on free, even if their trip ends in Virginia or Maryland. The bill also includes money to increase bus service in the District, adding $10 million for service improvements in under-served areas and creating 24-hour service on a dozen of the city’s busiest bus lines, which could be a boon for late-night workers and nightlife-goers. The night owl routes include 32, 33, 52, 70, 90, 92, A6/A8, H4, S2, V2, W4, and X2 and would cost about $8.5 million.

The money would come from setting aside excess revenue above predictions. Often, the District’s Chief Financial Officer sets a conservative tax revenue prediction and later a windfall of money flows in. Mendelson said the free bus fares would be permanent. It’s unclear what would happen in years where revenue fails to meet expectations.

The bill is set to go before the Committee of the Whole and the full council on Tuesday and is largely expected to pass given the 10 co-sponsors.

The battle to crash the early-state lineup in Democrats’ next presidential primary isn’t staying Minnesota nice.

Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer Labor-Party Chair Ken Martin sent a two-page memo to Democratic National Committee members Wednesday evening urging them to not select Michigan as the early primary state from the Midwest in 2024 and beyond. Michigan and Minnesota are seen as the leading contenders to nab the influential perch, after Iowa’s first-in-the-nation status came under harsh scrutiny for its handling of the 2020 caucuses, spurring Democrats to move to change the order of future primaries and elevate a new Midwestern state.

Martin argued in his memo, which was obtained by POLITICO, that Minnesota “is more diverse and has a stronger party infrastructure than Iowa, but unlike Michigan, it is not large enough that it would overshadow the other early primary states or make it harder and more expensive for candidates to compete in during this critical window.”

In particular, Martin noted the number of delegates Michigan has, which correlates to the state’s population and Democratic vote share. The Minnesota party chair called it “too large for inclusion in the early state process,” noting that Michigan’s 139 delegates to the 2024 convention would be nearly as many delegates as the combined total from all three other current early states: New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/30/minnesota-democrats-michigan-presidential-primary-00071551

As the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, US Capitol attack stares down a fast-approaching deadline to complete its work, members are scheduled to have a key meeting on Friday to discuss its final report as well as the possibility of making criminal referrals, multiple sources tell CNN.

A subcommittee of members is also expected to provide options to the full committee about a number of pressing issues including how to present evidence of possible obstruction, possible perjury and possible witness tampering as well as potential criminal referrals to the Department of Justice, according to multiple sources familiar with the committee’s work.

Also under discussion in the Friday meeting will be how to handle the five Republican lawmakers who refused to cooperate with their subpoenas, which includes House Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio.

“We will be discussing whether to make referrals, and if so on whom and for what,” Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, a committee member and member of the subcommittee that is expected to be providing options. “We are considering any offenses for which we have uncovered relevant evidence and think there is a basis for a referral,” he said, adding that could extend beyond former President Donald Trump.

The Washington Post will stop publishing its stand-alone print magazine, one of the last of its kind in the country and which has been published under different names for more than six decades, the newspaper’s executive editor, Sally Buzbee, announced Wednesday.

The Sunday magazine has 10 staff members, who were told in a meeting that their positions have been eliminated, according to Shani George, The Post’s vice president for communications.

“We will end the print Sunday Magazine in its current form as we continue to undergo our global and digital transformation,” Buzbee said in a subsequent email to staff early Wednesday afternoon. She noted that “we will be shifting some of the most popular content, and adding more, in a revitalized Style section that will launch in the coming months.”

“We deeply appreciate the contributions this staff has made to our print readers over the years,” she wrote in conclusion.