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A daily look at the most significant and interesting stories affecting Washington, DC. Written by Chelsea Cirruzzo, Cuneyt Dil and Paige Hopkins.

Axios D.C. Thought Bubble

Axios D.C.

Susan Tynan founded Framebridge in 2014, becoming a hot D.C. startup looking to simplify custom framing for photos and art.

Framebridge recently added two new brick-and-mortar shops, opening in Hoboken, New Jersey last month and in Manhattan on Monday.

We caught up with Tynan on how she gets going in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

⏰ Wake-up time: 6:10am via iPhone alarm after about 6.5 hours of shuteye.

📲 First thing she does: Scroll through news and immediately eyeball business metrics such as sales and shipments at Framebridge.

☕️ Must-have: She brews two India coffee pods in her Nespresso machine — that’s two shots, then a little milk.

🐶 First activity: Greeting her two-and-a-half-year-old Cavapoo puppy, named Cobber — slang in Australian for “old friend.”

Between coffee and Cobber, she’ll check in on her two daughters and husband, who handles much of the morning school routine. 

🧘🏼‍♀️Morning zen: Sculpting or a pilates workout at home for about 30 minutes. Her go-to fitness apps are The Sculpt Society taught by Megan Roup or Melissa Wood Health. 

“It’s a really quick workout, but it really starts my day,” she says. “I don’t do a long workout, so I never miss it.” 

🍞 Breakfast: “I either have SunButter on an English muffin, or SunButter on Greek yogurt, or nothing.”

💡 Commute hack: On days she goes into her office downtown, she syncs her Uber with Framebridge’s daily standup call at 9am, so she can Zoom on the way to her office downtown. 

“I actually look forward to that call,” she says. “We all appreciate the communication ritual.”

How I wake up: Susan Tynan

We caught up with Tynan about how she gets going in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Photo illustration collage of Susan Tynan inside a red alarm clock.

Photo illustration: Axios Visuals. Photo: Jared Siskin/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

Washington, D.C.

Susan Tynan founded Framebridge in 2014, becoming a hot D.C. startup looking to simplify custom framing for photos and art.<ul><li>Framebridge recently added two new brick-and-mortar shops, opening in Hoboken, New Jersey last month and in Manhattan on Monday.</li></ul>We caught up with Tynan on how she gets going in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

News

Business

A new monument honoring women who worked on the homefront during World War II is close to coming to the District.

Driving the news: The D.C. native who as a fifth grader first thought up the idea will attend President Biden’s State of the Union Address on Tuesday.

Why it matters: Raya Kenney, now 21 and an art history major at Kenyon College, has spent years pitching a memorial recognizing the millions of women who stepped into jobs previously filled by men.

They worked in defense factories, joined the Red Cross, and served in the military.

State of play: Kenney will be a guest of D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton at Biden’s address. 

Congress approved her idea as part of an omnibus bill last December, and Biden signed it into law.

What’s next: The project will need to be privately funded, according to its website. 

The current design envisions 20 black granite pillars etched with the names of jobs that women filled during the war effort. The pillar would form a “V” shape to signify victory.

Kenney told WUSA9 that she hopes a location can be found and that the memorial can be built within seven years.

D.C. memorial to honor women's role in World War II is approved

The idea for the memorial was thought up years ago by Raya Kenney as a fifth grader

Eleanor Holmes Norton and Raya Kenney with a model of the V shaped memorial

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and Raya Kenney with a model of the memorial. Photo courtesy Raya Kenney

A new monument honoring women who worked on the homefront during World War II is close to coming to the District.Driving the news: The D.C. native who as a fifth grader first thought up the idea will attend President Biden’s State of the Union Address on Tuesday.Why it matters: Raya Kenney, now 21 and an art history major at Kenyon College, has spent years pitching a memorial recognizing the millions of women who <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="stepped into jobs" data-vars-click-url="https://www.womenshistory.org/resources/general/home-front" data-vars-content-id="1f839c66-7390-4bc8-91bc-fbb85c68a406" data-vars-headline="D.C. memorial to honor women&#x27;s role in World War II is approved" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.womenshistory.org/resources/general/home-front" target="_blank">stepped into jobs</a> previously filled by men.

D.C. is in a snow drought, but there's a slim chance we might see some flakes soon.

What’s happening: The Washington area is close to breaking the record for going the longest without snow, per National Weather Service data going back to 1874. 

By the numbers: There have been only two seasons of 0.1 inches of snowfall for the Washington, D.C., area — the winters of 1997-1998 and 1972-1973. 

So far, we have not recorded any measurable snowfall. (If you want to get technical, NWS recorded a “trace” of snow for all of December!)

Driving the news: There is a chance for snow late Tuesday night into early Wednesday, according to the NWS. 

But even as lows drop to 30 degrees this evening, the chance for “meaningful snowfall seems low,” the Capital Weather Gang reports.

The big picture: This has been a miserable winter so far for snow lovers in the DMV, with storm after storm tracking west of the region, dragging mild air northward and keeping precipitation in the form of rain, Axios climate reporter Andrew Freedman tells us. 

When we've had cold air, storms have not come together in the right locations to deliver a Mid-Atlantic snowstorm. This unusually mild and relatively tranquil weather pattern, which is partly tied to a La Niña event in the tropical Pacific and air pressure oscillations across the North Atlantic, may not change much in February, either.

Zoom in: With an average temperature of 45.1 degrees, this has been D.C.'s third-warmest recorded January. Only 1950 and 1932 have seen warmer Januarys. 

The warmth led some cherry blossom trees to come alive, although temperatures in February and March will better determine peak bloom dates, WTOP reports.

D.C. snow drought approaches record-breaking levels

D.C. is set to record its third warmest January ever.

Illustration of a caution sign with a snowflake instead of a circle in the exclamation point.

D.C. is in a snow drought, but there&#x27;s a slim chance we might see some flakes soon.What’s happening: The Washington area is close to breaking the record for going the longest without snow, per National Weather Service data going back to 1874.

President Biden appears to be snubbing D.C.’s “End Taxation Without Representation” license plates.

Driving the news: A review of videos and photos of The Beast show Biden has been rolling without the motto, which is the default on D.C. tags.

Why it matters: The 672,000 residents of the nation’s capital, who pay taxes but can’t elect voting members of Congress, have long sought the solidarity of 1600 Pennsylvania, symbolic or otherwise.

Bill Clinton used the plates late in his term. George W. Bush removed them.

D.C. Council members petitioned Barack Obama to bring them back, which he ultimately did in 2013. The Trump White House spiked them in 2018. 

The big picture: Biden's license plate snub adds insult to injury for hometown D.C. Even though he supports statehood, local leaders have real gripes simmering with the prez.

For one, Biden has declined to order hundreds of thousands of federal workers back to the office full-time — the number-one ask of Mayor Bowser and inside-the-Beltway business heavies who believe a return to the office will resuscitate downtown’s zombie economy.

The president was also no help removing a federal block on D.C. legalizing recreational weed sales when Democrats controlled Congress. That meant the District lost a giant chance to unlock a new revenue driver at a critical time. 

Of note: Biden and Bowser haven’t had an Oval Office sitdown. Bowser and Donald Trump had one in early 2017.

🔎 Hiding in plain sight: I reviewed over a dozen photos and video clips spanning from early 2021 through this month. And I didn’t see the protest tags on either The Beast or a presidential Chevy Suburban that POTUS uses on trips around the globe.

Zoomed in photo of Biden's SUV license plate without "End Taxation Without Representation" 

The president's Chevy Suburban (and close-up) during a Jan. 19, 2023 trip to California. Photo: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images

What they’re saying: One way Biden can speak up more about District autonomy “is to put Taxation Without Representation on his license plate,” Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton told me. 

“I’ll be sending him a letter indicating that,” she added. 

Flashback: You might recall that on Inauguration Day in January 2021, Biden’s limo sported a spiffy blue license plate that did say “Taxation Without Representation.”

The other side: The White House did not respond to numerous emails and phone calls seeking comment.

💬 Town Talker is a weekly column on local politics and power. Drop me a line about the talk of the town: cuneyt@axios.com

National

Scoop: Biden snubs D.C. 'taxation without representation' car tags

The Beast has been rolling without "End Taxation Without Representation" tags.

Zoomed in photo of Biden's limo license plate without "End Taxation Without Representation" 

The Beast limo — and its D.C. tags — travel the world, as seen here in Geneva in 2021. Photo: MARTIAL TREZZINI/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Town Talker

President Biden appears to be snubbing D.C.’s “End Taxation Without Representation” license plates.Driving the news: A review of videos and photos of The Beast show Biden has been rolling without the motto, which is the default on D.C. tags.

Politics

A Dave Chappelle Comedy Club, Marion Barry Square, hundreds of apartments, a hotel, and a new NAACP headquarters are all in the mix for a big redevelopment on 14th and U streets.

Why it matters: D.C. is transforming the vast and aging Reeves Center municipal building into something that better fits the area's booming nightlife and honors the Black history of the U Street corridor.

Driving the news: The District unveiled the two final competing redevelopment proposals last week. Both emphasize the legacy of the area, once known as “Black Broadway,” and include 100,000 square feet of office space for the anchor tenant, the NAACP, which is relocating from Baltimore to D.C.

The proposal from MRP Realty, CSG Urban Partners, and Capri Investment Group. Photo: D.C. government

One plan — from MRP Realty, CSG Urban Partners, and Capri Investment Group — would bring Chappelle’s comedy club, 322 mixed-income apartments, a 116-unit “residential hotel,” a plaza, and an amphitheater.

It also includes space for arts and education and 366 parking spaces.

Renderings of the proposed building facade on 14th and U

The proposal from Dantes Partners, the Menkiti Group, and EB5 Capital. Photo: D.C. government

The second plan — from Dantes Partners, the Menkiti Group, and EB5 Capital — would be dubbed Marion Barry Square and include 296 mixed-income residential units, a food hall, Moxy Hotel with 150-180 rooms, retail shops, and a space for D.C. Central Kitchen. 

There would be 147 underground parking spaces.

Flashback: Four-term mayor Barry spearheaded the building of the Reeves Center in 1986 to revitalize the U Street corridor.

What we're watching: The Bowser administration plans to pick a team in February and send it to the D.C. Council for approval by the summer. It could break ground in the summer of 2025.

A hotel, apartments, and Dave Chappelle comedy are in the mix for Reeves Center redevelopment

The Reeves Center site takes up a full city block. Photo: Linda Davidson/The Washington Post via Getty Images

A Dave Chappelle Comedy Club, Marion Barry Square, hundreds of apartments, a hotel, and a new NAACP headquarters are all in the mix for a big redevelopment on 14th and U streets.Why it matters: D.C. is transforming the vast and aging <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Reeves Center" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2022/12/19/redevelopment-remake-corner-of-14th-and-u-street-dc" data-vars-content-id="d92ebde4-7463-45d2-a513-ee2e5bcab139" data-vars-headline="A hotel, apartments, and Dave Chappelle comedy are in the mix for Reeves Center redevelopment" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2022/12/19/redevelopment-remake-corner-of-14th-and-u-street-dc" target="_self">Reeves Center</a> municipal building into something that better fits the area&#x27;s booming nightlife and honors the Black history of the U Street corridor.

Cuneyt Dil

Featured stories

How I wake up: Susan Tynan

D.C. memorial to honor women's role in World War II is approved

Scoop: Biden snubs D.C. 'taxation without representation' car tags

D.C. snow drought approaches record-breaking levels

A hotel, apartments, and Dave Chappelle comedy are in the mix for Reeves Center redevelopment