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Scenes from Richmond, Virginia on Saturday as hundreds gathered to view the inauguration of Abigail Spanberger as Virgi...
01/17/2026

Scenes from Richmond, Virginia on Saturday as hundreds gathered to view the inauguration of Abigail Spanberger as Virginia’s first female governor.

This Friday on The Politics Hour with Kojo Nnamdi, we're joined by Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich to discuss mu...
01/15/2026

This Friday on The Politics Hour with Kojo Nnamdi, we're joined by Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich to discuss much-needed funding for school repairs. Plus, Ward 2 D.C. Councilmember Brooke Pinto on why the Council is demanding answers from District police about its relationship with ICE .

You can join the conversation by commenting below or calling in during the live show at (800)-433-8850.

McDuffie made the announcement on social media January 14, touting his record in local politics over the last two decade...
01/14/2026

McDuffie made the announcement on social media January 14, touting his record in local politics over the last two decades.

“I fought to protect civil rights in President Obama's Justice Department and delivered for all of Washington on the DC council, fighting for affordable housing and helping first-time homebuyers like my grandparents, improving public safety through neighborhood engagement and juvenile justice reform, and passing legislation to help new parents save for their child's future,” Kenyan McDuffie.

The lifelong Washingtonian and former prosecutor will face Ward 4 councilmember Janeese Lewis George, a progressive, who is holding a kick off party for her mayoral campaign January 14 at the Howard Theater.Mayor Muriel Bowser appeared to unofficially endorse McDuffie during a speech at the Economic Club of Washington in November.

According to the D.C. Office of Campaign Finance, there are around a dozen mayoral candidates as of today.

Governor Wes Moore says Maryland will face budget cuts in 2026. At the same time, he’s urging the state to remain ambiti...
01/09/2026

Governor Wes Moore says Maryland will face budget cuts in 2026. At the same time, he’s urging the state to remain ambitious about its long-term goals.

WAMU's Maryland reporter sat down with the governor to ask how he plans to balance those competing realities, pursuing big policy priorities while Maryland faces rising unemployment, a significant budget deficit, and mounting energy challenges. https://wamu.fm/4aOpjQN

The Friday on The Politics Hour with Kojo Nnamdi, Maryland's new Speaker of the House Joseline Peña-Melnyk discusses fed...
01/08/2026

The Friday on The Politics Hour with Kojo Nnamdi, Maryland's new Speaker of the House Joseline Peña-Melnyk discusses federal job losses and the budget crisis. Plus, Virginia's longest-serving House Delegate Vivian Watts gets behind the mic to talk about redistricting, Metro funding, and increasing the minimum wage.

You can join the conversation by commenting below or calling in during the live show at (800)-433-8850.

Protestors gathered outside of the White House Saturday afternoon after President Donald Trump announced the large-scale...
01/03/2026

Protestors gathered outside of the White House Saturday afternoon after President Donald Trump announced the large-scale military operation inside Venezuela that resulted in the capture of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife.
photos by Tyrone Turner

12/30/2025

Alexa Listeners: Please use the voice command “Alexa, Play W-A-M-U from N-P-R”.

The addition of “…from NPR” is a temporary workaround for a known issue with Alexa selecting another station.

Learn more at wamu.org/help/

D.C. jazz bassist Ben Williams digs into his family history of activism and religion on his fourth studio album, Between...
12/30/2025

D.C. jazz bassist Ben Williams digs into his family history of activism and religion on his fourth studio album, Between Church & State, which came out Friday, May 2.

Williams was already known as one of the best young bassists in jazz – or “Black American Music” as his collaborator Nicholas Payton calls it – when he released his album I Am A Man in 2020. The album is based on Williams’ introspection about social justice and the human experience during the latter half of the last decade.

“[It was] sort of touching on these themes of the Civil Rights era and what continues to go on in this country and the world, just how I feel about it – and I communicate it through my music,” Williams explains to WAMU’s All Things Considered host Tamika Smith. “[I] really wanted to highlight the humanity of Black American culture.” https://wamu.org/story/25/05/05/dc-jazz-bassist-ben-williams/

So, how did one of America’s most famous 20th-century literary couples come to be buried here, in a small Rockville Cath...
12/27/2025

So, how did one of America’s most famous 20th-century literary couples come to be buried here, in a small Rockville Catholic cemetery alongside a busy road, with views of condominiums and a shopping center?

Jackson Bryer, a retired English professor and co-founder of the F. Scott Fitzgerald Society, says that question is answered by the author himself.

“He ended up here because his father’s family was from Maryland. He wrote in a letter when he died… it would be nice to snuggle up under a gravestone in Maryland,” Bryer says. He’s joined us at the grave after his own quick jaunt through the suburban cemetery. https://wamu.org/story/25/11/04/author-f-scott-fitzgerald-buried-twice-maryland-rockville-great-gatsby/

ICYMI: The Cathedral of St. Matthew was quiet but bustling with energy only an hour after Chicago-born Cardinal Robert P...
12/24/2025

ICYMI: The Cathedral of St. Matthew was quiet but bustling with energy only an hour after Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost was announced to the world as Pope Leo XIV.

Cathedral workers were busy putting up a new bunting – the colored banner that hangs above the cathedral’s main doors – to celebrate the announcement that still rang across the globe: “Habemus Papam”….we have a pope.

Rev. Msgr. Ronald Jameson, the rector of the cathedral for 30 years, was at the base of the steps, directing the workers while also speaking to reporters from media outlets around the world.

“We’ve just taken down one bunting, which had black in it, which was obviously in memory of Francis – one of mourning,” Jameson said. “Here you have yellow and white, which, first of all would be the colors of the Vatican and the papacy, and it’s brighter. [But] it’s also very appropriate that we’re in the season of Easter. We’re in a joyous season of resurrection … in a sense we come now into new light!” https://wamu.org/story/25/05/09/shocked-dc-catholics-share-their-initial-reactions-to-the-first-american-pope/

Long before The Washington Post critiqued D.C. hardcore punk bands like Swiz in its pages or Pitchfork sought out the me...
12/23/2025

Long before The Washington Post critiqued D.C. hardcore punk bands like Swiz in its pages or Pitchfork sought out the members of Fugazi for lengthy interviews, the only publications talking about the city’s tapestry of punk music and culture were zines.

Zines, or fanzines, are independently-produced – and some in a consciously amateur style – publications that focus on a specific topic. As University of Maryland archivist John Davis notes in his new book Keep Your Ear to the Ground: A History of Punk Fanzines in Washington, DC, zines originated in the 1940s with fans of science fiction literature and comic books.

“The ‘for fans, by fans’ elements of fanzines … a portmanteau of ‘fan’ and ‘magazine’ … are generally credited to have come from the science fiction and comic book fanzines generated by those flourishing fan communities, beginning in the first half of the twentieth century,” Davis writes. https://wamu.org/story/25/10/30/in-keep-your-ear-to-the-ground-local-author-and-archivist-traces-the-history-of-d-c-punk-fanzines/

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. And he’s in Annandale. Well, at least a bone fragment. Deacon Elmer explains that...
12/21/2025

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. And he’s in Annandale. Well, at least a bone fragment.

Deacon Elmer explains that the small piece of one of the saint’s finger bones came to the church in the 1980s, donated by a parishioner who obtained it in Rome. It’s believed there are fewer than 20 relics of St. Nick currently in the United States.

“It’s been certified by Rome to be authentic. And we are stewards of it,” he says. “A relic can never be bought or sold. There’s no price on it.“

Relics are important in Catholicism. They are often parts of a holy person’s body, or their belongings, that people venerate. Deacon Elmer points out that this is a common practice even outside of Catholicism. https://wamu.org/story/25/12/18/santa-claus-bone-relic-northern-virginia-catholic-church/

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