Shops started opening despite a rainy December day when shoppers gathered to grab holiday gifts and collectible items. With the participation of live music, a small section south of the Portrait Gallery on F Street NW is branded into the holiday season.

“I think this is my favorite time here in DC,” shopgoer Kim Schmith said. “It is important to support DC’s small businesses and there is no better time to do it than Christmas.”

Happy holidays, DC!

The Downtown Holiday Market is now OPEN! Grab a bite, buy some gifts, and support your local businesses from now until December 23rd.

— Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser)

Among the stores is “Smell of Love Candles,” a Vienna-based start-up company founded by Alejandro, a 9-year-old ‘kidpreneur.’ His mother, Patricia Buxcun, said she loves candles but is also sensitive to smell and allergic to many ingredients that candles contain.

“He decided that he was going to experiment with different types of waxes, and he created a candle that did not give me headaches,” Buxcun said. “That kind of turned into ‘let me try a different type of sense’, and we decided to launch an Etsy.”

In their second year at the holiday market, Buxcun said the project increases the visibility of Smell of Love Candles. “There are also a lot of tourists that come in; we have customers from California, from New York.”

This holiday season is Love Candles’ third year participating in the program. While many are new in Penn Quarter this year, one business stands out as an 18-year participant in the Holiday Market.

Promoting small businesses has always been part of the holiday market project. But this year, more small businesses owned by people of color and indigenous people are present.

On the western edge of the festival, Oswaldo Sinchico greets customers as they walk in to check out handmade art and craft from overseas. Sinchico said that indigenous Inca people made everything inside the two tents in Ecuador.

Sinchico said he entered the business when he was 16 years old and traveled to Europe and the Caribbean to promote the people of Inca’s products further. When he was in his 30s, he arrived in the United States for the first time.

From sweaters to jewelry, “everything is from Ecuador and works off all indigenous people,” he said.

As more people become aware of environmentally friendly products such as handmade local artwork, bringing life to forgotten pieces is another way some businesses choose to fight pollution. At Lost and Forged, visitors can purchase restored antique silverware.

“A lot of generations are getting handed down their families’ antique silverware. It just becomes something we don’t use anymore because it is just harder to take care of and it is just a lot more effort,” Alexis Abel said. “So we might as well turn it into something we are actually going to use on more of a daily basis.”

Abel said the Silver Spring-based small business transforms old things that “may not have a use or perfect anymore.” Abel added that during the 5-week period in which Penn Quarter visitors can get to see artcraft provides an excellent opportunity to market their brand.

“Typical art shows are two to three days but this market has been going on for so many years and it is a great exposure for us and everybody,” Abel said.

Further down the aisle, colorful maps of American cities bring positive energy to this gray December day. At Terratorie Maps and Goods, Olivia Music assists her friend’s small business for the second year in a row.

“Even if people don’t necessarily buy something, it is just good to get the exposure,” Music said. “People get to pick our business card and visit our website later on.”

Music said the Holiday Market is a great opportunity to showcase the talent of the District area small businesses as it is one of Brookland-based art shop’s “biggest revenue generator.”

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The incident occurred at 7:45 am at the Anacostia Metro Station, off interstate 295 and Howard Road SE, according to Metrorail Info. Shortly after, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority announced that the service along three stations had been suspended and notified passengers of significant delays.

Customers traveling on the Line should expect delays. service has been suspended between Southern Ave and Navy Yard. Shuttle have been requested. More information will be provided as details become available. We apologize for the inconvenience.

— Metro (@wmata)

While WMATA and Metro Transit Police did not immediately report the person’s identity, a WMATA employee who spoke on the condition of anonymity said it is “highly unlikely” the victim survived. She added that the incident happened early in the morning when the station was not crowded, but everyone panicked after seeing the crowds.

“I arrived shortly after the incident and saw crowds and an ambulance,” she said. “Then I was told about a suicide attempt, but I’m not sure if he survived.”

WMATA has not provided an update on the victim but said that after a surveillance camera review, “the male victim intentionally placed himself in the path of the train.”

Two Metro Transit police officers at the Anacostia Metro Station declined to comment.

Shortly before 9:00 am, service between Navy Yard and Southern Avenue Stations was reinstated but continued to bypass Anacostia Station for an additional two and a half hours.

The station remained closed for almost four hours as fire trucks and paramedics arrived. The victim was transported to a nearby hospital.

Passengers were provided shuttle buses between Southern Ave and Navy Yard during the station closure.

The station reopened around 11.30 am, and the shuttle bus service was discontinued. Station announcements at Anacostia warned of continuation of delays on both tracks, Branch Avenue and Greenbelt.

Most District metro station tracks do not have safety railings. Only a small portion of the tracks at Anacostia Station is protected, and it is only erected on the further edge of both tracks.

The D.C. Department of Behavioral Health runs a 24-hour hotline staffed with mental health experts. If you or someone you know wants to talk, call 1(888)7WE-HELP or 1-888-793-4357.

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The first class session took place on Nov. 4 for children aged six to 11 and teens aged 12 to 18. Adults began their Shakespeare experience on Nov. 7. Classes in both sections will conclude by mid-December.

Shakespeare Theatre learning coordinator Raine Ensign said topics and classes range from introduction to acting to understanding Shakespeare and his plays. Julius Caesar, Richard II, and Coriolanus will be among the scenes selected for youth classes.

“Shakespeare is a really incredible tool for learning and understanding the world and improving literacy that at the end of the day it is about community and this space we can provide for people to learn and have fun and be themselves,” Ensign said.

The company is providing scholarships to participants whose income level is not suitable to cover the cost of the 6-week program. Applicants can get partial or full tuition reimbursement depending on their yearly earnings. Ensign said the scholarship application is simple, and Shakespeare Theatre provides applicants with “what they need so they can participate in the program.”

“I think the reason that I got into education is because I, as a young person who was participating in theater, found that community I didn’t find anywhere else,” Ensign said. “The reason I got into education is because I wanted to provide that [education] for other people as well.”

Like other companies, Shakespeare Theatre was unfamiliar with online learning tools before the pandemic. But beginning in the winter of 2020, the company switched its lessons to remote and resumed partial in-person practices last fall. For the 2022 season, virtual lessons are offered in addition to in-person visits.

All of our In-Person and Virtual Classes are taught by working theatre professionals, award-winning actors, and STC artists and staff, giving you access to the most successful and generous theatre artists in D.C.

A new session begins Nov 7 –>

— Shakespeare Theatre Company (@ShakespeareinDC)

The effectiveness of remote learning provided Shakespeare Theatre with a secret tool to expand its reach beyond the borders of the United States. Acting students from Canada and Mexico have participated in the company’s educational program through online learning.

“Kids learning to perform Shakespeare is almost like performing in a foreign language,” John Douglass, former associate professor at American University, said. “It’s great training for learning to present oneself in front of an audience.”

The Theatre teaches several plays by Shakespeare. Tragedies and comedies on the agenda include Julius Caesar, Coriolanus, Richard II, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, and The Tempest.

In the Revolutionary Shakespeare class, children and young adults will have the opportunity to practice Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, which was first performed in 1599. The tragedy tells the story of Roman statesman Julius Caesar who was to be assassinated by a group of conspirators, and Brutus, a Roman senator whom Caesar called “Et Tu, Brute?” – roughly translated as “You too, Brutus” in the first scene of the third act.

Coriolanus, another Revolutionary Shakespeare play, tells the story of Roman leader Caius Coriolanus whose expulsion from Rome leads him to join the Volscians, rivals of the Republic. A tragedy of betrayal and revenge, Coriolanus represents what makes someone a hero and where one’s pride leads them to.

Creators through writing, film, art and other media “have felt the need to portray and respond to Shakespeare” for centuries, Benjamin Djain, a professorial lecturer at American University, said.

Shakespeare Theatre aims to adapt the old writings of Shakespeare to today’s world and show similarities between the past and future. Ensign said Revolutionary Shakespeare hopes to bring Shakespeare to the modern day and apply it to the social justice movement, albeit it did not start with the death of George Floyd.

“To persist with Shakespeare means connecting current generations with the excellent stories of the past and present,” Djain said. “Learning to read Shakespeare shows students that the past is accessible, that the decisions that many of us wrestle with today aren’t new.”

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At stake: Will the midterms change the U.S. approach toward the crisis?

“It is more than Ukraine at this point,” said Arlington, Virginia, resident Michael Luttrell, 54, a global health professional.

Though the Russian invasion has created energy shortages and global economic turmoil, Luttrell said he backs Ukraine aid “because of the increasing instability” the conflict can lead to in the region.

While the majority of Americans say they support the sovereignty of Ukraine, a Ukrainian defeat and a broader expansion of the crisis are now less of a concern to them, according to the survey.

In Virginia’s 8th Congressional District, Rep. Donald Beyer Jr., a Democrat, faces Republican Karina Lipsman. Beyer May 2 to expedite military aid to Ukraine, and in March, legislation to prevent Russian misinformation against Americans, while Lipsman said she backs Ukraine support with transparency and accountability.

“I am for supporting Ukraine,” Lipsman said. “But for me, it is really about preventing this war from happening in the first place.”

The election could impact American support for Ukraine as several lawmakers have signaled that the U.S. could shift its approach. The Congressional Progressive Caucus a letter to President Joe Biden to reconsider his administration’s Ukraine strategy. The caucus later the letter.

Another indication came from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, noting what could happen if Republicans took over the House. While reiterating that support for Ukraine is very important, he has there would be “no more blank checks” to Ukraine.

“I don’t know what that means,” Luttrell said. “I don’t know what is enough, but I see continuing with the support at least in the foreseeable future because it is not over. So, I am all for continued support.”

Lipsman, a Ukrainian immigrant who arrived in the United States in 1993, said McCarthy’s comments do not reflect hers and that she would not align herself “with any one member of Congress.”

“As a Ukrainian immigrant, also with family that still lives in Ukraine, obviously this is a topic that hits a little bit closer to home than the people who are in Congress right now who just could never understand that,” Lipsman said.

While she supports the U.S. assistance to Kyiv, she calls for “accountability into where that money is actually going.”

“It is not about cutting off aid as they do still need humanitarian aid,” she said. “That is why I think Congress needs to be held accountable for is the transparency as soon as they send a check over.”

Nine months into the war, Americans remain in support of Ukraine. Almost three-fourths of Americans believe that U.S. aid to Ukraine should continue, according to a poll. Of these, 81% of Democrats and 66% of Republicans support the U.S. government’s stance.

“I am in full support of U.S. aid to Ukraine,” Arlington resident Hunter Metz, 50, a manager, said. “I don’t think any appeasement to Putin needs to be made, he can stop this at any time he wants.”

Metz, who identifies as an independent, said while Ukraine is a great concern to him and the U.S. should continue to back the war-torn country, a candidate’s stance on the crisis “would not be a make-or-break opinion” for him to vote for a candidate.

Partisan lines indicated differences when asked about what voters think about the U.S. support, according to . Among participants in a Sept. 22 survey, 32% of Republicans and 11% of Democrats stated the aid is excessive, while 45% of Democrats and 30% of Republicans considered current U.S. support sufficient.

“I support continuing the funding because it is not over and we don’t know when it is going to end,” Luttrell, who said he leans Democrat, said. “I am afraid if we stopped the support, it would lead to instability in the region.” He said he would not support a candidate who just wanted to pull out.

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in October an additional $275 million military assistance to Ukraine, totaling the amount to $18.5 billion since President Joe Biden took office.

While it is not clear whether Republicans’ possible leadership could drastically change the U.S. stance, it is less likely to block it. In May only 57 Republicans a bill that would provide $40 billion to Ukraine, a number far below the threshold required to block a bill.

A 65-year-old cyber security analyst who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to her role at a private company said that she supports Ukraine and the attempts to assist the war-torn country with financial aid. But she added the infinite distribution of aid constitutes a deferment of “other financial responsibilities here in this country.”

“I think there are financial considerations for any kind of spending because we have a certain amount of tax dollars that need to be distributed across multiple priorities,” the Alexandria Republican said.

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While its owner, , said it intends to find a new location in the future, it also mentioned the transition process might take time. The Freedom Forum loans its print news items and photography collections to institutions that meet the organization’s criteria.

Since its closure, the Newseum has continued organizing travel exhibits. The Photographs Exhibit and the : Stonewall and the LGBTQ Movement Exhibit travels across the country. The latter exhibit completed a Memphis tour recently and will head to Dallas Jan. 25, 2023.

With the Newseum announcing that it would permanently close its doors to visitors, questions arose as to what would happen to the iconic building. In 2019, Johns Hopkins University that it would acquire the then-preparing-to-close Newseum. The purchase had cost Hopkins $372.5 million.

The SAIS, Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts & Sciences, and the Carey Business School have been located on Massachusetts Avenue’s Embassy Row in the Dupont Circle neighborhood since 1963. With the new announcement, all students are expected to move to the new campus.

“It has been quiet here for a while,” Green said, referring to the Newseum’s departure more than two years ago. “This area, more specifically Penn Quarter, is a culturally rich place but having graduate students around will create a more diverse neighborhood.”

The 555 Pennsylvania Avenue building is surrounded by an embassy and several museums on the southern boundary of Penn Quarter. The construction on Pennsylvania Avenue began last year and is expected to conclude in the summer of 2023. Current tenants of the Massachusetts Avenue campus should expect to move into the new building starting the fall semester.

“We needed a change,” Garrett Crossley, 34, of Penn Quarter, said. “The building has been sitting empty for almost three years now and I think it is badly affecting the reputation of the neighborhood.”

Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins University has been regarded as one of the top research universities in the country. From public health to social sciences, Hopkins houses over 20,000 students across several campuses and over 3,000 in the district.

A spokesperson for the SAIS said the university was unable to comment on the ongoing progress of the restoration other than what is available online but added Hopkins is expecting a big opening in its new location next fall.

The 420,000-sq ft building’s exterior appearance seems to have remained similar to that of the Newseum but will remove the First Amendment panel on the southern facade. The interior renovations, however, will the museum’s old galleries into classrooms and in addition to adding an atrium. The company handling the renovations, Clark Construction, did not respond to a request on the ongoing project progress.

Paul H. Nitze founded the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in 1943 and the school joined the Johns Hopkins family in 1950. Nitze aimed to train diplomats and public policy experts of future generations at a time of World War II mayhem.

“I think it is a great place to study,” Lorraine Green, 42, of Penn Quarter, said. “D.C. has the best schools in the nation and resettling in a great neighborhood like Penn Quarter is well worth it.”

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On top of the millions  following the two energetic seasons from their living rooms, an average of 1.3 million hockey and basketball fans attended home games last season in Penn Quarter. 91����ington Capitals of the NHL and the Washington Wizards of the NBA represent Washington, D.C.; both playing in Capital One Arena. The Capitals’ average regular season home attendance surpassed that of the NHL; drawing 2,732 more fans each game while the Wizards of the NBA fell short by 10.5% on average, according to the and .

Capital One Arena is the district’s main entertainment venue; each team hosts 41 home games for regular seasons and other music and sports events. NHL and NBA franchises make over $1.3 million in ticket sales per game on average, according to Team Marketing Report.

It is not only the immense arena that benefits from the support of passionate fans and visitors. Penn Quarter and Chinatown neighborhoods border the arena with their various local restaurants and shops.

The 2022-2023 season brings hope to the neighborhood. The past two and a half seasons have meant confusion, economic loss, and financial hardship as pandemic-related restrictions and closures resulted in empty restaurants on what-would-have-been crowded game days.

Devlin Barry, owner of Eat Brgz on 7th Street, whose Chinatown location started operating in late April, said that he had observed “good times and bad times.”

“At the end of last season, it was very busy, so I think it should be fine this season and we should get a nice lift in business,” Barry said.

It is difficult to say who makes more profit when the Capitals and the Wizards borrow the arena, but already-high food prices inside the arena lead some fans to look for alternatives in the neighborhood.

Only one block west from the arena, Pizza Pi is a casual pizza restaurant with a bar. Pizza Pi is a unique spot for game goers that want to be close to the arena.

“We are going into the unique time of the year where it is the NBA season and NHL,” Pizza Pi general manager Jessica Swann said. “So we get to see fans from both teams which gives a good amount of diversity in our fanbase and our business group.”

The 2020 season fell short with only a few regular season games remaining when COVID-19 was declared pandemic. The following shortened season was almost fully without fans in the arena and the 2022 season attendance numbers still did not reach pre-pandemic level.

The district, along with major cities like New York City and Boston, a vaccine mandate to enter public places such as restaurants and sport events. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that vaccine and mask requirements would be lifted last February, a policy that could lead more fans to the arena, though D.C. has a high .

“The big hurdle was always the restrictions and the requirements changed pretty quickly and often, which it was just difficult to keep up with,” Swann said. “So we took a big hit in the last two years just as everybody else did, but thankfully, we were able to stay open and continue to build back where we were before the pandemic.”

Pandemic restrictions took a significant toll on district businesses. While customer-facing industries recovered quickly as of June 2021, other small business revenues dropped by 57% compared to pre-pandemic levels, to the D.C. Chamber of Commerce.

“We haven’t been able to see a true full Caps game day in a while,” Swann said. “But even last season, as the season progressed, we started to see a lot of regulars, more and more people were coming out, more and more people were going to the games.”

Local fans and visitors do not face pandemic-related restrictions as the district and the United States no longer observe a vaccine mandate or proof of negative COVID-19 test. Positive Impacts of the removal of restrictions should reflect Penn Quarter businesses.

“Going into 2023, we have high hopes that we are going to get as close back to pre-pandemic volume on those Capital One events as we can,” Swann said.

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