DowntownerDC
By • December 8, 2025 0 293
Not MAGA: Sabrina Carpenter, Franklin the Turtle
After Sabrina Carpenter’s song “Juno” was used in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement video, Carpenter tweeted: “Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda.” Likewise, Franklin the Turtle series publisher Kids Can Press objected to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s X post depicting Franklin aiming a bazooka at boats, stating: “We strongly condemn any denigrating, violent or unauthorized use of Franklin’s name or image.”
Museum of the Bible Displays Dead Sea Scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls. Courtesy National Endowment for the Humanities.
The Museum of the Bible, 400 4th St. SW, opened “Dead Sea Scrolls: The Exhibition” on Nov. 22. Displaying hundreds of artifacts along with portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the exhibition will be on view until early next September. The biblical texts, from around the third to the first centuries B.C., are part of an East Coast tour marking the 75th anniversary of their discovery in caves near Qumran, Israel, on the northwestern edge of the Dead Sea.
District Council Extends Stricter Curfew Policy
Photo by Instagram.com/@heidi.pix.
In a vote last week, the District Council extended a stricter youth curfew policy until next April, giving Council members time to decide if they want to enact the policy on a permanent basis. While the curfew hours for those aged 17 and under run from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., with certain exceptions, the policy allows the D.C. police chief to designate special curfew zones where young people are banned from assembling in groups of more than eight after 8 p.m.
Baby Asian Elephant on the Way at National Zoo
The expectant parents. Courtesy National Zoo.
Some good news was announced by the Smithsonian’s National Zoo last month. One of its Asian elephants is pregnant, which would bring the zoo its first elephant calf in a quarter-century. The zoo has had just two elephant births since it was founded in 1889, the last in 2001. In April of 2024, male elephant Spike bred with female Nhi Linh. Elephant pregnancies tend to last 18 to 22 months, which means that a new addition should arrive early next year.
From Bezos Fund: $11.25 Million to Fight Homelessness
Jeff and Lauren Bezos. Instagram photo.
On Giving Tuesday, Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos and his second wife Lauren Sánchez Bezos donated $11.25 million to fight homelessness in the D.C. region. The grants were part of a total of $102.5 million donated to 32 organizations nationwide through their Bezos Day 1 Fund. Locally, the following groups received funding: Community Crisis Services, Friendship Place, Harford Family House and Lifestyles of Maryland.
Immigration Tightened After Attack on National Guard
Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died from her injuries. Andrew Wolfe, 24, has a long recovery ahead. DOJ photo.
In the wake of the shooting of two National Guard members near the Farragut West Metro station by an Afghan national, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, the Trump administration announced new policies. According to NBC, the administration is pausing asylum decisions, looking at green card applications from former citizens of “countries of concern” a second time and stopping visas from Afghans who helped U.S. military and other personnel.
