June 2024 Downtowner
By • June 10, 2024 0 190
National Zoo Expecting New Giant Pandas
Panda lovers, it’s time to get excited. The Smithsonian National Zoo recently announced that two giant pandas are on their way to Washington, D.C. The lucky animals who will soon reside in the District are two-year-olds: female panda Qing Bao and male panda Bao Li, whose mother is Bao Bao, the panda born at the zoo in 2013. Bao Li’s grandpandas are Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, who left the zoo in November to head back to their native China.
New Solar Farm, D.C.’s Biggest, at Catholic U.
The West Campus solar array at Catholic University. Photo by Patrick G. Ryan. Courtesy Catholic University.
On June 3, Rockville-based solar energy company Standard Solar, along with the Catholic University of America, launched a 25-acre solar farm located on the university’s West Campus. At an unveiling ceremony, Standard Solar President and CEO Scott Wiater said that the 42 rows of panels will produce 7.5 megawatts, the equivalent of taking about 1,500 cars off the road. The array will supply more than 1,000 homes in Northeast D.C.
Senior Citizen Dies After Carjacking Crash
A 55-year-old woman, Leslie Marie Gaines, died after a woman stole and crashed the car in which she was a passenger at MedStar Washington Hospital Center last week. The car’s driver, the victim’s daughter, had left the car to get a wheelchair. The 22-year-old suspect, Kayla Kenisha Brown, is alleged to have jumped into the car, driven off and crashed the car into a building at 6th and D Streets NW, near the D.C. Court of Appeals. Murder and kidnapping charges were dropped because the cause of Gaines’s death was unclear.
Melinda French Gates Awards Grants to D.C. Groups
Melinda French Gates is making grants to D.C. organizations.
Melinda French Gates, who is resigning from the foundation she co-founded with ex-husband Bill Gates, is donating $1 billion from her exit package to women- and family-oriented organizations. Local awardees include: Community Change, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, the National Partnership for Women & Families, the National Women’s Law Center, the States United Democracy Center, New America, the Washington Center for Equitable Growth and Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund. Individual grant recipients include: Equimundo President and CEO Gary Barker, American Institute for Boys and Men President Richard V. Reeves and AAKOMA Project founder and CEO Dr. Alfiee Breland-Noble.
