RECIPIENT OF THE DC BLACK MBA ASSOCIATION 2023 LEGACY AWARD
Serving Our Community in the DMV
Vol 60 No 17
Black History Month Page 20
February 6 - 12, 2025
Council Unanimously Votes in Favor of Trayon White’s Expulsion By Sam P.K. Collins WI Staff Writer
5 Search and rescue efforts take place early on Jan. 30 at Gravelly Point, along the Potomac River, after a fatal midair collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport killed more than 60 people the night before. (Ja’Mon Jackson/The Washington Informer)
Nation Remembers 67 People Killed in Midair Collision, President and Allies Blame DEI for Crash
Airport Employee Recalls Moment of Crash, Flyers Talk Feelings of Safety a loud noise that made him temporarily pause. However, it would take a few moments before Swann, a greeter at DCA, began piecing together something devastating had happened. “It was loud as hell,” Swann said, recalling the noise that he would later learn was the tragic colIt was just a normal weeknight at Reagan Nation- lision of an American Airlines jet carrying 64 pasal Airport (DCA) for LaVar Swann when he heard COLLISION Page 50 By Stacy M. Brown, Jada Ingleton, Demarco Rush WI Senior Writer, WI Digital Equity Fellow, WI Contributing Writer
A dozen D.C. Council members—all part of an ad-hoc committee formed in the aftermath of then Ward 8 D.C. Councilmember Trayon White’s (D) federal bribery charge— kicked off the second legislative meeting of Council Period 26 with a unanimous vote in favor of his expulsion from the council. This decision ends a weeks-long endeavor by White, his former attorney, and a cadre of supporters, to prevent the loss of a seat that he won in his second successful re-election bid, even with an indictment over his head. In the moments leading up to the council’s vote on Feb. 4, D.C. Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie (I-At large), ad-hoc committee chair and longtime ally of now former Ward 8 Councilmember White, directly addressed 5Trayon White, Sr. after the D.C. Council’s unanimous vote to expel the Ward 8 council member on Feb. 4.
WHITE EXPELLED Page 52 (Ja'Mon Jackson/The Washington Informer)
Collins Council Report: Second Legislative Meeting of Council Period 26
Students, Parents and Elected Officials Tackle In-School Cell Phone Use
A Debate Rages about Public Safety, Students’ Ability to Research
By Sam P.K. Collins WI Staff Writer
By Sam P.K. Collins WI Staff Writer As locally elected officials get to work on resolutions and legislation about student cell phone use, one of the state board’s youngest representatives said he wants to ensure that the devices don’t become a scapegoat for low academic achievement. D.C. State Board of Education (SBOE) Student Representative Calique Barnes currently counts among those who are organizing against an outright cell phone ban, much
SCHOOL CELL PHONE Page 34
On Feb. 4, a dozen members of the D.C. Council kicked off the second legislative meeting of Council Period 26 with the unanimous approval of then-D.C. Councilmember Trayon White’s expulsion from his seat. 5 D.C. State Board of Education Student Representative Calique Barnes currently counts among those who are organizing against an outright cell phone ban in D.C. public schools. (Courtesy Photo)
5Friends, family, and supporters of Trayon White form a prayer circle around the former Ward 8 D.C. Council member at the John A. Wilson Building in Northwest, D.C. before the legislative body voted to expel him on Feb. 4. (Ja'Mon Jackson/The Washington Informer)
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COUNCIL REPORT Page 22