Giant pandas are coming back to U.S. zoos — starting with the San Diego Zoo. And D.C. could be next, a Chinese official hinted this week. Pandas have been China’s most popular diplomats for decades: in 1972, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo received its first pair following Richard Nixon’s historic visit to the Communist nation. Since then, giant pandas have been one of the zoo’s top attractions — so much so, that these cute, furry, bamboo-eating bears have become entwined in D.C.’s identity, even emblazoned on Metro fare cards for years. It was a teary goodbye for many locals when Mei Xiang, Ti ..read more

This story was created by Maryland Matters and republished under a Creative Commons license. Local governments face hundreds of millions in lower property tax collections after a state agency missed a key mailing deadline. Maryland’s Department of Assessments and Taxation failed to mail about 107,000 updated property tax assessments before the deadline at the end of last year, according to senior state lawmakers. Left unfixed, county governments might receive a quarter of a billion dollars less in anticipated property tax revenue over a three-year period. News of the error trickled out to ke ..read more

New recommendations from a Smithsonian task force will soon require the institution to dedicate more resources to returning as many human remains in its collection as possible by the year 2030 — with a priority on the Native American and African American communities many of them were taken from. Returning the remains to family members, descendants, or related communities will be no small task, given that the Smithsonian has a collection of more than 30,000 bones, hair, brains, and fetal remains, most of it under the care of the National Museum of Natural History. The new report — which was com ..read more

Dulce Maria Nuñez Zaldivar says she never thought she could become a labor trafficking victim to another country. But in 2017, she says she left her job at a highly reputable middle school in Honduras in hopes of advancing her career through one of the U.S. State Department’s exchange programs. After researching programs and companies that she thought could help her, she was recruited to work at a school in D.C.’s Columbia Heights, where she currently teaches English language arts to sixth graders. In order to make the move to the United States, however, she says she used her and husband’s sav ..read more

FRIDAY, FEB. 23 INTERSECTIONS FESTIVAL: Ballets, cabarets, dances, plays and a whole lot more will be taking the stage this season at the Atlas Performing Arts Center for the annual Intersections Festival. The celebration, which lasts over two months, kicks off this weekend with performances from A.F.R.O.B.A.M., Capital City Symphony, Silk Road DC and more. (Atlas Performing Arts Center; through April 27; $32) MOTHER TONGUE FILM FESTIVAL: This week, the Mother Tongue Film Festival returns to the National Museum of the American Indian, the Natural History Museum, and other Smithsonian instituti ..read more

Popular D.C. bagel chain Call Your Mother is getting into the coffee business. Expect its coffee, called JoJo’s, to be sold at all Call Your Mother locations beginning Thursday, Feb. 22. JoJo’s will be roasted at the bagel chain’s newest location in Old Town Alexandria, which also opens Thursday. Washingtonian first broke the news. To start, Call Your Mother is roasting 100% arabica coffee beans grown in Brazil for its drip coffee. So expect a nutty, sweet flavor from your medium-dark roast cup of JoJo’s. Patrons will still be able to order lattes and cappuccinos, but Call Your Mother will jus ..read more

This story was produced by Maryland Matters and republished under a Creative Commons license.  Gov. Wes Moore (D) said his housing proposal will give “incentives … not mandates” to local jurisdictions as the administration tries to address Maryland’s ongoing housing shortage, according to his testimony in the House Environment and Transportation Committee Tuesday afternoon. “This is a piece of legislation that is not heavy-handed, it really more works hand-in-hand,” Moore said during his first appearance before a legislative committee this General Assembly session. “We’ve wanted to make ..read more

The Supreme Court decided against hearing a legal challenge to the admissions policy at Thomas Jefferson High School Of Science and Technology, a top Northern Virginia magnet school. The challenge argued that changes to the school’s admissions policy are biased against Asian American students, who make up a majority of students at TJ. The current admissions policy does not explicitly consider race, but was created with the intent of increasing diversity through things like socioeconomic factors and a student’s feeder school. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court declined to review an appellate court’s ..read more

Much like D.C. voters did in 2022, Maryland voters might get to decide whether to phase out the state’s tipped minimum wage. Maryland Delegate Adrian Boafo plans to introduce a bill by the end of February that would put the contentious issue of tip credit before voters this November — though the bill’s path to passage will be a challenge. “Taking it to the voters really allows us to see not only what our constituents want, but also what workers actually truly want,” the Prince George’s County Democrat tells DCist/WAMU. Currently, employers of tipped workers like restaurant servers are allowed ..read more

Earlier this month, the D.C. Council cast its first of two votes on an omnibus public safety bill with about 100 provisions. The bill, called “Secure DC,” is a combination of provisions from a dozen different crime bills the council has previously considered, with some new ones tacked on. Secure DC is currently scheduled for a second vote before the D.C. Council on March 5, where councilmembers are likely to propose additional amendments before ultimately passing it and sending it on to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser for her approval. Because the bill is so long — and because it tackles a variety of ..read more