We have a play call from Taylor Swift: “Call the amateurs and cut them from the team!” The second-to-last song on “The Tortured Poets Department,” “The Alchemy,” is one of the only pure love songs on an album that skews melancholy. This is a story of a love that “happens once every few lifetimes,” Swift’s narrator sings. Alchemy refers to the quest in ancient and Medieval times to find a philosopher’s stone, which would make it possible to turn any substance, like lead, into gold. In the context of relationships, like this song, alchemy could suggest the meeting of two people to form something ..read more

Lawyers worked Friday to round out the panel of 12 jurors and six alternates who will hear Donald Trump’s hush money trial, as the former president railed against a gag order that has prosecutors seeking to hold him in contempt of court. After a jury of 12 New Yorkers was seated Thursday, lawyers turned their attention to picking alternates who vow to impartially judge the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Thursday’s proceedings demonstrated unpredictability in the jury selection process of such a high-profile case, with two jurors who had been seated a day earlier being d ..read more

Taylor Swift shocked her fans early Friday morning by releasing a second half of her much-anticipated album “The Tortured Poets Department.” After the first 16 songs were made available at midnight, a countdown appeared on her website indicating something else would be coming at 2 a.m. ET. Shortly after 2 a.m., Swift announced that “Tortured Poets” is a “secret double album.” “I’d written so much tortured poetry in the past 2 years and wanted to share it all with you, so here’s the second installment of TTPD: The Anthology. 15 extra songs. And now the story isn’t mine anymore… it’s all yours ..read more

Police arrested the boyfriend of a woman who died after she was taken to a hospital with a gunshot wound late Wednesday in Fairfax County, Virginia. It was a tense moment at Inova Mount Vernon Hospital when 47-year-old Huy Tien Nguyen drove up to the emergency room asking them to help his girlfriend, 38-year-old Alison “Kate” Laporta, who had an upper body wound, Fairfax County police said. “Hospital now on code yellow. No one other than law enforcement is allowed,” a dispatcher said. She was pronounced dead at the hospital, police said. Police arrested Nguyen, who never left the hospital. He ..read more

A Virginia man says the Israeli flag flying in front of his home has been taken down twice in the past four months. Dan Oxenburg’s Israeli flag and American flag were removed from his home in the Mount High neighborhood of Woodbridge about 5 a.m. Saturday. Security video shows a person in a hooded sweatshirt pulling the large flag with determination, finally yanking it free from the pole. The flags and poles were found not far away, the flags torn and the poles broken. Oxenburg’s first Israeli flag was stolen Dec. 25. Security video showed two people involved. “I have an Israeli friend,” Oxenb ..read more

The previous time Washington had the second pick in the NFL draft, the previous regime passed on taking a quarterback in favor of a pass rusher who as a local product could have been the face of the franchise. That did not work out, and now the Commanders are back at No. 2 with different people in charge and a big decision to make. Expecting Chicago to take USC’s Caleb Williams with the first pick, the Commanders are expected to draft their QB of the future Thursday night, choosing between LSU’s Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels, North Carolina’s Drake Maye and Michigan’s national champion ..read more

Two boys who died Sunday after a house fire in Northern Virginia last week were celebrated as heroes Thursday with a “walk of honor” as they returned to the operating room so their organs can be donated to save other lives. The Brice family wants people to remember 3-year-old Zachariah and 6-year-old William as boys with so much love. “We 100% know that William and Zachariah are in heaven right now, and they’re leading us and guiding us to make a difference, and they’re gonna be honored as heroes,” said their father, James Brice. Their home in Clifton caught fire the morning of April 10, trapp ..read more

A new study by George Washington University researchers found that communities of color are at an increased risk of developing diseases linked to air pollution. Researchers behind the study, published in 2024, say communities of color were almost eight times more likely to develop higher pediatric asthma due to the pollutants. Scientists also found that air pollutant-related diseases have increased significantly through the last decade in areas of color. They started their research in 2021, and continued gathering data until the study was published this year. “Unfortunately, many of the commun ..read more

The News4 I-Team obtained a normally confidential law enforcement plan for a presidential visit to Culpeper County, Virginia, showing a convicted felon was assigned as part of the security detail. The White House executive visit to Germanna Community College on Feb. 10, 2022, was a chance for President Joe Biden to pitch a prescription drug price relief plan. The 20-page “law enforcement sensitive” plan obtained by the I-Team shows many Culpeper Sheriff’s Office deputies were assigned to guard entrances and exits and key points at Culpeper Regional Airport where Marine One, the presidential he ..read more

A “near miss” between two planes at Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, was reported Thursday morning. The planes, one from Southwest and one from JetBlue, nearly ended up crossing the same runway while that JetBlue flight was taking off. It happened about 7:40 a.m., when an air traffic controller instructed Southwest flight 2936 to cross runway 4 while JetBlue flight 1554 was starting its takeoff, according to the FAA. Air traffic controllers can be heard yelling “STOP! STOP!” on audio that was posted to YouTube. No one was hurt and airport operations were not significantly affect ..read more